oxidecomputer / oxidecomputer/falcon

Implement Clulow's serial command protocol

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#165 3 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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enhancement
Dominant language
Rust
Stars
20
Forks
5
Avg merge
11d 13h
Merged PRs (30d)
2

Description

VM commands are currently pretty sketch, given that we don't get basic nice things like return codes by virtue of executing commands through a serial interface. In a conversation I had a while back with @jclulow, he had a great idea for this.

Build a small rust binary, let's call it commander. When a falcon serial console session starts, the commander binary is sent to the guest file system through the serial console and started. The commander program then takes control of the TTY for the serial console. From that point forward, falcon and the commander communicate over a binary format such as postcard. When falcon sends a command, instead of it being executed in a shell session over the serial console, the binary representation is sent over the serial console, the commander program decodes it, executes the command inside by shelling out (which gives us a return code), and sends a binary response back over the console which includes the return code.

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

The issue names no files or tests; start by tracing Falcon's serial console session and VM command path, then examine the proposed commander binary and its TTY handoff. Done means commands use a binary serial protocol, execute in the guest with return codes, and receive binary responses.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
operating-systems
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
30/100

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