Release process

Intro

Following document describes release process for new versions of firmware for PC Engines APU2, APU3, APU4 and APU5 platform. It is intended for developers who want to create fully featured binaries and test those with various versions of sortbootorder, SeaBIOS, memtest86+ or iPXE.

For releases v4.0.17 and v4.6.10 or newer please use pce-fw-builder

Please note that flashing without recovery procedure is not recommended and we are not responsible for any damage that inexperienced person can do to the system.

Use repo tool to initialize set of repositories

mkdir apu2_fw_rel
cd apu2_fw_rel

repo init -u git@github.com:pcengines/release_manifests.git -b refs/tags/<tag_release>
# or
repo init -u git@github.com:pcengines/release_manifests.git -b <branch_name>

repo sync --force-sync

where: * <tag_release> - is the release version number (e.g. v4.6.4) * <branch_name> - is the release branch (i.e. coreboot-4.0.x for legacy, and coreboot-4.6.x for mainline

You can look-up changes, available branches and release tags on this github repository.

Build container

This is to avoid impact of system on build results:

docker build -t pcengines/apu2 apu2/apu2-documentation

This step could be omitted, if there was build done before (container already exists).

Build release

Assuming you initialized the repo with mainline release:

./apu2/apu2-documentation/scripts/apu2_fw_rel.sh build-ml

If config file was not created yet, the menuconfig will pop up.

Please choose:

Mainboard -> Mainboard vendor -> PC Engines
Mainboard -> Mainboard model  -> APU2
or
Mainboard -> Mainboard model  -> APU3
or
Mainboard -> Mainboard model  -> APU4
or
Mainboard -> Mainboard model  -> APU5

All other pieces will be set according to recent release configuration. coreboot image will start to build after exiting menu.

For legacy release you can use this command:

./apu2/apu2-documentation/scripts/apu2_fw_rel.sh build

There are also additional commands like:

# menuconfig
./apu2/apu2-documentation/scripts/apu2_fw_rel.sh build-ml menuconfig
# or for legacy
./apu2/apu2-documentation/scripts/apu2_fw_rel.sh build menuconfig

# distclean
./apu2/apu2-documentation/scripts/apu2_fw_rel.sh build-ml distclean
# or for legacy
./apu2/apu2-documentation/scripts/apu2_fw_rel.sh build distclean

# rm -rf .config*
./apu2/apu2-documentation/scripts/apu2_fw_rel.sh build-ml cfgclean
# or for legacy
./apu2/apu2-documentation/scripts/apu2_fw_rel.sh build cfgclean

# custom make parameters
./apu2/apu2-documentation/scripts/apu2_fw_rel.sh build-ml custom <param>
# or for legacy
./apu2/apu2-documentation/scripts/apu2_fw_rel.sh build custom <param>

After successful build, you can flash target device.

Flash release

Note that below script assume that you have ssh enabled connection with target device and destination OS or other distro that have working flashrom available in PATH. Without keys added you will see question about password couple times during flashing.

./apu2/apu2-documentation/scripts/apu2_fw_rel.sh flash <user>@<ip_address>

For forcing the flash (board identification mismatch):

./apu2/apu2-documentation/scripts/apu2_fw_rel.sh flash-force <user>@<ip_address>

Best way is to use root as <user> because it can have no problem with low level access.

Please do not hesitate with providing feedback or contributing fixes.

Known issues

using repo with coreboot show errors like:

fatal: Not a git repository (or any parent up to mount point /coreboot)
Stopping at filesystem boundary (GIT_DISCOVERY_ACROSS_FILESYSTEM not set).

Since it use git commands to create build timestamp.

flashing doesn't work

[21:51:53] pietrushnic:apu2_fw_rel $ ../apu2-documentation/scripts/apu2_fw_rel.sh flash pcengines@192.168.0.103
flash pcengines@192.168.0.103
The authenticity of host '192.168.0.103 (192.168.0.103)' can't be established.
(...)
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Warning: Permanently added '192.168.0.103' (ECDSA) to the list of known hosts.
bash: remountrw: command not found
coreboot.rom                                                                                                                                                                                                100% 8192KB   8.0MB/s   00:00
sudo: no tty present and no askpass program specified
sudo: no tty present and no askpass program specified

scripts finish with error

If you see something like this:

dirname: missing operand
Try 'dirname --help' for more information.
dirname: missing operand
Try 'dirname --help' for more information.
docker: Error response from daemon: Invalid volume spec ":": Invalid volume specification: ':'.
See 'docker run --help'.

Try to run:

eval $(ssh-agent)
ssh-add