[coreboot] [RFC] board_status: Add serial log to `serial_console.txt`

[Paul Menzel]

Am Dienstag, den 11.02.2014, 00:04 +0100 schrieb Vladimir 'φ-coder/phcoder' Serbinenko:
> On 10.02.2014 23:47, David Hendricks wrote:
> > On Sun, Feb 9, 2014 at 4:50 AM, Paul Menzel wrote:

> >     currently no coreboot messages are stored for boards not supporting
> >     CBMEM console (or where this option is disabled (currently by default))
> >     or no coreboot *romstage* messages are stored for boards, where the data
> >     cannot be preserved (passed to ramstage).
> > 
> >     Using the serial (or USB) console all these messages can be captured
> >     with no problem, so I propose to just add these captured messages into
> >     the file `serial_console.txt`. Of course this file probably contains
> >     also the payload and (Linux) kernel log, but I think that is fine.
> > 
> >     SeaBIOS’ `readserial.py` should be used for capturing the messages as it
> >     adds time stamps.
> > 
> >     Scripting this is going to be hard, as the log is captured on a
> >     different system. So for now I propose to add it manually.
> > 
> > 
> > I don't think the script itself should be responsible for collecting
> > serial output. Instead, how about adding an argument to override the
> > default behavior of running "cbmem -c" on the target so that the user
> > can pass in a filename? The user will simply capture the serial output
> > using whatever tool they like, dump the output to a text file, and run
> > the script with an argument to use the file instead of calling "cbmem
> > -c". Here is a proof-of-concept: http://review.coreboot.org/#/c/5191 .

David, thanks a lot for implementing this.

> This requires user to do right manipulations. While keyboard and chair
> are usually fine, the space between them exhibits strong bug-inducing
> properties. The idea of the script is to reduce a possibility of user
> error creating strange reports. In this case the common error I expect is
> using a stale file from some other version. It's a particularly nasty one
> as at first glance in may look fine but would be almost useless to track
> how details changed from one submit to the next. If we let user supply
> files at all, it should be added to report, not replace files, and it
> should have some prefix to clearly indicate that user was involved in
> creating them. E.g. user_serial_log.txt

I agree with Vladimir that the file should be put there with a separate
name. I am not sure about a common name though, as it could be also
captured using a USB debug device or spkmodem(?).

> > But in general I think I agree with Vladimir. CBMEM console should be
> > supported and if not then that should be fixed.

I also agree, but it’ll take more time and the above is a good
work-around for the mean time.


Thanks,

Paul
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