1ACPI Tables
2-----------
3The expectations of individual ACPI tables are discussed in the list that
4follows.
5
6If a section number is used, it refers to a section number in the ACPI
7specification where the object is defined.  If "Signature Reserved" is used,
8the table signature (the first four bytes of the table) is the only portion
9of the table recognized by the specification, and the actual table is defined
10outside of the UEFI Forum (see Section 5.2.6 of the specification).
11
12For ACPI on arm64, tables also fall into the following categories:
13
14       -- Required: DSDT, FADT, GTDT, MADT, MCFG, RSDP, SPCR, XSDT
15
16       -- Recommended: BERT, EINJ, ERST, HEST, SSDT
17
18       -- Optional: BGRT, CPEP, CSRT, DRTM, ECDT, FACS, FPDT, MCHI, MPST,
19          MSCT, RASF, SBST, SLIT, SPMI, SRAT, TCPA, TPM2, UEFI
20
21       -- Not supported: BOOT, DBG2, DBGP, DMAR, ETDT, HPET, IBFT, IVRS,
22          LPIT, MSDM, RSDT, SLIC, WAET, WDAT, WDRT, WPBT
23
24
25Table  Usage for ARMv8 Linux
26-----  ----------------------------------------------------------------
27BERT   Section 18.3 (signature == "BERT")
28       == Boot Error Record Table ==
29       Must be supplied if RAS support is provided by the platform.  It
30       is recommended this table be supplied.
31
32BOOT   Signature Reserved (signature == "BOOT")
33       == simple BOOT flag table ==
34       Microsoft only table, will not be supported.
35
36BGRT   Section 5.2.22 (signature == "BGRT")
37       == Boot Graphics Resource Table ==
38       Optional, not currently supported, with no real use-case for an
39       ARM server.
40
41CPEP   Section 5.2.18 (signature == "CPEP")
42       == Corrected Platform Error Polling table ==
43       Optional, not currently supported, and not recommended until such
44       time as ARM-compatible hardware is available, and the specification
45       suitably modified.
46
47CSRT   Signature Reserved (signature == "CSRT")
48       == Core System Resources Table ==
49       Optional, not currently supported.
50
51DBG2   Signature Reserved (signature == "DBG2")
52       == DeBuG port table 2 ==
53       Microsoft only table, will not be supported.
54
55DBGP   Signature Reserved (signature == "DBGP")
56       == DeBuG Port table ==
57       Microsoft only table, will not be supported.
58
59DSDT   Section 5.2.11.1 (signature == "DSDT")
60       == Differentiated System Description Table ==
61       A DSDT is required; see also SSDT.
62
63       ACPI tables contain only one DSDT but can contain one or more SSDTs,
64       which are optional.  Each SSDT can only add to the ACPI namespace,
65       but cannot modify or replace anything in the DSDT.
66
67DMAR   Signature Reserved (signature == "DMAR")
68       == DMA Remapping table ==
69       x86 only table, will not be supported.
70
71DRTM   Signature Reserved (signature == "DRTM")
72       == Dynamic Root of Trust for Measurement table ==
73       Optional, not currently supported.
74
75ECDT   Section 5.2.16 (signature == "ECDT")
76       == Embedded Controller Description Table ==
77       Optional, not currently supported, but could be used on ARM if and
78       only if one uses the GPE_BIT field to represent an IRQ number, since
79       there are no GPE blocks defined in hardware reduced mode.  This would
80       need to be modified in the ACPI specification.
81
82EINJ   Section 18.6 (signature == "EINJ")
83       == Error Injection table ==
84       This table is very useful for testing platform response to error
85       conditions; it allows one to inject an error into the system as
86       if it had actually occurred.  However, this table should not be
87       shipped with a production system; it should be dynamically loaded
88       and executed with the ACPICA tools only during testing.
89
90ERST   Section 18.5 (signature == "ERST")
91       == Error Record Serialization Table ==
92       On a platform supports RAS, this table must be supplied if it is not
93       UEFI-based; if it is UEFI-based, this table may be supplied. When this
94       table is not present, UEFI run time service will be utilized to save
95       and retrieve hardware error information to and from a persistent store.
96
97ETDT   Signature Reserved (signature == "ETDT")
98       == Event Timer Description Table ==
99       Obsolete table, will not be supported.
100
101FACS   Section 5.2.10 (signature == "FACS")
102       == Firmware ACPI Control Structure ==
103       It is unlikely that this table will be terribly useful.  If it is
104       provided, the Global Lock will NOT be used since it is not part of
105       the hardware reduced profile, and only 64-bit address fields will
106       be considered valid.
107
108FADT   Section 5.2.9 (signature == "FACP")
109       == Fixed ACPI Description Table ==
110       Required for arm64.
111
112       The HW_REDUCED_ACPI flag must be set.  All of the fields that are
113       to be ignored when HW_REDUCED_ACPI is set are expected to be set to
114       zero.
115
116       If an FACS table is provided, the X_FIRMWARE_CTRL field is to be
117       used, not FIRMWARE_CTRL.
118
119       If PSCI is used (as is recommended), make sure that ARM_BOOT_ARCH is
120       filled in properly -- that the PSCI_COMPLIANT flag is set and that
121       PSCI_USE_HVC is set or unset as needed (see table 5-37).
122
123       For the DSDT that is also required, the X_DSDT field is to be used,
124       not the DSDT field.
125
126FPDT   Section 5.2.23 (signature == "FPDT")
127       == Firmware Performance Data Table ==
128       Optional, not currently supported.
129
130GTDT   Section 5.2.24 (signature == "GTDT")
131       == Generic Timer Description Table ==
132       Required for arm64.
133
134HEST   Section 18.3.2 (signature == "HEST")
135       == Hardware Error Source Table ==
136       Until further error source types are defined, use only types 6 (AER
137       Root Port), 7 (AER Endpoint), 8 (AER Bridge), or 9 (Generic Hardware
138       Error Source).  Firmware first error handling is possible if and only
139       if Trusted Firmware is being used on arm64.
140
141       Must be supplied if RAS support is provided by the platform.  It
142       is recommended this table be supplied.
143
144HPET   Signature Reserved (signature == "HPET")
145       == High Precision Event timer Table ==
146       x86 only table, will not be supported.
147
148IBFT   Signature Reserved (signature == "IBFT")
149       == iSCSI Boot Firmware Table ==
150       Microsoft defined table, support TBD.
151
152IVRS   Signature Reserved (signature == "IVRS")
153       == I/O Virtualization Reporting Structure ==
154       x86_64 (AMD) only table, will not be supported.
155
156LPIT   Signature Reserved (signature == "LPIT")
157       == Low Power Idle Table ==
158       x86 only table as of ACPI 5.1; future versions have been adapted for
159       use with ARM and will be recommended in order to support ACPI power
160       management.
161
162MADT   Section 5.2.12 (signature == "APIC")
163       == Multiple APIC Description Table ==
164       Required for arm64.  Only the GIC interrupt controller structures
165       should be used (types 0xA - 0xE).
166
167MCFG   Signature Reserved (signature == "MCFG")
168       == Memory-mapped ConFiGuration space ==
169       If the platform supports PCI/PCIe, an MCFG table is required.
170
171MCHI   Signature Reserved (signature == "MCHI")
172       == Management Controller Host Interface table ==
173       Optional, not currently supported.
174
175MPST   Section 5.2.21 (signature == "MPST")
176       == Memory Power State Table ==
177       Optional, not currently supported.
178
179MSDM   Signature Reserved (signature == "MSDM")
180       == Microsoft Data Management table ==
181       Microsoft only table, will not be supported.
182
183MSCT   Section 5.2.19 (signature == "MSCT")
184       == Maximum System Characteristic Table ==
185       Optional, not currently supported.
186
187RASF   Section 5.2.20 (signature == "RASF")
188       == RAS Feature table ==
189       Optional, not currently supported.
190
191RSDP   Section 5.2.5 (signature == "RSD PTR")
192       == Root System Description PoinTeR ==
193       Required for arm64.
194
195RSDT   Section 5.2.7 (signature == "RSDT")
196       == Root System Description Table ==
197       Since this table can only provide 32-bit addresses, it is deprecated
198       on arm64, and will not be used.
199
200SBST   Section 5.2.14 (signature == "SBST")
201       == Smart Battery Subsystem Table ==
202       Optional, not currently supported.
203
204SLIC   Signature Reserved (signature == "SLIC")
205       == Software LIcensing table ==
206       Microsoft only table, will not be supported.
207
208SLIT   Section 5.2.17 (signature == "SLIT")
209       == System Locality distance Information Table ==
210       Optional in general, but required for NUMA systems.
211
212SPCR   Signature Reserved (signature == "SPCR")
213       == Serial Port Console Redirection table ==
214       Required for arm64.
215
216SPMI   Signature Reserved (signature == "SPMI")
217       == Server Platform Management Interface table ==
218       Optional, not currently supported.
219
220SRAT   Section 5.2.16 (signature == "SRAT")
221       == System Resource Affinity Table ==
222       Optional, but if used, only the GICC Affinity structures are read.
223       To support NUMA, this table is required.
224
225SSDT   Section 5.2.11.2 (signature == "SSDT")
226       == Secondary System Description Table ==
227       These tables are a continuation of the DSDT; these are recommended
228       for use with devices that can be added to a running system, but can
229       also serve the purpose of dividing up device descriptions into more
230       manageable pieces.
231
232       An SSDT can only ADD to the ACPI namespace.  It cannot modify or
233       replace existing device descriptions already in the namespace.
234
235       These tables are optional, however.  ACPI tables should contain only
236       one DSDT but can contain many SSDTs.
237
238TCPA   Signature Reserved (signature == "TCPA")
239       == Trusted Computing Platform Alliance table ==
240       Optional, not currently supported, and may need changes to fully
241       interoperate with arm64.
242
243TPM2   Signature Reserved (signature == "TPM2")
244       == Trusted Platform Module 2 table ==
245       Optional, not currently supported, and may need changes to fully
246       interoperate with arm64.
247
248UEFI   Signature Reserved (signature == "UEFI")
249       == UEFI ACPI data table ==
250       Optional, not currently supported.  No known use case for arm64,
251       at present.
252
253WAET   Signature Reserved (signature == "WAET")
254       == Windows ACPI Emulated devices Table ==
255       Microsoft only table, will not be supported.
256
257WDAT   Signature Reserved (signature == "WDAT")
258       == Watch Dog Action Table ==
259       Microsoft only table, will not be supported.
260
261WDRT   Signature Reserved (signature == "WDRT")
262       == Watch Dog Resource Table ==
263       Microsoft only table, will not be supported.
264
265WPBT   Signature Reserved (signature == "WPBT")
266       == Windows Platform Binary Table ==
267       Microsoft only table, will not be supported.
268
269XSDT   Section 5.2.8 (signature == "XSDT")
270       == eXtended System Description Table ==
271       Required for arm64.
272
273
274ACPI Objects
275------------
276The expectations on individual ACPI objects are discussed in the list that
277follows:
278
279Name   Section         Usage for ARMv8 Linux
280----   ------------    -------------------------------------------------
281_ADR   6.1.1           Use as needed.
282
283_BBN   6.5.5           Use as needed; PCI-specific.
284
285_BDN   6.5.3           Optional; not likely to be used on arm64.
286
287_CCA   6.2.17          This method should be defined for all bus masters
288                       on arm64.  While cache coherency is assumed, making
289                       it explicit ensures the kernel will set up DMA as
290                       it should.
291
292_CDM   6.2.1           Optional, to be used only for processor devices.
293
294_CID   6.1.2           Use as needed.
295
296_CLS   6.1.3           Use as needed.
297
298_CRS   6.2.2           Required on arm64.
299
300_DCK   6.5.2           Optional; not likely to be used on arm64.
301
302_DDN   6.1.4           This field can be used for a device name.  However,
303                       it is meant for DOS device names (e.g., COM1), so be
304                       careful of its use across OSes.
305
306_DEP   6.5.8           Use as needed.
307
308_DIS   6.2.3           Optional, for power management use.
309
310_DLM   5.7.5           Optional.
311
312_DMA   6.2.4           Optional.
313
314_DSD   6.2.5           To be used with caution.  If this object is used, try
315                       to use it within the constraints already defined by the
316                       Device Properties UUID.  Only in rare circumstances
317                       should it be necessary to create a new _DSD UUID.
318
319                       In either case, submit the _DSD definition along with
320                       any driver patches for discussion, especially when
321                       device properties are used.  A driver will not be
322                       considered complete without a corresponding _DSD
323                       description.  Once approved by kernel maintainers,
324                       the UUID or device properties must then be registered
325                       with the UEFI Forum; this may cause some iteration as
326                       more than one OS will be registering entries.
327
328_DSM                   Do not use this method.  It is not standardized, the
329                       return values are not well documented, and it is
330                       currently a frequent source of error.
331
332_DSW   7.2.1           Use as needed; power management specific.
333
334_EDL   6.3.1           Optional.
335
336_EJD   6.3.2           Optional.
337
338_EJx   6.3.3           Optional.
339
340_FIX   6.2.7           x86 specific, not used on arm64.
341
342\_GL   5.7.1           This object is not to be used in hardware reduced
343                       mode, and therefore should not be used on arm64.
344
345_GLK   6.5.7           This object requires a global lock be defined; there
346                       is no global lock on arm64 since it runs in hardware
347                       reduced mode.  Hence, do not use this object on arm64.
348
349\_GPE  5.3.1           This namespace is for x86 use only.  Do not use it
350                       on arm64.
351
352_GSB   6.2.7           Optional.
353
354_HID   6.1.5           Use as needed.  This is the primary object to use in
355                       device probing, though _CID and _CLS may also be used.
356
357_HPP   6.2.8           Optional, PCI specific.
358
359_HPX   6.2.9           Optional, PCI specific.
360
361_HRV   6.1.6           Optional, use as needed to clarify device behavior; in
362                       some cases, this may be easier to use than _DSD.
363
364_INI   6.5.1           Not required, but can be useful in setting up devices
365                       when UEFI leaves them in a state that may not be what
366                       the driver expects before it starts probing.
367
368_IRC   7.2.15          Use as needed; power management specific.
369
370_LCK   6.3.4           Optional.
371
372_MAT   6.2.10          Optional; see also the MADT.
373
374_MLS   6.1.7           Optional, but highly recommended for use in
375                       internationalization.
376
377_OFF   7.1.2           It is recommended to define this method for any device
378                       that can be turned on or off.
379
380_ON    7.1.3           It is recommended to define this method for any device
381                       that can be turned on or off.
382
383\_OS   5.7.3           This method will return "Linux" by default (this is
384                       the value of the macro ACPI_OS_NAME on Linux).  The
385                       command line parameter acpi_os=<string> can be used
386                       to set it to some other value.
387
388_OSC   6.2.11          This method can be a global method in ACPI (i.e.,
389                       \_SB._OSC), or it may be associated with a specific
390                       device (e.g., \_SB.DEV0._OSC), or both.  When used
391                       as a global method, only capabilities published in
392                       the ACPI specification are allowed.  When used as
393                       a device-specific method, the process described for
394                       using _DSD MUST be used to create an _OSC definition;
395                       out-of-process use of _OSC is not allowed.  That is,
396                       submit the device-specific _OSC usage description as
397                       part of the kernel driver submission, get it approved
398                       by the kernel community, then register it with the
399                       UEFI Forum.
400
401\_OSI  5.7.2           Deprecated on ARM64.  Any invocation of this method
402                       will print a warning on the console and return false.
403                       That is, as far as ACPI firmware is concerned, _OSI
404                       cannot be used to determine what sort of system is
405                       being used or what functionality is provided.  The
406                       _OSC method is to be used instead.
407
408_OST   6.3.5           Optional.
409
410_PDC   8.4.1           Deprecated, do not use on arm64.
411
412\_PIC  5.8.1           The method should not be used.  On arm64, the only
413                       interrupt model available is GIC.
414
415_PLD   6.1.8           Optional.
416
417\_PR   5.3.1           This namespace is for x86 use only on legacy systems.
418                       Do not use it on arm64.
419
420_PRS   6.2.12          Optional.
421
422_PRT   6.2.13          Required as part of the definition of all PCI root
423                       devices.
424
425_PRW   7.2.13          Use as needed; power management specific.
426
427_PRx   7.2.8-11        Use as needed; power management specific.  If _PR0 is
428                       defined, _PR3 must also be defined.
429
430_PSC   7.2.6           Use as needed; power management specific.
431
432_PSE   7.2.7           Use as needed; power management specific.
433
434_PSW   7.2.14          Use as needed; power management specific.
435
436_PSx   7.2.2-5         Use as needed; power management specific.  If _PS0 is
437                       defined, _PS3 must also be defined.  If clocks or
438                       regulators need adjusting to be consistent with power
439                       usage, change them in these methods.
440
441\_PTS  7.3.1           Use as needed; power management specific.
442
443_PXM   6.2.14          Optional.
444
445_REG   6.5.4           Use as needed.
446
447\_REV  5.7.4           Always returns the latest version of ACPI supported.
448
449_RMV   6.3.6           Optional.
450
451\_SB   5.3.1           Required on arm64; all devices must be defined in this
452                       namespace.
453
454_SEG   6.5.6           Use as needed; PCI-specific.
455
456\_SI   5.3.1,          Optional.
457       9.1
458
459_SLI   6.2.15          Optional; recommended when SLIT table is in use.
460
461_STA   6.3.7,          It is recommended to define this method for any device
462       7.1.4           that can be turned on or off.
463
464_SRS   6.2.16          Optional; see also _PRS.
465
466_STR   6.1.10          Recommended for conveying device names to end users;
467                       this is preferred over using _DDN.
468
469_SUB   6.1.9           Use as needed; _HID or _CID are preferred.
470
471_SUN   6.1.11          Optional.
472
473\_Sx   7.3.2           Use as needed; power management specific.
474
475_SxD   7.2.16-19       Use as needed; power management specific.
476
477_SxW   7.2.20-24       Use as needed; power management specific.
478
479_SWS   7.3.3           Use as needed; power management specific; this may
480                       require specification changes for use on arm64.
481
482\_TTS  7.3.4           Use as needed; power management specific.
483
484\_TZ   5.3.1           Optional.
485
486_UID   6.1.12          Recommended for distinguishing devices of the same
487                       class; define it if at all possible.
488
489\_WAK  7.3.5           Use as needed; power management specific.
490
491
492ACPI Event Model
493----------------
494Do not use GPE block devices; these are not supported in the hardware reduced
495profile used by arm64.  Since there are no GPE blocks defined for use on ARM
496platforms, GPIO-signaled interrupts should be used for creating system events.
497
498
499ACPI Processor Control
500----------------------
501Section 8 of the ACPI specification is currently undergoing change that
502should be completed in the 6.0 version of the specification.  Processor
503performance control will be handled differently for arm64 at that point
504in time.  Processor aggregator devices (section 8.5) will not be used,
505for example, but another similar mechanism instead.
506
507While UEFI constrains what we can say until the release of 6.0, it is
508recommended that CPPC (8.4.5) be used as the primary model.  This will
509still be useful into the future.  C-states and P-states will still be
510provided, but most of the current design work appears to favor CPPC.
511
512Further, it is essential that the ARMv8 SoC provide a fully functional
513implementation of PSCI; this will be the only mechanism supported by ACPI
514to control CPU power state (including secondary CPU booting).
515
516More details will be provided on the release of the ACPI 6.0 specification.
517
518
519ACPI System Address Map Interfaces
520----------------------------------
521In Section 15 of the ACPI specification, several methods are mentioned as
522possible mechanisms for conveying memory resource information to the kernel.
523For arm64, we will only support UEFI for booting with ACPI, hence the UEFI
524GetMemoryMap() boot service is the only mechanism that will be used.
525
526
527ACPI Platform Error Interfaces (APEI)
528-------------------------------------
529The APEI tables supported are described above.
530
531APEI requires the equivalent of an SCI and an NMI on ARMv8.  The SCI is used
532to notify the OSPM of errors that have occurred but can be corrected and the
533system can continue correct operation, even if possibly degraded.  The NMI is
534used to indicate fatal errors that cannot be corrected, and require immediate
535attention.
536
537Since there is no direct equivalent of the x86 SCI or NMI, arm64 handles
538these slightly differently.  The SCI is handled as a normal GPIO-signaled
539interrupt; given that these are corrected (or correctable) errors being
540reported, this is sufficient.  The NMI is emulated as the highest priority
541GPIO-signaled interrupt possible.  This implies some caution must be used
542since there could be interrupts at higher privilege levels or even interrupts
543at the same priority as the emulated NMI.  In Linux, this should not be the
544case but one should be aware it could happen.
545
546
547ACPI Objects Not Supported on ARM64
548-----------------------------------
549While this may change in the future, there are several classes of objects
550that can be defined, but are not currently of general interest to ARM servers.
551
552These are not supported:
553
554       -- Section 9.2: ambient light sensor devices
555
556       -- Section 9.3: battery devices
557
558       -- Section 9.4: lids (e.g., laptop lids)
559
560       -- Section 9.8.2: IDE controllers
561
562       -- Section 9.9: floppy controllers
563
564       -- Section 9.10: GPE block devices
565
566       -- Section 9.15: PC/AT RTC/CMOS devices
567
568       -- Section 9.16: user presence detection devices
569
570       -- Section 9.17: I/O APIC devices; all GICs must be enumerable via MADT
571
572       -- Section 9.18: time and alarm devices (see 9.15)
573
574
575ACPI Objects Not Yet Implemented
576--------------------------------
577While these objects have x86 equivalents, and they do make some sense in ARM
578servers, there is either no hardware available at present, or in some cases
579there may not yet be a non-ARM implementation.  Hence, they are currently not
580implemented though that may change in the future.
581
582Not yet implemented are:
583
584       -- Section 10: power source and power meter devices
585
586       -- Section 11: thermal management
587
588       -- Section 12: embedded controllers interface
589
590       -- Section 13: SMBus interfaces
591
592       -- Section 17: NUMA support (prototypes have been submitted for
593          review)
594