EBBR Notes 2026.07.15

Attendees

• Heinrich Schuchardt (Canonical)
• Vincent Stehlé (Arm)

Agenda

• Update on issue #143: Make SetVariableRT mandatory

Notes

• Discussion on issue #143 lead to more questions; need to loop with Ricardo and Ilias.

Raw notes

• Update on issue #143: Make SetVariableRT mandatory
  • Various solutions for SetVariable() at runtime
    • Dedicated flash, secure world on Arm, dedicated processor...
      • Zena is an example
    • Sharing the SPI bus for a flash and an RTC is possible with UEFI runtime services
      • Not anymore if you add a third type of SPI device
  • What and when is systemd writing to the variables?
    • Should be a configuration tool of systemd
    • Or as grub-install
      • But this one is using the efivar library
  • Is systemd not using the efivar library?
  • Heinrich has a RISC-V SpacemiT K3 board with EDK II, spi flash with firmware and variables, which can do SetVariable() at runtime, and the OS can update the firmware, too
    • Firmware update is not done through capsule update but with mtd
    • How is the conflict solved?
  • -> Contact *Ricardo and Ilias* to ask if still relevant
• Heinrich will not be there on Aug 12

Links

• https://github.com/ARM-software/ebbr/issues/143
• https://arm-zena-css.docs.arm.com/en/latest/design/secure_services.html#architecture