Unable to boot OpenBMC image in QEMU for AST2500

[Andrew Jeffery]

On Wed, 25 Sep 2019, at 22:52, Stephen Beckwith wrote:
> 2) re: qemu machine - the qemu machine being used is the one that was 
> built as part fo the opembmc project. If this qemu machine won’t work, 
> then why is it built as part of the project?

Because no-one has looked at removing it from the poky build
configurations that openbmc inherits. Regardless, removing it isn't the
right way to deal with the issue.

> Why are there 13 copies of 
> this machine scattered through out the filesystem, consuming ~ 564MB of 
> space, if it’s the “wrong” machine? 

This is a question best asked of the upstream yocto project.

>  - so where do I obtain the “BMC-specific machine” ?

By running `qemu-system-arm -M ? | grep bmc`. It will give you output like:

$ qemu-system-arm -M ? | grep bmc
palmetto-bmc         OpenPOWER Palmetto BMC (ARM926EJ-S)
rainier-bmc          Aspeed AST2600 EVB (Cortex A7)
romulus-bmc          OpenPOWER Romulus BMC (ARM1176)
swift-bmc            OpenPOWER Swift BMC (ARM1176)
tacoma-bmc           Aspeed AST2600 EVB (Cortex A7)
witherspoon-bmc      OpenPOWER Witherspoon BMC (ARM1176)

You need to pick an appropriate one to run your image:

ARM926EJ-S: AST2400
ARM1176: AST2500
Cortex A7: AST2600

The remaining differences between listed machines are what peripherals
are attached to e.g. the I2C buses.

> 
> 3) if OpenBMC doesn’t properly integrate into the rumqemu scripts, 
> then: A) why is this script here?

It is provided by the upstream yocto project.

> B) why hasn’t anyone taken the 
> time/effort to correct the script so that it will integrate properly 
> with OpenBMC? 

Because no-one sees it as something worth spending time on? I've
wanted to get it done since writing the initial QEMU support for the
ASPEED chips, but it lives at the bottom of my todo list. I've asked
other people asking questions like you to do it as well, but it hasn't
been done yet by them either, so I can only assume it lives at the
bottom of their todo lists too. I'd love it if you contributed a patch
to fix it :)

Andrew