Device Tree Data Format

The device tree data format represents information for the devices on a board. It has these characteristics:

  • A tree structure of nodes and properties
  • A single root node "/"
  • Child nodes with properties
  • Key-value pairs represent properties
  • Keys used as property identifiers
  • Values are empty or byte streams
  • Data types of streams:
    • Strings "Value"
    • List of strings: "Value_1", "Value_1"
    • Binary data: [0x1 0x2 0x3]
    • Cell: <0x1 0x2 0x3>

The device tree data format is part of the Open Firmware industry standard (IEEE 1275).