Return codes

[Sae86]

Currently CHIPSEC modules return a ModuleResult which are defined as follows:

class ModuleResult:
    FAILED = 0
    PASSED = 1
    WARNING = 2
    SKIPPED = 3
    DEPRECATED = 4
    INFORMATION = 5
    NOTAPPLICABLE = 6
    ERROR = -1

But sometimes some of these do not really reflect completely what the test was for or if there's a need for next steps.

We came up with an idea of moving to reporting these results with return codes. The format is:

Bits (64)	Field
63:32	Type
31:4	Test identifier
3:0	Reserved

Type
With types being (for example):

• [63] Locks
• [62] Mitigation
• [61] Configuration
• [60] Protection
• [59] Access (write/read)
• [58] Device disabled
• [57] Feature disabled
• [56] Unsupported feature
• [55] Debug feature
• [54] Not applicable
• [53] All FFs

The return code could potentially have more than one type of result set, depending on what the test checks. If the test passes no bit will get set so type will be 0.

Test identifier
Each test would have a unique ID.

Return code example:

• 0x8000_0000_0030_0000 (Locks bit 63, ID bits 20 and 21).
• 0x0000_0000_0030_0000 (Same test but successful run)

This feature will touch most files and will also change the way logging looks. Instead of the current results each test would return a code and a link to documentation where more information and next steps can be found. The idea is to bring changes little by little to give time to adjust. Here's a general schedule, more details to come later:

Step 1
Finish logger transition to make better use of python logging.

Step 2
Implement return codes while keeping old interface

Step 3
Start migration and documentation updates

The intent of this discussion is to let everyone know about this idea and share opinions and thoughts on it before implementation.