Hi Peter, On Sat, 25 Mar 2023 at 02:14, Peter Robinson <pbrobin...@gmail.com> wrote: > > On Fri, Mar 24, 2023 at 1:05 PM Christian Gmeiner > <christian.gmei...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > Hi Peter > > > > > > > > > > Hi Peter, > > > > > > > > Am Fr., 24. März 2023 um 11:10 Uhr schrieb Peter Robinson > > > > <pbrobin...@gmail.com>: > > > > > > > > > > On Fri, Mar 24, 2023 at 9:35 AM Christian Gmeiner > > > > > <christian.gmei...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > Hi Peter, > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > This patch series adds support for NFSv1 and is more > > > > > > > > or less a rebased version of an older series. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > During V1 there was a discussion if it really makes sense > > > > > > > > to bring more features into the network stack of U-Boot as it > > > > > > > > is just a bootloader. As TCP support landed I thought I might > > > > > > > > give this patch series another try. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > So the real question is what use does this bring? TCP is useful > > > > > > > because it can enable support for modern features like UEFI HTTP > > > > > > > boot. > > > > > > > What is the use of NFSc1? The Linux kernel is removing support for > > > > > > > NFSv2 and according to wikipedia v1 was only ever used internally > > > > > > > to > > > > > > > Sun so I'm not sure what the wider use of this functionality > > > > > > > would be? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > You know there are other operating systems used in the wild. One of > > > > > > them is > > > > > > vxworks. The company I work for supports software versions for more > > > > > > than 10 > > > > > > years and customers do not want to update to newer software versions > > > > > > as the process > > > > > > of approval for wind turbines/parks is very costly and time > > > > > > intensive. > > > > > > For security > > > > > > issues we provide patches for older versions that the customers are > > > > > > switching to. > > > > > > > > > > Are there deployments that are updating to new versions of U-Boot that > > > > > require NFSv1 though? > > > > > > > > > > > > > Sadly, yes .. There are so called drop-in replacements for "processor > > > > modules" where > > > > we update the old design (e.g. AMD LX800 based 26G MHz one) to a new > > > > recent Intel SoC. > > > > Our customer can order a replacement HW for the old LX800 based design > > > > and they get > > > > the new one with fully compatible software. > > > > > > > > > > We are shipping devices right now which are based on vxworks 5. Some > > > > > > customers are using our "processor modules" as NFS server for e.g. > > > > > > other > > > > > > "processor modules" to boot from. If you want/need I can go into > > > > > > further details > > > > > > about our use case. > > > > > > > > > > So they're using a 25 year old version of vxworks with the latest > > > > > version of U-Boot? And vxworks supports only NFSv1, and not NFSv2, > > > > > which has been out since 1989 and was the first version that even Sun > > > > > supported publicly? > > > > > > > > > > > > > There are newer versions of NFS supported on more recent vxworks > > > > versions but as our > > > > customers do not want to change software of an approved wind turbine we > > > > need to > > > > support the old feature. > > > > > > > > Also we are allowed to include only critical fixes in patch version, > > > > which can be used > > > > without the whole approval process. For any new feature our customer > > > > would > > > > need to redo the whole approval process. > > > > > > Yet they allow you to update the entire version of U-Boot to the latest > > > one? > > > > U-Boot is used as coreboot payload and both together are the bios. None of > > our > > customers do bios updates in the field as the risk of bricking the > > device is too high. > > > > > > > > I understand how the process works when they don't want to change > > > things, but it doesn't make sense to update U-Boot to the latest > > > version yet not other pieces of the infrastructure. NFSv1 was > > > basically obsolete from the outset because Sun's first public release > > > was v2. > > > > > > It doesn't make sense to me to upstream a long obsolete version, and > > > no doubt insecure, version of a protocol which is seemingly used by a > > > single customer of yours. > > > > I am fine with that decision .. but I hope you know that NFSv2 is an > > insecure version too! > > Oh I'm well aware of that, it's at least been more widely reviewed and > the issues are better known. Personally I've never particularly seen > the point of NFS in a firmware at all. These days I think HTTP would > provide equivalence of functionality with the better support for > things like proxy/caching/CDN and other such functionality.
But here we are talking about supporting old software. So it doesn't much matter that HTTP is now available. Regards, Simon > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > So I know It is a quite specific use case but we want to upstream > > > > > > most > > > > > > of our downstream > > > > > > patches. > > > > > > > > > > > > Btw. if this patch series will not land does this mean NFSv2 will > > > > > > die too soon? > > > > > > > > > > At least NFSv2 is supported to some degree whereas it seems NFSv1 is > > > > > something that's special to vxworks, how are people supposed to test > > > > > it? I don't see any tests in your patchset and I'm not sure how it's > > > > > useful outside of the legacy vxmworks use case. > > > > > > > > > > > > > I thought that this unit test topic will pop up and we have written > > > > some last week. I will > > > > include them in the next version of this patchset. > > > > > > > > Btw why are there no NFSv2, NFSv3 unit tests in U-Boot? How are people > > > > supposed to > > > > test it? > > > > > > The NFSv2 code was contributed before it was decided that new > > > functionality should come with tests that can run in CI. > > > > > > Where would the NFSv1 server come from for this for testing in CI? > > > > You convinced me to stop thinking about upstreaming NFSv1 support. > > > > -- > > thanks > > -- > > Christian Gmeiner, MSc > > > > https://christian-gmeiner.info/privacypolicy