ACPI: Document ACPI table overriding via initrd

Signed-off-by: Thomas Renninger <trenn@suse.de>
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1349043837-22659-7-git-send-email-trenn@suse.de
Cc: Len Brown <lenb@kernel.org>
Cc: Robert Moore <robert.moore@intel.com>
Cc: Yinghai Lu <yinghai@kernel.org>
Cc: Eric Piel <eric.piel@tremplin-utc.net>
Signed-off-by: H. Peter Anvin <hpa@linux.intel.com>

1 files changed, 94 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/acpi/initrd_table_override.txt b/Documentation/acpi/initrd_table_override.txt
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+Overriding ACPI tables via initrd
+=================================
+
+1) Introduction (What is this about)
+2) What is this for
+3) How does it work
+4) References (Where to retrieve userspace tools)
+
+1) What is this about
+---------------------
+
+If the ACPI_INITRD_TABLE_OVERRIDE compile option is true, it is possible to
+override nearly any ACPI table provided by the BIOS with an instrumented,
+modified one.
+
+For a full list of ACPI tables that can be overridden, take a look at
+the char *table_sigs[MAX_ACPI_SIGNATURE]; definition in drivers/acpi/osl.c
+All ACPI tables iasl (Intel's ACPI compiler and disassembler) knows should
+be overridable, except:
+   - ACPI_SIG_RSDP (has a signature of 6 bytes)
+   - ACPI_SIG_FACS (does not have an ordinary ACPI table header)
+Both could get implemented as well.
+
+
+2) What is this for
+-------------------
+
+Please keep in mind that this is a debug option.
+ACPI tables should not get overridden for productive use.
+If BIOS ACPI tables are overridden the kernel will get tainted with the
+TAINT_OVERRIDDEN_ACPI_TABLE flag.
+Complain to your platform/BIOS vendor if you find a bug which is so sever
+that a workaround is not accepted in the Linux kernel.
+
+Still, it can and should be enabled in any kernel, because:
+  - There is no functional change with not instrumented initrds
+  - It provides a powerful feature to easily debug and test ACPI BIOS table
+    compatibility with the Linux kernel.
+
+
+3) How does it work
+-------------------
+
+# Extract the machine's ACPI tables:
+cd /tmp
+acpidump >acpidump
+acpixtract -a acpidump
+# Disassemble, modify and recompile them:
+iasl -d *.dat
+# For example add this statement into a _PRT (PCI Routing Table) function
+# of the DSDT:
+Store("HELLO WORLD", debug)
+iasl -sa dsdt.dsl
+# Add the raw ACPI tables to an uncompressed cpio archive.
+# They must be put into a /kernel/firmware/acpi directory inside the
+# cpio archive.
+# The uncompressed cpio archive must be the first.
+# Other, typically compressed cpio archives, must be
+# concatenated on top of the uncompressed one.
+mkdir -p kernel/firmware/acpi
+cp dsdt.aml kernel/firmware/acpi
+# A maximum of: #define ACPI_OVERRIDE_TABLES 10
+# tables are  currently allowed (see osl.c):
+iasl -sa facp.dsl
+iasl -sa ssdt1.dsl
+cp facp.aml kernel/firmware/acpi
+cp ssdt1.aml kernel/firmware/acpi
+# Create the uncompressed cpio archive and concatenate the original initrd
+# on top:
+find kernel | cpio -H newc --create > /boot/instrumented_initrd
+cat /boot/initrd >>/boot/instrumented_initrd
+# reboot with increased acpi debug level, e.g. boot params:
+acpi.debug_level=0x2 acpi.debug_layer=0xFFFFFFFF
+# and check your syslog:
+[    1.268089] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Routing Table [\_SB_.PCI0._PRT]
+[    1.272091] [ACPI Debug]  String [0x0B] "HELLO WORLD"
+
+iasl is able to disassemble and recompile quite a lot different,
+also static ACPI tables.
+
+
+4) Where to retrieve userspace tools
+------------------------------------
+
+iasl and acpixtract are part of Intel's ACPICA project:
+http://acpica.org/
+and should be packaged by distributions (for example in the acpica package
+on SUSE).
+
+acpidump can be found in Len Browns pmtools:
+ftp://kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/lenb/acpi/utils/pmtools/acpidump
+This tool is also part of the acpica package on SUSE.
+Alternatively, used ACPI tables can be retrieved via sysfs in latest kernels:
+/sys/firmware/acpi/tables