Never, ever build images where GRUB is the primary payload.
These options have been removed from target.cfg handling:
* seabios_withgrub
* grub_withseabios
The "payload_grub" variable now does the same thing as
the old "seabios_withgrub" variable, if set.
The "grubonly" configuration is retained, and enabled by
default when SeaGRUB is enabled (non-grubonly also available).
Due to lbmk issue #216, it is no longer Libreboot policy to
make GRUB the primary payload on any board. GRUB's sheer size
and complexity, plus the large number of memory corruption issues
similar to it that *have* been fixed over the years, tells me
that GRUB is a liability when it is the primary payload.
SeaBIOS is a much safer payload to run as primary, on x86, due
to its smaller size and much more conservative development; it
is simply far less likely to break.
If GRUB breaks in the future, the user's machine is not
bricked. This is because SeaBIOS is the default payload.
Since I no longer wish to ever provide GRUB as a primary
payload, supporting it in lbmk adds needless bloat that
will later probably break anyway due to lack of testing,
so let's just assume SeaGRUB in all cases where the user
wants to use a GRUB payload.
You can mitigate potential security issues with SeaBIOS
by disabling option ROM execution, which can be done at
runtime by inserting integers into CBFS. The SeaBIOS
documentation says how to do this.
Libreboot's GRUB hardening guide still says how to add
a bootorder file in CBFS, making SeaBIOS only load GRUB
from CBFS, and nothing else. This, combined with the
disablement of option ROM execution (if using Intel
graphics), pretty much provides the same security benefits
as GRUB-as-primary, for example when setting a GRUB password
and GPG checks, with encrypted /boot as in the hardening guide.
Signed-off-by: Leah Rowe <leah@libreboot.org>
See:
https://codeberg.org/libreboot/lbmk/issues/216
Almost all users will be OK running GRUB, but a
minority of users have experienced a fatal error
pertaining to grub_free() or grub_realloc() (as
my investigation of GRUB sources reveal when grepping
the error reported in the link above).
We don't yet know what the bug is, only that the
error occurs, leading to an effective brick if the
user has GRUB as their primary payload.
So far, it has only been reported on some Intel
SandyBridge-based Dell Latitudes in Libreboot, but
we can't be too sure.
The user reported that memtest86+ passes just fine,
and SeaBIOS works; BIOS GRUB also works, which means
that the bug is likely only in an area of GRUB that
runs specifically on the coreboot payload, so it's
probably a driver in GRUB when running on the metal
rather than BIOS/UEFI.
The build system supports a configuration whereby
SeaBIOS is the primary payload, but GRUB is available
in the SeaBIOS boot select menu, and an additional
configuration is available where GRUB is what SeaBIOS
executes first (while still providing boot select);
both of these are now the *only* configurations
available, on all x86 targets except QEMU.
The QEMU target is fine because if the bug occurs there,
you can just close QEMU and try a different image.
Even after this bug is later identified and fixed,
the GRUB source code is vastly over-engineered and there
are likely many more such bugs. SeaBIOS is a reliable
payload; the code is small and robust. Remember always:
Code
equals
bugs
Therefore, this configuration change is likely going
to be permanent. This will apply in the next release.
Signed-off-by: Leah Rowe <leah@libreboot.org>
the release variable is all we need, turning a target on
or off for a given release.
the status checks were prone to bugs, and unnecessary; it
also broke certain benchmark scripts.
it's better to keep the lbmk logic simpler. board status
will be moved to the documentation instead.
Signed-off-by: Leah Rowe <leah@libreboot.org>
export LBMK_VERSION_TYPE=x
x can be: stable, unstable
in target.cfg files, specify:
status=x
x can be: stable, unstable, broken, untested
if unset, lbmk defaults to "unknown"
if LBMK_VERSION_TYPE is set, no confirmation is asked
if the given target matches what's set (but what's set
in that environmental variable can only be stable or
unstable)
if LBMK_RELEASE="y", no confirmation is asked, unless
the target is something other than stable/unstable
"unstable" means it works, but has a few non-breaking
bugs, e.g. broken s3 on dell e6400
whereas, if raminit regularly fails or it is so absolutely
unreliable as to be unusable, then the board should be
declared "broken"
untested means: it has not been tested
With this change, it should now be easier to track whether
a given board is tested, in preparation for releases. When
working on trees/boards, status can be set for targets.
Also: in the board directory, you can add a "warn.txt" file
which will display a message. For example, if a board has a
particular quirk to watch out for, write that there. The message
will be printed during the build process, to stdout.
If status is anything *other* than stable, or it is unstable
but LBMK_VERSION_TYPE is not set to "unstable", and not building
a release, a confirmation is passed.
If the board is not specified as stable or unstable, during
a release build, the build is skipped and the ROM is not
provided in that release; this is in *addition* to
release="n" or release="y" that can be set in target.cfg,
which will skip the release build for that target if "n"
Signed-off-by: Leah Rowe <leah@libreboot.org>
On T60 with Libreboot 20231106 and the GRUB payload, a user
reported this error in GRUB when a battery was connected:
"alloc magic is broken at 0x7b1aedf0: 0"
This error disappears when a battery is not connected, or
when using Libreboot 20230625. The issue has persisted
through to LIbreboot 20240225 and after, and I believe the
issue will be somewhere in coreboot, not in GRUB itself.
For now, switch i945 laptops (X60, T60, Macbook2,1) back to
the February 2023 coreboot revision used in Libreboot 20230625.
A bisect can be done before the next Libreboot release, ETA
May 2024, if time permits. Otherwise, this revert should solve
the problem for now, at least so far as Libreboot is concerned.
The following coreboot patches have been backported:
commit 29030d0f3dad2ec6b86000dfe2c8e951ae80bf94
Author: Bill Xie <persmule@hardenedlinux.org>
Date: Sat Oct 7 01:32:51 2023 +0800
drivers/pc80/rtc/option.c: Stop resetting CMOS during s3 resume
Further patches from upstream:
commit 432e92688eca0e85cbaebca3232f65936b305a98
Author: Bill Xie <persmule@hardenedlinux.org>
Date: Fri Nov 3 12:34:01 2023 +0800
drivers/pc80/rtc/option.c: Reset only CMOS range covered by checksum
These patches fixed S3 on GM45 machines, though it will be useful on
the i945 machines aswell.
The reason I'm doing it this way it is because I don't have a battery
for my X60 or T60, and my T60 isn't in a very good state either,
so I can't reproduce the error myself yet.
Signed-off-by: Leah Rowe <leah@libreboot.org>
arch no longer needs to be set, on multi-tree projects,
and it has been renamed to xarch
the new behaviour is: if xarch is set, treat it as a
list of crossgcc targets and go through the list. set
the first one as the target, for what lbmk builds, but
build all of the defined crossgccc targets
crossgcc_ada is now xlang, and defines which languages
to build, rather than whether to build gcc-gnat
Signed-off-by: Leah Rowe <leah@libreboot.org>
at present, lbmk can remove microcode updates on images for
a given target, if the target specifies
microcode_required="n" in target.cfg
lbmk then provides images with microcode, and images without,
in a given release. although the user can also remove them
manually, this just makes it a bit more convenient, for those
users who do wish to run without the updates. this functionality
is provided only on those platforms where no-microcode is tested.
well, this behaviour implements a compromise on libreboot policy,
which is to always include microcode updates by default. see:
Binary Blob Reduction Policy
the *canoeboot* project now exists, developed in parallel with
libreboot, and it ships without microcode updates, on the same
targets where lbmk also handled this.
running without microcode updates is foolish, and should not
be encouraged. clean up lbmk by not providing this kludge.
the libreboot documentation will be updated, telling such users
to try canoeboot instead, or to remove the update from a given
libreboot rom - this is still possible, and mitigations such as
PECI disablement on GM45 are still in place (and will be kept),
so that this continues to work well.
Signed-off-by: Leah Rowe <leah@libreboot.org>
don't handle "romtype" at all, in board target.cfg files
add /dev/null as pike2008 rom on amd boards. this serves
the same purpose, adding them as empty vga roms, to add
an empty rom in cbfs. pike2008 cards cause seabios to hang,
when their oproms are executed, so we insert a fake rom
on i945 thinkpads, use the coreboot config option:
CONFIG_INTEL_ADD_TOP_SWAP_BOOTBLOCK
when set, this enables the same bootblock copy, for use
with bucts. these two cases, namely pike2008 roms and
i945 bootblock copies, no longer need to be handled in code
Signed-off-by: Leah Rowe <leah@libreboot.org>
only call crossgcc for coreboot and u-boot, but use
hostcc for everything else. simplify the checking of
which architecture to compile for. "arch" in target.cfg
files has been modified, to allow further simplification.
without this patch, the logic currently only *barely* avoids
using crossgcc on things like utils, and only works in practise
because, in practise, lbmk only works on x86_64 anyway.
the new logic, as per this patch, is simpler and more robust.
Signed-off-by: Leah Rowe <leah@libreboot.org>
in the future, we may start downloading files that aren't
blobs, such as mxm port configs (on mainboards that use
MXM graphics)
this directory will contain all of those files
generally change the language used, across lbmk, to make
use of "vendorfile" instead of "blob"
Signed-off-by: Leah Rowe <leah@libreboot.org>
Leah Rowe