[Qemu-devel] Switch to OpenBIOS for Sparc32/64?

[Blue Swirl]

I'd like to replace Proll with OpenBIOS as the Qemu/Sparc32 boot prom and 
then develop a Sparc64 port that would finally make the Sparc64 system 
emulator usable.

OpenBIOS/Sparc32 has reached or exceeded the level of functionality that 
Proll provides:
* boot from HDD and CD (several Linux distro installers work, NetBSD and 
Solaris in progress)
* preloaded kernel, initrd and command line support
* Forth support, which is needed for Sparc64, maybe also for other OSes than 
Linux on Sparc32
* graphical console and -nographic support
* SMP support

One big advantage is that OpenBIOS is actively being developed at the 
moment. OpenBIOS is very portable, currently x86, ppc, sparc32, and amd64 
are supported. The only missing feature is TFTP boot ability, but that is in 
my opinion not very useful for Qemu, as you can preload the kernel.

What do you think, is the switch okay, and if so, when can this happen?

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