<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<style type="text/css">
@import url('../css/main.css');
</style>
<title>Maintaining libreboot</title>
</head>
<body>
<div class="section">
<h1 id="pagetop">Maintaining libreboot</h1>
<p>
This section relates to maintaining libreboot. <b>Work-in-progress</b>
</p>
<p>
Do not follow anything here to the letter; is it only a guide
representing how libreboot is maintained (for reference). This
will be added to frequently from now on.
</p>
<p>
This section of the documentation applies mainly to the
development version of libreboot, which is hosted in a git
repository. It is not intended for the release versions of
libreboot.
</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="#overview">Overview</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#updating_coreboot">Updating coreboot-libre</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#newboard_libreboot">Adding a new board to libreboot</a></li>
<li><a href="#newpatch_libreboot">Add/remove/modify patches in coreboot-libre</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#updating_grub">Updating GRUB</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#newpatch_grub">Add/remove/modify patches in GRUB</a></li>
<li><a href="#altbuild_grub_payload">Change how the GRUB payload (grub.elf) is built (utility: grub-assemble)</a></li>
<li><a href="#newconfig_grub">Modify the configuration used in GRUB</a></li>
<li><a href="../grub/index.html">Other maintenance-related tasks in GRUB</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#updating_flashrom">Updating flashrom</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#newpatch_flashrom">Add/remove/modify patches in flashrom</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#updating_bucts">Updating bucts</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#newpatch_bucts">Add/remove/modify patches in bucts</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#updating_memtest86plus">Updating MemTest86+</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#newpatch_memtest86plus">Add/remove/modify patches in MemTest86+</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p>
Or <a href="../index.html">Back to main index</a>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1 id="overview">Overview</h1>
<p>
The way the libreboot project is run is very similar to how
a GNU/Linux distribution project is run (but for the boot
firmware, not your operating system).
</p>
<p>
This page demonstrates on a high level how
libreboot is maintained, how the project is run, how everything
goes together, etc. For a more detailed guide, refer to each
subsection for the various components/modules used in libreboot.
</p>
<p>
TODO: write this section
</p>
<p>
<a href="#pagetop">Back to top of page</a>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1 id="updating_coreboot">Updating coreboot-libre</h1>
<p>
NOTE: it helps to own all libreboot-compatible systems here,
or have reliable (and fast) access to a team of testers.
</p>
<p>
Coreboot-libre is the name of the deblobbed coreboot sources
used in libreboot. It is also the name of the collection
of scripts used for deblobbing coreboot, on each new update.
</p>
<p>
This section shows an example of how to update (re-base) to
the latest version of coreboot, how to update the deblobbing
scripts, and so on. <b>This does not teach you how to
change what custom patches are used, nor does it tell
you how to add new boards to libreboot. It assumes that you
simply want to re-base to the latest version (for instance,
there could be bug fixes that you want). For those things
not listed in this section, you can refer to other sections
on this page instead.</b>
</p>
<p>
Open these files in your editor (you will most likely be editing them):
</p>
<ul>
<li>resources/scripts/helpers/download/coreboot</li>
<li>resources/scripts/helpers/build/module/coreboot</li>
<li>resources/utilities/coreboot-libre/deblob</li>
<li>resources/utilities/coreboot-libre/nonblobs</li>
<li>resources/utilities/coreboot-libre/nonblobs_notes</li>
<li>resources/scripts/helpers/build/roms/helper</li>
<li>resources/scripts/helpers/build/roms/withgrub</li>
</ul>
<p>
If you already had a coreboot/ directory in your libreboot
tree, delete it:<br/>
$ <b>rm -rf coreboot/</b>
</p>
<p>
Firstly, download coreboot. Do <b>not</b> use <b>./download coreboot</b>
for this, just clone coreboot, as it does in that script, like so:<br/>
$ <b>git clone http://review.coreboot.org/coreboot</b>
</p>
<p>
$ <b>cd coreboot/</b><br/>
Get the ID of the latest commit in this clone, by reading the commit ID using
e.g.:<br/>
$ <b>git log</b><br/>
In <i>resources/scripts/helpers/download/coreboot</i> you will
find a line that says <i><b>git reset --hard</b></i> and then
a commit ID next to it. Replace this with the commit ID of the latest
commit from the coreboot version that you just downloaded.
</p>
<p>
Delete the .git* resources. For example:<br/>
$ <b>rm -rf .git*</b><br/>
...this is to avoid the deblobbing script from picking up files
in there as blobs, which would be only false positives and
increase the amount of time taken. Now come out of coreboot:<br/>
$ <b>cd ../</b>
</p>
<p>
Check all coreboot file names/paths in <i>deblob</i>; if any
of them no longer exist at that name/path in the coreboot tree that you downloaded,
delete the reference(s) in <i>deblob</i>.
</p>
<p>
Check all coreboot file names/paths in <i>nonblobs</i>; if
any of them no longer exist at that name/path in the coreboot tree that you downloaded,
delete the reference in <i>nonblobs</i>.
</p>
<p>
Now, back in the main root directory of libreboot (git repository),
run the deblob script. This is to prevent the <i>findblobs</i>
scripts from finding the blobs that are already deleted
when running the <i>deblob</i> script. Like so:<br/>
$ <b>./resources/utilities/coreboot-libre/deblob</b>
</p>
<p>
Now search for new blobs:<br/>
$ <b>cd resources/utilities/coreboot-libre/</b><br/>
$ <b>./findblobs</b><br/>
WARNING: this will take a <b>*long*</b> time. Be patient!
What this will do is look through the coreboot source directory,
looking for blobs. It will not find the blobs that you deleted
before (because they no longer exist), and it will ignore any
files listed in <i>nonblobs</i>.
</p>
<p>
Once the <i>findblobs</i> script has finished, check the file
<i>tocheck</i> (from the root, this will be <i>resources/utilities/coreboot-libre/tocheck</i>).
These are the files detected as blobs; some might be blobs, some not.
The <i>findblobs</i> script doesn't know how to determine between blobs
and non-blobs, it only knows patterns. Distinguishing between blobs and
non-blobs must be performed by you, the human being.
</p>
<ul>
<li>
Files in <i>tocheck</i> that you identify as blobs,
should be added appropriately to <i>resources/utilities/coreboot-libre/deblob</i>
</li>
<li>
Files in <i>tocheck</i> that you identify as non-blobs,
should be added appropriately to <i>resources/utilities/coreboot-libre/nonblobs</i> -
also, if you feel it necessary, add an explanation of it in
<i>resources/utilities/coreboot-libre/nonblobs_notes</i>
</li>
</ul>
<p>
Now come back to the main libreboot root directory (root
of the git clone). If you are still in resources/utilities/coreboot-libre/
for instance, you would do something like:<br/>
$ <b>cd ../../../</b>
</p>
<p>
Now delete the coreboot directory:<br/>
$ <b>rm -rf coreboot/</b>
</p>
<p>
Download coreboot again, only this time, using the download
script. The download script also applies custom patches
to coreboot (see resources/scripts/helpers/download/coreboot);
if they do not apply anymore, you will have to re-base them
and then update <i>resources/scripts/helpers/download/coreboot</i>
accordingly. Anyway, download coreboot like so:<br/>
$ <b>./download coreboot</b>
</p>
<p>
If the custom patches no longer apply, and you have to re-base
(or replace?) some patches, please do this in coreboot upstream,
not in libreboot. Then re-include new patches from upstream,
into libreboot. Here is coreboot's guide for contributing
patches:<br/>
<a href="http://www.coreboot.org/Git">http://www.coreboot.org/Git</a>.
</p>
<p>
Update all configs:<br/>
$ <b>./build config corebootupdate</b><br/>
This simply takes all of the coreboot <b>.config</b> files from
<i>resources/libreboot/config/</i> and does <b>make oldconfig</b>
on them. It usually works. If it doesn't, you'll need to recreate
those configs from scratch using <b>./build config corebootreplace</b> (optionally
add a config name), or <b>./build config corebootmodify</b> (ditto)
(see <a href="../git/index.html#config">../git/index.html#config</a>)
</p>
<p>
Finally, build *all* ROM images using the instructions at
<a href="../git/index.html">../git/index.html</a>, to verify
that everything still builds.
</p>
<p>
Once you've verified that building isn't broken, test *all*
boards (you don't need to test all ROM images, only one
vesafb and one txtmode image for each configuration). If you
do not have all systems supported in libreboot, then you will
need to get other testers for those boards.
</p>
<p>
If you have established a build issue, or a board no longer
works (booting issues, bugs during/after boot, etc), you'll
need to fix it upstream:
<a href="http://www.coreboot.org/Git">http://www.coreboot.org/Git</a>
and then re-update coreboot (or apply patches from upstream).
</p>
<p>
<a href="#pagetop">Back to top of page</a>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1 id="newboard_libreboot">Adding a new board to libreboot</h1>
<p>
TODO: write this section
</p>
<p>
<a href="#pagetop">Back to top of page</a>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1 id="newpatch_libreboot">Add/remove/modify patches in coreboot-libre</h1>
<p>
TODO: write this section
</p>
<p>
<a href="#pagetop">Back to top of page</a>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1 id="updating_grub">Updating GRUB</h1>
<p>
TODO: write this section
</p>
<p>
<a href="#pagetop">Back to top of page</a>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1 id="newpatch_grub">Add/remove/modify patches in GRUB</h1>
<p>
TODO: write this section
</p>
<p>
<a href="#pagetop">Back to top of page</a>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1 id="altbuild_grub_payload">Change how the GRUB payload (grub.elf) is built (utility: grub-assemble)</h1>
<p>
TODO: write this section
</p>
<p>
<a href="#pagetop">Back to top of page</a>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1 id="newconfig_grub">Modify the configuration used in GRUB</h1>
<p>
TODO: write this section
</p>
<p>
<a href="#pagetop">Back to top of page</a>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1 id="updating_flashrom">Updating flashrom</h1>
<p>
TODO: write this section
</p>
<p>
<a href="#pagetop">Back to top of page</a>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1 id="newpatch_flashrom">Add/remove/modify patches in flashrom</h1>
<p>
TODO: write this section
</p>
<p>
<a href="#pagetop">Back to top of page</a>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1 id="updating_bucts">Updating bucts</h1>
<p>
TODO: write this section
</p>
<p>
<a href="#pagetop">Back to top of page</a>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1 id="newpatch_bucts">Add/remove/modify patches in bucts</h1>
<p>
TODO: write this section
</p>
<p>
<a href="#pagetop">Back to top of page</a>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1 id="updating_memtest86plus">Updating MemTest86+</h1>
<p>
TODO: write this section
</p>
<p>
<a href="#pagetop">Back to top of page</a>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1 id="newpatch_memtest86plus">Add/remove/modify patches in MemTest86+</h1>
<p>
TODO: write this section
</p>
<p>
<a href="#pagetop">Back to top of page</a>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<p>
Copyright © 2015 Francis Rowe <info@gluglug.org.uk><br/>
This document is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License and all future versions.
A copy of the license can be found at <a href="../license.txt">../license.txt</a>.
</p>
<p>
This document is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See <a href="../license.txt">../license.txt</a> for more information.
</p>
</div>
</body>
</html>