2.5. Build Options

The TF-A build system supports the following build options. Unless mentioned otherwise, these options are expected to be specified at the build command line and are not to be modified in any component makefiles. Note that the build system doesn’t track dependency for build options. Therefore, if any of the build options are changed from a previous build, a clean build must be performed.

2.5.1. Common build options

  • AARCH32_INSTRUCTION_SET: Choose the AArch32 instruction set that the compiler should use. Valid values are T32 and A32. It defaults to T32 due to code having a smaller resulting size.

  • AARCH32_SP : Choose the AArch32 Secure Payload component to be built as as the BL32 image when ARCH=aarch32. The value should be the path to the directory containing the SP source, relative to the bl32/; the directory is expected to contain a makefile called <aarch32_sp-value>.mk.

  • AMU_RESTRICT_COUNTERS: Register reads to the group 1 counters will return zero at all but the highest implemented exception level. Reads from the memory mapped view are unaffected by this control.

  • ARCH : Choose the target build architecture for TF-A. It can take either aarch64 or aarch32 as values. By default, it is defined to aarch64.

  • ARM_ARCH_FEATURE: Optional Arm Architecture build option which specifies one or more feature modifiers. This option has the form [no]feature+... and defaults to none. It translates into compiler option -march=armvX[.Y]-a+[no]feature+.... See compiler’s documentation for the list of supported feature modifiers.

  • ARM_ARCH_MAJOR: The major version of Arm Architecture to target when compiling TF-A. Its value must be numeric, and defaults to 8 . See also, Armv8 Architecture Extensions and Armv7 Architecture Extensions in Firmware Design.

  • ARM_ARCH_MINOR: The minor version of Arm Architecture to target when compiling TF-A. Its value must be a numeric, and defaults to 0. See also, Armv8 Architecture Extensions in Firmware Design.

  • ARM_BL2_SP_LIST_DTS: Path to DTS file snippet to override the hardcoded SP nodes in tb_fw_config.

  • ARM_SPMC_MANIFEST_DTS : path to an alternate manifest file used as the SPMC Core manifest. Valid when SPD=spmd is selected.

  • BL2: This is an optional build option which specifies the path to BL2 image for the fip target. In this case, the BL2 in the TF-A will not be built.

  • BL2U: This is an optional build option which specifies the path to BL2U image. In this case, the BL2U in TF-A will not be built.

  • RESET_TO_BL2: Boolean option to enable BL2 entrypoint as the CPU reset vector instead of the BL1 entrypoint. It can take the value 0 (CPU reset to BL1 entrypoint) or 1 (CPU reset to BL2 entrypoint). The default value is 0.

  • BL2_RUNS_AT_EL3: This is an implicit flag to denote that BL2 runs at EL3. While it is explicitly set to 1 when RESET_TO_BL2 is set to 1 it can also be true in a 4-world system where RESET_TO_BL2 is 0.

  • BL2_ENABLE_SP_LOAD: Boolean option to enable loading SP packages from the FIP. Automatically enabled if SP_LAYOUT_FILE is provided.

  • BL2_IN_XIP_MEM: In some use-cases BL2 will be stored in eXecute In Place (XIP) memory, like BL1. In these use-cases, it is necessary to initialize the RW sections in RAM, while leaving the RO sections in place. This option enable this use-case. For now, this option is only supported when RESET_TO_BL2 is set to ‘1’.

  • BL31: This is an optional build option which specifies the path to BL31 image for the fip target. In this case, the BL31 in TF-A will not be built.

  • BL31_KEY: This option is used when GENERATE_COT=1. It specifies a file that contains the BL31 private key in PEM format or a PKCS11 URI. If SAVE_KEYS=1, only a file is accepted and it will be used to save the key.

  • BL32: This is an optional build option which specifies the path to BL32 image for the fip target. In this case, the BL32 in TF-A will not be built.

  • BL32_EXTRA1: This is an optional build option which specifies the path to Trusted OS Extra1 image for the fip target.

  • BL32_EXTRA2: This is an optional build option which specifies the path to Trusted OS Extra2 image for the fip target.

  • BL32_KEY: This option is used when GENERATE_COT=1. It specifies a file that contains the BL32 private key in PEM format or a PKCS11 URI. If SAVE_KEYS=1, only a file is accepted and it will be used to save the key.

  • BL33: Path to BL33 image in the host file system. This is mandatory for fip target in case TF-A BL2 is used.

  • BL33_KEY: This option is used when GENERATE_COT=1. It specifies a file that contains the BL33 private key in PEM format or a PKCS11 URI. If SAVE_KEYS=1, only a file is accepted and it will be used to save the key.

  • BRANCH_PROTECTION: Numeric value to enable ARMv8.3 Pointer Authentication and ARMv8.5 Branch Target Identification support for TF-A BL images themselves. If enabled, it is needed to use a compiler that supports the option -mbranch-protection. Selects the branch protection features to use:

  • 0: Default value turns off all types of branch protection

  • 1: Enables all types of branch protection features

  • 2: Return address signing to its standard level

  • 3: Extend the signing to include leaf functions

  • 4: Turn on branch target identification mechanism

    The table below summarizes BRANCH_PROTECTION values, GCC compilation options and resulting PAuth/BTI features.

    Value

    GCC option

    PAuth

    BTI

    0

    none

    N

    N

    1

    standard

    Y

    Y

    2

    pac-ret

    Y

    N

    3

    pac-ret+leaf

    Y

    N

    4

    bti

    N

    Y

    This option defaults to 0. Note that Pointer Authentication is enabled for Non-secure world irrespective of the value of this option if the CPU supports it.

  • BUILD_MESSAGE_TIMESTAMP: String used to identify the time and date of the compilation of each build. It must be set to a C string (including quotes where applicable). Defaults to a string that contains the time and date of the compilation.

  • BUILD_STRING: Input string for VERSION_STRING, which allows the TF-A build to be uniquely identified. Defaults to the current git commit id.

  • BUILD_BASE: Output directory for the build. Defaults to ./build

  • CFLAGS: Extra user options appended on the compiler’s command line in addition to the options set by the build system.

  • COLD_BOOT_SINGLE_CPU: This option indicates whether the platform may release several CPUs out of reset. It can take either 0 (several CPUs may be brought up) or 1 (only one CPU will ever be brought up during cold reset). Default is 0. If the platform always brings up a single CPU, there is no need to distinguish between primary and secondary CPUs and the boot path can be optimised. The plat_is_my_cpu_primary() and plat_secondary_cold_boot_setup() platform porting interfaces do not need to be implemented in this case.

  • COT: When Trusted Boot is enabled, selects the desired chain of trust. Defaults to tbbr.

  • CRASH_REPORTING: A non-zero value enables a console dump of processor register state when an unexpected exception occurs during execution of BL31. This option defaults to the value of DEBUG - i.e. by default this is only enabled for a debug build of the firmware.

  • CREATE_KEYS: This option is used when GENERATE_COT=1. It tells the certificate generation tool to create new keys in case no valid keys are present or specified. Allowed options are ‘0’ or ‘1’. Default is ‘1’.

  • CTX_INCLUDE_AARCH32_REGS : Boolean option that, when set to 1, will cause the AArch32 system registers to be included when saving and restoring the CPU context. The option must be set to 0 for AArch64-only platforms (that is on hardware that does not implement AArch32, or at least not at EL1 and higher ELs). Default value is 1.

  • CTX_INCLUDE_FPREGS: Boolean option that, when set to 1, will cause the FP registers to be included when saving and restoring the CPU context. Default is 0.

  • CTX_INCLUDE_MPAM_REGS: Boolean option that, when set to 1, will cause the Memory System Resource Partitioning and Monitoring (MPAM) registers to be included when saving and restoring the CPU context. Default is ‘0’.

  • CTX_INCLUDE_NEVE_REGS: Numeric value, when set will cause the Armv8.4-NV registers to be saved/restored when entering/exiting an EL2 execution context. This flag can take values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default value is 0.

  • CTX_INCLUDE_PAUTH_REGS: Numeric value to enable the Pointer Authentication for Secure world. This will cause the ARMv8.3-PAuth registers to be included when saving and restoring the CPU context as part of world switch. This flag can take values 0 to 2, to align with ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default value is 0.

    Note that Pointer Authentication is enabled for Non-secure world irrespective of the value of this flag if the CPU supports it.

  • DEBUG: Chooses between a debug and release build. It can take either 0 (release) or 1 (debug) as values. 0 is the default.

  • DECRYPTION_SUPPORT: This build flag enables the user to select the authenticated decryption algorithm to be used to decrypt firmware/s during boot. It accepts 2 values: aes_gcm and none. The default value of this flag is none to disable firmware decryption which is an optional feature as per TBBR.

  • DISABLE_BIN_GENERATION: Boolean option to disable the generation of the binary image. If set to 1, then only the ELF image is built. 0 is the default.

  • DISABLE_MTPMU: Numeric option to disable FEAT_MTPMU (Multi Threaded PMU). FEAT_MTPMU is an optional feature available on Armv8.6 onwards. This flag can take values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default is 0.

  • DYN_DISABLE_AUTH: Provides the capability to dynamically disable Trusted Board Boot authentication at runtime. This option is meant to be enabled only for development platforms. TRUSTED_BOARD_BOOT flag must be set if this flag has to be enabled. 0 is the default.

  • E: Boolean option to make warnings into errors. Default is 1.

    When specifying higher warnings levels (W=1 and higher), this option defaults to 0. This is done to encourage contributors to use them, as they are expected to produce warnings that would otherwise fail the build. New contributions are still expected to build with W=0 and E=1 (the default).

  • EL3_PAYLOAD_BASE: This option enables booting an EL3 payload instead of the normal boot flow. It must specify the entry point address of the EL3 payload. Please refer to the “Booting an EL3 payload” section for more details.

  • ENABLE_AMU_AUXILIARY_COUNTERS: Enables support for AMU auxiliary counters (also known as group 1 counters). These are implementation-defined counters, and as such require additional platform configuration. Default is 0.

  • ENABLE_AMU_FCONF: Enables configuration of the AMU through FCONF, which allows platforms with auxiliary counters to describe them via the HW_CONFIG device tree blob. Default is 0.

  • ENABLE_ASSERTIONS: This option controls whether or not calls to assert() are compiled out. For debug builds, this option defaults to 1, and calls to assert() are left in place. For release builds, this option defaults to 0 and calls to assert() function are compiled out. This option can be set independently of DEBUG. It can also be used to hide any auxiliary code that is only required for the assertion and does not fit in the assertion itself.

  • ENABLE_BACKTRACE: This option controls whether to enable backtrace dumps or not. It is supported in both AArch64 and AArch32. However, in AArch32 the format of the frame records are not defined in the AAPCS and they are defined by the implementation. This implementation of backtrace only supports the format used by GCC when T32 interworking is disabled. For this reason enabling this option in AArch32 will force the compiler to only generate A32 code. This option is enabled by default only in AArch64 debug builds, but this behaviour can be overridden in each platform’s Makefile or in the build command line.

  • ENABLE_FEAT The Arm architecture defines several architecture extension features, named FEAT_xxx in the architecure manual. Some of those features require setup code in higher exception levels, other features might be used by TF-A code itself. Most of the feature flags defined in the TF-A build system permit to take the values 0, 1 or 2, with the following meaning:

    ENABLE_FEAT_* = 0: Feature is disabled statically at compile time.
    ENABLE_FEAT_* = 1: Feature is enabled unconditionally at compile time.
    ENABLE_FEAT_* = 2: Feature is enabled, but checked at runtime.
    

    When setting the flag to 0, the feature is disabled during compilation, and the compiler’s optimisation stage and the linker will try to remove as much of this code as possible. If it is defined to 1, the code will use the feature unconditionally, so the CPU is expected to support that feature. The FEATURE_DETECTION debug feature, if enabled, will verify this. If the feature flag is set to 2, support for the feature will be compiled in, but its existence will be checked at runtime, so it works on CPUs with or without the feature. This is mostly useful for platforms which either support multiple different CPUs, or where the CPU is configured at runtime, like in emulators.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_AMU: Numeric value to enable Activity Monitor Unit extensions. This flag can take the values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. This is an optional architectural feature available on v8.4 onwards. Some v8.2 implementations also implement an AMU and this option can be used to enable this feature on those systems as well. This flag can take the values 0 to 2, the default is 0.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_AMUv1p1: Numeric value to enable the FEAT_AMUv1p1 extension. FEAT_AMUv1p1 is an optional feature available on Arm v8.6 onwards. This flag can take the values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default value is 0.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_CSV2_2: Numeric value to enable the FEAT_CSV2_2 extension. It allows access to the SCXTNUM_EL2 (Software Context Number) register during EL2 context save/restore operations. FEAT_CSV2_2 is an optional feature available on Arm v8.0 onwards. This flag can take values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default value is 0.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_CSV2_3: Numeric value to enable support for FEAT_CSV2_3 extension. This feature is supported in AArch64 state only and is an optional feature available in Arm v8.0 implementations. FEAT_CSV2_3 implies the implementation of FEAT_CSV2_2. The flag can take values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default value is 0.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_DIT: Numeric value to enable FEAT_DIT (Data Independent Timing) extension. It allows setting the DIT bit of PSTATE in EL3. FEAT_DIT is a mandatory architectural feature and is enabled from v8.4 and upwards. This flag can take the values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default value is 0.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_ECV: Numeric value to enable support for the Enhanced Counter Virtualization feature, allowing for access to the CNTPOFF_EL2 (Counter-timer Physical Offset register) during EL2 to EL3 context save/restore operations. Its a mandatory architectural feature and is enabled from v8.6 and upwards. This flag can take the values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default value is 0.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_FGT: Numeric value to enable support for FGT (Fine Grain Traps) feature allowing for access to the HDFGRTR_EL2 (Hypervisor Debug Fine-Grained Read Trap Register) during EL2 to EL3 context save/restore operations. Its a mandatory architectural feature and is enabled from v8.6 and upwards. This flag can take the values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default value is 0.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_HCX: Numeric value to set the bit SCR_EL3.HXEn in EL3 to allow access to HCRX_EL2 (extended hypervisor control register) from EL2 as well as adding HCRX_EL2 to the EL2 context save/restore operations. Its a mandatory architectural feature and is enabled from v8.7 and upwards. This flag can take the values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default value is 0.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_MTE: Numeric value to enable Memory Tagging Extension if the platform wants to use this feature at EL0 ENABLE_FEAT_MTE is required. This flag can take values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT feature detection mechanism. Default value is 0.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_MTE2: Numeric value to enable Memory Tagging Extension2 if the platform wants to use this feature and MTE2 is enabled at ELX. This flag can take values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default value is 0.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_MTE_PERM: Numeric value to enable support for FEAT_MTE_PERM, which introduces Allocation tag access permission to memory region attributes. FEAT_MTE_PERM is a optional architectural feature available from v8.9 and upwards. This flag can take the values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default value is 0.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_PAN: Numeric value to enable the FEAT_PAN (Privileged Access Never) extension. FEAT_PAN adds a bit to PSTATE, generating a permission fault for any privileged data access from EL1/EL2 to virtual memory address, accessible at EL0, provided (HCR_EL2.E2H=1). It is a mandatory architectural feature and is enabled from v8.1 and upwards. This flag can take values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default value is 0.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_RNG: Numeric value to enable the FEAT_RNG extension. FEAT_RNG is an optional feature available on Arm v8.5 onwards. This flag can take the values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default value is 0.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_RNG_TRAP: Numeric value to enable the FEAT_RNG_TRAP extension. This feature is only supported in AArch64 state. This flag can take values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default value is 0. FEAT_RNG_TRAP is an optional feature from Armv8.5 onwards.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_SB: Boolean option to let the TF-A code use the FEAT_SB (Speculation Barrier) instruction FEAT_SB is an optional feature and defaults to 0 for pre-Armv8.5 CPUs, but is mandatory for Armv8.5 or later CPUs. It is enabled from v8.5 and upwards and if needed can be overidden from platforms explicitly.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_SEL2: Numeric value to enable the FEAT_SEL2 (Secure EL2) extension. FEAT_SEL2 is a mandatory feature available on Arm v8.4. This flag can take values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default is 0.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_TWED: Numeric value to enable the FEAT_TWED (Delayed trapping of WFE Instruction) extension. FEAT_TWED is a optional feature available on Arm v8.6. This flag can take values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default is 0.

    When ENABLE_FEAT_TWED is set to 1, WFE instruction trapping gets delayed by the amount of value in TWED_DELAY.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_VHE: Numeric value to enable the FEAT_VHE (Virtualization Host Extensions) extension. It allows access to CONTEXTIDR_EL2 register during EL2 context save/restore operations.``FEAT_VHE`` is a mandatory architectural feature and is enabled from v8.1 and upwards. It can take values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default value is 0.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_TCR2: Numeric value to set the bit SCR_EL3.ENTCR2 in EL3 to allow access to TCR2_EL2 (extended translation control) from EL2 as well as adding TCR2_EL2 to the EL2 context save/restore operations. Its a mandatory architectural feature and is enabled from v8.9 and upwards. This flag can take the values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default value is 0.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_S2PIE: Numeric value to enable support for FEAT_S2PIE at EL2 and below, and context switch relevant registers. This flag can take the values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default value is 0.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_S1PIE: Numeric value to enable support for FEAT_S1PIE at EL2 and below, and context switch relevant registers. This flag can take the values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default value is 0.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_S2POE: Numeric value to enable support for FEAT_S2POE at EL2 and below, and context switch relevant registers. This flag can take the values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default value is 0.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_S1POE: Numeric value to enable support for FEAT_S1POE at EL2 and below, and context switch relevant registers. This flag can take the values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default value is 0.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_GCS: Numeric value to set the bit SCR_EL3.GCSEn in EL3 to allow use of Guarded Control Stack from EL2 as well as adding the GCS registers to the EL2 context save/restore operations. This flag can take the values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default value is 0.

  • ENABLE_LTO: Boolean option to enable Link Time Optimization (LTO) support in GCC for TF-A. This option is currently only supported for AArch64. Default is 0.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_MPAM: Numeric value to enable lower ELs to use MPAM feature. MPAM is an optional Armv8.4 extension that enables various memory system components and resources to define partitions; software running at various ELs can assign themselves to desired partition to control their performance aspects.

    This flag can take values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. When this option is set to 1 or 2, EL3 allows lower ELs to access their own MPAM registers without trapping into EL3. This option doesn’t make use of partitioning in EL3, however. Platform initialisation code should configure and use partitions in EL3 as required. This option defaults to 2 since MPAM is enabled by default for NS world only. The flag is automatically disabled when the target architecture is AArch32.

  • ENABLE_MPMM: Boolean option to enable support for the Maximum Power Mitigation Mechanism supported by certain Arm cores, which allows the SoC firmware to detect and limit high activity events to assist in SoC processor power domain dynamic power budgeting and limit the triggering of whole-rail (i.e. clock chopping) responses to overcurrent conditions. Defaults to 0.

  • ENABLE_MPMM_FCONF: Enables configuration of MPMM through FCONF, which allows platforms with cores supporting MPMM to describe them via the HW_CONFIG device tree blob. Default is 0.

  • ENABLE_PIE: Boolean option to enable Position Independent Executable(PIE) support within generic code in TF-A. This option is currently only supported in BL2, BL31, and BL32 (TSP) for AARCH64 binaries, and in BL32 (SP_min) for AARCH32. Default is 0.

  • ENABLE_PMF: Boolean option to enable support for optional Performance Measurement Framework(PMF). Default is 0.

  • ENABLE_PSCI_STAT: Boolean option to enable support for optional PSCI functions PSCI_STAT_RESIDENCY and PSCI_STAT_COUNT. Default is 0. In the absence of an alternate stat collection backend, ENABLE_PMF must be enabled. If ENABLE_PMF is set, the residency statistics are tracked in software.

  • ENABLE_RUNTIME_INSTRUMENTATION: Boolean option to enable runtime instrumentation which injects timestamp collection points into TF-A to allow runtime performance to be measured. Currently, only PSCI is instrumented. Enabling this option enables the ENABLE_PMF build option as well. Default is 0.

  • ENABLE_SPE_FOR_NS : Numeric value to enable Statistical Profiling extensions. This is an optional architectural feature for AArch64. This flag can take the values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. The default is 2 but is automatically disabled when the target architecture is AArch32.

  • ENABLE_SVE_FOR_NS: Numeric value to enable Scalable Vector Extension (SVE) for the Non-secure world only. SVE is an optional architectural feature for AArch64. Note that when SVE is enabled for the Non-secure world, access to SIMD and floating-point functionality from the Secure world is disabled by default and controlled with ENABLE_SVE_FOR_SWD. This is to avoid corruption of the Non-secure world data in the Z-registers which are aliased by the SIMD and FP registers. The build option is not compatible with the CTX_INCLUDE_FPREGS build option, and will raise an assert on platforms where SVE is implemented and ENABLE_SVE_FOR_NS enabled. This flag can take the values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. At this time, this build option cannot be used on systems that have SPM_MM enabled. The default is 1.

  • ENABLE_SVE_FOR_SWD: Boolean option to enable SVE for the Secure world. SVE is an optional architectural feature for AArch64. Note that this option requires ENABLE_SVE_FOR_NS to be enabled. The default is 0 and it is automatically disabled when the target architecture is AArch32.

  • ENABLE_STACK_PROTECTOR: String option to enable the stack protection checks in GCC. Allowed values are “all”, “strong”, “default” and “none”. The default value is set to “none”. “strong” is the recommended stack protection level if this feature is desired. “none” disables the stack protection. For all values other than “none”, the plat_get_stack_protector_canary() platform hook needs to be implemented. The value is passed as the last component of the option -fstack-protector-$ENABLE_STACK_PROTECTOR.

  • ENCRYPT_BL31: Binary flag to enable encryption of BL31 firmware. This flag depends on DECRYPTION_SUPPORT build flag.

  • ENCRYPT_BL32: Binary flag to enable encryption of Secure BL32 payload. This flag depends on DECRYPTION_SUPPORT build flag.

  • ENC_KEY: A 32-byte (256-bit) symmetric key in hex string format. It could either be SSK or BSSK depending on FW_ENC_STATUS flag. This value depends on DECRYPTION_SUPPORT build flag.

  • ENC_NONCE: A 12-byte (96-bit) encryption nonce or Initialization Vector (IV) in hex string format. This value depends on DECRYPTION_SUPPORT build flag.

  • ERROR_DEPRECATED: This option decides whether to treat the usage of deprecated platform APIs, helper functions or drivers within Trusted Firmware as error. It can take the value 1 (flag the use of deprecated APIs as error) or 0. The default is 0.

  • ETHOSN_NPU_DRIVER: boolean option to enable a SiP service that can configure an Arm® Ethos™-N NPU. To use this service the target platform’s HW_CONFIG must include the device tree nodes for the NPU. Currently, only the Arm Juno platform has this included in its HW_CONFIG and the platform only loads the HW_CONFIG in AArch64 builds. Default is 0.

  • ETHOSN_NPU_TZMP1: boolean option to enable TZMP1 support for the Arm® Ethos™-N NPU. Requires ETHOSN_NPU_DRIVER and TRUSTED_BOARD_BOOT to be enabled.

  • ETHOSN_NPU_FW: location of the NPU firmware binary (`ethosn.bin`). This firmware image will be included in the FIP and loaded at runtime.

  • EL3_EXCEPTION_HANDLING: When set to 1, enable handling of exceptions targeted at EL3. When set 0 (default), no exceptions are expected or handled at EL3, and a panic will result. The exception to this rule is when SPMD_SPM_AT_SEL2 is set to 1, in which case, only exceptions occuring during normal world execution, are trapped to EL3. Any exception trapped during secure world execution are trapped to the SPMC. This is supported only for AArch64 builds.

  • EVENT_LOG_LEVEL: Chooses the log level to use for Measured Boot when MEASURED_BOOT is enabled. For a list of valid values, see LOG_LEVEL. Default value is 40 (LOG_LEVEL_INFO).

  • FAULT_INJECTION_SUPPORT: ARMv8.4 extensions introduced support for fault injection from lower ELs, and this build option enables lower ELs to use Error Records accessed via System Registers to inject faults. This is applicable only to AArch64 builds.

    This feature is intended for testing purposes only, and is advisable to keep disabled for production images.

  • FIP_NAME: This is an optional build option which specifies the FIP filename for the fip target. Default is fip.bin.

  • FWU_FIP_NAME: This is an optional build option which specifies the FWU FIP filename for the fwu_fip target. Default is fwu_fip.bin.

  • FW_ENC_STATUS: Top level firmware’s encryption numeric flag, values:

    0: Encryption is done with Secret Symmetric Key (SSK) which is common
       for a class of devices.
    1: Encryption is done with Binding Secret Symmetric Key (BSSK) which is
       unique per device.
    

    This flag depends on DECRYPTION_SUPPORT build flag.

  • GENERATE_COT: Boolean flag used to build and execute the cert_create tool to create certificates as per the Chain of Trust described in Trusted Board Boot. The build system then calls fiptool to include the certificates in the FIP and FWU_FIP. Default value is ‘0’.

    Specify both TRUSTED_BOARD_BOOT=1 and GENERATE_COT=1 to include support for the Trusted Board Boot feature in the BL1 and BL2 images, to generate the corresponding certificates, and to include those certificates in the FIP and FWU_FIP.

    Note that if TRUSTED_BOARD_BOOT=0 and GENERATE_COT=1, the BL1 and BL2 images will not include support for Trusted Board Boot. The FIP will still include the corresponding certificates. This FIP can be used to verify the Chain of Trust on the host machine through other mechanisms.

    Note that if TRUSTED_BOARD_BOOT=1 and GENERATE_COT=0, the BL1 and BL2 images will include support for Trusted Board Boot, but the FIP and FWU_FIP will not include the corresponding certificates, causing a boot failure.

  • GICV2_G0_FOR_EL3: Unlike GICv3, the GICv2 architecture doesn’t have inherent support for specific EL3 type interrupts. Setting this build option to 1 assumes GICv2 Group 0 interrupts are expected to target EL3, both by platform abstraction layer and Interrupt Management Framework. This allows GICv2 platforms to enable features requiring EL3 interrupt type. This also means that all GICv2 Group 0 interrupts are delivered to EL3, and the Secure Payload interrupts needs to be synchronously handed over to Secure EL1 for handling. The default value of this option is 0, which means the Group 0 interrupts are assumed to be handled by Secure EL1.

  • HANDLE_EA_EL3_FIRST_NS: When set to 1, External Aborts and SError Interrupts, resulting from errors in NS world, will be always trapped in EL3 i.e. in BL31 at runtime. When set to 0 (default), these exceptions will be trapped in the current exception level (or in EL1 if the current exception level is EL0).

  • HW_ASSISTED_COHERENCY: On most Arm systems to-date, platform-specific software operations are required for CPUs to enter and exit coherency. However, newer systems exist where CPUs’ entry to and exit from coherency is managed in hardware. Such systems require software to only initiate these operations, and the rest is managed in hardware, minimizing active software management. In such systems, this boolean option enables TF-A to carry out build and run-time optimizations during boot and power management operations. This option defaults to 0 and if it is enabled, then it implies WARMBOOT_ENABLE_DCACHE_EARLY is also enabled.

    If this flag is disabled while the platform which TF-A is compiled for includes cores that manage coherency in hardware, then a compilation error is generated. This is based on the fact that a system cannot have, at the same time, cores that manage coherency in hardware and cores that don’t. In other words, a platform cannot have, at the same time, cores that require HW_ASSISTED_COHERENCY=1 and cores that require HW_ASSISTED_COHERENCY=0.

    Note that, when HW_ASSISTED_COHERENCY is enabled, version 2 of translation library (xlat tables v2) must be used; version 1 of translation library is not supported.

  • IMPDEF_SYSREG_TRAP: Numeric value to enable the handling traps for implementation defined system register accesses from lower ELs. Default value is 0.

  • INVERTED_MEMMAP: memmap tool print by default lower addresses at the bottom, higher addresses at the top. This build flag can be set to ‘1’ to invert this behavior. Lower addresses will be printed at the top and higher addresses at the bottom.

  • KEY_ALG: This build flag enables the user to select the algorithm to be used for generating the PKCS keys and subsequent signing of the certificate. It accepts 5 values: rsa, rsa_1_5, ecdsa, ecdsa-brainpool-regular and ecdsa-brainpool-twisted. The option rsa_1_5 is the legacy PKCS#1 RSA 1.5 algorithm which is not TBBR compliant and is retained only for compatibility. The default value of this flag is rsa which is the TBBR compliant PKCS#1 RSA 2.1 scheme.

  • KEY_SIZE: This build flag enables the user to select the key size for the algorithm specified by KEY_ALG. The valid values for KEY_SIZE depend on the chosen algorithm and the cryptographic module.

    KEY_ALG

    Possible key sizes

    rsa

    1024 , 2048 (default), 3072, 4096

    ecdsa

    256 (default), 384

    ecdsa-brainpool-regular

    unavailable

    ecdsa-brainpool-twisted

    unavailable

  • HASH_ALG: This build flag enables the user to select the secure hash algorithm. It accepts 3 values: sha256, sha384 and sha512. The default value of this flag is sha256.

  • LDFLAGS: Extra user options appended to the linkers’ command line in addition to the one set by the build system.

  • LOG_LEVEL: Chooses the log level, which controls the amount of console log output compiled into the build. This should be one of the following:

    0  (LOG_LEVEL_NONE)
    10 (LOG_LEVEL_ERROR)
    20 (LOG_LEVEL_NOTICE)
    30 (LOG_LEVEL_WARNING)
    40 (LOG_LEVEL_INFO)
    50 (LOG_LEVEL_VERBOSE)
    

    All log output up to and including the selected log level is compiled into the build. The default value is 40 in debug builds and 20 in release builds.

  • MEASURED_BOOT: Boolean flag to include support for the Measured Boot feature. This flag can be enabled with TRUSTED_BOARD_BOOT in order to provide trust that the code taking the measurements and recording them has not been tampered with.

    This option defaults to 0.

  • DICE_PROTECTION_ENVIRONMENT: Boolean flag to specify the measured boot backend when MEASURED_BOOT is enabled. The default value is 0. When set to 1 then measurements and additional metadata collected during the measured boot process are sent to the DICE Protection Environment for storage and processing. A certificate chain, which represents the boot state of the device, can be queried from the DPE.

  • MARCH_DIRECTIVE: used to pass a -march option from the platform build options to the compiler. An example usage:

    MARCH_DIRECTIVE := -march=armv8.5-a
    
  • HARDEN_SLS: used to pass -mharden-sls=all from the TF-A build options to the compiler currently supporting only of the options. GCC documentation: https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/AArch64-Options.html#index-mharden-sls

    An example usage:

    HARDEN_SLS := 1
    

    This option defaults to 0.

  • NON_TRUSTED_WORLD_KEY: This option is used when GENERATE_COT=1. It specifies a file that contains the Non-Trusted World private key in PEM format or a PKCS11 URI. If SAVE_KEYS=1, only a file is accepted and it will be used to save the key.

  • NS_BL2U: Path to NS_BL2U image in the host file system. This image is optional. It is only needed if the platform makefile specifies that it is required in order to build the fwu_fip target.

  • NS_TIMER_SWITCH: Enable save and restore for non-secure timer register contents upon world switch. It can take either 0 (don’t save and restore) or 1 (do save and restore). 0 is the default. An SPD may set this to 1 if it wants the timer registers to be saved and restored.

  • OVERRIDE_LIBC: This option allows platforms to override the default libc for the BL image. It can be either 0 (include) or 1 (remove). The default value is 0.

  • PL011_GENERIC_UART: Boolean option to indicate the PL011 driver that the underlying hardware is not a full PL011 UART but a minimally compliant generic UART, which is a subset of the PL011. The driver will not access any register that is not part of the SBSA generic UART specification. Default value is 0 (a full PL011 compliant UART is present).

  • PLAT: Choose a platform to build TF-A for. The chosen platform name must be subdirectory of any depth under plat/, and must contain a platform makefile named platform.mk. For example, to build TF-A for the Arm Juno board, select PLAT=juno.

  • PLATFORM_REPORT_CTX_MEM_USE: Reports the context memory allocated for each core as well as the global context. The data includes the memory used by each world and each privileged exception level. This build option is applicable only for ARCH=aarch64 builds. The default value is 0.

  • PRELOADED_BL33_BASE: This option enables booting a preloaded BL33 image instead of the normal boot flow. When defined, it must specify the entry point address for the preloaded BL33 image. This option is incompatible with EL3_PAYLOAD_BASE. If both are defined, EL3_PAYLOAD_BASE has priority over PRELOADED_BL33_BASE.

  • PROGRAMMABLE_RESET_ADDRESS: This option indicates whether the reset vector address can be programmed or is fixed on the platform. It can take either 0 (fixed) or 1 (programmable). Default is 0. If the platform has a programmable reset address, it is expected that a CPU will start executing code directly at the right address, both on a cold and warm reset. In this case, there is no need to identify the entrypoint on boot and the boot path can be optimised. The plat_get_my_entrypoint() platform porting interface does not need to be implemented in this case.

  • PSCI_EXTENDED_STATE_ID: As per PSCI1.0 Specification, there are 2 formats possible for the PSCI power-state parameter: original and extended State-ID formats. This flag if set to 1, configures the generic PSCI layer to use the extended format. The default value of this flag is 0, which means by default the original power-state format is used by the PSCI implementation. This flag should be specified by the platform makefile and it governs the return value of PSCI_FEATURES API for CPU_SUSPEND smc function id. When this option is enabled on Arm platforms, the option ARM_RECOM_STATE_ID_ENC needs to be set to 1 as well.

  • PSCI_OS_INIT_MODE: Boolean flag to enable support for optional PSCI OS-initiated mode. This option defaults to 0.

  • ENABLE_FEAT_RAS: Boolean flag to enable Armv8.2 RAS features. RAS features are an optional extension for pre-Armv8.2 CPUs, but are mandatory for Armv8.2 or later CPUs. This flag can take the values 0 or 1. The default value is 0. NOTE: This flag enables use of IESB capability to reduce entry latency into EL3 even when RAS error handling is not performed on the platform. Hence this flag is recommended to be turned on Armv8.2 and later CPUs.

  • RESET_TO_BL31: Enable BL31 entrypoint as the CPU reset vector instead of the BL1 entrypoint. It can take the value 0 (CPU reset to BL1 entrypoint) or 1 (CPU reset to BL31 entrypoint). The default value is 0.

  • RESET_TO_SP_MIN: SP_MIN is the minimal AArch32 Secure Payload provided in TF-A. This flag configures SP_MIN entrypoint as the CPU reset vector instead of the BL1 entrypoint. It can take the value 0 (CPU reset to BL1 entrypoint) or 1 (CPU reset to SP_MIN entrypoint). The default value is 0.

  • ROT_KEY: This option is used when GENERATE_COT=1. It specifies a file that contains the ROT private key in PEM format or a PKCS11 URI and enforces public key hash generation. If SAVE_KEYS=1, only a file is accepted and it will be used to save the key.

  • SAVE_KEYS: This option is used when GENERATE_COT=1. It tells the certificate generation tool to save the keys used to establish the Chain of Trust. Allowed options are ‘0’ or ‘1’. Default is ‘0’ (do not save).

  • SCP_BL2: Path to SCP_BL2 image in the host file system. This image is optional. If a SCP_BL2 image is present then this option must be passed for the fip target.

  • SCP_BL2_KEY: This option is used when GENERATE_COT=1. It specifies a file that contains the SCP_BL2 private key in PEM format or a PKCS11 URI. If SAVE_KEYS=1, only a file is accepted and it will be used to save the key.

  • SCP_BL2U: Path to SCP_BL2U image in the host file system. This image is optional. It is only needed if the platform makefile specifies that it is required in order to build the fwu_fip target.

  • SDEI_SUPPORT: Setting this to 1 enables support for Software Delegated Exception Interface to BL31 image. This defaults to 0.

    When set to 1, the build option EL3_EXCEPTION_HANDLING must also be set to 1.

  • SEPARATE_CODE_AND_RODATA: Whether code and read-only data should be isolated on separate memory pages. This is a trade-off between security and memory usage. See “Isolating code and read-only data on separate memory pages” section in Firmware Design. This flag is disabled by default and affects all BL images.

  • SEPARATE_NOBITS_REGION: Setting this option to 1 allows the NOBITS sections of BL31 (.bss, stacks, page tables, and coherent memory) to be allocated in RAM discontiguous from the loaded firmware image. When set, the platform is expected to provide definitions for BL31_NOBITS_BASE and BL31_NOBITS_LIMIT. When the option is 0 (the default), NOBITS sections are placed in RAM immediately following the loaded firmware image.

  • SEPARATE_BL2_NOLOAD_REGION: Setting this option to 1 allows the NOLOAD sections of BL2 (.bss, stacks, page tables) to be allocated in RAM discontiguous from loaded firmware images. When set, the platform need to provide definitions of BL2_NOLOAD_START and BL2_NOLOAD_LIMIT. This flag is disabled by default and NOLOAD sections are placed in RAM immediately following the loaded firmware image.

  • SMC_PCI_SUPPORT: This option allows platforms to handle PCI configuration access requests via a standard SMCCC defined in DEN0115. When combined with UEFI+ACPI this can provide a certain amount of OS forward compatibility with newer platforms that aren’t ECAM compliant.

  • SPD: Choose a Secure Payload Dispatcher component to be built into TF-A. This build option is only valid if ARCH=aarch64. The value should be the path to the directory containing the SPD source, relative to services/spd/; the directory is expected to contain a makefile called <spd-value>.mk. The SPM Dispatcher standard service is located in services/std_svc/spmd and enabled by SPD=spmd. The SPM Dispatcher cannot be enabled when the SPM_MM option is enabled.

  • SPIN_ON_BL1_EXIT: This option introduces an infinite loop in BL1. It can take either 0 (no loop) or 1 (add a loop). 0 is the default. This loop stops execution in BL1 just before handing over to BL31. At this point, all firmware images have been loaded in memory, and the MMU and caches are turned off. Refer to the “Debugging options” section for more details.

  • SPMC_AT_EL3 : This boolean option is used jointly with the SPM Dispatcher option (SPD=spmd). When enabled (1) it indicates the SPMC component runs at the EL3 exception level. The default value is 0 ( disabled). This configuration supports pre-Armv8.4 platforms (aka not implementing the FEAT_SEL2 extension).

  • SPMC_AT_EL3_SEL0_SP : Boolean option to enable SEL0 SP load support when SPMC_AT_EL3 is enabled. The default value if 0 (disabled). This option cannot be enabled (1) when (SPMC_AT_EL3) is disabled.

  • SPMC_OPTEE : This boolean option is used jointly with the SPM Dispatcher option (SPD=spmd) and with SPMD_SPM_AT_SEL2=0 to indicate that the SPMC at S-EL1 is OP-TEE and an OP-TEE specific loading mechanism should be used.

  • SPMD_SPM_AT_SEL2 : This boolean option is used jointly with the SPM Dispatcher option (SPD=spmd). When enabled (1) it indicates the SPMC component runs at the S-EL2 exception level provided by the FEAT_SEL2 extension. This is the default when enabling the SPM Dispatcher. When disabled (0) it indicates the SPMC component runs at the S-EL1 execution state or at EL3 if SPMC_AT_EL3 is enabled. The latter configurations support pre-Armv8.4 platforms (aka not implementing the FEAT_SEL2 extension).

  • SPM_MM : Boolean option to enable the Management Mode (MM)-based Secure Partition Manager (SPM) implementation. The default value is 0 (disabled). This option cannot be enabled (1) when SPM Dispatcher is enabled (SPD=spmd).

  • SP_LAYOUT_FILE: Platform provided path to JSON file containing the description of secure partitions. The build system will parse this file and package all secure partition blobs into the FIP. This file is not necessarily part of TF-A tree. Only available when SPD=spmd.

  • SP_MIN_WITH_SECURE_FIQ: Boolean flag to indicate the SP_MIN handles secure interrupts (caught through the FIQ line). Platforms can enable this directive if they need to handle such interruption. When enabled, the FIQ are handled in monitor mode and non secure world is not allowed to mask these events. Platforms that enable FIQ handling in SP_MIN shall implement the api sp_min_plat_fiq_handler(). The default value is 0.

  • SVE_VECTOR_LEN: SVE vector length to configure in ZCR_EL3. Platforms can configure this if they need to lower the hardware limit, for example due to asymmetric configuration or limitations of software run at lower ELs. The default is the architectural maximum of 2048 which should be suitable for most configurations, the hardware will limit the effective VL to the maximum physically supported VL.

  • TRNG_SUPPORT: Setting this to 1 enables support for True Random Number Generator Interface to BL31 image. This defaults to 0.

  • TRUSTED_BOARD_BOOT: Boolean flag to include support for the Trusted Board Boot feature. When set to ‘1’, BL1 and BL2 images include support to load and verify the certificates and images in a FIP, and BL1 includes support for the Firmware Update. The default value is ‘0’. Generation and inclusion of certificates in the FIP and FWU_FIP depends upon the value of the GENERATE_COT option.

    Warning

    This option depends on CREATE_KEYS to be enabled. If the keys already exist in disk, they will be overwritten without further notice.

  • TRUSTED_WORLD_KEY: This option is used when GENERATE_COT=1. It specifies a file that contains the Trusted World private key in PEM format or a PKCS11 URI. If SAVE_KEYS=1, only a file is accepted and it will be used to save the key.

  • TSP_INIT_ASYNC: Choose BL32 initialization method as asynchronous or synchronous, (see “Initializing a BL32 Image” section in Firmware Design). It can take the value 0 (BL32 is initialized using synchronous method) or 1 (BL32 is initialized using asynchronous method). Default is 0.

  • TSP_NS_INTR_ASYNC_PREEMPT: A non zero value enables the interrupt routing model which routes non-secure interrupts asynchronously from TSP to EL3 causing immediate preemption of TSP. The EL3 is responsible for saving and restoring the TSP context in this routing model. The default routing model (when the value is 0) is to route non-secure interrupts to TSP allowing it to save its context and hand over synchronously to EL3 via an SMC.

    Note

    When EL3_EXCEPTION_HANDLING is 1, TSP_NS_INTR_ASYNC_PREEMPT must also be set to 1.

  • TS_SP_FW_CONFIG: DTC build flag to include Trusted Services (Crypto and internal-trusted-storage) as SP in tb_fw_config device tree.

  • TWED_DELAY: Numeric value to be set in order to delay the trapping of WFE instruction. ENABLE_FEAT_TWED build option must be enabled to set this delay. It can take values in the range (0-15). Default value is 0 and based on this value, 2^(TWED_DELAY + 8) cycles will be delayed. Platforms need to explicitly update this value based on their requirements.

  • USE_ARM_LINK: This flag determines whether to enable support for ARM linker. When the LINKER build variable points to the armlink linker, this flag is enabled automatically. To enable support for armlink, platforms will have to provide a scatter file for the BL image. Currently, Tegra platforms use the armlink support to compile BL3-1 images.

  • USE_COHERENT_MEM: This flag determines whether to include the coherent memory region in the BL memory map or not (see “Use of Coherent memory in TF-A” section in Firmware Design). It can take the value 1 (Coherent memory region is included) or 0 (Coherent memory region is excluded). Default is 1.

  • ARM_IO_IN_DTB: This flag determines whether to use IO based on the firmware configuration framework. This will move the io_policies into a configuration device tree, instead of static structure in the code base.

  • COT_DESC_IN_DTB: This flag determines whether to create COT descriptors at runtime using fconf. If this flag is enabled, COT descriptors are statically captured in tb_fw_config file in the form of device tree nodes and properties. Currently, COT descriptors used by BL2 are moved to the device tree and COT descriptors used by BL1 are retained in the code base statically.

  • SDEI_IN_FCONF: This flag determines whether to configure SDEI setup in runtime using firmware configuration framework. The platform specific SDEI shared and private events configuration is retrieved from device tree rather than static C structures at compile time. This is only supported if SDEI_SUPPORT build flag is enabled.

  • SEC_INT_DESC_IN_FCONF: This flag determines whether to configure Group 0 and Group1 secure interrupts using the firmware configuration framework. The platform specific secure interrupt property descriptor is retrieved from device tree in runtime rather than depending on static C structure at compile time.

  • USE_ROMLIB: This flag determines whether library at ROM will be used. This feature creates a library of functions to be placed in ROM and thus reduces SRAM usage. Refer to Library at ROM for further details. Default is 0.

  • V: Verbose build. If assigned anything other than 0, the build commands are printed. Default is 0.

  • VERSION_STRING: String used in the log output for each TF-A image. Defaults to a string formed by concatenating the version number, build type and build string.

  • W: Warning level. Some compiler warning options of interest have been regrouped and put in the root Makefile. This flag can take the values 0 to 3, each level enabling more warning options. Default is 0.

    This option is closely related to the E option, which enables -Werror.

    • W=0 (default)

      Enables a wide assortment of warnings, most notably -Wall and -Wextra, as well as various bad practices and things that are likely to result in errors. Includes some compiler specific flags. No warnings are expected at this level for any build.

    • W=1

      Enables warnings we want the generic build to include but are too time consuming to fix at the moment. It re-enables warnings taken out for W=0 builds (a few of the -Wextra additions). This level is expected to eventually be merged into W=0. Some warnings are expected on some builds, but new contributions should not introduce new ones.

    • W=2 (recommended)

    Enables warnings we want the generic build to include but cannot be enabled due to external libraries. This level is expected to eventually be merged into W=0. Lots of warnings are expected, primarily from external libraries like zlib and compiler-rt, but new controbutions should not introduce new ones.

    • W=3

      Enables warnings that are informative but not necessary and generally too verbose and frequently ignored. A very large number of warnings are expected.

    The exact set of warning flags depends on the compiler and TF-A warning level, however they are all succinctly set in the top-level Makefile. Please refer to the GCC or Clang documentation for more information on the individual flags.

  • WARMBOOT_ENABLE_DCACHE_EARLY : Boolean option to enable D-cache early on the CPU after warm boot. This is applicable for platforms which do not require interconnect programming to enable cache coherency (eg: single cluster platforms). If this option is enabled, then warm boot path enables D-caches immediately after enabling MMU. This option defaults to 0.

  • SUPPORT_STACK_MEMTAG: This flag determines whether to enable memory tagging for stack or not. It accepts 2 values: yes and no. The default value of this flag is no. Note this option must be enabled only for ARM architecture greater than Armv8.5-A.

  • ERRATA_SPECULATIVE_AT: This flag determines whether to enable AT speculative errata workaround or not. It accepts 2 values: 1 and 0. The default value of this flag is 0.

    AT speculative errata workaround disables stage1 page table walk for lower ELs (EL1 and EL0) in EL3 so that AT speculative fetch at any point produces either the correct result or failure without TLB allocation.

    This boolean option enables errata for all below CPUs.

    Errata

    CPU

    Workaround Define

    1165522

    Cortex-A76

    ERRATA_A76_1165522

    1319367

    Cortex-A72

    ERRATA_A72_1319367

    1319537

    Cortex-A57

    ERRATA_A57_1319537

    1530923

    Cortex-A55

    ERRATA_A55_1530923

    1530924

    Cortex-A53

    ERRATA_A53_1530924

    Note

    This option is enabled by build only if platform sets any of above defines mentioned in ’Workaround Define’ column in the table. If this option is enabled for the EL3 software then EL2 software also must implement this workaround due to the behaviour of the errata mentioned in new SDEN document which will get published soon.

  • RAS_TRAP_NS_ERR_REC_ACCESS: This flag enables/disables the SCR_EL3.TERR bit, to trap access to the RAS ERR and RAS ERX registers from lower ELs. This flag is disabled by default.

  • OPENSSL_DIR: This option is used to provide the path to a directory on the host machine where a custom installation of OpenSSL is located, which is used to build the certificate generation, firmware encryption and FIP tools. If this option is not set, the default OS installation will be used.

  • USE_SP804_TIMER: Use the SP804 timer instead of the Generic Timer for functions that wait for an arbitrary time length (udelay and mdelay). The default value is 0.

  • ENABLE_BRBE_FOR_NS: Numeric value to enable access to the branch record buffer registers from NS ELs when FEAT_BRBE is implemented. BRBE is an optional architectural feature for AArch64. This flag can take the values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. The default is 0 and it is automatically disabled when the target architecture is AArch32.

  • ENABLE_TRBE_FOR_NS: Numeric value to enable access of trace buffer control registers from NS ELs, NS-EL2 or NS-EL1(when NS-EL2 is implemented but unused) when FEAT_TRBE is implemented. TRBE is an optional architectural feature for AArch64. This flag can take the values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. The default is 0 and it is automatically disabled when the target architecture is AArch32.

  • ENABLE_SYS_REG_TRACE_FOR_NS: Numeric value to enable trace system registers access from NS ELs, NS-EL2 or NS-EL1 (when NS-EL2 is implemented but unused). This feature is available if trace unit such as ETMv4.x, and ETE(extending ETM feature) is implemented. This flag can take the values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. The default is 0.

  • ENABLE_TRF_FOR_NS: Numeric value to enable trace filter control registers access from NS ELs, NS-EL2 or NS-EL1 (when NS-EL2 is implemented but unused), if FEAT_TRF is implemented. This flag can take the values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. This flag is disabled by default.

  • CONDITIONAL_CMO: Boolean option to enable call to platform-defined routine plat_can_cmo which will return zero if cache management operations should be skipped and non-zero otherwise. By default, this option is disabled which means platform hook won’t be checked and CMOs will always be performed when related functions are called.

  • ERRATA_ABI_SUPPORT: Boolean option to enable support for Errata management firmware interface for the BL31 image. By default its disabled (0).

  • ERRATA_NON_ARM_INTERCONNECT: Boolean option to enable support for the errata mitigation for platforms with a non-arm interconnect using the errata ABI. By default its disabled (0).

  • ENABLE_CONSOLE_GETC: Boolean option to enable getc() feature in console driver(s). By default it is disabled (0) because it constitutes an attack vector into TF-A by potentially allowing an attacker to inject arbitrary data. This option should only be enabled on a need basis if there is a use case for reading characters from the console.

2.5.2. GICv3 driver options

GICv3 driver files are included using directive:

include drivers/arm/gic/v3/gicv3.mk

The driver can be configured with the following options set in the platform makefile:

  • GICV3_SUPPORT_GIC600: Add support for the GIC-600 variants of GICv3. Enabling this option will add runtime detection support for the GIC-600, so is safe to select even for a GIC500 implementation. This option defaults to 0.

  • GICV3_SUPPORT_GIC600AE_FMU: Add support for the Fault Management Unit

    for GIC-600 AE. Enabling this option will introduce support to initialize the FMU. Platforms should call the init function during boot to enable the FMU and its safety mechanisms. This option defaults to 0.

  • GICV3_IMPL_GIC600_MULTICHIP: Selects GIC-600 variant with multichip functionality. This option defaults to 0

  • GICV3_OVERRIDE_DISTIF_PWR_OPS: Allows override of default implementation of arm_gicv3_distif_pre_save and arm_gicv3_distif_post_restore functions. This is required for FVP platform which need to simulate GIC save and restore during SYSTEM_SUSPEND without powering down GIC. Default is 0.

  • GIC_ENABLE_V4_EXTN : Enables GICv4 related changes in GICv3 driver. This option defaults to 0.

  • GIC_EXT_INTID: When set to 1, GICv3 driver will support extended PPI (1056-1119) and SPI (4096-5119) range. This option defaults to 0.

2.5.3. Debugging options

To compile a debug version and make the build more verbose use

make PLAT=<platform> DEBUG=1 V=1 all

AArch64 GCC 11 uses DWARF version 5 debugging symbols by default. Some tools (for example Arm-DS) might not support this and may need an older version of DWARF symbols to be emitted by GCC. This can be achieved by using the -gdwarf-<version> flag, with the version being set to 2, 3, 4 or 5. Setting the version to 4 is recommended for Arm-DS.

When debugging logic problems it might also be useful to disable all compiler optimizations by using -O0.

Warning

Using -O0 could cause output images to be larger and base addresses might need to be recalculated (see the Memory layout on Arm development platforms section in the Firmware Design).

Extra debug options can be passed to the build system by setting CFLAGS or LDFLAGS:

CFLAGS='-O0 -gdwarf-2'                                     \
make PLAT=<platform> DEBUG=1 V=1 all

Note that using -Wl, style compilation driver options in CFLAGS will be ignored as the linker is called directly.

It is also possible to introduce an infinite loop to help in debugging the post-BL2 phase of TF-A. This can be done by rebuilding BL1 with the SPIN_ON_BL1_EXIT=1 build flag. Refer to the Common build options section. In this case, the developer may take control of the target using a debugger when indicated by the console output. When using Arm-DS, the following commands can be used:

# Stop target execution
interrupt

#
# Prepare your debugging environment, e.g. set breakpoints
#

# Jump over the debug loop
set var $AARCH64::$Core::$PC = $AARCH64::$Core::$PC + 4

# Resume execution
continue

2.5.4. Experimental build options

2.5.4.1. Common build options

  • DRTM_SUPPORT: Boolean flag to enable support for Dynamic Root of Trust for Measurement (DRTM). This feature has trust dependency on BL31 for taking the measurements and recording them as per PSA DRTM specification. For platforms which use BL2 to load/authenticate BL31 TRUSTED_BOARD_BOOT can be used and for the platforms which use RESET_TO_BL31 platform owners should have mechanism to authenticate BL31. This option defaults to 0.

  • ENABLE_RME: Numeric value to enable support for the ARMv9 Realm Management Extension. This flag can take the values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default value is 0.

  • ENABLE_SME_FOR_NS: Numeric value to enable Scalable Matrix Extension (SME), SVE, and FPU/SIMD for the non-secure world only. These features share registers so are enabled together. Using this option without ENABLE_SME_FOR_SWD=1 will cause SME, SVE, and FPU/SIMD instructions in secure world to trap to EL3. Requires ENABLE_SVE_FOR_NS to be set as SME is a superset of SVE. SME is an optional architectural feature for AArch64. At this time, this build option cannot be used on systems that have SPD=spmd/SPM_MM and atempting to build with this option will fail. This flag can take the values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default is 0.

  • ENABLE_SME2_FOR_NS: Numeric value to enable Scalable Matrix Extension version 2 (SME2) for the non-secure world only. SME2 is an optional architectural feature for AArch64. This should be set along with ENABLE_SME_FOR_NS=1, if not, the default SME accesses will still be trapped. This flag can take the values 0 to 2, to align with the ENABLE_FEAT mechanism. Default is 0.

  • ENABLE_SME_FOR_SWD: Boolean option to enable the Scalable Matrix Extension for secure world. Used along with SVE and FPU/SIMD. ENABLE_SME_FOR_NS and ENABLE_SVE_FOR_SWD must also be set to use this. Default is 0.

  • ENABLE_SPMD_LP : This boolean option is used jointly with the SPM Dispatcher option (SPD=spmd). When enabled (1) it indicates support for logical partitions in EL3, managed by the SPMD as defined in the FF-A v1.2 specification. This flag is disabled by default. This flag must not be used if SPMC_AT_EL3 is enabled.

  • FEATURE_DETECTION: Boolean option to enable the architectural features verification mechanism. This is a debug feature that compares the architectural features enabled through the feature specific build flags (ENABLE_FEAT_xxx) with the features actually available on the CPU running, and reports any discrepancies. This flag will also enable errata ordering checking for DEBUG builds.

    It is expected that this feature is only used for flexible platforms like software emulators, or for hardware platforms at bringup time, to verify that the configured feature set matches the CPU. The FEATURE_DETECTION macro is disabled by default.

  • PSA_CRYPTO: Boolean option for enabling MbedTLS PSA crypto APIs support. The platform will use PSA compliant Crypto APIs during authentication and image measurement process by enabling this option. It uses APIs defined as per the PSA Crypto API specification. This feature is only supported if using MbedTLS 3.x version. It is disabled (0) by default.

  • TRANSFER_LIST: Setting this to 1 enables support for Firmware Handoff using Transfer List defined in Firmware Handoff specification. This defaults to 0. Current implementation follows the Firmware Handoff specification v0.9.

  • USE_DEBUGFS: When set to 1 this option exposes a virtual filesystem interface through BL31 as a SiP SMC function. Default is disabled (0).

2.5.4.2. Firmware update options

  • PSA_FWU_SUPPORT: Enable the firmware update mechanism as per the PSA FW update specification. The default value is 0. PSA firmware update implementation has few limitations, such as:

    • BL2 is not part of the protocol-updatable images. If BL2 needs to be updated, then it should be done through another platform-defined mechanism.

    • It assumes the platform’s hardware supports CRC32 instructions.

  • NR_OF_FW_BANKS: Define the number of firmware banks. This flag is used in defining the firmware update metadata structure. This flag is by default set to ‘2’.

  • NR_OF_IMAGES_IN_FW_BANK: Define the number of firmware images in each firmware bank. Each firmware bank must have the same number of images as per the PSA FW update specification. This flag is used in defining the firmware update metadata structure. This flag is by default set to ‘1’.

  • PSA_FWU_METADATA_FW_STORE_DESC: To be enabled when the FWU

    metadata contains image description. The default value is 1.

    The version 2 of the FWU metadata allows for an opaque metadata structure where a platform can choose to not include the firmware store description in the metadata structure. This option indicates if the firmware store description, which provides information on the updatable images is part of the structure.


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