Re: https://github.com/pftf/RPi4 unusable for FreeBSD since at least Sept 2023

On Jan 19, 2024, at 09:54, void <void@f-m.fm> wrote:

> On Fri, Jan 19, 2024 at 09:10:29AM -0800, Mark Millard wrote:
>> 
>> https://lists.freebsd.org/archives/freebsd-current/2023-September/004775.html
> 
> The reason I've gone down this rabbit-hole is because:
> 
> 1. I tried bsdinstall on recent -current

bsdinsdtall does nothing about putting in place any RPi*
firmware, nor the armstub8*.bin files, nor the FreeBSD
normal u-boot.bin for the RPi* .

> and (i forget the error) but
> it was something about ssl certs. It happened at the point where you're
> asked to set the root account password, so -current had to be abandoned.

I gather this was during the bsdinstall run, not
during a RPi* boot attempt.

> 2. I tried latest 14-stable

Do you mean an official snapshot of 14-stable dd'd to media?
Otherwise what was done is unclear: unable to know what to
do to try replicating the problem.

> but found it would not boot even with
> the copy-microsd-contents-into-usb3-disk-msdos-partition trick
> (had to boot a 2nd time into the microsd, copy the files, halt,
> take card out, power on again). Nothing gets displayed to the console.
> 
> 3. I've not tried 14.0-R msdos contents yet. I used 13.1 msdos contents
> because I knew they would work.

FreeBSD does not handle the bounce buffers correctly when
UEFI/ACPI is used. Only U-Boot is officially supported.
Ignoring other currently existing problems with booting
UEFI/ACPI, even if/when it boots, the file system I/O is
subject to random corruptions from the mishandling.
(Sufficiently large file use can make the existence of
some corruptions reliable, but where varies.)

To have a reliable RPi* system that is unpatched, avoid any
form of UEFI with ACPI, including EDK2.

(My builds have experimental patches that have never
produced the corruptions in my corruption testing. But
it is mixed with leftovers of other experiments/explorations
as well.)

I suggest checking on bootability via official snapshots
dd'd to media. If that works, then smeothing more specific
is going on for the other forms of producing media that are
being tried.

===
Mark Millard
marklmi at yahoo.com