xref: /openbmc/pldm/README.md (revision 1a68b45c9dc04d53e8674977f0348cfea2f43f64)
1# Code Organization
2At a high-level, code in this repository belongs to one of the following three
3components.
4
5## libpldm
6This is a library which deals with the encoding and decoding of PLDM messages.
7It should be possible to use this library by projects other than OpenBMC, and
8hence certain constraints apply to it:
9- keeping it light weight
10- implementation in C
11- minimal dynamic memory allocations
12- endian-safe
13- no OpenBMC specific dependencies
14
15Source files are named according to the PLDM Type, for eg base.[h/c], fru.[h/c],
16etc.
17
18Given a PLDM command "foo", the library will provide the following API:
19For the Requester function:
20```
21encode_foo_req() - encode a foo request
22decode_foo_resp() - decode a response to foo
23```
24For the Responder function:
25```
26decode_foo_req() - decode a foo request
27encode_foo_resp() - encode a response to foo
28```
29The library also provides API to pack and unpack PLDM headers.
30
31## libpldmresponder
32This library provides handlers for incoming PLDM request messages. It provides
33for a registration as well as a plug-in mechanism. The library is implemented in
34modern C++, and handles OpenBMC's platform specifics.
35
36The handlers are of the form
37```
38Response handler(Request payload, size_t payloadLen)
39```
40
41Source files are named according to the PLDM Type, for eg base.[hpp/cpp],
42fru.[hpp/cpp], etc.
43
44## daemon
45This is the PLDM daemon application that deals with various aspects of the
46requester and responder functions, as explained at
47https://github.com/openbmc/docs/blob/master/designs/pldm-stack.md.
48
49## TODO
50Consider hosting libpldm above in a repo of its own, probably even outside the
51OpenBMC project? A separate repo would enable something like git submodule.
52
53# Flows
54This section documents important code flow paths.
55
56## BMC as PLDM responder
57a) PLDM daemon receives PLDM request message from underlying transport (MCTP).
58
59b) PLDM daemon routes message to message handler, based on the PLDM command.
60
61c) Message handler decodes request payload into various field(s) of the request
62   message. It can make use of a decode_foo_req() API, and doesn't have to
63   perform deserialization of the request payload by itself.
64
65d) Message handler works with the request field(s) and generates response
66   field(s).
67
68e) Message handler prepares a response message. It can make use of an
69   encode_foo_resp() API, and doesn't have to perform the serialization of the
70   response field(s) by itself.
71
72f) The PLDM daemon sends the response message prepared at step e) to the remote
73   PLDM device.
74
75## BMC as PLDM requester
76a) A BMC PLDM requester app prepares a PLDM request message. There would be
77   several requester apps (based on functionality/PLDM remote device). Each of
78   them needn't bother with the serialization of request field(s), and can
79   instead make use of an encode_foo_req() API.
80
81b) BMC requester app requests PLDM daemon to send the request message to remote
82   PLDM device.
83
84c) Once the PLDM daemon receives a corresponding response message, it notifies
85   the requester app.
86
87d) The requester app has to work with the response field(s). It can make use of
88   a decode_foo_resp() API to deserialize the response message.
89