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Upgrading ACPI tables via initrd
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================================
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1) Introduction (What is this about)
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2) What is this for
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3) How does it work
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4) References (Where to retrieve userspace tools)
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1) What is this about
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---------------------
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If the ACPI_TABLE_UPGRADE compile option is true, it is possible to
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upgrade the ACPI execution environment that is defined by the ACPI tables
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via upgrading the ACPI tables provided by the BIOS with an instrumented,
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modified, more recent version one, or installing brand new ACPI tables.
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For a full list of ACPI tables that can be upgraded/installed, take a look
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at the char *table_sigs[MAX_ACPI_SIGNATURE]; definition in
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drivers/acpi/tables.c.
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All ACPI tables iasl (Intel's ACPI compiler and disassembler) knows should
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be overridable, except:
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- ACPI_SIG_RSDP (has a signature of 6 bytes)
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- ACPI_SIG_FACS (does not have an ordinary ACPI table header)
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Both could get implemented as well.
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2) What is this for
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-------------------
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Complain to your platform/BIOS vendor if you find a bug which is so severe
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that a workaround is not accepted in the Linux kernel. And this facility
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allows you to upgrade the buggy tables before your platform/BIOS vendor
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releases an upgraded BIOS binary.
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This facility can be used by platform/BIOS vendors to provide a Linux
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compatible environment without modifying the underlying platform firmware.
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This facility also provides a powerful feature to easily debug and test
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ACPI BIOS table compatibility with the Linux kernel by modifying old
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platform provided ACPI tables or inserting new ACPI tables.
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It can and should be enabled in any kernel because there is no functional
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change with not instrumented initrds.
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3) How does it work
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-------------------
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# Extract the machine's ACPI tables:
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cd /tmp
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acpidump >acpidump
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acpixtract -a acpidump
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# Disassemble, modify and recompile them:
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iasl -d *.dat
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# For example add this statement into a _PRT (PCI Routing Table) function
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# of the DSDT:
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Store("HELLO WORLD", debug)
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# And increase the OEM Revision. For example, before modification:
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DefinitionBlock ("DSDT.aml", "DSDT", 2, "INTEL ", "TEMPLATE", 0x00000000)
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# After modification:
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DefinitionBlock ("DSDT.aml", "DSDT", 2, "INTEL ", "TEMPLATE", 0x00000001)
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iasl -sa dsdt.dsl
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# Add the raw ACPI tables to an uncompressed cpio archive.
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# They must be put into a /kernel/firmware/acpi directory inside the cpio
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# archive. Note that if the table put here matches a platform table
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# (similar Table Signature, and similar OEMID, and similar OEM Table ID)
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# with a more recent OEM Revision, the platform table will be upgraded by
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# this table. If the table put here doesn't match a platform table
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# (dissimilar Table Signature, or dissimilar OEMID, or dissimilar OEM Table
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# ID), this table will be appended.
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mkdir -p kernel/firmware/acpi
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cp dsdt.aml kernel/firmware/acpi
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# A maximum of "NR_ACPI_INITRD_TABLES (64)" tables are currently allowed
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# (see osl.c):
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iasl -sa facp.dsl
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iasl -sa ssdt1.dsl
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cp facp.aml kernel/firmware/acpi
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cp ssdt1.aml kernel/firmware/acpi
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# The uncompressed cpio archive must be the first. Other, typically
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# compressed cpio archives, must be concatenated on top of the uncompressed
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# one. Following command creates the uncompressed cpio archive and
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# concatenates the original initrd on top:
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find kernel | cpio -H newc --create > /boot/instrumented_initrd
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cat /boot/initrd >>/boot/instrumented_initrd
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# reboot with increased acpi debug level, e.g. boot params:
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acpi.debug_level=0x2 acpi.debug_layer=0xFFFFFFFF
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# and check your syslog:
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[ 1.268089] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Routing Table [\_SB_.PCI0._PRT]
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[ 1.272091] [ACPI Debug] String [0x0B] "HELLO WORLD"
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iasl is able to disassemble and recompile quite a lot different,
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also static ACPI tables.
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4) Where to retrieve userspace tools
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------------------------------------
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iasl and acpixtract are part of Intel's ACPICA project:
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http://acpica.org/
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and should be packaged by distributions (for example in the acpica package
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on SUSE).
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acpidump can be found in Len Browns pmtools:
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ftp://kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/lenb/acpi/utils/pmtools/acpidump
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This tool is also part of the acpica package on SUSE.
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Alternatively, used ACPI tables can be retrieved via sysfs in latest kernels:
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/sys/firmware/acpi/tables
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