Hi Marvin, I think this feature is already there and supported.
HII can either be in a global variable or in a PE/COFF resource section. The default is a global variable because HII was implemented before the PE/COFF resource section feature was added to the UEFI Specification. There is an INF [Defines] section statement to enable the PE/COFF section. See UefiHiiResource in the following link. https://tianocore-docs.github.io/edk2-InfSpecification/draft/3_edk_ii_inf_file_format/34_[defines]_section.html#34-defines-section How is your proposal different than this existing capability? Thanks, Mike > -----Original Message----- > From: devel@edk2.groups.io <devel@edk2.groups.io> On Behalf Of Marvin Häuser > Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2021 2:21 PM > To: devel@edk2.groups.io > Cc: Andrew Fish <af...@apple.com>; l...@nuviainc.com; Kinney, Michael D > <michael.d.kin...@intel.com>; Ni, Ray > <ray...@intel.com>; Gao, Zhichao <zhichao....@intel.com>; Wang, Jian J > <jian.j.w...@intel.com>; Wu, Hao A > <hao.a...@intel.com>; Bi, Dandan <dandan...@intel.com>; Dong, Eric > <eric.d...@intel.com>; Bret Barkelew > <bret.barke...@microsoft.com>; Vitaly Cheptsov <vit9...@protonmail.com> > Subject: [edk2-devel] [RFC] Expose HII package list via C variables > > Good day everyone, > > Currently, the HII package list is stored in a PE/COFF resource section > [1]. I propose to store it in a C variable (byte array with a pointer to > it and its size exposed) instead. DxeCore would have a guard to toggle > the deprecated support for the automatic protocol installation. This has > the following advantages: > > 1. Fixes BZ (incl. future toolchains): > https://bugzilla.tianocore.org/show_bug.cgi?id=557 > 2. Universal method across all toolchains and output file formats > 3. Saves error-prone parsing work > 4. Saves protocol install/locate work, the data is available right away > 5. The omission of a dedicated section can save space > 6. Terse file formats can support this and remain terse :) > 7. Removes a dependency on the PE/COFF format specifically > > A *very rough* PoC diff can be found here: > https://github.com/mhaeuser/edk2/compare/master...wip_hii_cvar > If the feedback is positive, I will clean it up of course. OVMF boots > with everything working fine. > > I'd explicitly like feedback on the following: > A. Is this an acceptable solution to BZ 557 (Andrew?)? > B. Is this an acceptable solution for the "HII workflow" (MdeModule > maintainers?)? > C. Is it acceptable to make support UEFI-side support for the old > mechanism optional (Stewards?)? > D. Can an acceptable alternative be found for the removed ShellPkg code > (Shell maintainers?)? > > As you can see the BaseTools part also is rough, but that is more a > question of "how" rather than "whether", so I'll postpone asking about it. > > Thanks for your time and feedback! > > Best regards, > Marvin > > > [1] "Once the image is loaded, LoadImage() installs > EFI_HII_PACKAGE_LIST_PROTOCOL on the handle if > the image contains a custom PE/COFF resource with the type 'HII'." > - UEFI 2.9, 7.4, "EFI_BOOT_SERVICES.LoadImage()" > > > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#79808): https://edk2.groups.io/g/devel/message/79808 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/85147044/21656 Group Owner: devel+ow...@edk2.groups.io Unsubscribe: https://edk2.groups.io/g/devel/unsub [arch...@mail-archive.com] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
