[PATCH 0/6] Add support for fwumdata

[Tom Rini]

On Wed, Dec 03, 2025 at 06:13:29PM +0100, Kory Maincent wrote:
> On Wed, 3 Dec 2025 09:10:48 -0600
> Tom Rini <trini at konsulko.com> wrote:
> 
> > On Wed, Dec 03, 2025 at 03:59:24PM +0100, Kory Maincent wrote:
> > > On Wed, 3 Dec 2025 15:04:10 +0100
> > > Patryk <pbiel7 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >   
> > > > Hi Ilias,
> > > >   
> > > > > > > Add a new fwumdata tool to allows users to read, display, and
> > > > > > > modify FWU (Firmware Update) metadata from Linux userspace. It
> > > > > > > provides functionality similar to fw_printenv/fw_setenv but for FWU
> > > > > > > metadata. Users can view metadata, change active/previous bank
> > > > > > > indices, modify bank states, and set image acceptance flags.
> > > > > > > Configuration is done via fwumdata.config file.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Made a few change to mkfwumdata tool along the way.    
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Still wondering about the choice of putting this fwumdata tool in
> > > > > > U-Boot instead of TF-A. TF-A is the boot part that manages the update
> > > > > > process and rollback through the FWU metadata,
> > > > > > therefore, this is where it should belong.
> > > > > > Why, in the first place, mkfwumdata was accepted into U-boot instead
> > > > > > of TF-A?    
> > > > >
> > > > > The actual update happens via capsule updates only, which runs in
> > > > > BL33. TF-A needs to be aware in case it's involved in the boot process
> > > > > and fails to boot. In that case BL2 is responsible for booting via the
> > > > > other bank.
> > > > > But generally speaking it's U-Boot that processes and usually updates
> > > > > that file    
> > > > 
> > > > If I may add something - actually for me this is not that obvious,
> > > > e.g. on our platform we update the metadata directly from Linux, not
> > > > from the u-boot capsule. As far as I'm aware, the ST, in their
> > > > OpenstLinux does the same. I'm also not sure why it would be the bad
> > > > idea to do this from Linux. Ofc the BL2 handles bank selection as well
> > > > as rollback in case of boot failure on a newly selected bank.  
> > > 
> > > I agreed with Patryk. U-boot is only an update agent (as explained by the
> > > standard) of FWU metadata as Barebox or Linux could be. FWU metadata is an
> > > ARM standard which is related to the update of the images that boot after
> > > the ARM firmware. It is not related to any project. As TF-A is the
> > > mainstream project for ARM firmware having mkfwumdata and fwumdata in it
> > > seems more suitable. I am not familiar with these EFI capsule update, does
> > > it not rely on TF-A to select the boot image according to the FWU metadata
> > > state?
> > > 
> > > Anyway, now it is too late and mkfwumdata has already landed in U-boot for 2
> > > years. Not sure what we should do here. Put all in U-boot and let the other
> > > projects (barebox) copy the code if they need it? Or move all to TF-A while
> > > keeping a deprecated copy of mkfwumdata in U-boot to not break things?  
> > 
> > Perhaps in the medium term we can split that tooling out from the main
> > project source tree itself, to make it easier for OSes to use this tool
> > (and other tools we have). There's nothing U-Boot specific about this,
> > if I'm following the thread right.
> 
> This isn't clear to me.
> Are you saying that we should plan in removing mkfwumdata in the medium term?
> And in the short time, sending the two tools to TF-A to get them accepted.

I mean in general, there are a lot of things in the u-boot source tree
that may or may not really make sense to have, in tree. We also can't,
right now, easily support or handle having multiple distinct projects
under the u-boot umbrella. I'm wondering if we should figure out how
to support a few source repositories under our umbrella, in a way that
would make life easier for other projects too.

-- 
Tom
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