QEMU PPC64 emulator

This page describes how to build and run coreboot for QEMU/PPC64.

Building coreboot

make defconfig KBUILD_DEFCONFIG=configs/config.emulation_qemu_power9
make

This builds coreboot with no payload.

Payloads

You can configure ELF or skiboot payload via make menuconfig. In either case you might need to adjust “ROM chip size” and make it large enough to accommodate the payload (see how much space it needs in the error you get if it doesn’t fit).

Running coreboot in QEMU

qemu-system-ppc64 -M powernv,hb-mode=on \
                  -cpu power9 \
                  -bios build/coreboot.rom \
                  -drive file=build/coreboot.rom,if=mtd \
                  -serial stdio \
                  -display none

The default CPU in QEMU for AArch64 is a 604. You specify a suitable PowerPC CPU via -cpu power9.
By default Hostboot mode is off and needs to be turned on to run coreboot as a firmware rather than like an OS.
-bios specifies initial program (bootloader should suffice, but whole image works fine too).
-drive specifies image for emulated flash device.

Running with a kernel

Loading skiboot (built automatically by coreboot or otherwise) allows specifying kernel and root file system to be run.

qemu-system-ppc64 -M powernv,hb-mode=on \
                  -cpu power9 \
                  -bios build/coreboot.rom \
                  -drive file=build/coreboot.rom,if=mtd \
                  -serial stdio \
                  -display none \
                  -kernel zImage \
                  -initrd initrd.cpio.xz

Specify path to your kernel via -kernel.
Specify path to your rootfs via -initrd.