Hi,
The Errata ABI only solves part of the problem. We don't have a discovery mechanism for everything that is implemented by the firmware. For example, general bug fixes cannot be discovered. The firmware version is a good indicator. It provides some way to track the deployment across multiple programs/platforms.
LTS is better positioned as we will introduce more granularity to the firmware version thus allowing greater control over deployment. It would be great to ask the mainline to use the same versioning scheme. But the mechanism to read the firmware version at runtime is missing today.
-Varun
From: Chris Kay Chris.Kay@arm.com Sent: Thursday, 12 January 2023 11:32 AM To: Varun Wadekar vwadekar@nvidia.com; Joanna Farley Joanna.Farley@arm.com; Sandrine Bailleux Sandrine.Bailleux@arm.com Cc: tfa-lts@lists.trustedfirmware.org; tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.org Subject: Re: [TF-A] Re: Query BL31 version from NWd
External email: Use caution opening links or attachments
Hi Varun,
Would it not be better to interrogate BL31 for your precise runtime requirements, such as for specific errata via the Errata ABI? I'm not sure that the version is a particularly reliable indicator of features/bug fixes/errata present in BL31, especially for LTS versions, which are targets for back-ported features.
Chris
From: Varun Wadekar via TF-A <tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.orgmailto:tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.org> Date: Thursday, 12 January 2023 at 11:06 To: Joanna Farley <Joanna.Farley@arm.commailto:Joanna.Farley@arm.com>, Sandrine Bailleux <Sandrine.Bailleux@arm.commailto:Sandrine.Bailleux@arm.com> Cc: tfa-lts@lists.trustedfirmware.orgmailto:tfa-lts@lists.trustedfirmware.org <tfa-lts@lists.trustedfirmware.orgmailto:tfa-lts@lists.trustedfirmware.org>, tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.orgmailto:tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.org <tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.orgmailto:tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.org> Subject: [TF-A] Re: Query BL31 version from NWd Hi,
A bit confused. Are you saying that the capability to query the firmware version is not required? The errata management spec solves another problem IMO.
Right now, we want a way to query the firmware version so that we can ensure the right binary is getting used on a platform. One reason is to know that the errata fixes are present. But the version will be helpful to ensure that some platform features or bug fixes are also present.
Once implemented, future platforms will query the firmware version for diagnostic and documentation purposes.
-Varun
From: Joanna Farley <Joanna.Farley@arm.commailto:Joanna.Farley@arm.com> Sent: Thursday, 12 January 2023 10:28 AM To: Varun Wadekar <vwadekar@nvidia.commailto:vwadekar@nvidia.com>; Sandrine Bailleux <Sandrine.Bailleux@arm.commailto:Sandrine.Bailleux@arm.com> Cc: tfa-lts@lists.trustedfirmware.orgmailto:tfa-lts@lists.trustedfirmware.org; tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.orgmailto:tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.org Subject: Re: [TF-A] Re: Query BL31 version from NWd
External email: Use caution opening links or attachments
Hi Varun,
One forthcoming feature in development that may prove useful in this space is support for the Errata Management specification (aka Errata ABI) that can be seen here https://developer.arm.com/Architectures/Secure%20Monitor%20Calling%20Convent...https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdeveloper.arm.com%2FArchitectures%2FSecure%2520Monitor%2520Calling%2520Convention&data=05%7C01%7Cvwadekar%40nvidia.com%7C11bafd985e1f4f0d3cac08daf490b249%7C43083d15727340c1b7db39efd9ccc17a%7C0%7C0%7C638091199565180568%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=R65fxJVRsgPLnpKe6HKeFt55RMXRHZP9qGrZEwiYx7g%3D&reserved=0
Work is on going and support for this is hoped to be available later this year.
If you have other needs for other runtime interrogation of the EL3 image feel free to elaborate for discussion.
Joanna
From: Varun Wadekar <vwadekar@nvidia.commailto:vwadekar@nvidia.com> Date: Thursday, 12 January 2023 at 09:40 To: Joanna Farley <Joanna.Farley@arm.commailto:Joanna.Farley@arm.com>, Sandrine Bailleux <Sandrine.Bailleux@arm.commailto:Sandrine.Bailleux@arm.com> Cc: tfa-lts@lists.trustedfirmware.orgmailto:tfa-lts@lists.trustedfirmware.org <tfa-lts@lists.trustedfirmware.orgmailto:tfa-lts@lists.trustedfirmware.org>, tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.orgmailto:tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.org <tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.orgmailto:tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.org> Subject: RE: [TF-A] Re: Query BL31 version from NWd Hi Joanna,
The use case right now is to identify and log the firmware version. Eventually, this information will be used to ensure that the platform is using a feature/errata/bug fix.
-Varun
From: Joanna Farley <Joanna.Farley@arm.commailto:Joanna.Farley@arm.com> Sent: Wednesday, 11 January 2023 3:03 PM To: Varun Wadekar <vwadekar@nvidia.commailto:vwadekar@nvidia.com>; Sandrine Bailleux <Sandrine.Bailleux@arm.commailto:Sandrine.Bailleux@arm.com> Cc: tfa-lts@lists.trustedfirmware.orgmailto:tfa-lts@lists.trustedfirmware.org; tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.orgmailto:tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.org Subject: Re: [TF-A] Re: Query BL31 version from NWd
External email: Use caution opening links or attachments
Hi Varun,
Can you allude to the use case here you need this information for? Just so we can flush out any other information needed. With the reference of LTS I was thinking the platform was trying to find out if a security fix is supported or a hardware erratum mitigation was available. Is that the type of use case we are talking about here? Anything else?
Thanks
Joanna
From: Varun Wadekar via TF-A <tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.orgmailto:tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.org> Date: Wednesday, 11 January 2023 at 14:33 To: Sandrine Bailleux <Sandrine.Bailleux@arm.commailto:Sandrine.Bailleux@arm.com> Cc: tfa-lts@lists.trustedfirmware.orgmailto:tfa-lts@lists.trustedfirmware.org <tfa-lts@lists.trustedfirmware.orgmailto:tfa-lts@lists.trustedfirmware.org>, tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.orgmailto:tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.org <tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.orgmailto:tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.org> Subject: [TF-A] Re: Query BL31 version from NWd Hi Sandrine,
This is a good start. Can you help define the SMC FID and the return value for this use case?
Please consider the requirement to return a 3-digit value (x.y.z) to support LTS versions too.
Thanks.
-----Original Message----- From: Sandrine Bailleux <sandrine.bailleux@arm.commailto:sandrine.bailleux@arm.com> Sent: Wednesday, 11 January 2023 8:50 AM To: Varun Wadekar <vwadekar@nvidia.commailto:vwadekar@nvidia.com> Cc: tfa-lts@lists.trustedfirmware.orgmailto:tfa-lts@lists.trustedfirmware.org; tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.orgmailto:tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.org Subject: Re: [TF-A] Query BL31 version from NWd
External email: Use caution opening links or attachments
Hello Varun,
Happy New Year to you too!
This sounds like a reasonable idea to me.
JFYI we introduced an interface to query TF-A semantic version in the following patch:
https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgit.truste...https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgit.trustedfirmware.org%2FTF-A%2Ftrusted-firmware-a.git%2Fcommit%2F%3Fid%3Ddddf4283b043ad0a81d27bd5bb2f0c647c511e11&data=05%7C01%7Cvwadekar%40nvidia.com%7C11bafd985e1f4f0d3cac08daf490b249%7C43083d15727340c1b7db39efd9ccc17a%7C0%7C0%7C638091199565180568%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=MphH0c5jcuu9Vlbkx28n0n%2FskHq%2B1gZK1Jq0F5kiUfU%3D&reserved=0
This is available for any BLx image, not just BL31. At the time, it was just meant to be used internally within TF-A so it's missing the SMC handler to return this information to normal world.
Best regards, Sandrine
On 1/10/23 23:42, Varun Wadekar via TF-A wrote:
Hi,
Happy new year!
For NVIDIA Tegra platforms, we need the capability to query the BL31 version (e.g. 2.7, 2.8, 2.8.x) from the NWd at runtime. I could not find an FID that returns this value.
I propose we introduce a new runtime service in bl31 that returns the version_string to the NWd to support this requirement.
Thoughts?
-Varun
-- TF-A mailing list -- tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.orgmailto:tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.org To unsubscribe send an email to tf-a-leave@lists.trustedfirmware.orgmailto:tf-a-leave@lists.trustedfirmware.org