[Bug 1000711] New: Confusing message on conclusion of ELF file download

[Bug 1000711] New: Confusing message on conclusion of ELF file download

[bugzilla-daemon]

http://bugs.ecos.sourceware.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1000711

           Summary: Confusing message on conclusion of ELF file download
           Product: eCos
           Version: 3.0beta1
          Platform: pc (i386 PC target)
        OS/Version: HostOS: Linux
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: normal
         Component: RedBoot
        AssignedTo: gary@mlbassoc.com
        ReportedBy: john@dallaway.org.uk
         QAContact: ecos-bugs@ecos.sourceware.org
             Class: ---


When downloading an ELF image using RedBoot ("load -m xmodem" or "load -m
ymodem"), minicom reports that the download has been cancelled and is
incomplete:

 /var/local/ecos-build/install/tests/kernel/v3_0b1/tests/bin_sem0, 4571 blocks:
 Give your local XMODEM receive command now.
 Xmodem sectors/kbytes sent: 265/33k
 Retry 0: Cancelled
 Transfer incomplete
 READY: press any key to continue...

I suspect that the download has actually succeeded. The message is very
confusing. This problem is not observed for SREC downloads.


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[Bug 1000711] Confusing message on conclusion of ELF file download

[bugzilla-daemon]

http://bugs.ecos.sourceware.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1000711


John Dallaway <john@dallaway.org.uk> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
               Flag|                            |Blocking_3.0+




--- Comment #1 from John Dallaway <john@dallaway.org.uk>  2009-03-09 10:40:57 ---
I suspect that this issue is independent of the target hardware and was
introduced with the following RedBoot change:

        2005-09-09  Andrew Dyer  <adyer@righthandtech.com>

        * src/load.c: add calls to redboot_getc_terminate before exiting
        load_elf_image() in various error scenarios, change the final call
        to redboot_getc_terminate to have the error flag set.  This will
        cause a tftp nak and close down the connection since for ELF files
        we don't read the whole content but end the connection when the
        runnable parts are in.

Gary, do you have any time to investigate this in the short term? Please
confirm either way.


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[Bug 1000711] Confusing message on conclusion of ELF file download

[bugzilla-daemon]

http://bugs.ecos.sourceware.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1000711


Gary Thomas <gary@mlbassoc.com> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|NEW                         |RESOLVED
         Resolution|                            |NOTABUG




--- Comment #2 from Gary Thomas <gary@mlbassoc.com>  2009-03-10 00:07:42 ---
This message is coming from the host X-modem program.

The problem is that when reading an ELF image, the actual file contains
much more information than RedBoot needs.  Rather than waste time (serial
downloads are already slow enough), RedBoot cancels the connection once
the required segments have been loaded.  This is what makes the host end
think that there might be an error.

The user can determine if there was an actual error (in fact, only RedBoot
can cancel the operation and it _only_ does it on ELF images) by examining
the output on the RedBoot console, not the X-modem output.

The best way around this is to not download ELF images via serial download.


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[Bug 1000711] Confusing message on conclusion of ELF file download

[bugzilla-daemon]

http://bugs.ecos.sourceware.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1000711


John Dallaway <john@dallaway.org.uk> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|RESOLVED                    |REOPENED
         Resolution|NOTABUG                     |




--- Comment #3 from John Dallaway <john@dallaway.org.uk>  2009-03-10 09:32:19 ---
If the workaround is to avoid downloading ELF images over a serial link then I
would question why cancelling the x/y-modem connection in this way is
considered useful.

At minimum, I think this issue should be documented in the RedBoot User Guide
since "download cancelled" and "transfer incomplete" messages from the host
give entirely the wrong impression to new users.

I will try this with Hyperterminal on Windows to see how the cancelled download
is presented. I am therefore re-opening this issue as a reminder to myself for
the time-being.

Is there anyone else with a strong opinion on this?


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[Bug 1000711] Confusing message on conclusion of ELF file download

[bugzilla-daemon]

http://bugs.ecos.sourceware.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1000711


John Dallaway <john@dallaway.org.uk> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
         AssignedTo|gary@mlbassoc.com           |john@dallaway.org.uk
             Status|REOPENED                    |NEW




--- Comment #4 from John Dallaway <john@dallaway.org.uk>  2009-03-10 09:33:27 ---
I will look at behaviour under Hyperterminal.


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[Bug 1000711] Confusing message on conclusion of ELF file download

[bugzilla-daemon]

http://bugs.ecos.sourceware.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1000711


John Dallaway <john@dallaway.org.uk> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
         AssignedTo|john@dallaway.org.uk        |gary@mlbassoc.com




--- Comment #5 from John Dallaway <john@dallaway.org.uk>  2009-03-19 12:21:19 ---
On Windows 2000, Hyperterminal pops up a modal dialog box containing the
following text:

   "Transfer cancelled by remote system"

So both Linux and Windows users are presented with a message which suggests to
a novice user that the transfer has failed. The subsequent message from RedBoot
does little to reassure such users that the transfer was in fact successful.

The considerable performance advantage afforded by cancelling the ELF image
transfer is obtained with a considerable usability penalty.

I would like to propose that RedBoot emits a reassuring message when cancelling
transfers in this way. Something like:

 "Transfer terminated on successful receipt of all loadable ELF sections"

Gary, are you OK with this? If so, could you make this change or something
similar please?


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[Bug 1000711] Confusing message on conclusion of ELF file download

[bugzilla-daemon]

http://bugs.ecos.sourceware.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1000711





--- Comment #6 from Gary Thomas <gary@mlbassoc.com>  2009-03-19 15:26:33 ---
Sorry, but there's no way to do what you ask.  The ELF loader has no
idea that X-modem is the transport when it cancels the download.
The X-modem code couldn't print this message because it doesn't
know why the download was aborted (there are many causes).

I think that documenting the fact that ELF images contain a lot of
fluff not used by RedBoot and that downloads are cut short to avoid
wastefully downloading such should be sufficient.  Realistically, I
have heard few [virtually none] complaints about this since it was
implemented more than 3 years ago.


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[Bug 1000711] Confusing message on conclusion of ELF file download

[bugzilla-daemon]

http://bugs.ecos.sourceware.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1000711


John Dallaway <john@dallaway.org.uk> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
         AssignedTo|gary@mlbassoc.com           |john@dallaway.org.uk




--- Comment #7 from John Dallaway <john@dallaway.org.uk>  2009-03-19 16:33:04 ---
Gary, thanks for your rapid response. I presume you mean that there is no
_easy_ way to implement what I was suggesting. Certainly disruptive changes are
best avoided for eCos 3.0 anyway.

I'll add something to the RedBoot documentation ("load" command) about the
misleading messages from the terminal emulator.


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[Bug 1000711] Confusing message on conclusion of ELF file download

[bugzilla-daemon]

http://bugs.ecos.sourceware.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1000711


Gary Thomas <gary@mlbassoc.com> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |gary@mlbassoc.com




--- Comment #8 from Gary Thomas <gary@mlbassoc.com>  2009-03-19 16:42:29 ---
No, there's no way to do this that isn't obtuse and/or inordinately intrusive,
i.e. a pure HACK.


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[Bug 1000711] Confusing message on conclusion of ELF file download

[bugzilla-daemon]

http://bugs.ecos.sourceware.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1000711


John Dallaway <john@dallaway.org.uk> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|NEW                         |RESOLVED
         Resolution|                            |CURRENTRELEASE




--- Comment #9 from John Dallaway <john@dallaway.org.uk>  2009-03-20 08:44:07 ---
A note about the misleading messages has been added to the RedBoot
documentation.


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