[coreboot] [VERY IMPORTANT] Announcement regarding Apollo Lake Coreboot building

Youness Alaoui kakaroto at kakaroto.homelinux.net
Thu Feb 23 17:49:07 CET 2017 

Zoran,

The blog post is not meant to be documentation, it's just a progress report
and a *blog post* about the experience and I'm sure it's much less
confusing than your emails have been so far.
in menuconfig, in the Chipset section, there's "Add Intel descriptor.bin
file" (which is what you had enabled, causing the build to fail) and under
it, there is "Path and filename of the descriptor.bin file", you set it
there.
You'll also probably need to extract and include the ME region as well, and
clone the blobs repository for the microcode updates to be generated from
tree.
Apart from that, I suggest you be careful with what you're doing to avoid
bricking your device, learn what you can about the process, read
documentation and even read the code if you need to. Randomly thinking that
there's a "very important announcement" because you didn't understand how
to compile coreboot (and then refusing to give your config and telling
developers to look into this 'bug' without giving any more information) is
not really the way to incite people to help you.

Good luck
Youness.

On Thu, Feb 23, 2017 at 10:29 AM, Zoran Stojsavljevic <
zoran.stojsavljevic at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello Youness (and others),
>
> Here, I need to apologize to all Coreboot recipients. Since it was a
> while, I did peak into that. But... It is NOT You(ness). You got my
> attention, and, since you blog is very confusing (lack of  some systematic
> knowledge) about INTEL BSP Technology.
>
> I really admire your effort. And just because of that I (after some 6+
> hours of investigation) I'll try to strengthen out your logs, which are, I
> should say, puzzled, scrambled all over place. Pieces of Truth are there,
> and you got on the right path. Although... Labyrinth (unsorted kludges and
> facts) for most of folks.
>
> *I did NOT expect that ... will make out of this Rocket Science.* And
> yes, they did make it??? Why, that is the question? ;-)
>
> I got it. Not quite up to ground level (I need to understand more about
> make menuconfig setup). But in order to make (example) 8MB Coreboot, you
> need to take the TRUE APL-I BIOS and to apply IFD tool, in order to extract
> first 4K (4096) File Descriptor. And SBIOS part as well. Not sure how many
> parts should be extracted?!
>
> Here is what GOOGLE designers posted for Emerald Lake 2, in 3rdparty:
>
> [user at localhost emeraldlake2]$ ls -al
> total 2120
> drwxrwxr-x. 2 user user    4096 Feb 18 01:57 .
> drwxrwxr-x. 3 user user    4096 Feb 18 01:57 ..
> -rw-rw-r--. 1 user user       4096 Feb 18 01:57 descriptor.bin
> -rw-rw-r--. 1 user user   2093056 Feb 18 01:57 me.bin
> -rw-rw-r--. 1 user user   65536 Feb 18 01:57 snm_2120.dat
> [user at localhost emeraldlake2]$ pwd
> /home/intel/projects/coreboot/coreboot/3rdparty/blobs/mainbo
> ard/intel/emeraldlake2
> [user at localhost emeraldlake2]$
>
> And, for descriptor.bin, there is the following:
>
> [image: Inline image 1]
>
> This (location 0x00000010) I have checked with many BIOSes found on the
> open net, . Most, but I did not find any instance of Apollo Lake, to build
> proper Coreboot.com.
>
> So, I need to extract at least SBIOS and descriptor.bin from real (UEFI)
> BIOS, and put, where?
>
> And then, to add to the Coreboot image. Using make menuconfig. Where and
> how?
>
> (Courtesy Aaron Durbin): http://elinux.org/Minnowboard:MinnowMaxCoreboot#
> TXE_and_SPI_descriptor
>
> Thank you all,
> Zoran
>
> On Thu, Feb 23, 2017 at 12:30 AM, Youness Alaoui <
> kakaroto at kakaroto.homelinux.net> wrote:
>
>> Zoran, read this : https://puri.sm/posts/librem
>> -13-coreboot-report-january-12-2017/
>> It might help you understand what that IFD and 0x5aa5f00f is (little
>> endian makes it 0x0FF0A55A)
>> I had the same confusion when I started, and when I figured things out, I
>> wrote that blog post that explained the process.
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Feb 22, 2017 at 11:51 AM, Zoran Stojsavljevic <
>> zoran.stojsavljevic at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> So, the final word here: In building of INTEL skus' Coreboot INTEL FIT
>>> tool (under NDA) is A MUST/mandatory, and INTEL is the road block if you
>>> are not working with them (having the NDA signed with them)?
>>>
>>> What about the concept of an Open Source??? ;-)
>>>
>>> I am at this point very confused... Really, I am. I did NOT find
>>> anywhere in any document that for Coreboot building INTEL FIT is
>>> mandatory???
>>>
>>> Thank you,
>>> Zoran
>>>
>>> On Wed, Feb 22, 2017 at 5:40 PM, Aaron Durbin <adurbin at google.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Wed, Feb 22, 2017 at 10:18 AM, Zoran Stojsavljevic
>>>> <zoran.stojsavljevic at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> > Aaron,
>>>> >
>>>> > Not that I am trying to be pest/bad guy. Please, believe me on this.
>>>> Just
>>>> > about the simple logic, which SHOULD NOT be deniable!
>>>> >
>>>> > I did what I know about Coreboot, hands on, from 3.3 years ago. Then,
>>>> I
>>>> > built the VERY first Emerald Lake 2 (CCG CRB) -> Cougar Canyon 2 CRB
>>>> as
>>>> > payload SeaBIOS, and WIN 8.0 32bit. I was really amazed. Then.
>>>> >
>>>> > And I read much more these days, and a bit emailed with Martin
>>>> (forth/back),
>>>> > so Martin can give me a jump start. And then I read more. And more.
>>>> And for
>>>> > 5 full days I was doing this exercise (with lot of pain).
>>>> >
>>>> > So, I'll quote you:
>>>> >
>>>> >> That file is the FSP blob. Nothing more. As Nico pointed out that is
>>>> >> something completely different from the flash descriptor. The flash
>>>> >> descriptor can be obtained from the original released BIOS or you
>>>> have
>>>> >> to generate it using Intel's FIT tool.
>>>> >
>>>> > Please, guide me through this process. Or point to some documents
>>>> about this
>>>> > process I can read about?
>>>>
>>>> IIRC, FIT is provided by Intel to its customers under NDA. You'll have
>>>> to contact your Intel rep for that. It's quite the barrier to entry
>>>> for using these devices, but that's a policy decision from Intel.
>>>>
>>>> Or you can take a previously released bios for this board and do
>>>> similar as the instructions on the Minnow Max page:
>>>> http://elinux.org/Minnowboard:MinnowMaxCoreboot#TXE_and_SPI_descriptor
>>>>
>>>> Note, TXE/CSE on apollolake does not have its own region in the flash.
>>>> It's in something intel calls IFWI and has its own new format that
>>>> lives in the "BIOS" region. There's a tool (util/cbfstool/ifwitool.c)
>>>> which takes an existing image with the IFWI and makes it work with
>>>> coreboot's implementation/support for apollolake.
>>>>
>>>> >
>>>> > Thank you,
>>>> > Zoran
>>>> >
>>>> > On Wed, Feb 22, 2017 at 5:05 PM, Aaron Durbin <adurbin at google.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> >>
>>>> >> On Wed, Feb 22, 2017 at 10:01 AM, Zoran Stojsavljevic
>>>> >> <zoran.stojsavljevic at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> >> > I can admit my errors:
>>>> >> >
>>>> >> > This is what I have:
>>>> >> >
>>>> >> > user at localhost FspBin]$ pwd
>>>> >> >
>>>> >> > /home/user/projects/coreboot/coreboot/APL-I_FSP/ApolloLakeFs
>>>> pBinPkg/FspBin
>>>> >> > [user at localhost FspBin]$ ls -al
>>>> >> > total 672
>>>> >> > drwxr-xr-x. 2 user user   4096 Feb 11 12:19 .
>>>> >> > drwxr-xr-x. 6 user user   4096 Feb 11 12:19 ..
>>>> >> > -rw-r--r--. 1 user user 136832 Feb 11 12:19 ApolloLakeFsp.bsf
>>>> >> > -rw-r--r--. 1 user user 540672 Feb 11 12:19 ApolloLakeFsp.fd
>>>> >> > [user at localhost FspBin]$
>>>> >> >
>>>> >> > I use one in RED.
>>>> >> >
>>>> >> > Need the clarification. Please, do it for me.
>>>> >>
>>>> >> That file is the FSP blob. Nothing more. As Nico pointed out that is
>>>> >> something completely different from the flash descriptor. The flash
>>>> >> descriptor can be obtained from the original released BIOS or you
>>>> have
>>>> >> to generate it using Intel's FIT tool.
>>>> >>
>>>> >> >
>>>> >> > Zoran
>>>> >> >
>>>> >> > On Wed, Feb 22, 2017 at 4:56 PM, Nico Huber <
>>>> nico.huber at secunet.com>
>>>> >> > wrote:
>>>> >> >>
>>>> >> >> On 22.02.2017 08:12, Zoran Stojsavljevic wrote:
>>>> >> >> > Hello to community,
>>>> >> >> >
>>>> >> >> > I finally, after 3 days of additional very hard struggle, found
>>>> out
>>>> >> >> > why
>>>> >> >> > I
>>>> >> >> > have (while I am in the last stage of building CBFS) nonsense
>>>> while
>>>> >> >> > building APL-I Coreboot coreboot.rom?!
>>>> >> >> >
>>>> >> >> > Please, read carefully this announcement.
>>>> >> >> >
>>>> >> >> > For last three days I came to hard stop because of this failure:
>>>> >> >> >
>>>> >> >> > Just quick look into the final failure (all passed, but last
>>>> stage -
>>>> >> >> > IFD
>>>> >> >> > failed):
>>>> >> >> >
>>>> >> >> >     Compile IFDTOOL
>>>> >> >> >     HOSTCC     util/ifdfake/ifdfake
>>>> >> >> >     DD         Adding Intel Firmware Descriptor
>>>> >> >> >     IFDTOOL    Unlocking Management Engine
>>>> >> >> > File build/coreboot.pre is 8388608 bytes
>>>> >> >> > No Flash Descriptor found in this image
>>>> >> >> > *src/southbridge/intel/common/firmware/Makefile.inc:50: recipe
>>>> for
>>>> >> >> > target
>>>> >> >> > 'add_intel_firmware' failed*
>>>> >> >> > *make: *** [add_intel_firmware] Error 1*
>>>> >> >> > [user at localhost coreboot]$
>>>> >> >> >
>>>> >> >> > At first, I suspect that culprit my .config file, but I have
>>>> checked
>>>> >> >> > it
>>>> >> >> > several times (maybe > dozen), and I could NOT find any problem
>>>> with
>>>> >> >> > it
>>>> >> >> > (except minor doubts).
>>>> >> >> >
>>>> >> >> > Then I switched to inspect -southbridge- setup, but these is
>>>> none,
>>>> >> >> > since
>>>> >> >> > (simplified explanation/view) APL-I is SoC.
>>>> >> >> >
>>>> >> >> > The next phase was to inspect
>>>> >> >> > *src/southbridge/intel/common/firmware/Makefile.inc* , but
>>>> there
>>>> >> >> > (although
>>>> >> >> > my make scripting is rusty) I could NOT find any problem...
>>>> >> >> >
>>>> >> >> > Finally, somewhere around 2:00 AM I noticed/determined the root
>>>> cause
>>>> >> >> > of
>>>> >> >> > the problem: the util/ifdtool/ifdtool.c, line:
>>>> >> >> >           if (*(uint32_t *) (image + i) == *0x0FF0A55A*) {
>>>> >> >> >
>>>> >> >> > YET another INTEL IOTG PED hidden road bomb: the latest APL-I
>>>> FSP:
>>>> >> >> > APL-I_
>>>> >> >> > FSP/ApolloLakeFspBinPkg/FspBin/ApolloLakeFsp.fd does NOT have
>>>> pattern
>>>> >> >> > *0x0FF0A55A* embedded in it (I have checked with HxD WIN tool).
>>>> >> >>
>>>> >> >> Looks like this [VERY IMPORTANT] Announcement is about you,
>>>> confusing
>>>> >> >> two very different concepts. FSP is a binary program run by
>>>> coreboot
>>>> >> >> and has nothing in common with the Intel Firmware Descriptor. It's
>>>> >> >> called *.fd for some reason I don't know, but I'm pretty sure it's
>>>> >> >> another binary. The Firmware Descriptor describes some flash
>>>> parameters
>>>> >> >> and soft straps. It's just data, no program. You only need it as
>>>> an OEM
>>>> >> >> to build a full ROM image for a new system. If you have a system
>>>> that
>>>> >> >> already runs another firmware, you can just keep the existing
>>>> >> >> descriptor
>>>> >> >> in place.
>>>> >> >>
>>>> >> >> Nico
>>>> >> >
>>>> >> >
>>>> >> >
>>>> >> > --
>>>> >> > coreboot mailing list: coreboot at coreboot.org
>>>> >> > https://www.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> coreboot mailing list: coreboot at coreboot.org
>>> https://www.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot
>>>
>>
>>
>
> --
> coreboot mailing list: coreboot at coreboot.org
> https://www.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot
>
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