Re: [libvirt] [qemu RFC] qapi: add "firmware.json"

On Mon, Apr 09, 2018 at 06:34:41PM +0200, Laszlo Ersek wrote: > On 04/09/18 09:26, Thomas Huth wrote: >> Hi Laszlo, >> >> On 07.04.2018 02:01, Laszlo Ersek wrote: >>> Add a schema that describes the properties of virtual machine >>> firmware. >>> >>> Each firmware executable installed on a host system should come >>> with a JSON file that conforms to this schema, and informs the >>> management applications about the firmware's properties. >>> >>> In addition, a configuration directory with symlinks to the JSON >>> files should exist, with the symlinks carefully named to reflect a >>> priority order. Management applications can then search this >>> directory in priority order for the first firmware executable that >>> satisfies their search criteria. The found JSON file provides the >>> management layer with domain configuration bits that are required >>> to run the firmware binary. >> [...] >>> +## >>> +# @FirmwareDevice: >>> +# >>> +# Defines the device types that a firmware file can be mapped into. >>> +# >>> +# @memory: The firmware file is to be mapped into memory. >>> +# >>> +# @kernel: The firmware file is to be loaded like a Linux kernel. This is >>> +# similar to @memory but may imply additional processing that is >>> +# specific to the target architecture. >>> +# >>> +# @flash: The firmware file is to be mapped into a pflash chip. >>> +# >>> +# Since: 2.13 >>> +## >>> +{ 'enum' : 'FirmwareDevice', >>> + 'data' : [ 'memory', 'kernel', 'flash' ] } >> >> This is not fully clear to me... what is this exactly good for? Is >> this a way to say how the firmware should be loaded, i.e. via >> "-bios", "-kernel" or "-pflash" parameter? If so, the term "memory" >> is quite misleading since files that are loaded via -bios can also >> end up in an emulated ROM chip. > > I threw in "-kernel" because, although it also (usually?) means > "memory", I expected people would want it separate. What platform / scenario actually uses -kernel to load firmware. If you have loaded firmware using -kernel, how do you then load the actual kernel ?