Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Mon, 17 Oct 2016 21:23:04 +0100
From:      Bruce Simpson <bms@fastmail.net>
To:        John Baldwin <jhb@freebsd.org>, Warner Losh <imp@bsdimp.com>
Cc:        Doug Ambrisko <ambrisko@ambrisko.com>, svn-src-head@freebsd.org, svn-src-all@freebsd.org, src-committers <src-committers@freebsd.org>, Doug Ambrisko <ambrisko@freebsd.org>, Ravi Pokala <rpokala@mac.com>
Subject:   Re: svn commit: r307326 - head/sys/boot/efi/loader
Message-ID:  <2397b12d-ddd7-8fde-9575-44dd825d6f60@fastmail.net>
In-Reply-To: <1950201.IjTl3rpdGP@ralph.baldwin.cx>
References:  <201610141710.u9EHArlL089412@repo.freebsd.org> <20161014175542.GB65545@ambrisko.com> <CANCZdfqV3rtEDxFLwfOJxs2prUfrXbh1N6G8KWy3VjXy6w7vwg@mail.gmail.com> <1950201.IjTl3rpdGP@ralph.baldwin.cx>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On 17/10/16 18:40, John Baldwin wrote:
> I'm a bit hesitant to do all the type parsing in the kernel vs userland.
> However, I think having smbios(4) export a /dev/smbios that you can either
> read() or mmap() to access the table would be very convenient and let you
> keep the bits to parse the table in userland (and not require root if we
> allow read-only access to mortals on /dev/foo).

This is probably a bit left-field, but I'm wondering if both methods 
(expose-to-loader-kenv and user-space-accessible devfs node) can be 
re-used for things like the Linux-oriented kernel environment page 
exported by SYSLINUX/PXELINUX memdisk, which I've used with some success 
to boot FreeBSD installers in heterogeneous private cloud/lab setups.

It exports this information using an ACPI-like table in that BIOS HBA 
type area in x86 address space, but the table is not DSDT linked (it's 
not produced by the BIOS).

Having a coherent means of dealing with it would be very useful, as such 
FreeBSD installers (which I've deployed as mfsBSD images) can then 
basically re-use what's been done for EFI variables for those legacy 
systems which don't support/can't use EFI network boot. As yet, I've not 
tried this with 64-bit EFI systems.




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?2397b12d-ddd7-8fde-9575-44dd825d6f60>