Re: flashrom package needs update

[ng0 <ng0@we.make.ritual.n0.is>]

Kei Kebreau <kei@openmailbox.org> writes:

> [ Unknown signature status ]
>
> ng0 <ng0@we.make.ritual.n0.is> writes:
>
>> ng0 <ng0@we.make.ritual.n0.is> writes:
>>
>>> Someone should update flashrom to 0.9.9. (https://www.flashrom.org/Flashrom/0.9.9)
>>> I tried and do not understand enough of flashrom to update the patch we need.
>>
>> Additionally we need to check what's different about GuixSD that this
>> happens:
>>
>> root@shadowwalker /home/ng0# flashrom -p internal -w libreboot_latest_stable.rom
>> flashrom v0.9.7-r1711 on Linux 4.7.0-gnu (x86_64)
>> flashrom is free software, get the source code at http://www.flashrom.org
>>
>> Calibrating delay loop... OK.
>> Error accessing high tables, 0x100000 bytes at 0x000000007dad6000
>> /dev/mem mmap failed: Operation not permitted
>> Failed getting access to coreboot high tables.
>> ========================================================================
>> WARNING! You seem to be running flashrom on an unsupported laptop.
>> Laptops, notebooks and netbooks are difficult to support and we
>> recommend to use the vendor flashing utility. The embedded controller
>> (EC) in these machines often interacts badly with flashing.
>> See the manpage and http://www.flashrom.org/Laptops for details.
>>
>> If flash is shared with the EC, erase is guaranteed to brick your laptop
>> and write may brick your laptop.
>> Read and probe may irritate your EC and cause fan failure, backlight
>> failure and sudden poweroff.
>> You have been warned.
>> ========================================================================
>> Aborting.
>> Error: Programmer initialization failed.
>>
>>
>>
>> I value that GuixSD seems to be more protective than any other system in
>> that regard where I could just become root and run flashrom, but maybe
>> we need to make an exception for flashrom and similar software.
>> Booting into ubuntu-live and running a statically linked binary of
>> flashrom just made me flash libreboot stable. I want to do this from
>> within GuixSD.
>
> This is mentioned in Libreboot's documentation (top of the page here:
> https://libreboot.org/docs/install/index.html). The GuixSD Linux-libre
> kernel is configured with CONFIG_STRICT_DEVMEM enabled, which I presume
> Libreboot uses for software-based flashing.
>
> If you add linux to the list "use-package-modules" in your system
> configuration and add (kernel-arguments '("iomem=relaxed")) to your
> "operating-system" configuration, the flashing utility will work correctly.

Oh, interesting. Thanks for the explanation. Do you think we should add
a pointer to this somewhere in the documentation, or add a link pointing
to this email thread?
I feel like this needs to be explained or be visible somewhere at our
side.

I think I want to keep this feature, and reconfigure the system only for
updating libre/coreboot.

Thanks
-- 
ng0
For non-prism friendly talk find me on http://www.psyced.org