Re: [PATCH 0/1] dmioem: HPE OEM Record 237 Firmware change

[Jerry Hoemann]

On Wed, Mar 22, 2023 at 02:59:13PM +0100, Jean Delvare wrote:
> Hi Jerry,
> 
> On Fri, 17 Mar 2023 16:19:55 -0600, Jerry Hoemann wrote:
> > Address an incompatible change to record type 237.  Field in offest 0x09
> 
> "offset" ;-)
> 
> > changed from a STRING to a WORD date.  This causes the decode of these
> > records to display <BAD INDEX>.
> > 
> > The patch addresses both forms of the record. This is accomplished based
> > upon size of the field in offest 0x09.
> 
> You can't actually detect the size of a field in a DMI record. The only
> size you can check is the size of the record itself (and your patch is
> doing exactly that).

Correct.  The code infers the field size by the size of the record.
This trick works as long as the old spec/definition is never extended
beyond offset 0x09.


> > AFAIK, the version of record type 237 that is currently implemented in
> > dmidecode never made it outside of HPE. So, patch addressing both forms
> > might be overkill.  I have implemented and tested a more straightforward
> > change to the decoding of the record based upon its new definition.
> > So, please let me know if you want the simpler fix.
> 
> Indeed, in my large collection of DMI tables, which includes a good
> number of HP(E) systems thanks to you, I see type 237 records of size
> 8, 9 and 11 but not 10.
> 
> So I'd be happy to take the simpler fix in the name of, well,
> simplicity. Unless it somehow makes your life easier if dmidecode
> supports both.

I think we'll be fine w/ the simpler approach.  If any firmware exists
using the old definition, it will be transitory.

> 
> -- 
> Jean Delvare
> SUSE L3 Support

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Jerry Hoemann                  Software Engineer   Hewlett Packard Enterprise
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