sof-ctl and sof-probes missing for 1.9

[kkga]

Trying to update the package for Void Linux and noticed that these tools are not provided for the latest release.

Just wanted to confirm whether it's intended, thanks.

[marc-hb]

Very good question. The situation has been "fluctuating" with respect to these, sorry.

First of all, I think it's a generally bad idea to release Linux user space binaries when the entire source code is available because it tends to run in compatibility issues like __stack_chk_fail symbol not found. Even when no such compatibility issue happens, Linux distributions always recompile when they can for questions of performance, security (https://reproducible-builds.org/) and long story short control.

Now back to SOF, what happened is this: while redesigning, reimplementing and automating the entire packaging and release process from scratch to fix issues #25, #46 and others in time for v1.7, sof-ctl and sof-probes fell at the bottom of my priority list, apologies. Unlike the sof-logger, I consider these other two to be fairly "advanced" development tools so relying on developers to compile them did not seem like a big ask:

git clone https://github.com/thesofproject/sof
./scripts/build-tools.sh -h # and done?

Now you will ask: why are these binaries in v1.7 and v1.8? Because I manually added them then to the final release candidates (bd3a20e) but later forgot I did and then wrongly assumed no one cared :-(

While fixing the very last issues like documentation (#61) and cleanups (#62) I ironically found the opportunity to finally implement the automation to have them built and installed by default and I just submitted today a cherry-pick that will indirectly add them to the v1.9.1 binaries: thesofproject/sof#4840

Now that you know everything, I'm curious about your specific use case(s)?

cc: @perexg, @mrhpearson, @lgirdwood , @plbossart , @dbaluta

[plbossart]

sof-ctl is a requirement for sof-test, just like sof-logger, so having a means to distribute it without having to re-compile would be a good thing.

edit: here's the full list of dependencies

grep sof env-check.sh 
DYNDBG="/etc/modprobe.d/sof-dyndbg.conf"
    out_str="$out_str""Optional: Enable dynamic debug logs in \e[31m $1 \e[0m file\n\tFor example,\n\toptions snd_sof dyndbg=+p\n\toptions snd_sof_pci dyndbg=+p\n"
func_check_exec_binary sof-logger
func_check_exec_binary sof-ctl

[marc-hb]

Right now sof-ctl seems required by only two sof-test: test-case/check-keyword-detection.sh and test-case/check-audio-equalizer.sh

[marc-hb]

https://github.com/thesofproject/sof-bin/tree/main/v1.9.x/tools-v1.9.2 has sof-ctl and sof-probes. Unless there is some objection I will close this.