Adding write protect/lock support to flashrom - flashrom

26 Jan 2021


      Hi all,
I would like to see the following feature added to flashrom:
https://github.com/flashrom/flashrom/issues/185
If someone implemented it, would the idea (at least) be accepted?
Is anyone interested in implementing it and claiming the $100 bounty?
Text of the issue, for people too lazy to click:
Some chips require certain bits (and similar features) be set before the hardware write-protect pins can be used. Flashrom doesn't currently support setting these bits, which makes it impossible to e.g hardware write-protect a BIOS chip after flashing Coreboot. I would like to see Flashrom add support for this.
Attached is a patch which was written by someone else (they can identify themselves if they like) to toggle the relevant bits for a particular flash chip, each time flashrom is run, and tell the user what's going on.
Your task, if you want to claim the bounty, is to:
1- Add some UI sugar so that the user can choose to set the appropriate bits (or not), and any other "features" needed to enable hardware write-protect, via the command line
2- Ensure the necessary bits and features can be set for a specified set of chips (see below), so Flashrom supports hardware write protect for at least all of the listed chips, and
3- Get your patch accepted and merged (it may be wise to first check with the maintainers that they are willing to add this feature) using Gerrit or the mailing list as per the official process
If $100 isn't enough to make this attractive, I am open to increasing the bounty. I am also happy to escrow it if need be. Payment will be in Bitcoin.