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Draft Charter

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Al Stone edited this page Nov 21, 2020 · 7 revisions

Profiles and Platforms Horizontal Subcommittee (P2HSC)

Short Form

The Profiles and Platforms Horizontal Subcommittee will create and maintain a specification standardizing the interface between hardware platforms and operating systems.

Charter

The Profiles and Platforms Horizontal Subcommittee (P2HSC) will create and maintain a specification detailing the contract between hardware, firmware, and operating systems, so that equipment manufacturers know what is needed for operating systems or other software to run on their hardware, and operating system providers and software developers know what to expect of the hardware and firmware.

In order to describe this contract, the specification will define two distinct notions: a profile, and a platform.

A profile defines the ISA and basic features necessary to support a targeted market, such as the server market or the embedded computer space -- the 'A' (Application) or 'M' (Microcontroller) profiles, respectively.

A platform is a complete system. It is the sum of the physical components (SoCs, ports, and so on), plus a specific set of interfaces between hardware and firmware, firmware and operating systems, operating systems and the end user, all built to implement a specific profile. When a manufacturer is said to provide a given platform, they have correctly implemented the hardware, the set of interfaces, and the profile, specific to that platform.

The specification will then in turn provide the requirements that must be met for all of the elements that make up the platforms being defined. The goal will be to describe the requirements in sufficient detail that equipment manufacturers and software developers will know what to build.

Short-Term Goals

  • Provide a clear description of profiles.
  • Define a Linux-based 64-bit platform.
  • Define the elements of the Linux platform, and detail what is needed. Topics would include items such as:
    • ISA requirements
    • Hardware components
    • Hardware enumeration and identification
    • Boot protocols
    • Firmware update protocols
  • There will be a need to document where we are today, and incrementally improve it.
  • Produce a draft for consideration by the TSC within the next six months.

Long-Term Goals

  • Define additional or expand existing platform definitions that cover these use cases, if needed:
    • General purpose computing for mobile devices, laptops, desktops, and servers, that use other rich operating systems.
    • Special purpose computing for devices where an operating system may or may not be needed, and the device is designed to meet a specific need.
  • For each new platform, detail the elements required.
  • Iterative improvement in functionality required.
  • Identify of additional use cases to explore.
  • Identify areas for improvements or additions to the ISA.

History

  • Charter proposed: 10 Sep 2020
  • Charter revised: 20 Nov 2020
  • Charter approved: TBD
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