“Attached is the Mermaid Flowchart for the Boot Flow for Apache NuttX RTOS. Please explain how NuttX boots.” (Gemini Pro 2.5)
Based on the provided Mermaid flowchart[cite: 1], here's an explanation of the Apache NuttX RTOS boot flow, specifically for the ARM64 architecture (a527 target):
- Low-Level Start (
arm64_head
): The process begins in the assembly filearm64_head.S
. This initial code handles very early hardware setup, potentially involving low-level serial output (a527_lowputc.S
) for debugging[cite: 1]. - Exception Level & C Transition: It then proceeds to initialize the ARM Exception Levels (EL), particularly EL1, where the OS typically runs (
arm64_el_init
,arm64_boot_el1_init
)[cite: 1]. Control is then transferred to the primary C routine (arm64_boot_primary_c_routine
inarm64_boot.c
)[cite: 1]. - Chip & MMU Initialization: The C routine calls chip-specific boot functions (
arm64_chip_boot
ina527_boot.c
)[cite: 1]. A crucial step here is setting up the Memory Mana