path: root/README.rst

flashrom README
===============

flashrom is a utility for detecting, reading, writing, verifying and erasing
flash chips. It is often used to flash BIOS/EFI/coreboot/firmware images
in-system using a supported mainboard, but it also supports flashing of network
cards (NICs), SATA controller cards, and other external devices which can
program flash chips.

It supports a wide range of flash chips (most commonly found in SOIC8, DIP8,
SOIC16, WSON8, PLCC32, DIP32, TSOP32, and TSOP40 packages), which use various
protocols such as LPC, FWH, parallel flash, or SPI.

Do not use flashrom on laptops (yet)! The embedded controller (EC) present in
many laptops might interact badly with any attempts to communicate with the
flash chip and may brick your laptop.

Please make a backup of your flash chip before writing to it.

Please see the flashrom(8) manpage :doc:`classic_cli_manpage`.


Build Instructions
------------------

flashrom supports building with **make** and **meson**.

Meson build system supports almost all the environments, although not exactly
all of them. Full meson support is on the roadmap in the nearest future.
To build flashrom with meson, follow the instruction and information in
:doc:`dev_guide/building_from_source`

If you are unsure which build system to use, and/or don't know what's the
difference, use make for now.

The rest of Build Instructions below refers to building flashrom with make.

**To build flashrom you need to install the following software:**

 * C compiler (GCC / clang)
 * pkg-config

 * pciutils+libpci (if you want support for mainboard or PCI device flashing)
 * libusb (if you want FT2232, Dediprog or USB-Blaster support)
 * libftdi (if you want FT2232 or USB-Blaster support)
 * libjaylink (if you want support for SEGGER J-Link and compatible devices)

**Linux et al:**

 * pciutils / libpci
 * pciutils-devel / pciutils-dev / libpci-dev
 * zlib-devel / zlib1g-dev (needed if libpci was compiled with libz support)

**On FreeBSD, you need the following ports:**

 * devel/gmake
 * devel/libpci

**On OpenBSD, you need the following ports:**

 * devel/gmake
 * sysutils/pciutils

**To compile on Linux, use**::

	make

**To compile on FreeBSD, OpenBSD or DragonFly BSD, use**::

	gmake

**To compile on Nexenta, use**::

	make

**To compile on Solaris, use**::

	gmake LDFLAGS="-L$pathtolibpci" CC="gcc -I$pathtopciheaders" CFLAGS=-O2

**To compile on NetBSD (with pciutils, libftdi, libusb installed in /usr/pkg/), use**::

	gmake

**To compile and run on Darwin/Mac OS X:**

Install DirectHW from coresystems GmbH.
DirectHW is available at https://www.coreboot.org/DirectHW .

**To cross-compile on Linux for DOS:**

Get packages of the DJGPP cross compiler and install them:

 * djgpp-filesystem djgpp-gcc djgpp-cpp djgpp-runtime djgpp-binutils

As an alternative, the DJGPP web site offers packages for download as well:

 * djcross-binutils-2.29.1-1ap.x86_64.rpm
 * djcross-gcc-7.2.0-1ap.x86_64.rpm
 * djcrx-2.05-5.x86_64.rpm

The cross toolchain packages for your distribution may have slightly different
names (look for packages named *djgpp*).

Alternatively, you could use a script to build it from scratch:
https://github.com/andrewwutw/build-djgpp

You will need the libpci and libgetopt library source trees and
their compiled static libraries and header files installed in some
directory say libpci-libgetopt/, which will be later specified with
LIBS_BASE parameter during flashrom compilation. Easiest way to
handle it is to put pciutils, libgetopt and flashrom directories
in one subdirectory. There will be an extra subdirectory libpci-libgetopt
created, which will contain compiled libpci and libgetopt.

Download pciutils 3.5.6 and apply https://flashrom.org/File:Pciutils-3.5.6.patch.gz
Compile pciutils, using following command line::

	make ZLIB=no DNS=no HOST=i386-djgpp-djgpp CROSS_COMPILE=i586-pc-msdosdjgpp- \
		PREFIX=/ DESTDIR=$PWD/../libpci-libgetopt  \
		STRIP="--strip-program=i586-pc-msdosdjgpp-strip -s" install install-lib

Download and compile with 'make' https://flashrom.org/File:Libgetopt.tar.gz

Copy the libgetopt.a to ../libpci-libgetopt/lib and
getopt.h to ../libpci-libgetopt/include

Enter the flashrom directory::

	make CC=i586-pc-msdosdjgpp-gcc STRIP=i586-pc-msdosdjgpp-strip LIBS_BASE=../libpci-libgetopt/ strip

If you like, you can compress the resulting executable with UPX::

	upx -9 flashrom.exe

To run flashrom.exe, download https://flashrom.org/File:Csdpmi7b.zip and
unpack CWSDPMI.EXE into the current directory or one in PATH.

**To cross-compile on Linux for Windows:**

Get packages of the MinGW cross compiler and install them::

	mingw32-filesystem mingw32-cross-cpp mingw32-cross-binutils mingw32-cross-gcc
	mingw32-runtime mingw32-headers

The cross toolchain packages for your distribution may have slightly different
names (look for packages named *mingw*).
PCI-based programmers (internal etc.) are not supported on Windows.
Run (change CC= and STRIP= settings where appropriate)::

	make CC=i686-w64-mingw32-gcc STRIP=i686-w64-mingw32-strip

**Processor architecture dependent features:**

On non-x86 architectures a few programmers don't work (yet) because they
use port-based I/O which is not directly available on non-x86. Those
programmers will be disabled automatically if you run "make".

**Compiler quirks:**

If you are using clang and if you want to enable only one driver, you may hit an
overzealous compiler warning from clang. Compile with "make WARNERROR=no" to
force it to continue and enjoy.

**Bindings:**

Foreign function interface bindings for the rust language are included in the
bindings folder. These are not compiled as part of the normal build process.
See the readme under bindings/rust for more information.


Installation
------------

In order to install flashrom and the manpage into /usr/local, type::

	make install

For installation in a different directory use DESTDIR, e.g. like this::

	make DESTDIR=/usr install

If you have insufficient permissions for the destination directory, use sudo
by adding sudo in front of the commands above.


Packaging
---------

To package flashrom and remove dependencies on Git, either use::

	make export

or::

	make tarball

``make export`` will export all flashrom files from the Git repository at
revision HEAD into a directory named ``$EXPORTDIR/flashrom-$RELEASENAME``
and will additionally add a ``versioninfo.inc`` file in that directory to
contain the Git revision of the exported tree and a date for the manual
page.

``make tarball`` will simply tar up the result of make export and compress
it with bzip2.

The snapshot tarballs are the result of ``make tarball`` and require no
further processing. Some git files (for example the rust bindings) are omitted
from the tarball, as controlled by the .gitattributes files.


Contact
-------

The official flashrom website is:

  https://www.flashrom.org/

Available contact methods are

  https://www.flashrom.org/Contact