From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from list by lists.gnu.org with archive (Exim 4.71) id 1WVlWd-0005QL-64 for mharc-grub-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 03 Apr 2014 13:34:03 -0400 Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:34298) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1WVlWT-0005Nx-QI for grub-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 03 Apr 2014 13:34:01 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1WVlWM-0003yo-4Q for grub-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 03 Apr 2014 13:33:53 -0400 Received: from e7.ny.us.ibm.com ([32.97.182.137]:36438) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1WVlWL-0003yk-VU for grub-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 03 Apr 2014 13:33:46 -0400 Received: from /spool/local by e7.ny.us.ibm.com with IBM ESMTP SMTP Gateway: Authorized Use Only! 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Violators will be prosecuted; Thu, 3 Apr 2014 13:33:43 -0400 Received: from b01cxnp22035.gho.pok.ibm.com (b01cxnp22035.gho.pok.ibm.com [9.57.198.25]) by d01dlp03.pok.ibm.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id A5A1AC90041 for ; Thu, 3 Apr 2014 13:33:37 -0400 (EDT) Received: from d01av04.pok.ibm.com (d01av04.pok.ibm.com [9.56.224.64]) by b01cxnp22035.gho.pok.ibm.com (8.13.8/8.13.8/NCO v10.0) with ESMTP id s33HXfeh62128254 for ; Thu, 3 Apr 2014 17:33:41 GMT Received: from d01av04.pok.ibm.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by d01av04.pok.ibm.com (8.14.4/8.14.4/NCO v10.0 AVout) with ESMTP id s33HXeQV023068 for ; Thu, 3 Apr 2014 13:33:41 -0400 Received: from ram.oc3035372033.ibm.com (dyn9050019135.mts.ibm.com [9.50.19.135] (may be forged)) by d01av04.pok.ibm.com (8.14.4/8.14.4/NCO v10.0 AVin) with ESMTP id s33HXbp8022849 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA bits=128 verify=NO); Thu, 3 Apr 2014 13:33:39 -0400 Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2014 10:33:36 -0700 From: Ram Pai To: The development of GNU GRUB Subject: Re: [RFC PATCH 21/23] powerpc64 is not necessarily BigEndian anymore! :) Message-ID: <20140403173336.GA16534@ram.oc3035372033.ibm.com> References: <1393439482-20341-1-git-send-email-linuxram@us.ibm.com> <1393439482-20341-22-git-send-email-linuxram@us.ibm.com> <20140401214945.209b4894@opensuse.site> <533B1FF2.9040503@gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit In-Reply-To: <533B1FF2.9040503@gmail.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.20 (2009-12-10) X-TM-AS-MML: disable X-Content-Scanned: Fidelis XPS MAILER x-cbid: 14040317-5806-0000-0000-00002482D2BD X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.4.x-2.6.x [generic] X-Received-From: 32.97.182.137 Cc: phcoder@gmail.com, pfsmorigo@br.ibm.com X-BeenThere: grub-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list Reply-To: The development of GNU GRUB List-Id: The development of GNU GRUB List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 17:34:01 -0000 On Tue, Apr 01, 2014 at 10:22:10PM +0200, Vladimir 'φ-coder/phcoder' Serbinenko wrote: > > > > > For the sake of bisectability this really should be moved earlier; > > otherwise at least patch "fix parameter to firmware calls" would > > be wrong. > > > Even bigger problem is whether we want to run in LE mode at all. From > what I understand (correct if I'm wrong) firmware calls remain > big-endian and you need to switch back and forth between LE and BE when > doing firmware calls. Yes. firmware runs in 32bit BE mode. And there is a constant switch from 64bit LE to 32bit BE and vice-versa for each firmware call. > doing firmware calls. Byteswapping for the purpose of firmware calls is > to be avoided as bugs are easy to slip through (in fact the > byte-swapping isn't complete in proposed patches. > (correct me if I'm wrong) Is that true? maybe you are right. I might have missed something. However please hint me what i have missed. I will look into some other arch code that support the same ieee platform. > these new patches cover a subset of already > supported machines and don't add any user-visible feature and no new > kernel type (LE kernel can be loaded from BE GRUB). > Cross-compiling to BE from LE is easy (TARGET_CFLAGS=-EL). Well. that is the issue. Various distros have varied support for cross-compilation (multi-arch support). If the distro does not have 32bit BE libraries natively installed (out-of-the-box), they wont be able to generate a 32bit BE grub loader. These set of patches overcomes the deficiency by generating a working native executable on LE systems. > So it looks like this patch series adds a new high-maintenance-cost port > covering only already supported machines and already supportred features. It does add maintainence; I agree. But than it does overcome some deficiences aswell. Thanks for your comments. And sorry for the delay. I had not seen this email, since i was not on copy. I will watch the mailing list regularly. RP > > _______________________________________________ > Grub-devel mailing list > Grub-devel@gnu.org > https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/grub-devel -- Ram Pai