[SeaBIOS] [PATCH] build: remove hardcoded timestamp

Kevin O'Connor kevin at koconnor.net
Tue Feb 3 19:58:18 CET 2015


On Tue, Feb 03, 2015 at 07:22:49PM +0100, Peter Stuge wrote:
> Kevin O'Connor wrote:
> > > > What breaks if the version changes?
> > > 
> > > Reproducible builds; allowing to create a consensus that a particular
> > > binary is indeed the correct binary for a particular source code.
> > 
> > That is useful.  A solution for stabilizing gcc/binutils output would
> > also need to be found though, and that's a much harder problem.
> 
> Do you mean code generation? Reproducible builds are created using
> the same particular compiler version everywhere.

Well, sure.  But that's not the current reality - we know there are
lots of different compiler versions in use today.  (Indeed, new
versions come out every few months.)

>I recommend this
> presentation for more information:
> 
> https://media.ccc.de/browse/congress/2014/31c3_-_6240_-_en_-_saal_g_-_201412271400_-_reproducible_builds_-_mike_perry_-_seth_schoen_-_hans_steiner.html

Looks to be a long video - I'll add it to my queue.

> For direct video download links:
> https://media.ccc.de/browse/congress/2014/31c3_-_6240_-_en_-_saal_g_-_201412271400_-_reproducible_builds_-_mike_perry_-_seth_schoen_-_hans_steiner.html#download
> 
> 
> > > > It should be possible to force a static version with "make
> > > > VERSION='xyz'", but I'd ask that that not be done for production
> > > > builds as it makes handling trouble reports harder.
> > > 
> > > I would recommend to use `git describe --tags --dirty` output, which
> > > tells if there are any local modifications.
> > 
> > "git describe" is already there - see my recent email to Ian.
> 
> It's important that there's nothing additional in the string that
> changes depending on transient things outside of the source code.
> I.e. it needs to be nothing but describe output, and I think it
> would be nice if it were the default, so as to support reproducible
> builds out of the box.

If someone wants to add a SeaBIOS build flag to help with building a
reproducible version, I'm okay with that.  (Contrary to my earlier
email, "make VERSION=xyz" no longer works.)  I do not agree it should
be the default.

-Kevin



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