Re: [OpenBIOS] Sparc64 OpenBIOS

[Nick Couchman]

I have a pretty old version of the Solaris Nevada code that I tried to boot, and I got a different error: open isn't unique.  I'll post actual output here in a little while.

I'm pretty new to Qemu and OpenBIOS - what's the best way to go about debugging this?  GDB?  Qemu's built-in debugging?

Thanks,
Nick
> > > On 2009/11/13 at 11:38, Tarl Neustaedter  wrote:
>
> Nick Couchman wrote:
> > So, forgive the ignorant question, but does this look to be an OpenBIOS
>
> issue or a Qemu issue?
> >
>
> Until you figure out why the seek is failing, you won't know.
>
> Minor comment about "seek"; this is in the forth engine file support, 
> and "seek" actually translates to scsi (or atapi) reads. It will 
> pre-load about 8k of data for future reads, so when debugging this, if 
> you put a breakpoint in your HBA code where scsi commands get issued, 
> you may be able to figure out what mistake it's making.

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Sparc64 OpenBIOS

[Blue Swirl]

On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 5:35 PM, Nick Couchman  wrote:
> I have a pretty old version of the Solaris Nevada code that I tried to boot, and I got a different error: open isn't unique.  I'll post actual output here in a little while.
>
> I'm pretty new to Qemu and OpenBIOS - what's the best way to go about debugging this?  GDB?  Qemu's built-in debugging?

Those are too low level, but a Forth debugger should be more useful.
There is no debugger in OpenBIOS yet, but we'll have one very soon.

Sparc64 OpenBIOS

[Tarl Neustaedter]

Nick Couchman wrote:
> I have a pretty old version of the Solaris Nevada code that I tried to boot, and I got a different error: open isn't unique.  I'll post actual output here in a little while.

Hmm. That's interesting. I wonder if we're getting a conflict between 
packages in openbios and what the boot blocks are creating. You might 
find it easier to debug the Solaris Nevada version, depending on just 
how old it is. Among other things, under OpenSolaris you can find the 
code for the boot blocks (which changed drastically from Solaris 10 to 
Nevada), so you aren't quite struggling in the dark.

Also, the Nevada version of the bootblocks responds to the "-H" 
argument, indicating that after loading the filesystem into /packages, 
it returns to the OK prompt rather than immediately trying to do the 
boot itself. That lets you set up breakpoints in the filesystem code 
before executing them.
> I'm pretty new to Qemu and OpenBIOS - what's the best way to go about debugging this?  GDB?  Qemu's built-in debugging?

Probably best to wait for the forth debugger that is being discussed. 
Without breakpoints, you need to basically patch in breakpoints, which 
is doable but time-consuming.

Sparc64 OpenBIOS

[Tarl Neustaedter]

Tarl Neustaedter wrote:
> [...] Among other things, under OpenSolaris you can find the code for 
> the boot blocks (which changed drastically from Solaris 10 to Nevada), 
> so you aren't quite struggling in the dark.

Specifically, once you create yourself an account under OpenSolaris, the 
bootblocks can be found under:

http://src.opensolaris.org/source/xref/onnv/onnv-gate/usr/src/psm/stand/boot...

The top level is under common/boot.fth (note that it ends by calling 
do-boot which it just defined). For a CDrom, the filesystem code it 
defines is probably under hsfs/common/hsfs.fth

Good luck!