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Developers Guide

TrenchBoot is a framework that provides for users the ability to select the kernel and security engine components appropriate for their target environment. This developers guide focuses on the software components of TrenchBoot and the build system used to compose TrenchBoot launchable images.

TrenchBoot Linux/u-root Configuration

A TrenchBoot launchable image consists of a TrenchBoot Linux kernel with a TrenchBoot u-root initramfs embedded within the image. When building for a target, the boot capabilities and BITs that will be supported will result in different launchable images. The diagram below provides a simple visual depiction of this setup.

Top level software architecture

As a result of the build process, one or more kernel images may be generated. By convention these kernels will be labeled as such:

  • bzImage.uefi: An image built to be launch by a UEFI environment
  • bzImage.skinit: An image built to be launched with AMD's SKINIT instruction
  • bzImage.senter: An image built to be launched with Intel's SENTER instruction
  • bzImage.bios: An image build to be launched by a legacy BIOS boot loader
Last update: May 29, 2023