[PATCH v2] firmware: handle firmware files being links correctly

[PATCH v2] firmware: handle firmware files being links correctly

[Sascha Hauer]

Sometimes firmware files can be links. When rebuilding barebox correctly
rebuilds the firmware when file the link points to is updated, but the
firmware is not rebuilt when the link itself is changed to link to
another file.

Fix this by including the sha256sum directly in the generated assembly
file by using .byte rather than generating a file containing the
binary sha256sum and include that using .incbin. This way the generated
assembly file for sure changes when the firmware file changes and it's
rebuilt when necessary (and not when it's not).

Reproducer:

export ARCH=arm
make imx_v8_defconfig
echo foo > firmware/foo
echo bar > firmware/bar
ln -sf foo firmware/imx8mm-bl31.bin
make

The following should rebuild the barebox image including the updated
firmware, but doesn't:

ln -sf bar firmware/imx8mm-bl31.bin
make

Reviewed-by: Ahmad Fatoum <a.fatoum@pengutronix.de>
Link: https://lore.barebox.org/20250917095834.2727068-1-s.hauer@pengutronix.de
Signed-off-by: Sascha Hauer <s.hauer@pengutronix.de>
---

Changes from v1:
- Check for sha256 sum being the correct length

 firmware/Makefile | 19 ++++++++-----------
 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)

diff --git a/firmware/Makefile b/firmware/Makefile
index 0c9da2996f..5154e6491b 100644
--- a/firmware/Makefile
+++ b/firmware/Makefile
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ FWSTR     = $(subst /,_,$(subst .,_,$(subst -,_,$(FWNAME))))
 FWNAME_EXISTS = $(if $(wildcard $(FIRMWARE_DIR)/$(FWNAME)),1,0)
 
 filechk_fwbin = { \
+	SHA=$$(sha256sum $(FIRMWARE_DIR)/$(FWNAME) | sed 's/ .*$$//;s/../0x&, /g;s/, $$//') ;\
+	\
 	echo "/* Generated by $(src)/Makefile */"		;\
 	echo "\#include <asm-generic/pointer.h>"		;\
 	echo ".section .note.GNU-stack,\"\",%progbits"		;\
@@ -80,29 +82,24 @@ filechk_fwbin = { \
 	echo "    .p2align ASM_LGPTR"				;\
 	echo ".global _fw_$(FWSTR)_sha_start"			;\
 	echo "_fw_$(FWSTR)_sha_start:"				;\
-	echo "    .incbin \"$(fwobjdir)/$(FWNAME).sha.bin\""	;\
+	echo "    .byte $${SHA}"				;\
 	echo ".global _fw_$(FWSTR)_sha_end"			;\
 	echo "_fw_$(FWSTR)_sha_end:"				;\
+	echo ".if _fw_$(FWSTR)_sha_start + 32 - _fw_$(FWSTR)_sha_end";\
+	echo ".error \"sha256sum invalid\""			;\
+	echo ".endif"						;\
 }
 
 filechk_fwbin_ext = { \
 	$(filechk_fwbin)					;\
 }
 
-$(obj)/%.gen.S: $(obj)/%.sha.bin FORCE
+$(obj)/%.gen.S: FORCE
 	$(call filechk,fwbin,.rodata.$(FWSTR),)
 
-$(obj)/%.extgen.S: $(obj)/%.sha.bin FORCE
+$(obj)/%.extgen.S: FORCE
 	$(call filechk,fwbin_ext,.pblext.$(FWSTR),a)
 
-$(obj)/%.sha.bin: $(obj)/%.sum FORCE
-	$(call if_changed,sha256bin)
-
-$(obj)/%.sum: FORCE
-	$(if $(wildcard $(FIRMWARE_DIR)/$*), $(call if_changed,sha256sum,$(FIRMWARE_DIR)/$*), @touch $@)
-
-clean-files += *.sha.bin *.sum
-
 # This dependency is used if missing firmware should fail the build immediately
 fwdep-required-y = $(FIRMWARE_DIR)/%
 # This dependency expands to nothing if the file doesn't exist. This allows
-- 
2.47.3

Re: [PATCH v2] firmware: handle firmware files being links correctly

[Sascha Hauer]

On Wed, 17 Sep 2025 15:05:05 +0200, Sascha Hauer wrote:
> Sometimes firmware files can be links. When rebuilding barebox correctly
> rebuilds the firmware when file the link points to is updated, but the
> firmware is not rebuilt when the link itself is changed to link to
> another file.
> 
> Fix this by including the sha256sum directly in the generated assembly
> file by using .byte rather than generating a file containing the
> binary sha256sum and include that using .incbin. This way the generated
> assembly file for sure changes when the firmware file changes and it's
> rebuilt when necessary (and not when it's not).
> 
> [...]

Applied, thanks!

[1/1] firmware: handle firmware files being links correctly
      https://git.pengutronix.de/cgit/barebox/commit/?id=b10351d3080a (link may not be stable)

Best regards,
-- 
Sascha Hauer <s.hauer@pengutronix.de>