uniLoader/README.md

uniLoader

A secondary bootloader that is capable of loading the upstream Linux kernel for Android and iOS-based devices.

The purpose behind it is to provide a small shim for avoiding vendor bootloader quirks.

(ex.: some newer Exynos phones leave decon framebuffer refreshing disabled right before jumping to kernel, which makes initial debugging efforts when bringing up the platform to upstream linux hard)
The currently supported architectures are ARMV7 and AARCH64.

Preparation

1. Install a toolchain that matches your target architecture (ex. AArch64 cross-toolchain):

   sudo apt install aarch64-linux-gnu
   

2. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/ivoszbg/uniLoader
   

3. Navigate to the project directory:

   cd uniLoader
   

4. Place your kernel and device tree blobs under the blob/ directory.

Make Syntax

make ARCH=<arch> CROSS_COMPILE=<toolchain>

Building Example

sudo apt install aarch64-linux-gnu
git clone https://github.com/ivoszbg/uniLoader
cd uniLoader
cp /home/user/linux/arch/arm64/boot/Image blob/Image
cp /home/user/linux/arch/arm64/boot/dts/exynos/exynos8895-dreamlte.dtb blob/dtb
make ARCH=arm64 CROSS_COMPILE=aarch64-linux-gnu- -j4 dreamlte_defconfig
make ARCH=arm64 CROSS_COMPILE=aarch64-linux-gnu- -j4

Usage

For Apple devices: Load the generated uniLoader binary via PongoOS.
For Android devices: Replace the Linux kernel in your boot.img with the uniLoader binary.

TODO LIST

1. [C] Allow loading instead of PongoOS for Apple devices;
2. [C] Fix/replace the libc implementation;
3. [M] Implement a serial library and make the debug lib less hacky;
4. [M] Implement more features:

   New devices
   Boot menu with countdown timer and selectable items via GPIO volume keys
   Threaded execution

[C] = Critical for overall ease of use and functionality
[M] = Nice to have :)

License

This project is licensed under GPL2.