[coreboot] Re: Coreboot Self-Flashing Through Payload?

[ron minnich]

I agree with patrick :-)

On Fri, Feb 15, 2019 at 1:38 PM Patrick Georgi  wrote:
> It's also possible to make Linux (with included ramdisk) into a
> payload, so maybe that could be a middle ground: It's still usable by
> all payloads that can execute payloads, it's still Linux + userland in
> a more or less normal configuration. It has some overhead, but OTOH
> brings the peace of mind of the battle hardened environment.
>
> Patrick
>
> Am Fr., 15. Feb. 2019 um 22:33 Uhr schrieb Matt B :
> > Makes sense. That was one thing that gave me a bit of a gut feeling to do it in a small linux install than to try to integrate more tightly with the firmware. The linux utility is what everyone uses and should be more reliable.
> >
> > I've been recently burned by that issue too, on proprietary firmware from around 2008.
> >
> > -Matt
> >
> > On Thu, Feb 14, 2019 at 7:56 PM ron minnich  wrote:
> > > On Thu, Feb 14, 2019 at 9:29 AM Matt B  wrote:
> > > > Hi,
> > > >
> > > > I was helping a friend with a bios issue (we may have an involuntary coreboot convert on our hands ;) ) and realized that a lot of BIOSs provide a way for the BIOS to flash itself but Coreboot doesn't.
> > >
> > > And, for the record, this was intentional, a decision I made in 1999
> > > when I started the project. I had been burned big time by firmware
> > > systems that claimed to be able to reliably reflash themselves, and
> > > the history of UEFI self-reflash, at least in my view, confirms that
> > > this was the right call.
> > >
> > > I just wanted to make clear that this was not an oversight, it was a
> > > decision we made from the start. We always felt more willing to trust
> > > a user mode program running under Linux to get it right, as opposed to
> > > some magic thing in the firmware ... :-)
> > >
> > > thanks
> > >
> > > ron
> >
> > coreboot mailing list -- [e-mail]
> > To unsubscribe send an email to [e-mail]