This section will cover image generation and boot flows with QEMU.

PetaLinux provides a simpler way to customize boot flow, however this section will cover lower-level tools available for more complex boot flows, should they be needed.

This section does not cover building the files used when creating the boot images. If they are not available, they can be built in a PetaLinux project.

Using SD for Boot

Creating the SD Image

We will create the SD image using dd, mkfs, and mcopy.

mcopy is a part of mtools, and can be downloaded through your package manager (e.g. apt-get) or from GNU.org.

dd if=/dev/zero of=qemu_sd.img bs=256M count=1
mkfs.vfat -F 32 qemu_sd.img
mcopy -i qemu_sd.img BOOT.BIN ::/
mcopy -i qemu_sd.img Image ::/
mcopy -i qemu_sd.img system.dtb ::/

Booting the Image in QEMU

Booting the Image with Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC

To boot with SD on Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC, specify:
-boot mode=3
-drive index=0

or

-boot mode=5
-drive index=1

For SD0 or SD1 respectively.

MicroBlaze Machine

qemu-system-aarch64 -M microblaze-fdt \
-nographic \
-hw-dtb ${PROJ_DIR}/images/linux/zynqmp-qemu-multiarch-pmu.dtb \
-kernel ${PROJ_DIR}/images/linux/pmu_rom_qemu_sha3.elf \
-device loader,file=${PROJ_DIR}/images/linux/pmufw.elf \
-device loader,addr=0xfd1a0074,data=0x01011003,data-len=4 \
-device loader,addr=0xfd1a007c,data=0x01010f03,data-len=4 \
-machine-path /tmp/qemu-shm

ARM Machine

qemu-system-aarch64 -M arm-generic-fdt \
-serial mon:stdio \
-m 4G \
-global xlnx,zynqmp-boot.cpu-num=0 \
-global xlnx,zynqmp-boot.use-pmufw=true \
-global xlnx,zynqmp-boot.load-pmufw-cfg=false \
-nographic \
-hw-dtb ${PROJ_DIR}/images/linux/zynqmp-qemu-arm.dtb \
-device loader,file=${PROJ_DIR}/images/linux/zynqmp_fsbl.elf,cpu-num=1 \
-drive file=qemu_sd.img,if=sd,format=raw,index=0 \
-net nic -net nic -net nic -net nic \
-boot mode=5 \
-machine-path /tmp/qemu-shm

Even though we put the FSBL in the SD image (as a part of BOOT.BIN), it needs to be passed through the command line as an ELF since QEMU does not have a boot ROM to load the FSBL.

Booting the Image with Versal Adaptive SoC

To boot with SD on Versal Adaptive SoC, specify:
-boot mode=3
-drive index=0

or

-boot mode=5
-drive index=1

For SD0 or SD1 respectively.

MicroBlaze Machine

qemu-system-aarch64 -M microblaze-fdt \
-nographic \
-serial mon:stdio \
-hw-dtb ${PROJ_DIR}/images/linux/versal-qemu-multiarch-pmc.dtb \
-device loader,file=${PROJ_DIR}/images/linux/pmc_cdo.bin,addr=0xf2000000 \
-device loader,file=${PROJ_DIR}/images/linux/plm.elf,cpu-num=1 \
-device loader,file=${PROJ_DIR}/images/linux/BOOT_bh.bin,addr=0xf201e000,force-raw \
-device loader,addr=0xf0000000,data=0xba020004,data-len=4 \
-device loader,addr=0xf0000004,data=0xb800fffc,data-len=4 \
-device loader,addr=0xf1110620,data=0x1,data-len=4 \
-device loader,addr=0xf1110624,data=0x0,data-len=4 \
-machine-path /tmp/qemu-shm

ARM Machine

qemu-system-aarch64 -M arm-generic-fdt \
-m 8G \
-nographic \
-serial null \
-serial null \
-serial mon:stdio \
-hw-dtb ${PROJ_DIR}/images/linux/versal-qemu-ps.dtb \
-dtb ${PROJ_DIR}/images/linux/system.dtb \
-drive file=qemu_sd.img,if=sd,format=raw,index=1 \
-net nic -net nic \
-boot mode=5 \
-machine-path /tmp/qemu-shm

Even though we put the FSBL in the SD image (as a part of BOOT.BIN), it needs to be passed through the command line as an ELF since QEMU needs access to the boot ROM.

Using QSPI for Boot

This section will cover both single flash and dual parallel mode.
Use the one that is more suited to your needs.

The read and write addresses given in these examples depend on the sizes of your images and how your flash is partitioned.

In this example, Our flash is partitioned in the following way for Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC:

Partition Start	Partition End	Partition Name
0x0	0x1e00000	Boot
0x1e00000	0x1e40000	DTB
0x1e40000	0x4240000	Kernel

and has only one partition on Versal Adaptive SoC:

Partition Start	Partition End	Partition Name
0x0	0x20000000	Flash

If you're not sure how your flash is partitioned, you can view the partitions in a few ways:

On the Linux guest, run cat /proc/mtd
In a PetaLinux project, run petalinux-config and navigate to Subsystem AUTO Hardware Settings → Flash Settings, and change your partitions as desired.
After configuration the partitions, build your project with petalinux-build.
Unflatten your system.dtb file by doing dtc -I dtb -O dts system.dtb -o system.dts and find the node for spi@ff0f0000 on Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC, or spi@f1030000 on Versal ACAP. The flash will be a child node of the SPI node.
The partitions are defined in the reg property in the format of reg = <partition_start partition_size>;. Modify them as you see fit.
Once done, reflatten the DTB by doing dtc -I dts -O dtb system.dts -o system.dtb
More information on modifying device trees can be found here.

Note that only methods 2 and 3 allow modification of the partitions.

QSPI Boot with Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC

Creating the QSPI boot image

Single Flash Mode

dd if=/dev/zero of=qemu_qspi.bin bs=256M count=1
dd if=BOOT.BIN of=qemu_qspi.bin bs=1 seek=0 conv=notrunc
dd if=system.dtb of=qemu_qspi.bin bs=1 seek=31457280 conv=notrunc # Seek offset is 0x1E00000 in hex
dd if=Image of=qemu_qspi.bin bs=1 seek=31719424 conv=notrunc # Seek offset is 0x1E40000 in hex

Dual Parallel Mode

If using parallel mode, you must use the flash_strip_bw utility.
Information and a download for flash_strip_bw can be found

Xilinx Wiki

Boot Images