[PATCH v3 07/15] devicetree: Add DeviceTree live tree representation

From: Douglas Anderson

Date: Sun Nov 01 2026 - 17:04:33 EST


Add `devicetree.py` providing `DeviceTree`, a non-flattened in-memory
representation of a devicetree node and its subtree:

- `DeviceTree.unflatten(fdt, offset=0)` builds a `DeviceTree` hierarchy
from an `FdtRo` instance, storing `libfdt.Property` instances in
`self.props` and raising `ValueError` if duplicate property or sibling
subnode names are encountered.
- `DeviceTree.flatten(mem_rsv=(), boot_cpuid_phys=0)` serializes a root
`DeviceTree` back into a packed `libfdt.Fdt` object via `FdtSw`.
- `get_node()`, `create_path()`, and `walk()` provide path lookup,
intermediate node creation, and pre-order traversal.
- `get_str()`, `set_str()`, `get_stringlist()`, `set_stringlist()`,
`get_u32()`, `set_u32()`, `get_u32_list()`, and `set_u32_list()`
provide typed property access and mutation.

Add unit tests in `tests/pylibfdt_tests.py` covering `DeviceTree`
unflatten/flatten round-tripping, duplicate name rejection, and helper
methods.

Assisted-by: Gemini:gemini-pro-prerelease
Signed-off-by: Douglas Anderson <dianders@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
---

Changes in v3:
- Move NodeTree out of pylibfdt/libfdt.i into a new devicetree.py module
and rename it to DeviceTree (David Gibson)
- Store libfdt.Property objects in self.props instead of raw bytes
(David Gibson)
- Return a packed libfdt.Fdt object from flatten() instead of raw bytes
and use fdt.set_boot_cpuid_phys() (David Gibson, Simon Glass)
- Raise ValueError in unflatten() on duplicate property or sibling
subnode names (Simon Glass)

Changes in v2:
- Split live tree representation out of fdtfactor (David Gibson)

devicetree.py | 276 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
meson.build | 1 +
tests/meson.build | 2 +-
tests/pylibfdt_tests.py | 77 +++++++++++
4 files changed, 355 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
create mode 100644 devicetree.py

diff --git a/devicetree.py b/devicetree.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..198ab73eda88
--- /dev/null
+++ b/devicetree.py
@@ -0,0 +1,276 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: (GPL-2.0-or-later OR BSD-2-Clause)
+"""devicetree - Non-flattened in-memory device tree representation in Python."""
+
+import struct
+
+import libfdt
+
+
+class DeviceTree:
+ """In-memory live tree representation of a devicetree node and its subtree.
+
+ Attributes:
+ props: Dict mapping property name (str) to `libfdt.Property`.
+ children: Dict mapping child node name (str) to child `DeviceTree`.
+ """
+
+ def __init__(self):
+ self.props = {}
+ self.children = {}
+
+ @classmethod
+ def unflatten(cls, fdt, offset=0):
+ """Unflatten an FdtRo subtree starting at `offset` into a DeviceTree.
+
+ Args:
+ fdt: An `FdtRo` (or `Fdt`) instance.
+ offset: Starting node offset (default 0 for the root node).
+
+ Returns:
+ A `DeviceTree` representing the node at `offset` and its
+ descendants.
+
+ Raises:
+ ValueError: If a node contains duplicate property names or
+ duplicate sibling subnode names.
+ """
+ node = cls()
+ for prop in fdt.properties(offset):
+ if prop.name in node.props:
+ raise ValueError(f'Duplicate property {prop.name!r}')
+ node.props[prop.name] = prop
+ for suboff in fdt.subnodes(offset):
+ subname = fdt.get_name(suboff)
+ if subname in node.children:
+ raise ValueError(f'Duplicate subnode {subname!r}')
+ node.children[subname] = cls.unflatten(fdt, suboff)
+ return node
+
+ def _flatten_subtree(self, sw, name):
+ """Recursively write this DeviceTree and its children into an FdtSw.
+
+ Args:
+ sw: An `FdtSw` sequential-write instance.
+ name: Node name for this subtree (empty string `''` for root).
+ """
+ with sw.add_node(name):
+ for prop_name, val in self.props.items():
+ sw.property(prop_name, bytes(val))
+ for child_name, child_node in self.children.items():
+ child_node._flatten_subtree(sw, child_name)
+
+ def flatten(self, mem_rsv=(), boot_cpuid_phys=0):
+ """Serialize this root DeviceTree into a packed `libfdt.Fdt` object.
+
+ Args:
+ mem_rsv: Iterable of (address, size) tuples for the FDT memory
+ reservation block.
+ boot_cpuid_phys: Physical boot CPU ID for the FDT header.
+
+ Returns:
+ Packed `libfdt.Fdt` instance.
+ """
+ sw = libfdt.FdtSw()
+ for addr, size in mem_rsv:
+ sw.add_reservemap_entry(addr, size)
+ sw.finish_reservemap()
+ self._flatten_subtree(sw, '')
+ fdt = sw.as_fdt()
+ fdt.set_boot_cpuid_phys(boot_cpuid_phys)
+ fdt.pack()
+ return fdt
+
+ def get_node(self, path):
+ """Look up a descendant DeviceTree by path without modifying the tree.
+
+ Follows the slash-separated node names in `path` starting from `self`
+ (leading, trailing, and repeated `'/'` characters are ignored, so
+ `'/soc/i2c@4000'` and `'soc/i2c@4000'` behave identically, and `''` or
+ `'/'` returns `self`). If any component along `path` is not present in
+ `children`, returns `None`.
+
+ Args:
+ path: Slash-separated node path starting from `self` (e.g.
+ `'/soc/i2c@4000'` or `'soc/i2c@4000'`).
+
+ Returns:
+ The `DeviceTree` at `path`, or `None` if not found.
+ """
+ node = self
+ for part in path.split('/'):
+ if not part:
+ continue
+ node = node.children.get(part)
+ if node is None:
+ return None
+ return node
+
+ def create_path(self, path):
+ """Return the descendant DeviceTree at `path`, creating missing nodes.
+
+ Looks up a child or deeper descendant `DeviceTree` by following the
+ slash-separated node names in `path` starting from `self` (leading,
+ trailing, and repeated `'/'` characters are ignored, so
+ `'/soc/i2c@4000'` and `'soc/i2c@4000'` behave identically). If any
+ node along `path` does not exist yet in `children`, a new empty
+ `DeviceTree` is created for it automatically (similar to `mkdir -p`).
+ Passing `''` or `'/'` returns `self`.
+
+ Example:
+ root = DeviceTree()
+ # Automatically creates root.children['soc'] and
+ # root.children['soc'].children['i2c@4000'], and returns the
+ # 'i2c@4000' DeviceTree.
+ i2c = root.create_path('/soc/i2c@4000')
+ i2c.set_str('status', 'okay')
+
+ Args:
+ path: Slash-separated node path starting from `self` (e.g.
+ `'/soc/i2c@4000'` or `'soc/i2c@4000'`).
+
+ Returns:
+ The `DeviceTree` instance at `path`.
+ """
+ node = self
+ for part in path.split('/'):
+ if not part:
+ continue
+ if part not in node.children:
+ node.children[part] = type(self)()
+ node = node.children[part]
+ return node
+
+ def walk(self, path=''):
+ """Yield `(path, node)` pairs for this subtree in pre-order.
+
+ Args:
+ path: Path prefix for `self` (defaults to `''` for the root node,
+ producing paths like `''`, `'/soc'`, `'/soc/i2c@4000'`).
+
+ Yields:
+ Tuple of `(path, node)` for `self` followed recursively by each
+ descendant `DeviceTree`.
+ """
+ prefix = path.rstrip('/')
+ yield path, self
+ for name, child in self.children.items():
+ yield from child.walk(f'{prefix}/{name}')
+
+ def get_str(self, name):
+ """Return property `name` decoded as a NUL-terminated UTF-8 string.
+
+ Args:
+ name: Property name to look up in `self.props`.
+
+ Returns:
+ Decoded string value (without the trailing NUL byte).
+
+ Raises:
+ KeyError: If `name` is not in `self.props`.
+ ValueError: If the property value is not a single NUL-terminated
+ UTF-8 string.
+ """
+ return self.props[name].as_str()
+
+ def set_str(self, name, val):
+ """Set property `name` to a NUL-terminated UTF-8 string.
+
+ Args:
+ name: Property name to set in `self.props`.
+ val: String value to encode as UTF-8 with a trailing NUL byte.
+
+ Raises:
+ ValueError: If `val` contains embedded NUL characters.
+ """
+ if '\x00' in val:
+ raise ValueError('String value contains embedded nul characters')
+ self.props[name] = libfdt.Property(name, val.encode('utf-8') + b'\x00')
+
+ def get_stringlist(self, name):
+ """Return property `name` decoded as a list of NUL-separated strings.
+
+ Args:
+ name: Property name to look up in `self.props`.
+
+ Returns:
+ List of decoded UTF-8 strings (`[]` if the property is empty).
+
+ Raises:
+ KeyError: If `name` is not in `self.props`.
+ ValueError: If a non-empty property lacks NUL termination.
+ """
+ return self.props[name].as_stringlist()
+
+ def set_stringlist(self, name, vals):
+ """Set property `name` to a NUL-separated list of UTF-8 strings.
+
+ Args:
+ name: Property name to set in `self.props`.
+ vals: Iterable of strings to encode as NUL-terminated UTF-8.
+
+ Raises:
+ ValueError: If any string in `vals` contains embedded NUL
+ characters.
+ """
+ vals = list(vals)
+ if any('\x00' in v for v in vals):
+ raise ValueError('String value contains embedded nul characters')
+ raw = b''.join(v.encode('utf-8') + b'\x00' for v in vals)
+ self.props[name] = libfdt.Property(name, raw)
+
+ def get_u32(self, name):
+ """Return property `name` decoded as a single big-endian uint32 cell.
+
+ Args:
+ name: Property name to look up in `self.props`.
+
+ Returns:
+ Integer value of the 32-bit cell.
+
+ Raises:
+ KeyError: If `name` is not in `self.props`.
+ ValueError: If the property length is not 4 bytes.
+ """
+ prop = self.props[name]
+ if len(prop) != 4:
+ raise ValueError(f'Property {name!r} length {len(prop)} != 4')
+ return prop.as_uint32()
+
+ def set_u32(self, name, val):
+ """Set property `name` to a single big-endian uint32 cell.
+
+ Args:
+ name: Property name to set in `self.props`.
+ val: Unsigned 32-bit integer value.
+ """
+ self.props[name] = libfdt.Property(name, struct.pack('>I', val))
+
+ def get_u32_list(self, name):
+ """Return property `name` decoded as a list of big-endian uint32 cells.
+
+ Args:
+ name: Property name to look up in `self.props`.
+
+ Returns:
+ List of 32-bit unsigned integers.
+
+ Raises:
+ KeyError: If `name` is not in `self.props`.
+ ValueError: If the property length is not a multiple of 4 bytes.
+ """
+ prop = self.props[name]
+ if len(prop) % 4 != 0:
+ raise ValueError(
+ f'Property {name!r} length {len(prop)} is not a multiple of 4'
+ )
+ return prop.as_uint32_list()
+
+ def set_u32_list(self, name, vals):
+ """Set property `name` to a sequence of big-endian uint32 cells.
+
+ Args:
+ name: Property name to set in `self.props`.
+ vals: Sequence of unsigned 32-bit integer values.
+ """
+ raw = struct.pack(f'>{len(vals)}I', *vals)
+ self.props[name] = libfdt.Property(name, raw)
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 520cd35f9075..963d8f59b209 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -125,6 +125,7 @@ endforeach

if pylibfdt_enabled
subdir('pylibfdt')
+ py.install_sources('devicetree.py')
endif

if get_option('tests')
diff --git a/tests/meson.build b/tests/meson.build
index c25500606059..8dbfc3f9e8e2 100644
--- a/tests/meson.build
+++ b/tests/meson.build
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ if not pylibfdt_enabled
else
env += [
'PYTHON=' + py.full_path(),
- 'PYTHONPATH=' + meson.project_build_root() / 'pylibfdt',
+ 'PYTHONPATH=' + meson.project_build_root() / 'pylibfdt' + ':' + meson.project_source_root(),
'NO_PYTHON=0',
]
endif
diff --git a/tests/pylibfdt_tests.py b/tests/pylibfdt_tests.py
index ae46b29a8f5c..cfdb8f5749b6 100644
--- a/tests/pylibfdt_tests.py
+++ b/tests/pylibfdt_tests.py
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ import types
import unittest

sys.path.insert(0, '../pylibfdt')
+sys.path.insert(0, '..')
+import devicetree
import libfdt
from libfdt import Fdt, FdtSw, FdtException, QUIET_NOTFOUND, QUIET_ALL

@@ -717,6 +719,81 @@ class PyLibfdtRoTests(unittest.TestCase):
self.assertEqual(b'this is a placeholder string\0string2\0',
self.fdt.getprop(node, 'placeholder'))

+ def testDeviceTreeRoundTrip(self):
+ """Test unflattening and flattening a tree via DeviceTree"""
+ tree = copy.deepcopy(devicetree.DeviceTree.unflatten(self.fdt))
+ self.assertIsInstance(tree.props['compatible'], libfdt.Property)
+ rsvmap = self.fdt.get_mem_rsv_list()
+ cpuid = self.fdt.boot_cpuid_phys()
+ fdt2 = tree.flatten(rsvmap, cpuid)
+ self.assertIsInstance(fdt2, libfdt.Fdt)
+ self.assertEqual(rsvmap, fdt2.get_mem_rsv_list())
+ self.assertEqual(cpuid, fdt2.boot_cpuid_phys())
+
+ tree2 = devicetree.DeviceTree.unflatten(fdt2)
+ nodes1 = [(path, n.props, list(n.children.keys()))
+ for path, n in tree.walk()]
+ nodes2 = [(path, n.props, list(n.children.keys()))
+ for path, n in tree2.walk()]
+ self.assertEqual(nodes1, nodes2)
+
+ def testDeviceTreeDuplicates(self):
+ """Test that DeviceTree.unflatten() rejects duplicate names"""
+ sw_prop = FdtSw()
+ sw_prop.finish_reservemap()
+ with sw_prop.add_node(''):
+ sw_prop.property_u32('dup', 1)
+ sw_prop.property_u32('dup', 2)
+ with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
+ devicetree.DeviceTree.unflatten(sw_prop.as_fdt())
+
+ sw_node = FdtSw()
+ sw_node.finish_reservemap()
+ with sw_node.add_node(''):
+ with sw_node.add_node('dup'):
+ pass
+ with sw_node.add_node('dup'):
+ pass
+ with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
+ devicetree.DeviceTree.unflatten(sw_node.as_fdt())
+
+ def testDeviceTreeHelpers(self):
+ """Test DeviceTree navigation and typed property helpers"""
+ root = devicetree.DeviceTree()
+ self.assertIs(root, root.get_node(''))
+ self.assertIs(root, root.get_node('/'))
+ self.assertIsNone(root.get_node('/soc/i2c@4000'))
+
+ i2c = root.create_path('/soc/i2c@4000')
+ self.assertIs(i2c, root.get_node('/soc/i2c@4000'))
+ self.assertIs(i2c, root.get_node('soc/i2c@4000'))
+ self.assertEqual(['', '/soc', '/soc/i2c@4000'],
+ [path for path, _ in root.walk()])
+ self.assertEqual(['/', '/soc', '/soc/i2c@4000'],
+ [path for path, _ in root.walk('/')])
+
+ i2c.set_str('status', 'okay')
+ self.assertIsInstance(i2c.props['status'], libfdt.Property)
+ self.assertEqual('okay', i2c.get_str('status'))
+ with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
+ i2c.set_str('status', 'ok\x00ay')
+
+ i2c.set_stringlist('compatible', ['vendor,i2c', 'generic,i2c'])
+ self.assertEqual(['vendor,i2c', 'generic,i2c'],
+ i2c.get_stringlist('compatible'))
+ with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
+ i2c.set_stringlist('compatible', ['vendor\x00,i2c'])
+ i2c.set_stringlist('empty-list', [])
+ self.assertEqual([], i2c.get_stringlist('empty-list'))
+ with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
+ i2c.get_str('empty-list')
+
+ i2c.set_u32('#address-cells', 1)
+ self.assertEqual(1, i2c.get_u32('#address-cells'))
+
+ i2c.set_u32_list('reg', [0x4000, 0x100])
+ self.assertEqual([0x4000, 0x100], i2c.get_u32_list('reg'))
+

if __name__ == "__main__":
unittest.main()
--
2.56.0.317.g454f8302e1-goog