[OpenPower-Firmware] [PATCH] skiroot_defconfig: Remove VirtIO and Solarflare

[Klaus Heinrich Kiwi]

On 12/9/2020 1:51 PM, Stewart Smith wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 8, 2020, at 12:21 PM, Klaus Heinrich Kiwi wrote:
>> At any rate, I'm looking for alternatives to keep our zImage.epapr
>> (with bundled rootfs)
>> under 16MB - it is looking like this is desirable for maintaining
>> compatibility with
>> AIX / IBM i "lids" constructs that have this as an upper limit.
> 
> The zz_defconfig will build a separate kernel and initramfs for this very reason. We long ago ended up needing greater than 16MB on FSP based boxes (even before the firmware there was built with buildroot), and we have the logic to load both LIDs in skiboot, and this is what's done.

Are you referring to BR2_PACKAGE_SKIBOOT_EMBED_PAYLOAD or some other mechanism?

That looks broken since 898245e - "skiboot: Change to BR2_PACKAGE_SKIBOOT from BR2_TARGET_SKIBOOT" since the variable name was never changed in skiboot.mk...

But I'll fix that in another patch and give it a try - thanks for the suggestion.
  
> It's only "kinda handy for a developer" to copy the one file across.
> 
> (*Unless something has changed in the past 18 months)

Not sure if that "changed" but the plan now is to have OpenBMC able to drive a system with PowerVM (who refuse to let go of LIDs).

So the OpenPower and FSP worlds are colliding a bit

  -Klaus

> for lrsz:
> https://www.flamingspork.com/blog/2017/10/20/zmodem-saves-the-day-or-why-my-firmware-for-a-machine-with-a-cpu-from-2017-contains-a-serial-file-transfer-protocol-from-the-1980s/
> 
> Damn useful getting binary debug data (or even text data when the BMC is crap and can't do a serial port without dropping data) off a box.

I must admit I'm a bit conflicted in having 'convenience' development / non-essential code enabled by default.
Hardening / dodging vulnerabilities could be seen as sufficient reason why to not have them, and space constrains could be the final straw.

And that is true for lrzsz, rsync, netcat as well as virtio drivers...

  -Klaus
  

-- 
Klaus Heinrich Kiwi <klaus at linux.vnet.ibm.com>