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Date:      Mon, 17 May 2021 14:00:21 -0600
From:      John Nielsen <lists@jnielsen.net>
To:        "freebsd-acpi@freebsd.org" <freebsd-acpi@FreeBSD.org>
Subject:   How to properly locate/parse ACPI table from kernel module?
Message-ID:  <BCFCDCE9-F169-4C1C-AD0C-FDE511C0BC11@jnielsen.net>

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Hi all-

I=E2=80=99m not much of a kernel programmer but I=E2=80=99m trying to =
maintain/improve the isboot module, which allows booting directly from =
iSCSI by reading the iSCSI Boot Firmware Table (iBFT), bringing up the =
interface with the details specified therein and connecting to the =
specified iSCSI target before trying to mount root.

I=E2=80=99m not the original author but as the port maintainer I am =
hosting the code here: https://github.com/jnielsendotnet/isboot

I have a test system where the module loads but fails to find the iBFT. =
I reviewed the iBFT code and realized it has a bunch of magic numbers =
mixed in with some random memory diving. If I=E2=80=99m reading it right =
(see https://github.com/jnielsendotnet/isboot/blob/master/src/ibft.h#L37 =
and =
https://github.com/jnielsendotnet/isboot/blob/master/src/ibft.c#L521), =
it looks like it scans all of the (kernel?) memory between 512K and 1M =
in 16-byte increments looking for one beginning with the string =
=E2=80=9CiBFT=E2=80=9D, which if it finds will be used as the offset for =
reading the table. I don=E2=80=99t know where the 512K and 1M values =
came from or if they are correct, but I do have a system where that =
method does not work.

IIUC, the iBFT is an ACPI table, and it seems like using ACPI to find it =
would be safer and more reliable. So my question is: how does one do =
that? Are there other places in the kernel code that do this sort of =
thing that I could use as a model? Any gotchas I should know about as a =
(less-than) novice kernel programmer?

Thanks!

JN




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