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+flashprog
+=========
+
+flashprog is a utility for detecting, reading, writing, verifying and erasing
+flash chips. It is often used to flash BIOS/EFI/coreboot/firmware images
+in-system using a supported mainboard, but it also supports flashing of network
+cards (NICs), SATA controller cards, and other external devices which can
+program flash chips.
+
+It supports a wide range of flash chips (most commonly found in SOIC8, DIP8,
+SOIC16, WSON8, PLCC32, DIP32, TSOP32, and TSOP40 packages), which use various
+protocols such as LPC, FWH, parallel flash, or SPI.
+
+Do not use flashprog on laptops (yet)! The embedded controller (EC) present in
+many laptops might interact badly with any attempts to communicate with the
+flash chip and may brick your laptop.
+
+Please make a backup of your flash chip before writing to it.
+
+Please see the flashprog(8) manpage.
+
+
+Packaging
+---------
+
+To package flashprog and remove dependencies on Git, either use
+make export
+or
+make tarball
+
+'make export' will export all flashprog files from the Git repository at
+revision HEAD into a directory named "$EXPORTDIR/flashprog-$RELEASENAME"
+and will additionally add a "versioninfo.inc" file in that directory to
+contain the Git revision of the exported tree and a date for the manual
+page.
+
+'make tarball' will simply tar up the result of make export and compress
+it with bzip2.
+
+The snapshot tarballs are the result of 'make tarball' and require no
+further processing.
+
+
+Build Instructions
+------------------
+
+To build flashprog you need to install the following software:
+
+ * pciutils+libpci (if you want support for mainboard or PCI device flashing)
+ * libusb (if you want FT2232, Dediprog or USB-Blaster support)
+ * libftdi (if you want FT2232 or USB-Blaster support)
+ * libjaylink (if you want support for SEGGER J-Link and compatible devices)
+
+Linux et al:
+
+ * pciutils / libpci
+ * pciutils-devel / pciutils-dev / libpci-dev
+ * zlib-devel / zlib1g-dev (needed if libpci was compiled with libz support)
+ * libgpiod-dev (if you want support for Linux GPIO devices)
+
+On FreeBSD, you need the following ports:
+
+ * devel/gmake
+ * devel/libpci
+
+On OpenBSD, you need the following ports:
+
+ * devel/gmake
+ * sysutils/pciutils
+
+To compile on Linux, use:
+
+ make
+
+To compile on FreeBSD, OpenBSD or DragonFly BSD, use:
+
+ gmake
+
+To compile on Nexenta, use:
+
+ make
+
+To compile on Solaris, use:
+
+ gmake LDFLAGS="-L$pathtolibpci" CC="gcc -I$pathtopciheaders" CFLAGS=-O2
+
+To compile on NetBSD (with pciutils, libftdi, libusb installed in /usr/pkg/), use:
+
+ gmake
+
+To compile and run on Darwin/Mac OS X:
+
+ Install DirectHW from coresystems GmbH.
+ DirectHW is available at http://www.coreboot.org/DirectHW .
+
+To cross-compile on Linux for DOS:
+
+ Get packages of the DJGPP cross compiler and install them:
+ djgpp-filesystem djgpp-gcc djgpp-cpp djgpp-runtime djgpp-binutils
+
+ As an alternative, the DJGPP web site offers packages for download as well:
+ djcross-binutils-2.29.1-1ap.x86_64.rpm
+ djcross-gcc-7.2.0-1ap.x86_64.rpm
+ djcrx-2.05-5.x86_64.rpm
+
+ The cross toolchain packages for your distribution may have slightly different
+ names (look for packages named *djgpp*).
+
+ Alternatively, you could use a script to build it from scratch:
+ https://github.com/andrewwutw/build-djgpp
+
+ You will need the libpci and libgetopt library source trees and
+ their compiled static libraries and header files installed in some
+ directory say libpci-libgetopt/, which will be later specified with
+ LIBS_BASE parameter during flashprog compilation. Easiest way to
+ handle it is to put pciutils, libgetopt and flashprog directories
+ in one subdirectory. There will be an extra subdirectory libpci-libgetopt
+ created, which will contain compiled libpci and libgetopt.
+
+ Download pciutils 3.5.6 and apply http://flashprog.org/File:Pciutils-3.5.6.patch.gz
+ Compile pciutils, using following command line:
+
+    make ZLIB=no DNS=no HOST=i386-djgpp-djgpp CROSS_COMPILE=i586-pc-msdosdjgpp- \
+      PREFIX=/ DESTDIR=$PWD/../libpci-libgetopt  \
+      STRIP="--strip-program=i586-pc-msdosdjgpp-strip -s" install install-lib
+
+ Download and compile with 'make' http://flashprog.org/File:Libgetopt.tar.gz
+
+ Copy the libgetopt.a to ../libpci-libgetopt/lib and
+ getopt.h to ../libpci-libgetopt/include
+
+ Enter the flashprog directory.
+
+   make CC=i586-pc-msdosdjgpp-gcc STRIP=i586-pc-msdosdjgpp-strip \
+     LIBS_BASE=../libpci-libgetopt/ HAS_LIBPCI=yes CONFIG_LIBPCI_LDFLAGS=-lpci \
+     strip
+
+ If you like, you can compress the resulting executable with UPX:
+
+ upx -9 flashprog.exe
+
+ To run flashprog.exe, download http://flashprog.org/File:Csdpmi7b.zip and
+ unpack CWSDPMI.EXE into the current directory or one in PATH.
+
+To cross-compile on Linux for Windows:
+
+ * Get packages of the MinGW cross compiler and install them:
+ mingw32-filesystem mingw32-cross-cpp mingw32-cross-binutils mingw32-cross-gcc
+ mingw32-runtime mingw32-headers
+
+ * The cross toolchain packages for your distribution may have slightly different
+ names (look for packages named *mingw*).
+ PCI-based programmers (internal etc.) are not supported on Windows.
+
+ * Run (change CC= and STRIP= settings where appropriate)
+ `make CC=i686-w64-mingw32-gcc STRIP=i686-w64-mingw32-strip`
+
+Processor architecture dependent features:
+
+ On non-x86 architectures a few programmers don't work (yet) because they
+ use port-based I/O which is not directly available on non-x86. Those
+ programmers will be disabled automatically if you run "make".
+
+Compiler quirks:
+
+If you are using clang and if you want to enable only one driver, you may hit an
+overzealous compiler warning from clang. Compile with "make WARNERROR=no" to
+force it to continue and enjoy.
+
+Installation
+------------
+
+In order to install flashprog and the manpage into /usr/local, type:
+
+ make install
+
+For installation in a different directory use DESTDIR, e.g. like this:
+
+ make DESTDIR=/usr install
+
+If you have insufficient permissions for the destination directory, use sudo
+by adding sudo in front of the commands above.
+
+
+Branching and release policy
+----------------------------
+
+- Feature development happens on the `main` branch
+- Branch-off points for releases are tagged with tags that start with `p`, such as `p1.0`
+- Release branches have a `.x` suffix, for example `1.0.x`
+- Release tags start with `v`, for example `v1.0` or `v1.0.1`
+- Release candidate tags additionally end with `-rcN`, for example `v1.0-rc1`
+
+
+Contact
+-------
+
+The official flashprog website is:
+
+  http://www.flashprog.org/
+
+Available contact methods are
+
+  https://www.flashprog.org/Contact