[coreboot] SeaBIOS question and cross compilation fix.

ron minnich rminnich at gmail.com
Fri Nov 7 17:13:41 CET 2008


It's interesting to see the variations in thinking on this based on
variations in experience. Ed's company builds a system that has no
need of option ROMs- they control the platform. I have no need of
option ROMs either -- I don't control the platform, but HPC systems
don't need them in most cases. We've fielded thousands and thousands
of cluster nodes that never need an option ROM, BIOS callback, or even
SMI.

Others, coming from an environment rich in option ROMs, see the need.

I agree with Ed. seabios must be optional.

I agree with Stefan. It must be possible to build seabios in easily.

I agree with Jordan. Option roms, and BIOS callbacks, are not going
away (IMHO, for at last 5 years). Why? Because vendors are not yet
ready to open up those details, now if ever.

So, seabios must
1. be easily available via a make Kconfig option
2. be optional.
3. return from an init call
4. assume responsibility (take over from coreboot) for option ROMs

I think this is what Stefan is saying. I agree.

Sorry, Kevin, you did a great job with seabios, and now lots of people
want it :-)

ron




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