Dynamic link loading in extensible firmware interface compliant systems
View Patent ↗Methods, apparatuses and program products are disclosed for dynamic link loading in extensible firmware interface compliant systems. Provision is made for loading a microkernel (or other kernel program) which presents itself as though it were a DXE Driver and hooks and redirects a loadmodule service of a DXE Foundation core program to a DLL aware loader. Further aspects of the invention provide related, analogous and similar capabilities.
1. A method for loading and initializing a computer comprising:
locating a first DLL (dynamic link library) import entry in a copy of a first DXE (Driver execution environment) driver;
executing a first loader program to load the first DXE driver;
fixing up the first DLL import entry;
determining that no DLL import entry is present in a copy of a second DXE driver; and
loading the second DXE driver with a second loader program.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein:
a reference to the second loader program is a provided service of an EFI (extensible firmware interface) core program; and
further comprising hooking the reference to the second loader program.
3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
executing an EFI (extensible firmware interface) core program to load a kernel program wherein the kernel program loads the first loader program.
4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:
loading the EFI core program from a UEFI (unified extensible firmware interface) ROM (read-only memory) module.
5. The method of claim 3 wherein:
the kernel program hooks an instruction sequence in the EFI core program, the instruction sequence being for invoking the second loader program.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein:
the kernel program is a microkernel.
7. A method for loading and initializing a computer comprising:
executing a foundation program to load a kernel program into a memory;
executing the kernel program to redirect an instruction sequence flow within the foundation program towards a loader program service of the kernel program;
executing the loader program of the kernel program to load a first DXE (Driver execution environment) driver having a first import table; and
fixing up an entry in the first import table to an exported service of the kernel program.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein:
the foundation program is an EFI (extensible firmware interface) core program.
9. The method of claim 8 wherein:
the instruction sequence flow within the foundation program comprises a reference to the loader program service of the EFI core program.
10. The method of claim 7 further comprising:
executing the loader program service of the kernel program to load a second DXE driver having a second import table; and
fixing up an entry in the second import table to an export table entry in the first DXE driver.
11. The method of claim 7 wherein:
the kernel program is a microkernel.
12. The method of claim 7 further comprising:
loading the foundation program from a UEFI (unified extensible firmware interface) ROM (read-only memory) module.
13. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising:
at least one tangible computer-readable medium having instructions persistently encoded therein, the instructions when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to perform:
locating a first DLL (dynamic link library) import entry in a copy of a first DXE (Driver execution environment) driver;
executing a first loader program to load the first DXE driver;
fixing up the first DLL import entry;
determining that no DLL import entry is present in a copy of a second DXE driver; and
loading the second DXE driver with a second loader program.
14. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising:
at least one tangible computer-readable medium having instructions persistently encoded therein, the instructions when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to perform:
executing a foundation program to load a kernel program into a memory;
executing the kernel program to redirect an instruction sequence flow within the foundation program towards a loader program service of the kernel program;
executing the loader program of the kernel program to load a first DXE (Driver execution environment) driver having a first import table; and
fixing up an entry in the first import table to an exported service of the kernel program.
15. An electronic device comprising:
a controller;
a ROM (read-only memory) module having an EFI core program from a UEFI (unified extensible firmware interface) encoded therein; and
a first system memory having instructions encoded therein, the instructions when executed by the controller cause said controller to
operate by steps to perform:
locating a first DLL (dynamic link library) import entry in a copy of a first DXE (Driver execution environment) driver;
executing a first loader program to load the first DXE driver;
fixing up the first DLL import entry;
determining that no DLL import entry is present in a copy of a second DXE driver; and
loading the second DXE driver with a second loader program.
16. An electronic device comprising:
a controller;
a ROM (read-only memory) module having an EFI core program from a UEFI (unified extensible firmware interface) encoded therein; and
a first system memory having instructions encoded therein, the instructions when executed by the controller cause said controller to
operate by steps to perform:
executing a foundation program to load a kernel program into a memory;
executing the kernel program to redirect an instruction sequence flow within the foundation program towards a loader program service of the kernel program;
executing the loader program of the kernel program to load a first DXE (Driver execution environment) driver having a first import table; and
fixing up an entry in the first import table to an exported service of the kernel program.