Re: [edk2-devel] [PATCH 1/1] OvmfPkg/SmbiosPlatformDxe: use PcdFirmwareVersionString

["Gerd Hoffmann" <kraxel@redhat.com>]

On Tue, Oct 11, 2022 at 09:34:17AM -0600, Rebecca Cran wrote:
> On 10/11/22 01:59, Gerd Hoffmann wrote:
> > 
> > Next question is how to set them.  I think it makes sense to have some
> > sensible defaults, but still allow to override them.  MdeModulePkg
> > defines them to empty strings (except vendor).  Should we set them to
> > the most recent stable tag instead, i.e. something like this?
> > 
> > -  gEfiMdeModulePkgTokenSpaceGuid.PcdFirmwareVersionString|L""|VOID*|0x00010052
> > +  gEfiMdeModulePkgTokenSpaceGuid.PcdFirmwareVersionString|L"edk2-stable202208"|VOID*|0x00010052
> > 
> > -  gEfiMdeModulePkgTokenSpaceGuid.PcdFirmwareReleaseDateString|L""|VOID*|0x00010053
> > +  gEfiMdeModulePkgTokenSpaceGuid.PcdFirmwareReleaseDateString|L"26/08/2022"|VOID*|0x00010053
> > 
> > When doing that:  Can this be overridden on the command line?  Trying to
> > do so using 'build --pcd PcdFirmwareVersionString=Test' didn't work for
> > me, the string wasn't translated to unicode ...
> > 
> > I've noticed ArmVirtPkg/ArmVirtXen.dsc has this line ...
> > 
> >    gEfiMdeModulePkgTokenSpaceGuid.PcdFirmwareVersionString|L"$(FIRMWARE_VER)"
> > 
> > ... which allows to override using 'build -D FIRMWARE_VER=Test'.
> > Unicode encoding works that way, but it would also override the
> > MdeModulePkg default (if we add one).
> 
> The method I've used in the past is to override strings on the command line,
> just like ArmVirtXen.dsc does, and I like that approach.

After digging around in the source code and experimenting a bit
I figured how to do it without the FIRMWARE_VER indirection:

	build --pcd="PcdFirmwareVersionString=L'${version}\\0'"

> I like the idea of defaulting to the stable tag, though we could perhaps
> shorten it to "202208" instead?

I'd prefer to keep it identical to the stable tag name.
Makes it easier to figure where this comes from.

> I'm fairly sure the release date should be
> in MM/DD/YYYY format for e.g. SMBIOS compatibility (sigh)

Hmm.  At least we tag stable releases close to the end of the month
(after 12th), so it should be clear what is DD and what is MM ...

take care,
  Gerd