Re: [Qemu-devel] [qemu PATCH] hw/i386/pc_sysfw: support more than one flash drive

[Markus Armbruster]

Laszlo Ersek <address@hidden> writes:

> On 11/22/13 13:21, Markus Armbruster wrote:
>> Laszlo Ersek <address@hidden> writes:
>> 
>>> This patch allows the user to usefully specify
>>>
>>>   -drive file=img_1,if=pflash,format=raw,readonly \
>>>   -drive file=img_2,if=pflash,format=raw
>>>
>>> on the command line. The flash images will be mapped under 4G in their
>>> reverse unit order -- that is, with their base addresses progressing
>>> downwards, in increasing unit order.
>>>
>>> (The unit number increases with command line order if not explicitly
>>> specified.)
>>>
>>> This accommodates the following use case: suppose that OVMF is split in
>>> two parts, a writeable host file for non-volatile variable storage, and a
>>> read-only part for bootstrap and decompressible executable code.
>>>
>>> The binary code part would be read-only, centrally managed on the host
>>> system, and passed in as unit 0. The variable store would be writeable,
>>> VM-specific, and passed in as unit 1.
>>>
>>>   00000000ffe00000-00000000ffe1ffff (prio 0, R-): system.flash1
>>>   00000000ffe20000-00000000ffffffff (prio 0, R-): system.flash0
>>>
>>> (If the guest tries to write to the flash range that is backed by the
>>> read-only drive, bdrv_write() in pflash_update() will correctly deny the
>>> write with -EACCES, and pflash_update() won't care, which suits us well.)
>> 
>> Before this patch:
>> 
>> You can define as many if=pflash drives as you want.  Any with non-zero
>> index are silently ignored.
>> 
>> If you don't specify one with index=0, you get a ROM at the top of the
>> 32 bit address space, contents taken from -bios (default "bios.bin").
>> Up to its last 128KiB are aliased at the top of the ISA address space.
>> 
>> If you do specify one with index=0, you get a pflash device at the top
>> of the 32 bit address space, with contents from the drive, and -bios is
>> silently ignored.  Up to its last 128KiB are copied to a ROM at the top
>> of the (20 bit) ISA address space.
>> 
>> After this patch (please correct misunderstandings):
>> 
>> Now the drives after the first unused index are silently ignored.
>> 
>> If you don't specify one with index=0, no change.
>> 
>> If you do, you now get N pflash devices, where N is the first unused
>> index.  Each pflash's contents is taken from the respective drive.  The
>> flashes are mapped at the top of the 32 bit address space in reverse
>> index order.  -bios is silently ignored, as before.  Up to the last
>> 128KiB of the index=0 flash are copied to a ROM at the top of the ISA
>> address space.
>> 
>> Thus, no change for index=0.  For index=1..N, we now get additional
>> flash devices.
>> 
>> Correct?
>
> Yes.

Thus, we grab *all* if=pflash drives for this purpose.

Your stated use case wants just two.

Hmm.  Are we sure we'll never want to map an if=pflash device somewhere
else?

I'm asking because such ABI things are a pain to change later on...