ichspi: add support for Intel Hardware Sequencing

Based on the new opaque programmer framework this patch adds support
for Intel Hardware Sequencing on ICH8 and its successors.

By default (or when setting the ich_spi_mode option to auto)
the module tries to use swseq and only activates hwseq if need be:
- if important opcodes are inaccessible due to lockdown
- if more than one flash chip is attached.
The other options (swseq, hwseq) select the respective mode (if possible).

A general description of Hardware Sequencing can be found in this blog entry:
http://blogs.coreboot.org/blog/2011/06/11/gsoc-2011-flashrom-part-1/

Besides adding hwseq this patch also introduces these unrelated changes:

- Fix enable_flash_ich_dc_spi to pass ERROR_FATAL from ich_init_spi.
  The whole error handling looks a bit odd to me, so this patch does
  change very little. Also, it does not touch the tunnelcreek method,
  which should be refactored anyway.

- Add null-pointer guards to find_opcode and find_preop
  to matches the other opcode methods better:
  curopcodes == NULL has some meaning and is actively used/checked in
  other functions.

TODO: adding real documentation when we have a directory for it

Corresponding to flashrom svn r1461.

Signed-off-by: Stefan Tauner <stefan.tauner@alumni.tuwien.ac.at>
Acked-by: Carl-Daniel Hailfinger <c-d.hailfinger.devel.2006@gmx.net>

1 files changed, 20 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/flashrom.8 b/flashrom.8
index a8f4660..66cde4f 100644
--- a/flashrom.8
+++ b/flashrom.8
@@ -303,6 +303,26 @@ is the I/O port number (must be a multiple of 8). In the unlikely case
 flashrom doesn't detect an active IT87 LPC<->SPI bridge, please send a bug
 report so we can diagnose the problem.
 .sp
+If you have an Intel chipset with an ICH8 or later southbridge with SPI flash
+attached, and if a valid descriptor was written to it (e.g. by the vendor), the
+chipset provides an alternative way to access the flash chip(s) named
+.BR "Hardware Sequencing" .
+It is much simpler than the normal access method (called
+.BR "Software Sequencing" "),"
+but does not allow the software to choose the SPI commands to be sent.
+You can use the
+.sp
+.B "  flashrom \-p internal:ich_spi_mode=value"
+.sp
+syntax where value can be
+.BR auto ", " swseq " or " hwseq .
+By default
+.RB "(or when setting " ich_spi_mode=auto )
+the module tries to use swseq and only activates hwseq if need be (e.g. if
+important opcodes are inaccessible due to lockdown; or if more than one flash
+chip is attached). The other options (swseq, hwseq) select the respective mode
+(if possible).
+.sp
 If you have an Intel chipset with an ICH6 or later southbridge and if you want
 to set specific IDSEL values for a non-default flash chip or an embedded
 controller (EC), you can use the