1 .. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
2 .. Copyright (c) 2018 Heinrich Schuchardt
7 The Unified Extensible Firmware Interface Specification (UEFI) [1] has become
8 the default for booting on AArch64 and x86 systems. It provides a stable API for
9 the interaction of drivers and applications with the firmware. The API comprises
10 access to block storage, network, and console to name a few. The Linux kernel
11 and boot loaders like GRUB or the FreeBSD loader can be executed.
16 The implementation of UEFI in U-Boot strives to reach the requirements described
17 in the "Embedded Base Boot Requirements (EBBR) Specification - Release v2.1.0"
18 [2]. The "Server Base Boot Requirements System Software on ARM Platforms" [3]
19 describes a superset of the EBBR specification and may be used as further
22 A full blown UEFI implementation would contradict the U-Boot design principle
25 Building U-Boot for UEFI
26 ------------------------
28 The UEFI standard supports only little-endian systems. The UEFI support can be
29 activated for ARM and x86 by specifying::
36 Support for attaching virtual block devices, e.g. iSCSI drives connected by the
37 loaded UEFI application [4], requires::
42 Executing a UEFI binary
43 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
45 The bootefi command is used to start UEFI applications or to install UEFI
46 drivers. It takes two parameters::
48 bootefi <image address> [fdt address]
50 * image address - the memory address of the UEFI binary
51 * fdt address - the memory address of the flattened device tree
53 Below you find the output of an example session starting GRUB::
55 => load mmc 0:2 ${fdt_addr_r} boot/dtb
56 29830 bytes read in 14 ms (2 MiB/s)
57 => load mmc 0:1 ${kernel_addr_r} efi/debian/grubaa64.efi
58 reading efi/debian/grubaa64.efi
59 120832 bytes read in 7 ms (16.5 MiB/s)
60 => bootefi ${kernel_addr_r} ${fdt_addr_r}
62 When booting from a memory location it is unknown from which file it was loaded.
63 Therefore the bootefi command uses the device path of the block device partition
64 or the network adapter and the file name of the most recently loaded PE-COFF
65 file when setting up the loaded image protocol.
67 Launching a UEFI binary from a FIT image
68 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
70 A signed FIT image can be used to securely boot a UEFI image via the
71 bootm command. This feature is available if U-Boot is configured with::
75 A sample configuration is provided in :doc:`../../usage/fit/uefi`.
77 Below you find the output of an example session starting GRUB::
79 => load mmc 0:1 ${kernel_addr_r} image.fit
80 4620426 bytes read in 83 ms (53.1 MiB/s)
81 => bootm ${kernel_addr_r}#config-grub-nofdt
82 ## Loading kernel from FIT Image at 40400000 ...
83 Using 'config-grub-nofdt' configuration
84 Verifying Hash Integrity ... sha256,rsa2048:dev+ OK
85 Trying 'efi-grub' kernel subimage
86 Description: GRUB EFI Firmware
87 Created: 2019-11-20 8:18:16 UTC
88 Type: Kernel Image (no loading done)
89 Compression: uncompressed
90 Data Start: 0x404000d0
91 Data Size: 450560 Bytes = 440 KiB
93 Hash value: 4dbee00021112df618f58b3f7cf5e1595533d543094064b9ce991e8b054a9eec
94 Verifying Hash Integrity ... sha256+ OK
95 XIP Kernel Image (no loading done)
96 ## Transferring control to EFI (at address 404000d0) ...
99 See :doc:`../../usage/fit/howto` for an introduction to FIT images.
101 Configuring UEFI secure boot
102 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
104 The UEFI specification[1] defines a secure way of executing UEFI images
105 by verifying a signature (or message digest) of image with certificates.
106 This feature on U-Boot is enabled with::
108 CONFIG_EFI_SECURE_BOOT=y
110 To make the boot sequence safe, you need to establish a chain of trust;
111 In UEFI secure boot the chain trust is defined by the following UEFI variables
114 * KEK - Key Exchange Keys
115 * db - white list database
116 * dbx - black list database
118 An in depth description of UEFI secure boot is beyond the scope of this
119 document. Please, refer to the UEFI specification and available online
120 documentation. Here is a simple example that you can follow for your initial
121 attempt (Please note that the actual steps will depend on your system and
124 Install the required tools on your host
130 Create signing keys and the key database on your host:
136 openssl req -x509 -sha256 -newkey rsa:2048 -subj /CN=TEST_PK/ \
137 -keyout PK.key -out PK.crt -nodes -days 365
138 cert-to-efi-sig-list -g 11111111-2222-3333-4444-123456789abc \
140 sign-efi-sig-list -c PK.crt -k PK.key PK PK.esl PK.auth
142 The key exchange keys
146 openssl req -x509 -sha256 -newkey rsa:2048 -subj /CN=TEST_KEK/ \
147 -keyout KEK.key -out KEK.crt -nodes -days 365
148 cert-to-efi-sig-list -g 11111111-2222-3333-4444-123456789abc \
150 sign-efi-sig-list -c PK.crt -k PK.key KEK KEK.esl KEK.auth
152 The whitelist database
156 openssl req -x509 -sha256 -newkey rsa:2048 -subj /CN=TEST_db/ \
157 -keyout db.key -out db.crt -nodes -days 365
158 cert-to-efi-sig-list -g 11111111-2222-3333-4444-123456789abc \
160 sign-efi-sig-list -c KEK.crt -k KEK.key db db.esl db.auth
162 Copy the \*.auth files to media, say mmc, that is accessible from U-Boot.
164 Sign an image with one of the keys in "db" on your host
168 sbsign --key db.key --cert db.crt helloworld.efi
170 Now in U-Boot install the keys on your board::
172 fatload mmc 0:1 <tmpaddr> PK.auth
173 setenv -e -nv -bs -rt -at -i <tmpaddr>:$filesize PK
174 fatload mmc 0:1 <tmpaddr> KEK.auth
175 setenv -e -nv -bs -rt -at -i <tmpaddr>:$filesize KEK
176 fatload mmc 0:1 <tmpaddr> db.auth
177 setenv -e -nv -bs -rt -at -i <tmpaddr>:$filesize db
179 Set up boot parameters on your board::
181 efidebug boot add -b 1 HELLO mmc 0:1 /helloworld.efi.signed ""
183 Since kernel 5.7 there's an alternative way of loading an initrd using
184 LoadFile2 protocol if CONFIG_EFI_LOAD_FILE2_INITRD is enabled.
185 The initrd path can be specified with::
187 efidebug boot add -b ABE0 'kernel' mmc 0:1 Image -i mmc 0:1 initrd
189 Now your board can run the signed image via the boot manager (see below).
190 You can also try this sequence by running Pytest, test_efi_secboot,
195 cd <U-Boot source directory>
196 pytest test/py/tests/test_efi_secboot/test_signed.py --bd sandbox
198 UEFI binaries may be signed by Microsoft using the following certificates:
200 * KEK: Microsoft Corporation KEK CA 2011
201 http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=321185.
202 * db: Microsoft Windows Production PCA 2011
203 http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=321192.
204 * db: Microsoft Corporation UEFI CA 2011
205 http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=321194.
207 Using OP-TEE for EFI variables
208 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
210 Instead of implementing UEFI variable services inside U-Boot they can
211 also be provided in the secure world by a module for OP-TEE[1]. The
212 interface between U-Boot and OP-TEE for variable services is enabled by
213 CONFIG_EFI_MM_COMM_TEE=y.
215 Tianocore EDK II's standalone management mode driver for variables can
216 be linked to OP-TEE for this purpose. This module uses the Replay
217 Protected Memory Block (RPMB) of an eMMC device for persisting
218 non-volatile variables. When calling the variable services via the
219 OP-TEE API U-Boot's OP-TEE supplicant relays calls to the RPMB driver
220 which has to be enabled via CONFIG_SUPPORT_EMMC_RPMB=y.
222 EDK2 Build instructions
223 ***********************
227 $ git clone https://github.com/tianocore/edk2.git
228 $ git clone https://github.com/tianocore/edk2-platforms.git
230 $ git submodule init && git submodule update --init --recursive
232 $ export WORKSPACE=$(pwd)
233 $ export PACKAGES_PATH=$WORKSPACE/edk2:$WORKSPACE/edk2-platforms
234 $ export ACTIVE_PLATFORM="Platform/StandaloneMm/PlatformStandaloneMmPkg/PlatformStandaloneMmRpmb.dsc"
235 $ export GCC5_AARCH64_PREFIX=aarch64-linux-gnu-
236 $ source edk2/edksetup.sh
237 $ make -C edk2/BaseTools
238 $ build -p $ACTIVE_PLATFORM -b RELEASE -a AARCH64 -t GCC5 -n `nproc`
240 OP-TEE Build instructions
241 *************************
245 $ git clone https://github.com/OP-TEE/optee_os.git
247 $ ln -s ../Build/MmStandaloneRpmb/RELEASE_GCC5/FV/BL32_AP_MM.fd
249 $ CROSS_COMPILE32=arm-linux-gnueabihf- make -j32 CFG_ARM64_core=y \
250 PLATFORM=<myboard> CFG_STMM_PATH=BL32_AP_MM.fd CFG_RPMB_FS=y \
251 CFG_RPMB_FS_DEV_ID=0 CFG_CORE_HEAP_SIZE=524288 CFG_RPMB_WRITE_KEY=y \
252 CFG_CORE_DYN_SHM=y CFG_RPMB_TESTKEY=y CFG_REE_FS=n \
253 CFG_CORE_ARM64_PA_BITS=48 CFG_TEE_CORE_LOG_LEVEL=1 \
254 CFG_TEE_TA_LOG_LEVEL=1 CFG_SCTLR_ALIGNMENT_CHECK=n
256 U-Boot Build instructions
257 *************************
259 Although the StandAloneMM binary comes from EDK2, using and storing the
260 variables is currently available in U-Boot only.
264 $ git clone https://github.com/u-boot/u-boot.git
266 $ export CROSS_COMPILE=aarch64-linux-gnu-
268 $ make <myboard>_defconfig
271 Enable ``CONFIG_OPTEE``, ``CONFIG_CMD_OPTEE_RPMB`` and ``CONFIG_EFI_MM_COMM_TEE``
275 - Your OP-TEE platform port must support Dynamic shared memory, since that's
276 the only kind of memory U-Boot supports for now.
278 [1] https://optee.readthedocs.io/en/latest/building/efi_vars/stmm.html
280 .. _uefi_capsule_update_ref:
282 Enabling UEFI Capsule Update feature
283 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
285 Support has been added for the UEFI capsule update feature which
286 enables updating the U-Boot image using the UEFI firmware management
287 protocol (FMP). The capsules are not passed to the firmware through
288 the UpdateCapsule runtime service. Instead, capsule-on-disk
289 functionality is used for fetching capsules from the EFI System
290 Partition (ESP) by placing capsule files under the directory::
294 The directory is checked for capsules only within the
295 EFI system partition on the device specified in the active boot option,
296 which is determined by BootXXXX variable in BootNext, or if not, the highest
297 priority one within BootOrder. Any BootXXXX variables referring to devices
298 not present are ignored when determining the active boot option.
300 Please note that capsules will be applied in the alphabetic order of
303 Creating a capsule file
304 ***********************
306 A capsule file can be created by using tools/mkeficapsule.
307 To build this tool, enable::
309 CONFIG_TOOLS_MKEFICAPSULE=y
310 CONFIG_TOOLS_LIBCRYPTO=y
312 Run the following command
314 .. code-block:: console
317 --index <index> --instance 0 \
318 --guid <image GUID> \
321 Capsule with firmware version
322 *****************************
324 The UEFI specification does not define the firmware versioning mechanism.
325 EDK II reference implementation inserts the FMP Payload Header right before
326 the payload. It coutains the fw_version and lowest supported version,
327 EDK II reference implementation uses these information to implement the
328 firmware versioning and anti-rollback protection, the firmware version and
329 lowest supported version is stored into EFI non-volatile variable.
331 In U-Boot, the firmware versioning is implemented utilizing
332 the FMP Payload Header same as EDK II reference implementation,
333 reads the FMP Payload Header and stores the firmware version into
334 "FmpStateXXXX" EFI non-volatile variable. XXXX indicates the image index,
335 since FMP protocol handles multiple image indexes.
337 To add the fw_version into the FMP Payload Header,
338 add --fw-version option in mkeficapsule tool.
340 .. code-block:: console
343 --index <index> --instance 0 \
344 --guid <image GUID> \
348 If the --fw-version option is not set, FMP Payload Header is not inserted
349 and fw_version is set as 0.
351 Capsule Generation through binman
352 *********************************
354 Support has also been added to generate capsules during U-Boot build
355 through binman. This requires the platform's DTB to be populated with
356 the capsule entry nodes for binman. The capsules then can be generated
357 by specifying the capsule parameters as properties in the capsule
360 Check the test/py/tests/test_efi_capsule/capsule_gen_binman.dts file
361 as reference for how a typical binman node for capsule generation
362 looks like. For generating capsules as part of the platform's build, a
363 capsule node would then have to be included into the platform's
366 A typical binman node for generating a capsule would look like::
369 filename = "u-boot.capsule";
372 image-guid = "09d7cf52-0720-4710-91d1-08469b7fe9c8";
379 In the above example, a capsule file named u-boot.capsule will be
380 generated with u-boot.bin as it's input payload. The capsule
381 generation parameters like image-index and image-guid are being
382 specified as properties. Similarly, other properties like the private
383 and public key certificate can be specified for generating signed
384 capsules. Refer :ref:`etype_efi_capsule` for documentation about the
385 efi-capsule binman entry type, which describes all the properties that
388 Dumping capsule headers
389 ***********************
391 The mkeficapsule tool also provides a command-line option to dump the
392 contents of the capsule header. This is a useful functionality when
393 trying to understand the structure of a capsule and is also used in
394 capsule verification. This feature is used in testing the capsule
395 contents in binman's test framework.
397 To check the contents of the capsule headers, the mkeficapsule command
400 .. code-block:: console
402 $ mkeficapsule --dump-capsule \
405 Performing the update
406 *********************
408 Put capsule files under the directory mentioned above.
409 Then, following the UEFI specification, you'll need to set
410 the EFI_OS_INDICATIONS_FILE_CAPSULE_DELIVERY_SUPPORTED
411 bit in OsIndications variable with
413 .. code-block:: console
415 => setenv -e -nv -bs -rt -v OsIndications =0x0000000000000004
417 Since U-Boot doesn't currently support SetVariable at runtime, its value
418 won't be taken over across the reboot. If this is the case, you can skip
419 this feature check with the Kconfig option (CONFIG_EFI_IGNORE_OSINDICATIONS)
422 A few values need to be defined in the board file for performing the
423 capsule update. These values are defined in the board file by
424 initialisation of a structure which provides information needed for
425 capsule updates. The following structures have been defined for
426 containing the image related information
430 struct efi_fw_image {
431 efi_guid_t image_type_id;
436 struct efi_capsule_update_info {
437 const char *dfu_string;
438 struct efi_fw_image *images;
442 A string is defined which is to be used for populating the
443 dfu_alt_info variable. This string is used by the function
444 set_dfu_alt_info. Instead of taking the variable from the environment,
445 the capsule update feature requires that the variable be set through
446 the function, since that is more robust. Allowing the user to change
447 the location of the firmware updates is not a very secure
448 practice. Getting this information from the firmware itself is more
449 secure, assuming the firmware has been verified by a previous stage
452 Dynamic Firmware Update GUIDs
453 *****************************
455 The image_type_id contains a GUID value which is specific to the image
456 and board being updated, that is to say it should uniquely identify the
457 board model (and revision if relevant) and image pair. Traditionally,
458 these GUIDs are generated manually and hardcoded on a per-board basis,
459 however this scheme makes it difficult to scale up to support many
462 To address this, v5 GUIDs can be used to generate board-specific GUIDs
463 at runtime, based on the board's devicetree root compatible
464 (e.g. "qcom,qrb5165-rb5").
466 These strings are combined with the fw_image name to generate GUIDs for
467 each image. Support for dynamic UUIDs can be enabled by generating a new
468 namespace UUID and setting EFI_CAPSULE_NAMESPACE_GUID to it. Dynamic GUID
469 generation is only enabled if the image_type_id property is unset for your
470 firmware images, this is to avoid breaking existing boards with hardcoded
473 The mkeficapsule tool can be used to determine the GUIDs for a particular
474 board and image. It can be found in the tools directory.
476 Firmware update images
477 **********************
479 The firmware images structure defines the GUID values, image index
480 values and the name of the images that are to be updated through
481 the capsule update feature. These values are to be defined as part of
482 an array. These GUID values would be used by the Firmware Management
483 Protocol(FMP) to populate the image descriptor array and also
484 displayed as part of the ESRT table. The image index values defined in
485 the array should be one greater than the dfu alt number that
486 corresponds to the firmware image. So, if the dfu alt number for an
487 image is 2, the value of image index in the fw_images array for that
488 image should be 3. The dfu alt number can be obtained by running the
493 When the FWU Multi Bank Update feature is enabled on the platform, the
494 image index is used only to identify the image index with the image
495 GUID. The image index would not correspond to the dfu alt number. This
496 is because the FWU feature supports multiple partitions(banks) of
497 updatable images, and the actual dfu alt number to which the image is
498 to be written to is determined at runtime, based on the value of the
499 update bank to which the image is to be written. For more information
500 on the FWU Multi Bank Update feature, please refer to
501 :doc:`/develop/uefi/fwu_updates`.
503 When using the FMP for FIT images, the image index value needs to be
506 Finally, the capsule update can be initiated by rebooting the board.
508 An example of setting the values in the struct efi_fw_image and
509 struct efi_capsule_update_info is shown below
513 struct efi_fw_image fw_images[] = {
515 .image_type_id = DEVELOPERBOX_UBOOT_IMAGE_GUID,
516 .fw_name = u"DEVELOPERBOX-UBOOT",
520 .image_type_id = DEVELOPERBOX_FIP_IMAGE_GUID,
521 .fw_name = u"DEVELOPERBOX-FIP",
525 .image_type_id = DEVELOPERBOX_OPTEE_IMAGE_GUID,
526 .fw_name = u"DEVELOPERBOX-OPTEE",
531 struct efi_capsule_update_info update_info = {
532 .dfu_string = "mtd nor1=u-boot.bin raw 200000 100000;"
533 "fip.bin raw 180000 78000;"
534 "optee.bin raw 500000 100000",
538 Platforms must declare a variable update_info of type struct
539 efi_capsule_update_info as shown in the example above. The platform
540 will also define a fw_images array which contains information of all
541 the firmware images that are to be updated through capsule update
542 mechanism. The dfu_string is the string that is to be set as
543 dfu_alt_info. In the example above, the image index to be set for
544 u-boot.bin binary is 0x1, for fip.bin is 0x2 and for optee.bin is 0x3.
546 As an example, for generating the capsule for the optee.bin image, the
547 following command can be issued
551 $ ./tools/mkeficapsule \
552 --index 0x3 --instance 0 \
553 --guid c1b629f1-ce0e-4894-82bf-f0a38387e630 \
554 optee.bin optee.capsule
557 Enabling Capsule Authentication
558 *******************************
560 The UEFI specification defines a way of authenticating the capsule to
561 be updated by verifying the capsule signature. The capsule signature
562 is computed and prepended to the capsule payload at the time of
563 capsule generation. This signature is then verified by using the
564 public key stored as part of the X509 certificate. This certificate is
565 in the form of an efi signature list (esl) file, which is embedded in
568 The capsule authentication feature can be enabled through the
569 following config, in addition to the configs listed above for capsule
572 CONFIG_EFI_CAPSULE_AUTHENTICATE=y
574 The public and private keys used for the signing process are generated
575 and used by the steps highlighted below.
577 1. Install utility commands on your host
581 2. Create signing keys and certificate files on your host
583 .. code-block:: console
585 $ openssl req -x509 -sha256 -newkey rsa:2048 -subj /CN=CRT/ \
586 -keyout CRT.key -out CRT.crt -nodes -days 365
587 $ cert-to-efi-sig-list CRT.crt CRT.esl
589 3. Run the following command to create and sign the capsule file
591 .. code-block:: console
593 $ mkeficapsule --monotonic-count 1 \
594 --private-key CRT.key \
595 --certificate CRT.crt \
596 --index 1 --instance 0 \
597 [--fit | --raw | --guid <guid-string] \
598 <image_blob> <capsule_file_name>
600 4. Insert the signature list into a device tree in the following format::
604 capsule-key = [ <binary of signature list> ];
609 You can perform step-4 through the Kconfig symbol
610 CONFIG_EFI_CAPSULE_CRT_FILE. This symbol points to the signing key
611 generated in step-2. As part of U-Boot build, the ESL certificate file will
612 be generated from the signing key and automatically get embedded into the
615 Anti-rollback Protection
616 ************************
618 Anti-rollback prevents unintentional installation of outdated firmware.
619 To enable anti-rollback, you must add the lowest-supported-version property
620 to dtb and specify --fw-version when creating a capsule file with the
622 When executing capsule update, U-Boot checks if fw_version is greater than
623 or equal to lowest-supported-version. If fw_version is less than
624 lowest-supported-version, the update will fail.
625 For example, if lowest-supported-version is set to 7 and you run capsule
626 update using a capsule file with --fw-version of 5, the update will fail.
627 When the --fw-version in the capsule file is updated, lowest-supported-version
628 in the dtb might be updated accordingly.
630 If user needs to enforce anti-rollback to any older version,
631 the lowest-supported-version property in dtb must be always updated manually.
633 Note that the lowest-supported-version property specified in U-Boot's control
634 device tree can be changed by U-Boot fdt command.
635 Secure systems should not enable this command.
637 To insert the lowest supported version into a dtb
639 .. code-block:: console
641 $ dtc -@ -I dts -O dtb -o version.dtbo version.dtso
642 $ fdtoverlay -i orig.dtb -o new.dtb -v version.dtbo
644 where version.dtso looks like::
651 image-type-id = "09D7CF52-0720-4710-91D1-08469B7FE9C8";
653 lowest-supported-version = <3>;
658 The properties of image-type-id and image-index must match the value
659 defined in the efi_fw_image array as image_type_id and image_index.
661 Porting Capsule Updates to new boards
662 *************************************
664 It is important, when using a reference board as a starting point for a custom
665 board, that certain steps are taken to properly support Capsule Updates.
667 Capsule GUIDs need to be unique for each firmware and board. That is, if two
668 firmwares are built from the same source but result in different binaries
669 because they are built for different boards, they should have different GUIDs.
670 Therefore it is important when creating support for a new board, new GUIDs are
671 defined in the board's header file. *DO NOT* reuse capsule GUIDs.
673 Executing the boot manager
674 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
676 The UEFI specification foresees to define boot entries and boot sequence via
677 UEFI variables. Booting according to these variables is possible via::
679 bootefi bootmgr [fdt address]
681 As of U-Boot v2020.10 UEFI variables cannot be set at runtime. The U-Boot
682 command 'efidebug' can be used to set the variables.
687 HTTP Boot provides the capability for system deployment and configuration
688 over the network. HTTP Boot can be activated by specifying::
692 Enabling that will automatically select::
698 Set up the load option specifying the target URI::
700 efidebug boot add -u 1 netinst http://foo/bar
702 When this load option is selected as boot selection, resolve the
703 host ip address by dns, then download the file with wget.
704 If the downloaded file extension is .iso or .img file, efibootmgr tries to
705 mount the image and boot with the default file(e.g. EFI/BOOT/BOOTAA64.EFI).
706 If the downloaded file is PE-COFF image, load the downloaded file and
709 The current implementation tries to resolve the IP address as a host name.
710 If the uri is like "http://192.168.1.1/foobar",
711 the dns process tries to resolve the host "192.168.1.1" and it will
712 end up with "host not found".
714 We need to preset the "httpserverip" environment variable to proceed the wget::
716 setenv httpserverip 192.168.1.1
718 Executing the built in hello world application
719 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
721 A hello world UEFI application can be built with::
723 CONFIG_BOOTEFI_HELLO_COMPILE=y
725 It can be embedded into the U-Boot binary with::
727 CONFIG_CMD_BOOTEFI_HELLO=y
729 The bootefi command is used to start the embedded hello world application::
731 bootefi hello [fdt address]
733 Below you find the output of an example session::
735 => bootefi hello ${fdtcontroladdr}
736 ## Starting EFI application at 01000000 ...
737 WARNING: using memory device/image path, this may confuse some payloads!
742 Load options: root=/dev/sdb3 init=/sbin/init rootwait ro
743 ## Application terminated, r = 0
745 The environment variable fdtcontroladdr points to U-Boot's internal device tree
748 Executing the built-in self-test
749 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
751 An UEFI self-test suite can be embedded in U-Boot by building with::
753 CONFIG_CMD_BOOTEFI_SELFTEST=y
755 For testing the UEFI implementation the bootefi command can be used to start the
758 bootefi selftest [fdt address]
760 The environment variable 'efi_selftest' can be used to select a single test. If
761 it is not provided all tests are executed except those marked as 'on request'.
762 If the environment variable is set to 'list' a list of all tests is shown.
764 Below you can find the output of an example session::
766 => setenv efi_selftest simple network protocol
768 Testing EFI API implementation
769 Selected test: 'simple network protocol'
770 Setting up 'simple network protocol'
771 Setting up 'simple network protocol' succeeded
772 Executing 'simple network protocol'
774 DHCP reply received from 192.168.76.2 (52:55:c0:a8:4c:02)
775 as broadcast message.
776 Executing 'simple network protocol' succeeded
777 Tearing down 'simple network protocol'
778 Tearing down 'simple network protocol' succeeded
779 Boot services terminated
781 Preparing for reset. Press any key.
786 After the U-Boot platform has been initialized the UEFI API provides two kinds
792 The API can be extended by loading UEFI drivers which come in two variants:
797 UEFI drivers are installed with U-Boot's bootefi command. With the same command
798 UEFI applications can be executed.
800 Loaded images of UEFI drivers stay in memory after returning to U-Boot while
801 loaded images of applications are removed from memory.
803 An UEFI application (e.g. an operating system) that wants to take full control
804 of the system calls ExitBootServices. After a UEFI application calls
807 * boot services are not available anymore
808 * timer events are stopped
809 * the memory used by U-Boot except for runtime services is released
810 * the memory used by boot time drivers is released
812 So this is a point of no return. Afterwards the UEFI application can only return
813 to U-Boot by rebooting.
815 The UEFI object model
816 ---------------------
818 UEFI offers a flexible and expandable object model. The objects in the UEFI API
819 are devices, drivers, and loaded images. These objects are referenced by
822 The interfaces implemented by the objects are referred to as protocols. These
823 are identified by GUIDs. They can be installed and uninstalled by calling the
824 appropriate boot services.
826 Handles are created by the InstallProtocolInterface or the
827 InstallMultipleProtocolinterfaces service if NULL is passed as handle.
829 Handles are deleted when the last protocol has been removed with the
830 UninstallProtocolInterface or the UninstallMultipleProtocolInterfaces service.
832 Devices offer the EFI_DEVICE_PATH_PROTOCOL. A device path is the concatenation
833 of device nodes. By their device paths all devices of a system are arranged in a
836 Drivers offer the EFI_DRIVER_BINDING_PROTOCOL. This protocol is used to connect
837 a driver to devices (which are referenced as controllers in this context).
839 Loaded images offer the EFI_LOADED_IMAGE_PROTOCOL. This protocol provides meta
840 information about the image and a pointer to the unload callback function.
845 In the UEFI terminology an event is a data object referencing a notification
846 function which is queued for calling when the event is signaled. The following
847 types of events exist:
849 * periodic and single shot timer events
850 * exit boot services events, triggered by calling the ExitBootServices() service
851 * virtual address change events
852 * memory map change events
853 * read to boot events
854 * reset system events
855 * system table events
856 * events that are only triggered programmatically
858 Events can be created with the CreateEvent service and deleted with CloseEvent
861 Events can be assigned to an event group. If any of the events in a group is
862 signaled, all other events in the group are also set to the signaled state.
864 The UEFI driver model
865 ---------------------
867 A driver is specific for a single protocol installed on a device. To install a
868 driver on a device the ConnectController service is called. In this context
869 controller refers to the device for which the driver is installed.
871 The relevant drivers are identified using the EFI_DRIVER_BINDING_PROTOCOL. This
872 protocol has three functions:
874 * supported - determines if the driver is compatible with the device
875 * start - installs the driver by opening the relevant protocol with
876 attribute EFI_OPEN_PROTOCOL_BY_DRIVER
877 * stop - uninstalls the driver
879 The driver may create child controllers (child devices). E.g. a driver for block
880 IO devices will create the device handles for the partitions. The child
881 controllers will open the supported protocol with the attribute
882 EFI_OPEN_PROTOCOL_BY_CHILD_CONTROLLER.
884 A driver can be detached from a device using the DisconnectController service.
886 U-Boot devices mapped as UEFI devices
887 -------------------------------------
889 Some of the U-Boot devices are mapped as UEFI devices
896 As of U-Boot 2018.03 the logic for doing this is hard coded.
898 The development target is to integrate the setup of these UEFI devices with the
899 U-Boot driver model [5]. So when a U-Boot device is discovered a handle should
900 be created and the device path protocol and the relevant IO protocol should be
901 installed. The UEFI driver then would be attached by calling ConnectController.
902 When a U-Boot device is removed DisconnectController should be called.
904 UEFI devices mapped as U-Boot devices
905 -------------------------------------
907 UEFI drivers binaries and applications may create new (virtual) devices, install
908 a protocol and call the ConnectController service. Now the matching UEFI driver
909 is determined by iterating over the implementations of the
910 EFI_DRIVER_BINDING_PROTOCOL.
912 It is the task of the UEFI driver to create a corresponding U-Boot device and to
913 proxy calls for this U-Boot device to the controller.
915 In U-Boot 2018.03 this has only been implemented for block IO devices.
920 An UEFI uclass driver (lib/efi_driver/efi_uclass.c) has been created that
921 takes care of initializing the UEFI drivers and providing the
922 EFI_DRIVER_BINDING_PROTOCOL implementation for the UEFI drivers.
924 A linker created list is used to keep track of the UEFI drivers. To create an
925 entry in the list the UEFI driver uses the U_BOOT_DRIVER macro specifying
926 UCLASS_EFI_LOADER as the ID of its uclass, e.g::
928 /* Identify as UEFI driver */
929 U_BOOT_DRIVER(efi_block) = {
930 .name = "EFI block driver",
931 .id = UCLASS_EFI_LOADER,
935 The available operations are defined via the structure struct efi_driver_ops::
937 struct efi_driver_ops {
938 const efi_guid_t *protocol;
939 const efi_guid_t *child_protocol;
940 int (*bind)(efi_handle_t handle, void *interface);
943 When the supported() function of the EFI_DRIVER_BINDING_PROTOCOL is called the
944 uclass checks if the protocol GUID matches the protocol GUID of the UEFI driver.
945 In the start() function the bind() function of the UEFI driver is called after
947 The stop() function of the EFI_DRIVER_BINDING_PROTOCOL disconnects the child
948 controllers created by the UEFI driver and the UEFI driver. (In U-Boot v2013.03
949 this is not yet completely implemented.)
954 The UEFI block IO driver supports devices exposing the EFI_BLOCK_IO_PROTOCOL.
956 When connected it creates a new U-Boot block IO device with interface type
957 UCLASS_EFI_LOADER, adds child controllers mapping the partitions, and installs
958 the EFI_SIMPLE_FILE_SYSTEM_PROTOCOL on these. This can be used together with the
959 software iPXE to boot from iSCSI network drives [4].
961 This driver is only available if U-Boot is configured with::
972 The load file 2 protocol can be used by the Linux kernel to load the initial
973 RAM disk. U-Boot can be configured to provide an implementation with::
975 EFI_LOAD_FILE2_INITRD=y
977 When the option is enabled the user can add the initrd path with the efidebug
980 Load options Boot#### have a FilePathList[] member. The first element of
981 the array (FilePathList[0]) is the EFI binary to execute. When an initrd
982 is specified the Device Path for the initrd is denoted by a VenMedia node
983 with the EFI_INITRD_MEDIA_GUID. Each entry of the array is terminated by the
984 'end of entire device path' subtype (0xff). If a user wants to define multiple
985 initrds, those must by separated by the 'end of this instance' identifier of
988 So our final format of the FilePathList[] is::
990 Loaded image - end node (0xff) - VenMedia - initrd_1 - [end node (0x01) - initrd_n ...] - end node (0xff)
995 * [1] http://uefi.org/specifications - UEFI specifications
996 * [2] https://github.com/ARM-software/ebbr/releases/download/v2.1.0/ebbr-v2.1.0.pdf -
997 Embedded Base Boot Requirements (EBBR) Specification - Release v2.1.0
998 * [3] https://developer.arm.com/docs/den0044/latest/server-base-boot-requirements-system-software-on-arm-platforms-version-11 -
999 Server Base Boot Requirements System Software on ARM Platforms - Version 1.1
1001 * [5] :doc:`../driver-model/index`