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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/x86/boot.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/x86/boot.rst | 126 |
1 files changed, 126 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/x86/boot.rst b/Documentation/x86/boot.rst index 08a2f100c0e6..c60fafda9427 100644 --- a/Documentation/x86/boot.rst +++ b/Documentation/x86/boot.rst @@ -68,8 +68,25 @@ Protocol 2.12 (Kernel 3.8) Added the xloadflags field and extension fields Protocol 2.13 (Kernel 3.14) Support 32- and 64-bit flags being set in xloadflags to support booting a 64-bit kernel from 32-bit EFI + +Protocol 2.14: BURNT BY INCORRECT COMMIT ae7e1238e68f2a472a125673ab506d49158c1889 + (x86/boot: Add ACPI RSDP address to setup_header) + DO NOT USE!!! ASSUME SAME AS 2.13. + +Protocol 2.15: (Kernel 5.5) Added the kernel_info. ============= ============================================================ +.. note:: + The protocol version number should be changed only if the setup header + is changed. There is no need to update the version number if boot_params + or kernel_info are changed. Additionally, it is recommended to use + xloadflags (in this case the protocol version number should not be + updated either) or kernel_info to communicate supported Linux kernel + features to the boot loader. Due to very limited space available in + the original setup header every update to it should be considered + with great care. Starting from the protocol 2.15 the primary way to + communicate things to the boot loader is the kernel_info. + Memory Layout ============= @@ -207,6 +224,7 @@ Offset/Size Proto Name Meaning 0258/8 2.10+ pref_address Preferred loading address 0260/4 2.10+ init_size Linear memory required during initialization 0264/4 2.11+ handover_offset Offset of handover entry point +0268/4 2.15+ kernel_info_offset Offset of the kernel_info =========== ======== ===================== ============================================ .. note:: @@ -855,6 +873,114 @@ Offset/size: 0x264/4 See EFI HANDOVER PROTOCOL below for more details. +============ ================== +Field name: kernel_info_offset +Type: read +Offset/size: 0x268/4 +Protocol: 2.15+ +============ ================== + + This field is the offset from the beginning of the kernel image to the + kernel_info. The kernel_info structure is embedded in the Linux image + in the uncompressed protected mode region. + + +The kernel_info +=============== + +The relationships between the headers are analogous to the various data +sections: + + setup_header = .data + boot_params/setup_data = .bss + +What is missing from the above list? That's right: + + kernel_info = .rodata + +We have been (ab)using .data for things that could go into .rodata or .bss for +a long time, for lack of alternatives and -- especially early on -- inertia. +Also, the BIOS stub is responsible for creating boot_params, so it isn't +available to a BIOS-based loader (setup_data is, though). + +setup_header is permanently limited to 144 bytes due to the reach of the +2-byte jump field, which doubles as a length field for the structure, combined +with the size of the "hole" in struct boot_params that a protected-mode loader +or the BIOS stub has to copy it into. It is currently 119 bytes long, which +leaves us with 25 very precious bytes. This isn't something that can be fixed +without revising the boot protocol entirely, breaking backwards compatibility. + +boot_params proper is limited to 4096 bytes, but can be arbitrarily extended +by adding setup_data entries. It cannot be used to communicate properties of +the kernel image, because it is .bss and has no image-provided content. + +kernel_info solves this by providing an extensible place for information about +the kernel image. It is readonly, because the kernel cannot rely on a +bootloader copying its contents anywhere, but that is OK; if it becomes +necessary it can still contain data items that an enabled bootloader would be +expected to copy into a setup_data chunk. + +All kernel_info data should be part of this structure. Fixed size data have to +be put before kernel_info_var_len_data label. Variable size data have to be put +after kernel_info_var_len_data label. Each chunk of variable size data has to +be prefixed with header/magic and its size, e.g.: + + kernel_info: + .ascii "LToP" /* Header, Linux top (structure). */ + .long kernel_info_var_len_data - kernel_info + .long kernel_info_end - kernel_info + .long 0x01234567 /* Some fixed size data for the bootloaders. */ + kernel_info_var_len_data: + example_struct: /* Some variable size data for the bootloaders. */ + .ascii "0123" /* Header/Magic. */ + .long example_struct_end - example_struct + .ascii "Struct" + .long 0x89012345 + example_struct_end: + example_strings: /* Some variable size data for the bootloaders. */ + .ascii "ABCD" /* Header/Magic. */ + .long example_strings_end - example_strings + .asciz "String_0" + .asciz "String_1" + example_strings_end: + kernel_info_end: + +This way the kernel_info is self-contained blob. + +.. note:: + Each variable size data header/magic can be any 4-character string, + without \0 at the end of the string, which does not collide with + existing variable length data headers/magics. + + +Details of the kernel_info Fields +================================= + +============ ======== +Field name: header +Offset/size: 0x0000/4 +============ ======== + + Contains the magic number "LToP" (0x506f544c). + +============ ======== +Field name: size +Offset/size: 0x0004/4 +============ ======== + + This field contains the size of the kernel_info including kernel_info.header. + It does not count kernel_info.kernel_info_var_len_data size. This field should be + used by the bootloaders to detect supported fixed size fields in the kernel_info + and beginning of kernel_info.kernel_info_var_len_data. + +============ ======== +Field name: size_total +Offset/size: 0x0008/4 +============ ======== + + This field contains the size of the kernel_info including kernel_info.header + and kernel_info.kernel_info_var_len_data. + The Image Checksum ================== |