Will this utility work during installation? - Jack
Frank Che wrote: > I'm sponsoring this fast track for Bill Yan. Requested release binding > is patch/micro for OpenSolaris. Timer is set to 08/13/2008. > > Note that this project depends on the IPS project (PSARC 2008/190) > which is still under development now. > > Frank. > > 4. Technical Description > Summary > The intent of this project is to propose the integration of Device > Driver > Utility to OpenSolaris OS. Motivation to propose this project is to > fulfill > the increasing requirement from the customer about easily view > hardware > information in Solaris OS and install missing device driver(s), thus > contribute to the adoption of OpenSolaris OS. > This project requests a patch/micro release binding to OpenSolaris. > > 4.1 Proposal > 4.1.1 Introduction to Device Driver Utility > Device Driver Utility provides information about the devices of the > user's > native system. Device Driver Utility enables the user to connect to > the > Image Packaging System (IPS) [1] to search for the device drivers > for the > devices that do not have a driver attached with it. By using the > Device > Driver Utility application, the user can do the following: > * Get the information of the devices installed on your native > system and > their corresponding device driver availability status. The following > information are displayed on the GUI: > - Device name and attributes(device path, vendor ID, device ID > etc.) > - Device driver availability > - Device driver name and status(instance number, attached/detached > etc.) > * Check the device driver availability for your system devices on IPS. > * Download and install the device drivers from IPS for those devices > that do not have an attached driver. > * Report system configurations to the OpenSolaris Hardware > Compatibility > List (HCL). > > 4.1.2 Device Driver Utility components > To achieve the above functions, the following components will be > implemented: > > 4.1.2.1 Device information fetcher. > This component is designed to probe current system via the libdevinfo > interface, walk through device tree and get information of all > detected > devices and driver information of each device. > > 4.1.2.2 Solaris driver database. > The Solaris driver database is a mapping table between device > identifier(normally vendor ID and device ID) and name of Solaris > driver. > This database includes three sets of information: drivers that are > bundle > with OpenSolaris, third-party drivers that can be downloaded from > an IHV > website, drivers that can be downloaded from OpenSolaris community. > > This database is only used when a device doesn't have a driver. > > Solaris driver information is extracted from the > /etc/driver_aliases file. > Third-party and OpenSolaris driver information is manually > collected and > added to the driver database. > > The driver database must be updated periodically because new > hardware and > new Solaris drivers are continually created. > > 4.1.2.3 User interface. > Consider the target user of this tool are most likely don't have much > knowledge of Solaris system administration, only graphical user > interface > is available, written in Python. The user reads device information > from > this informative GUI, instruct Device Driver Utility to download and > install missing driver(s) automatically through a few simple > mouse-click, > submit hardware information to OpenSolaris HCL using this GUI. > > 4.1.2.4 Core engine. > This component stays in the center of Device Driver Utility. It > completes > the following fundamental operations: > (1) Get device information from device information fetcher. If there > is device > that missing driver in current OpenSolaris OS, then look up Solaris > driver > database for the driver name. Pass all these information to GUI for > display. > (2) Check IPS for driver availability through pkg(1M) command. Search for > package on IPS that contains needed driver based on driver name. > Download and > install certain driver package(s) according to user's instruction. > (3) Read hardware-related information from SMBIOS as much as possible, > then > automatically fill in to OpenSolaris HCL submission table, ask the > user to > provide other necessary information, then format all these information > and pass > to OpenSolaris HCL server if the user want to do a submission. > Submission is > done through HTTPS post method. The user can see what data will be > transferred > to Sun before the submission is done. > > 4.1.3 Limitations > There are a few limitations in current plan: > > (1) The following functionality depend on network connectivity to Sun > servers: > * Check device driver availability via IPS. > * Dynamically add driver from IPS. > * Submit system configuration to OpenSolaris HCL. > > (2) If the Solaris driver database is not updated in time(for example, > there is > driver which can be found in IPS but not in Solaris driver database), the > driver search result may not be correct. However, if IPS enables the > user to > search for a driver package through supported vendor ID and device ID, > this > limitation will not exist any more. > > 4.2 Interfaces > 4.2.1 Exported Interfaces > Exported Interface| Stability | Description > > ------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------- > /usr/bin/ddu | Committed | Device Driver Utility startup script > > ------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------- > SUNWddu | Uncommitted | Package name for Device Driver > Utility > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > 4.2.2 Imported Interfaces > Imported Interface| Stability | Description > > ------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------- > Python 2.4.x | Volatile | PSARC/2005/532 > > ------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------- > libdevinfo.so.1 | Uncommitted | PSARC/1997/127 > > ------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------- > /dev/smbios | Uncommitted | PSARC/2005/483 > > ------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------- > pkg(5): image | Uncommitted | PSARC 2008/190 > packaging system | | > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > 4.3 References > [1] IPS is a repository for OpenSolaris packages where the user can > find > suitable drivers for the devices. > > > 6. Resources and Schedule > 6.4 Steering Committee Requested Information > 6.4.1 Consolidation C-team Name: None > 6.5 ARC review type: Fast Track > 6.6 ARC exposure: Open > >
