[Pkg-libvirt-maintainers] Bug#764834: split files

[Guido Günther]

clone 764834 -1
retutile -1 Please split into OVMF_VARS.fd and OVMF_CODE.fd
block 764834 -1
severity -1 wishlist
thanks

Hi Lazlo, dear ovmf maintainer,
On Sat, Oct 11, 2014 at 11:51:40PM +0200, Laszlo Ersek wrote:
> OVMF_VARS.fd and OVMF_CODE.fd are split files. OVMF.fd is a unified
> file. Concatenating the first two yields the third.
> 
> OVMF_VARS.fd is a variable store template. OVMF_CODE.fd is the fimrware
> executable. When you create a new VM, libvirt instantiates the VM's own,
> private variable store by copying OVMF_VARS.fd. And, all VMs share the
> OVMF_CODE.fd binary.
> 
> When you update the OVMF package, the varstore template and the
> executable are both replaced, but the VMs preserve their own, private
> variable stores. This was the reason for implementing the split files --
> so that the firmware be possible to update centrally on a host, but the
> VMs' varstores remain unaffected.
> 
> (If you use a unified file, then the varstore part of that file is not a
> template, but a live variable store, and if you replace the entire file,
> then the VM loses its variables. In addition, each VM would have a
> separate copy of the executable part as well, which would require
> touching each VM's copy when updating the firmware on a host system, to
> get a central update.)
> 
> Regarding the place of OVMF_VARS.fd and OVMF_CODE.fd in the filesystem
> -- you put them wherever you want in Debian I guess, but they *really*
> correspond to each other. For example, a Secure Boot enabled
> OVMF_CODE.fd will not work with varstores copied from an OVMF_VARS.fd
> that was the output of a Secure Boot disabled build. IOW, OVMF_VARS.fd
> is not a config file for the user to update, it's really the counterpart
> of OVMF_CODE.fd.
> 
> https://github.com/tianocore/edk2/commit/1c50db8a
> 
> Debian's OVMF package should probably be updated, and the installed
> files should include the split files (preferably: *only* the split files).

thanks a lot for the detailed explanation. Dear ovmf maintainer, can
the files be split?
Cheers,
 -- Guido