Re: [RFC] Request to move MinPlatformPkg out of the Intel folder

["Leif Lindholm" <leif@nuviainc.com>]

Hi Nate,

On Wed, Sep 30, 2020 at 23:17:15 +0000, Desimone, Nathaniel L wrote:
> This has come up informally a couple of times already, but I do
> think that it would be beneficial to move MinPlatformPkg out of the
> Platform/Intel folder and into a vendor neutral folder. MinPlatform
> really isn't Intel specific, it's just "middleware" that is intended
> to make it easier and faster to build EDK II based firmware. We have
> always intended MinPlatform to be vendor neutral, and it would be
> great to see MinPlatform based implementations for non-Intel
> silicon. Anyone working with EDK II should feel welcome to work with
> us on MinPlatform, regardless of the SoC in use.

Very positive to this on the whole.

I have only been following MinPlatformPkg peripherally - at the time
it was merged, I did not have the bandwidth to look into it and help
make it cross-architecture from the start, so I mostly refrained from
comment.

One thing I think is needed for this to move out of Platform/Intel
would be a ReadMe.rst describing the intended real-world use.
Some of this lives in Platform/Intel/Readme.md today.
Could we start with a set moving this text into a separate file under
MinPlatformPkg and rework that into something that stands on its own?

> To that end, I propose that we move MinPlatformPkg out of
> edk2-platforms/Platform/Intel to
> edk2-platforms/Platform/MinPlatformPkg.

If I was to bikeshed, I'd probably suggest
Platform/TianoCore/MinPlatformPkg. Oops, guess I did.

> It might also make sense to
> move edk2-platforms/Platform/Intel/Tools and
> edk2-platforms/Platform/Intel/build_bios.py to
> edk2-platforms/Platform as well since those are all useful for
> building MinPlatform based firmware, but I could also see that being
> something for another time. Let me know what you think!

I think we should see this as a separate step, regardless.

I do think we should be able to do better on sharing some of this
platform image tooling cross-architecture (even moreso now Risc-V is
involved), but I would prefer for us to spend the effort of
identifying the intersections upfront before we start uploading tools
to places where they look generic and may confuse people.

Maybe we should raise this part as a BZ?

Best Regards,

Leif