UEFI News and Commentary

Sunday, November 18, 2012

SysLib for UEFI Update

Hey, just to note that the SysLib UEFI project has been update, mainly to add some SysStrA and SysBuf functionality. These functions are in anticipation of the next one following the HII disassembly project. Also, many function headers have been revamped and the BSD license firmly attached to the last unmarked file.

So, head on over to: http://sourceforge.net/p/syslibforuefi/wiki/Home/

Saturday, November 17, 2012

HOW TO: Disassembling the HII Database (Part 5)

During this series, we've been looking at how to disassemble the contents of the UEFI HII database, which is described in chapter 28 of the UEFI specification. So far, we've managed to take apart the package lists and break those into the different types of packages. The Forms type of package are encoded using Internal Forms Representation (IFR), a binary format made up of opcodes. Each opcode describes an object and opcodes can be nested inside of other opcodes or, as we say in HII, they are child objects in the parent object's scope. In part 4, we looked at the first sets of opcodes: Form Sets, which are collections of forms, and the 3 different types of variable stores (buffer, name/value and EFI variable), which describe how configuration settings map back to non-volatile storage.

This time we'll take a look at two more object types (Default Stores and Forms) that can be direct children of Form Sets.

Default Stores

Default Stores are collections of default configuration setting (Question) values, grouped by purpose. There are four different "standard" types of default stores
  1. Normal - The normal set of defaults.
  2. Manufacturing - The defaults to use during manufacturing.
  3. Safe - The defaults to use to make the system as stable as possible.
  4. OEM - There is a large range of default store types set aside for special use by OEM forms.
The default values can be loaded using the RESET_BUTTON Statement or through a browser-specific mechanism.

There are four ways to assign a default value to a specific default store. These are listed from lowest priority to highest priority:

  1. CHECKBOX Question Flag. For this specific type of Question, a default value of On or Off can be assigned to either the Normal or Manufacturing default store type.
  2. Question's Child ONE_OF_OPTION. Question's can have child objects that allow a user-readable name to be assigned to a specific value. Another set of flags also specifies whether the value should serve as the Normal or Manufacturing default store type for the parent Question.
  3. DEFAULT Object. Question's can have child objects that allow a value be assigned to a any default store type.
  4. Question Callback. Question's can provide a callback function that optionally provides a value for any default store type.

EFI_IFR_DEFAULT_STORE

The actual IFR encoding for the structure looks like this:
 typedef struct _EFI_IFR_DEFAULTSTORE {   EFI_IFR_OP_HEADER Header;  EFI_STRING_ID DefaultName;   UINT16 DefaultId; } EFI_IFR_DEFAULTSTORE; The Header  is the normal IFR opcode header. DEFAULT_STORE opcodes never have any child objects, so the Scope bit is never set. The DefaultId identifies the default store type (0 = Normal, 1 = Manufacturing, 2 = Safe and other platform-specific types are 0x4000+). The DefaultName gives the string identifier for a string that gives a user-readable name for the default store. While a platform might already have a name for 0,1 and 2, it is unlikely it would have one for any others. 

UEFI_HII_DEFAULT_STORE

This IFR opcode gets translated into the default store container: typedef struct _UEFI_HII_DEFAULT_STORE_P {
  SYS_OBJ Obj;
 
 

  EFI_STRING_ID Name;                   // default store name.
  UINT16 Id;                            // default store id.
 
 
} UEFI_HII_DEFAULT_STORE_P;
typedef UEFI_HII_DEFAULT_STORE_P UefiHiiDefaultStoreP;


UefiHiiParseFormDefaultStoreOp()

Pretty straight forward. Now here's the parsing code, which checks for input errors. Then it verifies that the default store has not already been declared for this form set. DefaultIds are global across all forms in a form set, so it is possible that they are duplicates. If no duplicate, a new Default Store container is created, initialized and added to the current Form Set.

EFI_STATUS
UefiHiiParseFormDefaultStoreOp (
  IN EFI_IFR_OP_HEADER *Op,
  IN OUT UEFI_HII_FORM_PKG_STATE *S
  )
{
  EFI_STATUS s;
  EFI_IFR_DEFAULTSTORE *DefaultStoreOp;
  UEFI_HII_DEFAULT_STORE_P *DefaultStoreP;
  SYS_LIST_POS pos;
 
 

  DefaultStoreOp = (EFI_IFR_DEFAULTSTORE *) Op;

  if (!UefiHiiOpIsValid (Op, S) ||
      !UefiHiiOpInFormSet (Op, S) ||
      !UefiHiiOpNotInForm (Op, S)) {
    return EFI_INVALID_PARAMETER;
  }
 
 

  ...dump out debug information...

  for (pos = NULL;
       SysListGetNext (&S->FormSetP->DefaultStores, &pos, &DefaultStoreP); ) {
 
 
 
    if (!SysIsValid (DefaultStoreP)) {
      continue;
    }
 
 
 
    if (DefaultStoreP->Id == DefaultStoreOp->DefaultId) {
      return EFI_SUCCESS;
    }
  }
 
 

  DefaultStoreP = SysNew (UefiHiiDefaultStoreP);
  if (DefaultStoreP == NULL) {
    s = EFI_OUT_OF_RESOURCES;
    goto exit;
  }
 
 

  if (!SysListAddTail (&S->FormSetP->DefaultStores, DefaultStoreP)) {
    s = EFI_OUT_OF_RESOURCES;
    goto exit;
  }
 
 

  s = EFI_SUCCESS;
exit:
  return s;
}
 

Forms

With Forms, we really get into the heart of the HII parsing. Each Form has the following attributes:

  1. Form Identifier. Uniquely identifies this form from all others in the same Form Set.
  2. Title String. String to associate with this Form.
  3. Image. Optional image to assocate with this Form. Specified by a nested IMAGE opcode.
  4. Animation. Optional animation to associate with this Form. Specified by a nested ANIMATION opcode.
  5. List of Rules. These are essentially shortcuts or optimizations or "functions" that can be used by any expression in the Form. Each Rule is associated with a Rule Identiifer. Specified by a nested RULE opcode.
  6. List of Statements. These are either static display items (pure Statements) or display items with configurable values (Questions). There are a dozen or so Statement and Question opcodes.
  7. Modal Flag. Indicates whether the user can navigate easily away from this Form (FALSE, using menus) or else must click a button (TRUE). Specified by a nested MODAL_TAG opcode.
  8. Locked. Indicates that the Form and its contents are protected from binary editing. Specified by a nested LOCKED opcode.
  9. Methods. A method indicates a style by which a specific form should be interacted with. This is designed to support the way in the configuration settings controlled by a form would interact with an industry standard or OEM specification. There is only one method described in the UEFI specification (the standard method) and this is the method type assigned to all forms introduced with the FORM opcode. To create any other form types, the FORM_MAP opcode should be used.

EFI_IFR_FORM, EFI_IFR_FORM_MAP

Here are the two IFR opcode definitions:

typedef struct _EFI_IFR_FORM {
  EFI_IFR_OP_HEADER Header;
 
  EFI_FORM_ID FormId;
  EFI_STRING_ID FormTitle;
} EFI_IFR_FORM;
 


typedef struct _EFI_IFR_FORM_MAP_METHOD {
  EFI_STRING_ID MethodTitle;
  EFI_GUID MethodIdentifier;
} EFI_IFR_FORM_MAP_METHOD;


typedef struct _EFI_IFR_FORM_MAP {
  EFI_IFR_OP_HEADER Header;
  EFI_FORM_ID FormId;
//EFI_IFR_FORM_MAP_METHOD Methods[];
} EFI_IFR_FORM_MAP; 

 
The FORM_MAP opcode is variable in length, holding up to three Methods names and GUIDs. The FORM opcode is of fixed length.

UEFI_HII_FORM_P

The application also has a Form container:
 
typedef struct _UEFI_HII_FORM_P {
  SYS_OBJ Obj;
 
  EFI_FORM_ID Id;
  EFI_STRING_ID Title;
  EFI_IMAGE_ID Image;
  EFI_ANIMATION_ID Animation;
 
  BOOLEAN Locked;
  BOOLEAN Modal;                     
 
  SYS_ARRAY MethodIds;
  SYS_ARRAY MethodTitles;
 
  SYS_MAP_U16P Rules;                   // rule id->expression
  SYS_LIST_O Stmts;                     // statements on form, in order.
} UEFI_HII_FORM_P;
 
typedef UEFI_HII_FORM_P UefiHiiFormP;
The Form container contains fields for all of the various attributes. Some of the attributes are optional and only filled further if a nested child opcode contains additional detail.
 

UefiHiiParseFormFormOp(), UefiHIiParseFormFormMapOp()

The code for the FORM and FORM_MAP opcodes is very similar. Both check the input parameters, create a Form container, fill in the Method type and title and add the Form to the Form Set. Also, each changes the current Form Package parsing state so that the current Form is this Form.
 
The Form Map has a small amount of additional code to handle the optional extra Method information, while Form sets a default Method. In this way, the two opcodes are handled identically.
 
EFI_STATUS
UefiHiiParseFormFormOp (
  IN CONST EFI_IFR_OP_HEADER *Op,
  IN OUT UEFI_HII_FORM_PKG_STATE *S
  )
{
  EFI_STATUS s;
  EFI_IFR_FORM *FormOp;
  UINT16 MethodTitle;
  MethodTitle = 0;

  FormOp = (EFI_IFR_FORM *) Op;
 
  if (!UefiHiiOpIsValid (Op, S) ||
      !UefiHiiOpInFormSet (Op, S) ||
      !UefiHiiOpNotInForm (Op, S)) {
    return EFI_INVALID_PARAMETER;
  }
 
  ...dump out form information...
 
  S->FormP = SysNew (UefiHiiFormP);
  if (S->FormP == NULL) {
    s = EFI_OUT_OF_RESOURCES;
    goto exit;
  }
  S->FormP->Id = FormOp->FormId;
  S->FormP->Title = FormOp->FormTitle;
 
  SysArrayAppend (&S->FormP->MethodIds, &gEfiHiiStandardFormGuid);
  SysArrayAppend (&S->FormP->MethodTitles, &MethodTitle);
  if (!SysListAddTail (&S->FormSetP->Forms, S->FormP)) {
    SysDelete (S->FormP);
    S->FormP = NULL;
    s = EFI_OUT_OF_RESOURCES;
    goto exit;
  }
  s = EFI_SUCCESS;
exit:
  return s;
}
  
EFI_STATUS
UefiHiiParseFormFormMapOp (
  IN CONST EFI_IFR_OP_HEADER *Op,
  IN OUT UEFI_HII_FORM_PKG_STATE *S
  )
{
  UINT32 i;
  EFI_STATUS s;
  EFI_IFR_FORM_MAP *FormMapOp;
  EFI_IFR_FORM_MAP_METHOD *FormMapMethod;
  UINT32 FormMapMethodCount;
  FormMapOp = (EFI_IFR_FORM_MAP *) Op;
  if (!UefiHiiOpIsValid (Op, S) ||
      !UefiHiiOpInFormSet (Op, S) ||
      !UefiHiiOpNotInForm (Op, S)) {
    return EFI_INVALID_PARAMETER;
  }
 
  FormMapMethod = (EFI_IFR_FORM_MAP_METHOD *)(FormMapOp + 1);
  FormMapMethodCount =
    (Op->Length - sizeof (EFI_IFR_FORM_MAP))/sizeof(EFI_IFR_FORM_MAP_METHOD);
  if (((FormMapMethodCount * sizeof (EFI_IFR_FORM_MAP_METHOD)) +
        sizeof (EFI_IFR_FORM_MAP)) != Op->Length) {
    return EFI_INVALID_PARAMETER;
  }
  if (FormMapMethodCount == 0) {
    return EFI_INVALID_PARAMETER;
  }
 
  ... dump out form map opcode information...
 
  S->FormP = SysNew (UefiHiiFormP);
  if (S->FormP == NULL) {
    SYSINFO ("out of memory.\n");
    s = EFI_OUT_OF_RESOURCES;
    goto exit;
  }
  S->FormP->Id = FormMapOp->FormId;
 
  for (i = 0; i < FormMapMethodCount; i++) {
    SysArrayAppend (&S->FormP->MethodTitles, &FormMapMethod[i].MethodTitle);
    SysArrayAppend (&S->FormP->MethodIds, &FormMapMethod[i].MethodIdentifier);
  }
  if (!SysListAddTail (&S->FormSetP->Forms, S->FormP)) {
    SysDelete(S->FormP);
    S->FormP = NULL;
    s = EFI_OUT_OF_RESOURCES;
    goto exit;
  }
  s = EFI_SUCCESS;
exit:
  SysEmpty (&Guid);
  return s;
}

UefiHiiParseFormFormEndOp()

This function is closed at the end of the FORM or FORM_MAP opcode's scope. All it does is update the Form Package parsing state so that there is no current Form.

EFI_STATUS
UefiHiiParseFormFormEndOp (
  IN CONST EFI_IFR_OP_HEADER *Op,
  IN OUT UEFI_HII_FORM_PKG_STATE *S
  )
{
  if (!UefiHiiOpIsValid (Op, S)) {
    return EFI_INVALID_PARAMETER;
  }
  S->FormP = NULL;
  return EFI_SUCCESS;
}

Conclusion

Now we've made it down to the Form level of the IFR parsing. Next, we will take a look at the Statement and the parsing and storage for the three pure statements (Text, Subtitle and Reset Button).

Until next time, keep digging deeper.

Saturday, November 03, 2012

HOW TO: Disassembling the HII Database (Part 4)

The HII Database is the portion of the UEFI Specification that manages the user-interface resources, like forms, fonts, images and strings. The tool we've been developing parses the contents of the database and displays it. Up to this point, we've broken down the data into the constituent package lists, and then broken down package lists into packages, and then started looking at how form packages are encoded.

Form Set 

Form packages are encoded as a series of variable-length data structures, called opcodes. The previous article shows how the opcodes are parsed, and then a function for when the opcode is first encountered, and then another function for when the opcode's scope is completed.

EFI_IFR_FORM_SET

The top level objects in a forms package are all form sets. The form set describes a collection of forms, variable stores and default stores, associated with a GUID, prompt text, help text, an image and an animation.

typedef struct _EFI_IFR_FORM_SET {
  EFI_IFR_OP_HEADER        Header;
  EFI_GUID                 Guid;
  EFI_STRING_ID            FormSetTitle;
  EFI_STRING_ID            Help;
  UINT8                    Flags;
//EFI_GUID                 ClassGuid[];
} EFI_IFR_FORM_SET;


The Header  the standard IFR opcode header. The Guid uniquely identifies the form set. The title of the form set (FormSetTitle) and there is also help text (Help). There can be up to three class GUIDs, which provide a way to classify the form sets. These GUIDs (along with Guid) can be used in the SendForm() function call to specify which types of form sets will appear in the user-interface.

UefiHiiParseFormFormSetOp()

The top level objects in a forms package are all form sets. Form sets are collections of forms associated with a GUID.

EFI_STATUS
UefiHiiParseFormFormSetOp (
  IN CONST EFI_IFR_OP_HEADER *Op,
  IN OUT UEFI_HII_FORM_PKG_STATE *S
  )
{
  UINT8 ClassGuidCount;
  EFI_GUID *ClassGuid;
  EFI_STATUS s;
  EFI_IFR_FORM_SET *FormSetOp;
  SYS_STRA Guid;
  UINT32 i;


  FormSetOp = (EFI_IFR_FORM_SET *) Op;

  if (!UefiHiiOpIsValid (Op, S)) {
    return EFI_INVALID_PARAMETER;
  }
  if (S->FormSetP != NULL) {
    SYSINFO ("FORM_SET: Cannot be inside a FORM_SET opcode.\n");
    return EFI_INVALID_PARAMETER;
  }


  ClassGuid = (EFI_GUID *)(FormSetOp + 1);
  ClassGuidCount = FormSetOp->Flags & 0x03; // isolate class GUID count.
  if (ClassGuidCount * sizeof (EFI_GUID) + sizeof (EFI_IFR_FORM_SET) >

      Op->Length) {
    ...

    return EFI_INVALID_PARAMETER;
  }


  ...dump out debug information...

  S->FormSetP = SysNew (UefiHiiFormSetP);
  if (S->FormSetP == NULL) {
    s = EFI_OUT_OF_RESOURCES;
    goto exit;
  }


  memcpy (&S->FormSetP->Id, &FormSetOp->Guid, sizeof (EFI_GUID));
  S->FormSetP->Title = FormSetOp->FormSetTitle;
  S->FormSetP->Help = FormSetOp->Help;
  S->FormSetP->ClassIdCount = ClassGuidCount;
  memcpy (S->FormSetP->ClassIds, ClassGuid, ClassGuidCount * sizeof (EFI_GUID));


  if (!SysListAddTail (&S->FormPkgP->FormSets, S->FormSetP)) {
    SysDelete (S->FormSetP);
    S->FormSetP = NULL;
    s = EFI_OUT_OF_RESOURCES;
    goto exit;
  }


  s = EFI_SUCCESS;
exit:
  SysEmpty (&Guid);
  return s;
}


This function checks to make sure that we aren't already inside of a form set scope. Also, since this opcode can be variable sized (with 0-3 class GUIDs), we also need to make sure that the opcode has a valid size. Then the function creates a new Form Set container and then populates the members with data from the IFR FORM_SET opcode. The Form Package parsing state is updated with the pointer to the Form Set container. Finally, the Form Set container is added to the list maintained as a part of the Form Package container.

UEFI_HII_FORM_SET_P

The UEFI_HII_FORM_SET_P object acts as the Form Set container.

typedef struct _UEFI_HII_FORM_SET_P {
  SYS_OBJ Obj;


  EFI_GUID Id;
  int ClassIdCount;                     // number of entries in ClassIds
  EFI_GUID ClassIds[3];

  EFI_STRING_ID Title;
  EFI_STRING_ID Help;
  EFI_IMAGE_ID Image;
  EFI_ANIMATION_ID Animation;


  SYS_LIST_O Forms;                     // list of Form containers.
  SYS_LIST_O VarStores;                 // list of Variable Store containers.
  SYS_LIST_O DefaultStores;             // list of Default Store containers.

  SYS_MAP_U16P Questions;               // question id <-> Statement container
} UEFI_HII_FORM_SET_P;


typedef UEFI_HII_FORM_SET_P UefiHiiFormSetP;

Most of these members map directly to the IFR FORM_SET opcode, like the GUID (Id), the class GUIDs (ClassIds and ClassIdCount), the title text (Title) and the help text (Help). In addition, as we process the opcodes inside the Form Set scope, we will update the attributes of the Form Set container.  For example, the IFR IMAGE opcode will update the Image member.

There are four types of objects where the identifier is only unique within a form set: forms, variable stores, default stores and questions. Thus, there are three object lists (forms, variable stores, default stores) and one map (for questions). The questions are handled separately because, although the identifier is unique within the form set, they are also a part of the forms.

UefiHiiParseFormFormSetEndOp()

Now, when we reach the end of the Form Set scope, the function UefiHiiParseFormFormSetEndOp() is called.

EFI_STATUS
UefiHiiParseFormFormSetEndOp (
  IN CONST EFI_IFR_OP_HEADER *Op,
  IN OUT UEFI_HII_FORM_PKG_STATE *S
  )
{
  S->FormSetP = NULL;
  return EFI_SUCCESS;
}


Pretty simple, huh? Just update the Form Package parsing state to NULL, indicating that there is no active form set.

Variable Stores

Variable stores describe a virtual buffer used for configuration setting storage for one or more questions. There are three types of variable stores: buffer, EFI variable and name/value. Each of them has an identifier, a name and a GUID.

EFI_IFR_VARSTORE, EFI_IFR_VARSTORE_EFI and EFI_IFR_VARSTORE_NAME_VALUE

There are actually three separate opcodes, one for each type of variable store.

typedef struct {
  EFI_IFR_OP_HEADER Header;
 
  EFI_GUID Guid;
  EFI_VARSTORE_ID VarStoreId;
  UINT16 Size;
//UINT8 Name[];
} EFI_IFR_VARSTORE;


For the buffer variable store, there is a variable store identifier (VarStoreId) associated with a GUID (Guid) and name (Name). In addition, buffer variable stores have to specify the size, in bytes (Size).

typedef struct _EFI_IFR_VARSTORE_NAME_VALUE {
  EFI_IFR_OP_HEADER Header;

  EFI_VARSTORE_ID VarStoreId;
  EFI_GUID Guid;
} EFI_IFR_VARSTORE_NAME_VALUE;


For the name/value variable store, there is a variable store identifier (VarStoreId) associated with a GUID (Guid). There is also a name, but that is provided by the question header rather than being embedded in the variable store opcode.

typedef struct _EFI_IFR_VARSTORE_EFI {
  EFI_IFR_OP_HEADER Header;


  EFI_VARSTORE_ID VarStoreId;
  EFI_GUID Guid;
  UINT32 Attributes
  UINT16 Size;
//UINT8 Name[];
} EFI_IFR_VARSTORE_EFI;


For the EFI variable store, there is a variable store identifier (VarStoreId) associated with a GUID (Guid) and name (Name). In addition, EFI variable stores have to specify the size, in bytes (Size) and the variable attributes (Attributes).

UefiHiiParseFormVarStoreOp()

The Variable Store container is used for all types of variable stores. For buffer variable stores, here is the function:

EFI_STATUS
UefiHiiParseFormVarStoreOp (
  IN EFI_IFR_OP_HEADER *Op,
  IN OUT UEFI_HII_FORM_PKG_STATE *S
  )
{
  EFI_STATUS s;
  EFI_IFR_VARSTORE *VarStoreOp;
  UEFI_HII_VAR_STORE_P *VarStoreP;
  SYS_LIST_POS pos;
  SYS_STRA Guid;
  UINT32 i;


  SysStrAInit (&Guid);
  VarStoreOp = (EFI_IFR_VARSTORE *) Op;

  if (!UefiHiiOpIsValid (Op, S) ||
      !UefiHiiOpInFormSet (Op, S) ||
      !UefiHiiOpNotInForm (Op, S)) {
    return EFI_INVALID_PARAMETER;
  }


  for (i = sizeof (EFI_IFR_VARSTORE); i < Op->Length; i++) {
    if (((UINT8 *)Op)[i] == 0x00) {
      break;
    }
  }

  if (i == Op->Length) {
    return EFI_INVALID_PARAMETER;
  }

  if (VarStoreOp->Size == 0) {
    return EFI_INVALID_PARAMETER;
  }
  if (VarStoreOp->VarStoreId == 0) {
    return EFI_INVALID_PARAMETER;
  }


  ...dump out debug information...

  for (pos = NULL; SysListGetNext (&S->FormSetP->VarStores, &pos, &VarStoreP);) {
    if (!SysIsValid (VarStoreP)) {
      continue;
    }

    if (VarStoreP->Id == VarStoreOp->VarStoreId) {
      s = EFI_SUCCESS;
      goto exit;
    }
  }


  VarStoreP = SysNew (UefiHiiVarStoreP);
  if (VarStoreP == NULL) {
    s = EFI_OUT_OF_RESOURCES;
    goto exit;
  }


  VarStoreP->Type = Op->OpCode;
  VarStoreP->Id = VarStoreOp->VarStoreId;
  memcpy (&VarStoreP->Guid, &VarStoreOp->Guid, sizeof (EFI_GUID));
  VarStoreP->Size = VarStoreOp->Size;
  SysStrACopyAStr (&VarStoreP->Name, (char *)(VarStoreOp + 1));


  if (!SysListAddTail (&S->FormSetP->VarStores, VarStoreP)) {
    s = EFI_OUT_OF_RESOURCES;
    goto exit;
  }


  s = EFI_SUCCESS;
exit:
  SysStrAEmpty (&Guid);
  return s;
}


So this function checks to make sure that opcode is formatted correctly, including the size of the opcode. It also checks that there is only one variable store with the given variable store identifier in the form set. Then it creates the new Variable Store container from the IFR VARSTORE opcode and adds it to the current Form Set container.

UefiHiiParseFormVarStoreEfiOp()

Now let's look at the function for EFI variable stores.

EFI_STATUS
UefiHiiParseFormVarStoreEfiOp (
  IN EFI_IFR_OP_HEADER *Op,
  IN OUT UEFI_HII_FORM_PKG_STATE *S
  )
{
  EFI_STATUS s;
  EFI_IFR_VARSTORE_EFI *VarStoreOp;
  UEFI_HII_VAR_STORE_P *VarStoreP;
  SYS_LIST_POS pos;
  SYS_STRA Guid;
  UINT32 i;


  SysStrAInit (&Guid);
  VarStoreOp = (EFI_IFR_VARSTORE_EFI *) Op;

  if (!UefiHiiOpIsValid (Op, S) ||
      !UefiHiiOpInFormSet (Op, S)) {
    return EFI_INVALID_PARAMETER;
  }


  for (i = sizeof (EFI_IFR_VARSTORE_EFI); i < Op->Length; i++) {
    if (((UINT8 *)Op)[i] == 0x00) {
      break;
    }
  }
  if (i == Op->Length) {
    return EFI_INVALID_PARAMETER;
  }


  if (VarStoreOp->Size == 0) {
    return EFI_INVALID_PARAMETER;
  }
  if (VarStoreOp->VarStoreId == 0) {
    return EFI_INVALID_PARAMETER;
  }
  if (VarStoreOp->Attributes == 0) {
    return EFI_INVALID_PARAMETER;
  }


  ...dump debug information...

  for (pos = NULL; SysListGetNext (&S->FormSetP->VarStores, &pos, &VarStoreP);) {
    if (!SysIsValid (VarStoreP)) {
      continue;
    }
    if (VarStoreP->Id == VarStoreOp->VarStoreId) {
      s = EFI_SUCCESS;
      goto exit;
    }
  }


  VarStoreP = SysNew (UefiHiiVarStoreP);
  if (VarStoreP == NULL) {
    s = EFI_OUT_OF_RESOURCES;
    goto exit;
  }


  VarStoreP->Type = Op->OpCode;
  VarStoreP->Id = VarStoreOp->VarStoreId;
  memcpy (&VarStoreP->Guid, &VarStoreOp->Guid, sizeof (EFI_GUID));
  VarStoreP->Size = VarStoreOp->Size;
  VarStoreP->Attribs = VarStoreOp->Attributes;
  SysStrACopyAStr (&VarStoreP->Name, (char *)(VarStoreOp + 1));


  if (!SysListAddTail (&S->FormSetP->VarStores, VarStoreP)) {
    s = EFI_OUT_OF_RESOURCES;
    goto exit;
  }


  s = EFI_SUCCESS;
exit:
  SysStrAEmpty (&Guid);
  return s;
}


This is very similar to the buffer variable store, except that the type is set with the IFR VARSTORE_EFI opcode value.

UefiHiiParseFormVarStoreNameValueOp()

Now we try the same trick for name/value variable stores. Here is the function:

EFI_STATUS
UefiHiiParseFormVarStoreNameValueOp (
  IN EFI_IFR_OP_HEADER *Op,
  IN OUT UEFI_HII_FORM_PKG_STATE *S
  )
{
  EFI_STATUS s;
  EFI_IFR_VARSTORE_NAME_VALUE *VarStoreOp;
  UEFI_HII_VAR_STORE_P *VarStoreP;
  SYS_LIST_POS pos;
  SYS_STRA Guid;


  SysStrAInit (&Guid);
  VarStoreOp = (EFI_IFR_VARSTORE_NAME_VALUE *) Op;

  if (!UefiHiiOpIsValid (Op, S) ||
      !UefiHiiOpInFormSet (Op, S)) {
    return EFI_INVALID_PARAMETER;
  }


  if (VarStoreOp->VarStoreId == 0) {
    return EFI_INVALID_PARAMETER;
  }


  ...dump debug information...

  for (pos = NULL; SysListGetNext (&S->FormSetP->VarStores, &pos, &VarStoreP);) {
    if (!SysIsValid (VarStoreP)) {
      continue;
    }

    if (VarStoreP->Id == VarStoreOp->VarStoreId) {
      s = EFI_SUCCESS;
      goto exit;
    }
  }


  VarStoreP = SysNew (UefiHiiVarStoreP);
  if (VarStoreP == NULL) {
    s = EFI_OUT_OF_RESOURCES;
    goto exit;
  }


  VarStoreP->Type = Op->OpCode;
  VarStoreP->Id = VarStoreOp->VarStoreId;
  memcpy (&VarStoreP->Guid, &VarStoreOp->Guid, sizeof (EFI_GUID));


  if (!SysListAddTail (&S->FormSetP->VarStores, VarStoreP)) {
    s = EFI_OUT_OF_RESOURCES;
    goto exit;
  }


  s = EFI_SUCCESS;
exit:
  SysStrAEmpty (&Guid);
  return s;
}


Like the two previous functions, the opcode is checked for validity. Then a new Variable Store container is created from the IFR VARSTORE_NAME_VALUE opcode and added to the Form Set.

UEFI_HII_VAR_STORE_P

The Variable Store container structure (UEFI_HII_VAR_STORE_P) describes a variable store.

typedef struct _UEFI_HII_VAR_STORE_P {
  SYS_OBJ Obj;


  UINT8 Type;                     // VARSTORE, VARSTORE_EFI, VARSTORE_NAME_VALUE
  EFI_VARSTORE_ID Id;    
  EFI_GUID Guid;                  // variable store GUID
  SYS_STRA Name;

  UINT16 Size;                    // for VARSTORE
  UINT32 Attribs;                 // for VARSTORE_EFI
} UEFI_HII_VAR_STORE_P;


typedef UEFI_HII_VAR_STORE_P UefiHiiVarStoreP;

The Type describes the type of Variable Store: buffer (VARSTORE), EFI variable (VARSTORE_EFI) and name/value (VARSTORE_NAME_VALUE). The variable stores all have at least a variable store identifier (Id) and a GUID (Guid). The name (Name) and size (Size) is used for buffer and EFI variable stores. The attributes (Attribs) are only used for EFI variable stores.  

Conclusion

So far, we've looked at how to parse the form sets and the associated variable stores. Next time we'll look at forms and default stores. As you can see, each major IFR object type has its own container.

Thursday, November 01, 2012

Phoenix and AMI Press Release: ARMv8, AppliedMicro and an IDE

[Disclaimer: I am an ex-Phoenix employee and currently work for a Phoenix and AMI competitor]

UPDATE: Ran into a Phoenix employee at the ARM TechCon yesterday, and he invited me to go watch their X-Gene firmware at 11:00am. Cool.

Phoenix Technologies, one of the three mainstream independent BIOS vendors (IBVs) just put out a press release talking about their support for the new ARMv8 64-bit processor architecture and their relationship with AppliedMicro, who is developing their own variant, called the X-Gene. Kudos. Good stuff. Immediately followed by AMI. AMI goes further to say they will be demoing it today at the ARM TechCon in Santa Clara, where I am headed as I type this.

It is with the 64-bit ARM that I expect to see the real transition to UEFI boot-loaders happen. With 32-bit ARM cores, there were a lot of supported choices because UEFI was (relatively speaking) late to the game. But ARM has been working with the ABST (ARM Binding Sub Team) within UEFI for a while. So, the question is: will QNX and WindRiver and other embedded OS' go ahead and follow Linux's lead and support UEFI as the standard boot model for ARM.

But the funny thing about the Phoenix press-release is that it contains IDE in the title, but nowhere in the text does it ever talk about an "integrated development environment". An IDE would be something like Eclipse or Visual Studio. They do talk about an "enhanced build environment" and "award winning...tools". So I went to their web site to check the press release and couldn't find it there. But when I looked at other sites, they used the phrase "Independent Build Environment". Ok. That makes more sense. One of the other blogs just muffed it.