Device Tree Format

A device tree is a tree structure containing kernel-level information about hardware, including:

  • Device characteristics
  • Connections between devices (buses)
  • Device configuration information

A device tree represents the hardware. The information in a device tree comes from sources such as hardware specifications and board schematics.

Device tree data is represented in the following formats:

  • Device Tree source files (*.dts and *.dtsi files)
  • Flattened device tree (FDT) structures

The resolved DTS and DTSI files for a device are represented as an FDT structure.

For information on the flattened device tree (FDT) format, see: http://elinux.org/Device_Trees

  • Binary files known as device tree blobs or DTBs (*.dtb files)

The device tree compiler (DTC) compiles the FDT structure into a DTB file.