What is this "flat device tree"

[Josh Boyer]

On Thu, 2006-09-07 at 15:36 +0100, Alex Zeffertt wrote:
> Can anybody explain to me what the "flat device tree" is?  The phrase comes up 
> often but I can't find a definition for it anywhere on the web.

See Documentation/powerpc/booting-without-of.txt in the kernel tree.

It's basically a representation of an Open Firmware device tree that has
been flattened and given to the kernel when it boots.  For platforms
without Open Firmware, it needs to be constructed by the boot loader, or
using the Device Tree Compiler (DTC).

josh