Hello,
The TL;DR is that if coreboot can execute Linux from flash and bypass the BIOS, MBR, and UEFI, then the TCB of the boot process shrinks. The boot process can also be measured with and verified with a TPM.
this is certainly an interesting direction to explore! I agree that we have to eventually overcome our current dependency from the legacy multi-boot method. Your ambition is one extreme end of the spectrum. Another topic would be the support for UEFI boot.
As a further addition to our road map with respect to my goal for a long-term supportable version 17.05, I would like to add a tool-chain update. It is sensible to update it before this point so the longer-term maintenance will be based on the same tool chain as used by the ongoing development for about 18-24 months (which is our typical interval for tool-chain updates).
From the updated tool chain, I hope to get the following benefits:
* Support for C++14, C++17 * Better support for reproducible builds * The uniform definition of 'size_t' as 'unsigned long' to harmonize the ABIs of C++ libraries like Qt5 across 32/64-bit architectures (this will be specific to Genode's tool chain) * Tighter integration of the tool chain with Genode's ports mechanism and build system. (right now, we use a separate tool-chain creation script, which does not ensure that the used tool chain matches the Genode version)
Cheers Norman