Re: [coreboot] setting smbios values from the OS

[Patrick Georgi]

Am 21.06.2014 08:06, schrieb ron minnich:
> very interesting. Thing is, this is pretty much the antithesis of
> build-time serial number creation ... which is the thing that I don't
> see scaling.

Right now we compile any serial number right into .text, and modifying
that is not a good idea (plus, updaters won't be able to handle that
properly either).

By storing the ID somewhere (be that at a magic location or in CBFS) at
least there's the possibility of keeping it around when updating the
same way it's currently done.

In the end, I pose the question why a serial number must be exported to
the OS in the first place - this looks like a potential privacy issue to
me, while doing nothing for servicing the part (if it's sent back, read
the bar code).

Given the possibility of runtime modifying the values (in a preboot
loader), it doesn't even function as some cheap DRM scheme. Which brings
us back to the original question ;-)

Patrick

setting smbios values from the OS

[ron minnich]

On Fri, Jun 20, 2014 at 11:20 PM, Patrick Georgi 
wrote:
> In the end, I pose the question why a serial number must be exported to
> the OS in the first place - this looks like a potential privacy issue to
> me, while doing nothing for servicing the part (if it's sent back, read
> the bar code).

There I also agree. I don't like electronically readable serial numbers in
general on computers.

ron