Add TARGET_MACHINE to /etc/os-release

Add TARGET_MACHINE to /etc/os-release

[Joseph Reynolds]

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Proposal to add TARGET_MACHINE to /etc/os-release.

In an OpenBMC image, the /etc/os-release file includes distro 
("openbmc-phosphor") and version (as a git tag or commit).  It should 
also include the target machine (the kind of device the OpenBMC image is 
intended to control).  This is needed to be able to track the image back 
to its source code: the distro and version indicate the exact source 
code that was used, and the target says which Bitbake layer 
configuration within that source was used.

Specifically, the proposal is to enhance the generated /etc/os-release 
file with a new OS identification parameter like:
   OPENBMC_PHOSPHOR_TARGET_MACHINE="$MACHINE"
where MACHINE="romulus", for example.

All OpenBMC images should define this os-release parameter.

Proposed documentation for the new parameter: Indicates the kind of 
device the OpenBMC image is targeted to control.

... tl;dr details follow ... snip ...

The MACHINE is set in 
openbmc/meta-COMPANY/meta-MACHINE/conf/local.conf.sample.  (This is 
where TEMPLATECONF points to.)

Note MACHINE is not guaranteed to be unique across all future OpenBMC 
layer configurations.  (That is, meta-A/meta-B/conf and 
meta-X/meta-Y/conf may inadvertently define the same machine name.) To 
guarantee uniqueness, an alternate design would be to use the 
TEMPLATECONF parameter as the machine name. (e.g., 
"meta-ibm/meta-romulus/conf").  In practice I expect the machine name 
will be sufficiently unique: as unique as different company's brand and 
model names.

The manual page for "os-release" recommends prefixing the parameter name 
with the distro name.  Ideas for alternate parameter names are welcome 
("OBMC_TARGET_HARDWARE" anyone?).  See 
https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/os-release.html.

The os-release file is generated by the os-release.bb and 
os-release.bbappend recipes.

Re: Add TARGET_MACHINE to /etc/os-release

[Brad Bishop]

Hi Joseph

> On Nov 16, 2018, at 12:30 PM, Joseph Reynolds <joseph-reynolds@charter.net> wrote:
> 
> 
> Proposal to add TARGET_MACHINE to /etc/os-release.
> 
> In an OpenBMC image, the /etc/os-release file includes distro ("openbmc-phosphor") and version (as a git tag or commit).  It should also include the target machine (the kind of device the OpenBMC image is intended to control).  This is needed to be able to track the image back to its source code: the distro and version indicate the exact source code that was used, and the target says which Bitbake layer configuration within that source was used.
> 
> Specifically, the proposal is to enhance the generated /etc/os-release file with a new OS identification parameter like:
>   OPENBMC_PHOSPHOR_TARGET_MACHINE="$MACHINE"
> where MACHINE="romulus", for example.
> 
> All OpenBMC images should define this os-release parameter.
> 
> Proposed documentation for the new parameter: Indicates the kind of device the OpenBMC image is targeted to control.
> 
> ... tl;dr details follow ... snip ...
> 
> The MACHINE is set in openbmc/meta-COMPANY/meta-MACHINE/conf/local.conf.sample.  (This is where TEMPLATECONF points to.)
> 
> Note MACHINE is not guaranteed to be unique across all future OpenBMC layer configurations.  (That is, meta-A/meta-B/conf and meta-X/meta-Y/conf may inadvertently define the same machine name.) To guarantee uniqueness, an alternate design would be to use the TEMPLATECONF parameter as the machine name. (e.g., "meta-ibm/meta-romulus/conf").  In practice I expect the machine name will be sufficiently unique: as unique as different company's brand and model names.
> 
> The manual page for "os-release" recommends prefixing the parameter name with the distro name.  Ideas for alternate parameter names are welcome ("OBMC_TARGET_HARDWARE" anyone?).  See https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/os-release.html.
> 
> The os-release file is generated by the os-release.bb and os-release.bbappend recipes.

Just FYI - MACHINE winds up in uname -a:

root@palmetto:/var/lib/systemd# uname -a
Linux palmetto 4.18.12-b29e57c654b8d7cfa15d632fbc0ebfe0897b8203 #1 Thu Nov 15 21:52:09 UTC 2018 armv5tejl GNU/Linux

Perhaps this meets your need without additional code?

-brad

Re: Add TARGET_MACHINE to /etc/os-release

[Alexander A. Filippov]

Hi all,

On Wed, Nov 28, 2018 at 01:36:37PM -0500, Brad Bishop wrote:
> 
> Just FYI - MACHINE winds up in uname -a:
> 
> root@palmetto:/var/lib/systemd# uname -a
> Linux palmetto 4.18.12-b29e57c654b8d7cfa15d632fbc0ebfe0897b8203 #1 Thu Nov 15 21:52:09 UTC 2018 armv5tejl GNU/Linux
> 
> Perhaps this meets your need without additional code?
> 
> -brad

Brad, it is the hostname. For example in my case it looks like this:

root@malevich:~# uname -a
Linux malevich.dev.yadro.com 4.18.20-d608acfd4ac3fe17f3081bee8fcd4dcd896c2ffa #1 Thu Nov 29 07:19:11 UTC 2018 armv5tejl GNU/Linux

--
Cheers,
Alexander

Re: Add TARGET_MACHINE to /etc/os-release

[Brad Bishop]

> On Nov 29, 2018, at 3:02 AM, Alexander A. Filippov <a.filippov@yadro.com> wrote:
>> On Wed, Nov 28, 2018 at 01:36:37PM -0500, Brad Bishop wrote:
>> 
>> Just FYI - MACHINE winds up in uname -a:
>> 
>> root@palmetto:/var/lib/systemd# uname -a
>> Linux palmetto 4.18.12-b29e57c654b8d7cfa15d632fbc0ebfe0897b8203 #1 Thu Nov 15 21:52:09 UTC 2018 armv5tejl GNU/Linux
>> 
>> Perhaps this meets your need without additional code?
>> 
>> -brad
> 
> Brad, it is the hostname. For example in my case it looks like this:
> 
> root@malevich:~# uname -a
> Linux malevich.dev.yadro.com 4.18.20-d608acfd4ac3fe17f3081bee8fcd4dcd896c2ffa #1 Thu Nov 29 07:19:11 UTC 2018 armv5tejl GNU/Linux
> 

heh.  oops.  Thanks for pointing that out Alexander :-)

Joseph - ignore my suggestion please.

-brad

Re: Add TARGET_MACHINE to /etc/os-release

[Joseph Reynolds]

> Proposal to add TARGET_MACHINE to /etc/os-release.

I've updated the details to explain why the uname command is 
unsatisfactory.

> 
> In an OpenBMC image, the /etc/os-release file includes distro 
> ("openbmc-phosphor") and version (as a git tag or commit).  It should 
> also include the target machine (the kind of device the OpenBMC image 
> is intended to control).  This is needed to be able to track the image 
> back to its source code: the distro and version indicate the exact 
> source code that was used, and the target says which Bitbake layer 
> configuration within that source was used.
> 
> Specifically, the proposal is to enhance the generated /etc/os-release 
> file with a new OS identification parameter like:
>   OPENBMC_PHOSPHOR_TARGET_MACHINE="$MACHINE"
> where MACHINE="romulus", for example.
> 
> All OpenBMC images should define this os-release parameter.
> 
> Proposed documentation for the new parameter: Indicates the kind of 
> device the OpenBMC image is targeted to control.
> 
> ... tl;dr details follow ... snip ...
> 
> The MACHINE is set in 
> openbmc/meta-COMPANY/meta-MACHINE/conf/local.conf.sample.  (This is 
> where TEMPLATECONF points to.)
> 
> Note MACHINE is not guaranteed to be unique across all future OpenBMC 
> layer configurations.  (That is, meta-A/meta-B/conf and 
> meta-X/meta-Y/conf may inadvertently define the same machine name.) To 
> guarantee uniqueness, an alternate design would be to use the 
> TEMPLATECONF parameter as the machine name. (e.g., 
> "meta-ibm/meta-romulus/conf").  In practice I expect the machine name 
> will be sufficiently unique: as unique as different company's brand and 
> model names.
> 
> The manual page for "os-release" recommends prefixing the parameter 
> name with the distro name.  Ideas for alternate parameter names are 
> welcome ("OBMC_TARGET_HARDWARE" anyone?).  See 
> https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/os-release.html.
> 
> The os-release file is generated by the os-release.bb and 
> os-release.bbappend recipes.

The "uname" command options -m (machine) and -i (hardware platform) will 
continue to refer to the BMC and not its host.

Re: Add TARGET_MACHINE to /etc/os-release

[Joseph Reynolds]

On 2018-11-29 17:03, Joseph Reynolds wrote:
>> Proposal to add TARGET_MACHINE to /etc/os-release.
> 

I've pushed this as gerrit review 16489.

https://gerrit.openbmc-project.xyz/#/c/openbmc/meta-phosphor/+/16489/

> I've updated the details to explain why the uname command is 
> unsatisfactory.
> 
>> 
>> In an OpenBMC image, the /etc/os-release file includes distro 
>> ("openbmc-phosphor") and version (as a git tag or commit).  It should 
>> also include the target machine (the kind of device the OpenBMC image 
>> is intended to control).  This is needed to be able to track the image 
>> back to its source code: the distro and version indicate the exact 
>> source code that was used, and the target says which Bitbake layer 
>> configuration within that source was used.
>> 
>> Specifically, the proposal is to enhance the generated /etc/os-release 
>> file with a new OS identification parameter like:
>>   OPENBMC_PHOSPHOR_TARGET_MACHINE="$MACHINE"
>> where MACHINE="romulus", for example.
>> 
>> All OpenBMC images should define this os-release parameter.
>> 
>> Proposed documentation for the new parameter: Indicates the kind of 
>> device the OpenBMC image is targeted to control.
>> 
>> ... tl;dr details follow ... snip ...
>> 
>> The MACHINE is set in 
>> openbmc/meta-COMPANY/meta-MACHINE/conf/local.conf.sample.  (This is 
>> where TEMPLATECONF points to.)
>> 
>> Note MACHINE is not guaranteed to be unique across all future OpenBMC 
>> layer configurations.  (That is, meta-A/meta-B/conf and 
>> meta-X/meta-Y/conf may inadvertently define the same machine name.) To 
>> guarantee uniqueness, an alternate design would be to use the 
>> TEMPLATECONF parameter as the machine name. (e.g., 
>> "meta-ibm/meta-romulus/conf").  In practice I expect the machine name 
>> will be sufficiently unique: as unique as different company's brand 
>> and model names.
>> 
>> The manual page for "os-release" recommends prefixing the parameter 
>> name with the distro name.  Ideas for alternate parameter names are 
>> welcome ("OBMC_TARGET_HARDWARE" anyone?).  See 
>> https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/os-release.html.
>> 
>> The os-release file is generated by the os-release.bb and 
>> os-release.bbappend recipes.
> 
> The "uname" command options -m (machine) and -i (hardware platform)
> will continue to refer to the BMC and not its host.