Add this documention to explain how bintools are used and which ones are available.
Signed-off-by: Simon Glass <s...@chromium.org> --- (no changes since v1) doc/develop/package/bintools.rst | 1 + tools/binman/binman.rst | 71 +++++++++++++++++++ tools/binman/bintools.rst | 115 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3 files changed, 187 insertions(+) create mode 120000 doc/develop/package/bintools.rst create mode 100644 tools/binman/bintools.rst diff --git a/doc/develop/package/bintools.rst b/doc/develop/package/bintools.rst new file mode 120000 index 00000000000..7ef3d75e935 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/develop/package/bintools.rst @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +../../../tools/binman/bintools.rst \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/tools/binman/binman.rst b/tools/binman/binman.rst index 9dbe582ade2..db2234bd8ff 100644 --- a/tools/binman/binman.rst +++ b/tools/binman/binman.rst @@ -1027,6 +1027,77 @@ by increasing the -v/--verbosity from the default of 1: You can use BINMAN_VERBOSE=5 (for example) when building to select this. +Bintools +======== + +`Bintool` is the name binman gives to a binary tool which it uses to create and +manipulate binaries that binman cannot handle itself. Bintools are often +necessary since Binman only supports a subset of the available file formats +natively. + +Many SoC vendors invent ways to load code into their SoC using new file formats, +sometimes changing the format with successive SoC generations. Sometimes the +tool is available as Open Source. Sometimes it is a pre-compiled binary that +must be downloaded from the vendor's website. Sometimes it is available in +source form but difficult or slow to build. + +Even for images that use bintools, binman still assembles the image from its +image description. It may handle parts of the image natively and part with +various bintools. + +Binman relies on these tools so provides various features to manage them: + +- Determining whether the tool is currently installed +- Downloading or building the tool +- Determining the version of the tool that is installed +- Deciding which tools are needed to build an image + +The Bintool class is an interface to the tool, a thin level of abstration, using +Python functions to run the tool for each purpose (e.g. creating a new +structure, adding a file to an existing structure) rather than just lists of +string arguments. + +As with external blobs, bintools (which are like 'external' tools) can be +missing. When building an image requires a bintool and it is not installed, +binman detects this and reports the problem, but continues to build an image. +This is useful in CI systems which want to check that everything is correct but +don't have access to the bintools. + +To make this work, all calls to bintools (e.g. with Bintool.run_cmd()) must cope +with the tool being missing, i.e. when None is returned, by: + +- Calling self.record_missing_bintool() +- Setting up some fake contents so binman can continue + +Of course the image will not work, but binman reports which bintools are needed +and also provide a way to fetch them. + +To see the available bintools, use:: + + binman tool --list + +To fetch tools which are missing, use:: + + binman tool --fetch missing + +You can also use `--fetch all` to fetch all tools or `--fetch <tool>` to fetch +a particular tool. Some tools are built from source code, in which case you will +need to have at least the `build-essential` and `git` packages installed. + +Bintool Documentation +===================== + +To provide details on the various bintools supported by binman, bintools.rst is +generated from the source code using: + + binman bintool-docs >tools/binman/bintools.rst + +.. toctree:: + :maxdepth: 2 + + bintools + + Technical details ================= diff --git a/tools/binman/bintools.rst b/tools/binman/bintools.rst new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..edb373ab59b --- /dev/null +++ b/tools/binman/bintools.rst @@ -0,0 +1,115 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+ + +Binman bintool Documentation +============================ + +This file describes the bintools (binary tools) supported by binman. Bintools +are binman's name for external executables that it runs to generate or process +binaries. It is fairly easy to create new bintools. Just add a new file to the +'btool' directory. You can use existing bintools as examples. + + + +Bintool: cbfstool: Coreboot filesystem (CBFS) tool +-------------------------------------------------- + +This bintool supports creating new CBFS images and adding files to an +existing image, i.e. the features needed by binman. + +It also supports fetching a binary cbfstool, since building it from source +is fairly slow. + +Documentation about CBFS is at https://www.coreboot.org/CBFS + + + +Bintool: fiptool: Image generation for ARM Trusted Firmware +----------------------------------------------------------- + +This bintool supports running `fiptool` with some basic parameters as +neeed by binman. + +It also supports build fiptool from source. + +fiptool provides a way to package firmware in an ARM Trusted Firmware +Firmware Image Package (ATF FIP) format. It is used with Trusted Firmware A, +for example. + +See `TF-A FIP tool documentation`_ for more information. + +.. _`TF-A FIP tool documentation`: + https://trustedfirmware-a.readthedocs.io/en/latest/getting_started/tools-build.html?highlight=fiptool#building-and-using-the-fip-tool + + + +Bintool: futility: Handles the 'futility' tool +---------------------------------------------- + +futility (flash utility) is a tool for working with Chromium OS flash +images. This Bintool implements just the features used by Binman, related to +GBB creation and firmware signing. + +A binary version of the tool can be fetched. + +See `Chromium OS vboot documentation`_ for more information. + +.. _`Chromium OS vboot documentation`: + https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/platform/vboot/+/refs/heads/main/_vboot_reference/README + + + +Bintool: ifwitool: Handles the 'ifwitool' tool +---------------------------------------------- + +This bintool supports running `ifwitool` with some basic parameters as +neeed by binman. It includes creating a file from a FIT as well as adding, +replacing, deleting and extracting subparts. + +The tool is built as part of U-Boot, but a binary version can be fetched if +required. + +ifwitool provides a way to package firmware in an Intel Firmware Image +(IFWI) file on some Intel SoCs, e.g. Apolo Lake. + + + +Bintool: lz4: Compression/decompression using the LZ4 algorithm +--------------------------------------------------------------- + +This bintool supports running `lz4` to compress and decompress data, as +used by binman. + +It is also possible to fetch the tool, which uses `apt` to install it. + +Documentation is available via:: + + man lz4 + + + +Bintool: lzma_alone: Compression/decompression using the LZMA algorithm +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +This bintool supports running `lzma_alone` to compress and decompress data, +as used by binman. + +It is also possible to fetch the tool, which uses `apt` to install it. + +Documentation is available via:: + + man lzma_alone + + + +Bintool: mkimage: Image generation for U-Boot +--------------------------------------------- + +This bintool supports running `mkimage` with some basic parameters as +neeed by binman. + +Normally binman uses the mkimage built by U-Boot. But when run outside the +U-Boot build system, binman can use the version installed in your system. +Support is provided for fetching this on Debian-like systems, using apt. + + + -- 2.34.1.575.g55b058a8bb-goog
