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remove unnecessary announcement 

it was necessary for a few days, to let people know, but i think
people all got the message by now.

the substance of the announcement has been moved to the main
article, summarised

the removed page will be redirected in libreboot.org's httpd
hslick-master
Leah Rowe 2023-03-26 14:56:01 +01:00
parent 67873d003b
commit 63fe35d3d2
3 changed files with 10 additions and 112 deletions
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1
site/news/MANIFEST
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libreboot20230319_update.md
freedom.md
libreboot20230319.md
usa-libre-part3.md

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site/news/libreboot20230319.md
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% Leah Rowe
% 19 March 2023
**UPDATE ON 24 MARCH 2023:
T440p/W541 ROM images using blob `mrc.bin` for raminit, were deleted
from the rsync mirrors for this release. The ones with libre MRC are still
available. This was due to a bug that has now been fixed. For more information,
see: [libreboot20230319_update.md](libreboot20230319_update.md) - you should
build from `lbmk.git` directly if you want to use those images, or use the ones
with the libre MRC code in it, for which ROM images (as stated) are still
available. Thanks.**
Introduction
============
@ -90,6 +81,16 @@ The changes can be summarised, thus:
* util/nvmutil: Massively re-factored the codebase, making it more efficient
and *correct*.
NOTE: T440p/W541 images with `mrc.bin` must be compiled from source. They were
removed from the release, due to a bug reported in scripts used for preparing
them post-build, when users install them. The bug was fixed, see:
<https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=883967160c4cfec3387a7406f29438752e2ad9b2>
Pre-compiled ROM images will for the `t440pmrc_12mb` and `w541mrc_12mb` targets
will be available in the next release; the `t440p_12mb` and `w541_12mb` images
are still available in this release, pre-compiled.
REMARK: libre raminit on Haswell
--------------------------------

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% 20230319 W541/T440p ROMs using mrc.bin deleted
% Leah Rowe
% 23 March 2023 (UPDATED on 24 March 2023)
This was reported last night, but the issue it reports has been fixed as
of this morning, on 24 March 2023. News article ammended, and date updated
to the 24th instead of 23rd.
Introduction
============
From the rsync mirrors for Libreboot 20230319, the following images have
been *deleted* retroactively:
* `t440pmrc_12mb`
* `w541mrc_12mb`
Those images listed above use the proprietary `mrc.bin` blob for raminit and
peripherals.
Libreboot *also* has these images:
* `t440p_12mb`
* `w541_12mb`
These ones, the ones without `mrc` in the name, use experimental source code
from Angel Pons of coreboot (`hell` on IRC), removing the need for `mrc.bin`
entirely. *These* ROM images are still available, in the rsync mirrors, for the
Libreboot 20230319 release.
Why were the MRC-based images deleted?
--------------------------------------
The ROM images themselves were *correct*, but there is a bug in the `blobutil`
insert script, for inserting `mrc.bin` into these images. The `mrc.bin` file
must be inserted at a specific offset, and no offset was declared explicitly
by `blobutil`.
In the Libreboot 20230319 release source archive, the `blobutil` program runs
this command for inserting `mrc.bin` when necessary:
./coreboot/default/util/cbfstool/cbfstool ${rom} add -f mrc/haswell/mrc.bin -n mrc.bin -t mrc
This is **wrong**, because it's missing the following arguments at the the end:
-b 0x78fe00
This, the correct command for those images would be:
./coreboot/default/util/cbfstool/cbfstool ${rom} add -f mrc/haswell/mrc.bin -n mrc.bin -t mrc -b 0x78fe00
This command is *unnecessary* when building the ROM images yourself, from
lbmk directly, because the same download script is used and then coreboot's
build system inserts it, at the correct offset.
However, Libreboot's build system scrubs `mrc.bin` when creating release
archives, which means they must be re-added by the user when downloading
such pre-compiled ROMs, using a script available in Libreboot; it is *this*
script that was broken, in the Libreboot 20230319 release.
The position of MRC is to be fixed, and it is hardcoded in coreboot master.
Based on that, the MRC file is always added at the same location in CBFS, and
the number above is based on that. The number is correct, on Haswell configs
supported by Libreboot.
FIX AVAILABLE
=============
This bug described on this page has been fixed, in `lbmk.git`. See patch:
<https://browse.libreboot.org/lbmk.git/commit/?id=da6bf57a3f57f2625a4903cafb5cfd10ea4a1dae>
Will not re-add images to rsync
-------------------------------
I **could** re-add the images, and add a note to the Libreboot documentation
telling the user to patch their `blobutil` according to the commit linked
above. However, such would be un-clean. As far as I'm concerned, the images
are gone now and it's a testing release anyway.
So there's little risk. If you want images using `mrc.bin`, you shall build
Libreboot from source using these instructions:
[How to build from lbmk.git](../docs/build/)
All it costs you is a bit of extra time waiting for the build process to
complete. Those wily enough to flash a T440p themselves for the first time,
will surely not mind.
That is all.
PS:
If any persons bricked their T440p due to this bug, I'm very sorry. This is
precisely *why* I'm not re-adding the images, even though they're OK - a lot
of people as I said, won't patch their blobutil even when told to, to correct
that offset, but they can't brick their machine with such ROM images if they
don't exist. So they no longer exist, on mirrors providing Libreboot releases.
The irony would be if Angel finished the libre MRC code before the next
Libreboot release, making this fix pointless (because in that situation, I
would simply exclude images using `mrc.bin` at that point).