diff --git a/arch/arm/include/asm/arch-sunxi/spl.h b/arch/arm/include/asm/arch-sunxi/spl.h
index 831d0c0ff677a9ebec0958698bcfadf73c7cad81..9358397da27a70892bec341376bea3018c13e3d2 100644
--- a/arch/arm/include/asm/arch-sunxi/spl.h
+++ b/arch/arm/include/asm/arch-sunxi/spl.h
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 
 #define BOOT0_MAGIC		"eGON.BT0"
 #define SPL_SIGNATURE		"SPL" /* marks "sunxi" SPL header */
-#define SPL_HEADER_VERSION	1
+#define SPL_HEADER_VERSION	2
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_SUNXI_HIGH_SRAM
 #define SPL_ADDR		0x10000
@@ -58,11 +58,24 @@ struct boot_file_head {
 	 * compatible format, ready to be imported via "env import -t".
 	 */
 	uint32_t fel_uEnv_length;
-	uint32_t reserved1[2];
+	/*
+	 * Offset of an ASCIIZ string (relative to the SPL header), which
+	 * contains the default device tree name (CONFIG_DEFAULT_DEVICE_TREE).
+	 * This is optional and may be set to NULL. Is intended to be used
+	 * by flash programming tools for providing nice informative messages
+	 * to the users.
+	 */
+	uint32_t dt_name_offset;
+	uint32_t reserved1;
 	uint32_t boot_media;		/* written here by the boot ROM */
-	uint32_t reserved2[5];		/* padding, align to 64 bytes */
+	/* A padding area (may be used for storing text strings) */
+	uint32_t string_pool[13];
+	/* The header must be a multiple of 32 bytes (for VBAR alignment) */
 };
 
+/* Compile time check to assure proper alignment of structure */
+typedef char boot_file_head_not_multiple_of_32[1 - 2*(sizeof(struct boot_file_head) % 32)];
+
 #define is_boot0_magic(addr)	(memcmp((void *)addr, BOOT0_MAGIC, 8) == 0)
 
 #endif
diff --git a/include/configs/sunxi-common.h b/include/configs/sunxi-common.h
index 3f86cefe0f74012df3c24b4ec8912e78c92f29dc..f042f0d0c29fba459b1ca0aa33185f1e480fb8b2 100644
--- a/include/configs/sunxi-common.h
+++ b/include/configs/sunxi-common.h
@@ -189,8 +189,8 @@
 #endif
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_SUNXI_HIGH_SRAM
-#define CONFIG_SPL_TEXT_BASE		0x10040		/* sram start+header */
-#define CONFIG_SPL_MAX_SIZE		0x7fc0		/* 32 KiB */
+#define CONFIG_SPL_TEXT_BASE		0x10060		/* sram start+header */
+#define CONFIG_SPL_MAX_SIZE		0x7fa0		/* 32 KiB */
 #ifdef CONFIG_ARM64
 /* end of SRAM A2 for now, as SRAM A1 is pretty tight for an ARM64 build */
 #define LOW_LEVEL_SRAM_STACK		0x00054000
@@ -198,8 +198,8 @@
 #define LOW_LEVEL_SRAM_STACK		0x00018000
 #endif /* !CONFIG_ARM64 */
 #else
-#define CONFIG_SPL_TEXT_BASE		0x40		/* sram start+header */
-#define CONFIG_SPL_MAX_SIZE		0x5fc0		/* 24KB on sun4i/sun7i */
+#define CONFIG_SPL_TEXT_BASE		0x60		/* sram start+header */
+#define CONFIG_SPL_MAX_SIZE		0x5fa0		/* 24KB on sun4i/sun7i */
 #define LOW_LEVEL_SRAM_STACK		0x00008000	/* End of sram */
 #endif
 
diff --git a/scripts/Makefile.spl b/scripts/Makefile.spl
index 182b3002c124961121133a0e4a47407379ff58b4..135706f21de1e42f435be66d94686d80241f4b93 100644
--- a/scripts/Makefile.spl
+++ b/scripts/Makefile.spl
@@ -304,7 +304,8 @@ $(obj)/$(SPL_BIN).sfp: $(obj)/$(SPL_BIN).bin FORCE
 	$(call if_changed,mkimage)
 
 quiet_cmd_mksunxiboot = MKSUNXI $@
-cmd_mksunxiboot = $(objtree)/tools/mksunxiboot $< $@
+cmd_mksunxiboot = $(objtree)/tools/mksunxiboot \
+			--default-dt $(CONFIG_DEFAULT_DEVICE_TREE) $< $@
 $(obj)/sunxi-spl.bin: $(obj)/$(SPL_BIN).bin FORCE
 	$(call if_changed,mksunxiboot)
 
diff --git a/tools/mksunxiboot.c b/tools/mksunxiboot.c
index 111d74a3ee0ad31b53beb042a83bc260ed71d713..db0f10ec2967e0f8fbb0df561d856088e14f2288 100644
--- a/tools/mksunxiboot.c
+++ b/tools/mksunxiboot.c
@@ -70,11 +70,40 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	struct boot_img img;
 	unsigned file_size;
 	int count;
+	char *tool_name = argv[0];
+	char *default_dt = NULL;
 
-	if (argc < 2) {
-		printf("\tThis program makes an input bin file to sun4i " \
-		       "bootable image.\n" \
-		       "\tUsage: %s input_file out_putfile\n", argv[0]);
+	/* a sanity check */
+	if ((sizeof(img.header) % 32) != 0) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "ERROR: the SPL header must be a multiple ");
+		fprintf(stderr, "of 32 bytes.\n");
+		return EXIT_FAILURE;
+	}
+
+	/* process optional command line switches */
+	while (argc >= 2 && argv[1][0] == '-') {
+		if (strcmp(argv[1], "--default-dt") == 0) {
+			if (argc >= 3) {
+				default_dt = argv[2];
+				argv += 2;
+				argc -= 2;
+				continue;
+			}
+			fprintf(stderr, "ERROR: no --default-dt arg\n");
+			return EXIT_FAILURE;
+		} else {
+			fprintf(stderr, "ERROR: bad option '%s'\n", argv[1]);
+			return EXIT_FAILURE;
+		}
+	}
+
+	if (argc < 3) {
+		printf("This program converts an input binary file to a sunxi bootable image.\n");
+		printf("\nUsage: %s [options] input_file output_file\n",
+		       tool_name);
+		printf("Where [options] may be:\n");
+		printf("  --default-dt arg         - 'arg' is the default device tree name\n");
+		printf("                             (CONFIG_DEFAULT_DEVICE_TREE).\n");
 		return EXIT_FAILURE;
 	}
 
@@ -122,6 +151,18 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	memcpy(img.header.spl_signature, SPL_SIGNATURE, 3); /* "sunxi" marker */
 	img.header.spl_signature[3] = SPL_HEADER_VERSION;
 
+	if (default_dt) {
+		if (strlen(default_dt) + 1 <= sizeof(img.header.string_pool)) {
+			strcpy((char *)img.header.string_pool, default_dt);
+			img.header.dt_name_offset =
+				cpu_to_le32(offsetof(struct boot_file_head,
+						     string_pool));
+		} else {
+			printf("WARNING: The SPL header is too small\n");
+			printf("         and has no space to store the dt name.\n");
+		}
+	}
+
 	gen_check_sum(&img.header);
 
 	count = write(fd_out, &img, le32_to_cpu(img.header.length));