[coreboot] SPD binaries in coreboot

[Peter Stuge]

Patrick Georgi wrote:
> we carry the SPD data in coreboot.
..
> Currently, they're stored in a hexdump format
..
> I see essentially two ways out of this
..
> We could build our own tool to parse hex files and dump binary,

If we create a tool for this process I think we can find a better
"source" format than hex files. Someone needs to take a look at the
JEDEC standard and think of what might be suitable.


> or we could ship SPD data as binary from the start

I am actually strongly in favor of this approach. Converting SPD data
from human readable to machine readable is an orthogonal problem to
fixing the structure of our codebase, and there is no reason not to
solve the structural problem without first having to invent a new
data format.


> The second option has the appeal of being much simpler (and there
> isn't really a "preferred form" for editing SPD data that I'm aware of
> - is there?)

I guess JEDEC does have a structured format. Maybe it's XML or JSON. :)


> So, is there a third option that I'm missing? Other opinions?

The third option would be a plain text format which is easy to parse
but still covers the spec well.


Unblobing SPD files is an excellent entry-level project which we
could keep on shelf. Maybe for next GSoC..

Fixing structure is more important IMO and shouldn't need to block on that.


//Peter