Case Closed Debugging (CCD)

Case closed debugging is a feature of the EC codebase that can bridge UART consoles and SPI buses from a DUT (Device Under Test) to the host machine via USB. This allows the host to access and update much of the DUT's state. Use cases include automated hardware testing as well as simplified debug console access and firmware flashing for kernel and system developers.

Prerequisites

Supported Devices

We have added CCD support for two chip families: stm32 and gchips. Ryu, servo_micro, and servo_v4 use the stm32 support. Cr50 uses gchips support. All boards with Cr50 have support for case closed debugging.

Suzy-Q

Suzy-Q is a Type-C dongle that exposes USB2.0/3.0 on a Type-A socket, case closed debugging over SBU1/2 on a micro Type-B socket, and charging over a Type-C socket. You will need one to access the case closed debugging USB interface. Full details, including where to buy and how to make your own are in the Suzy-Q docs.

Chromium OS flashrom

The functionality to flash the AP firmware image over case closed debugging is currently only supported by the ChromiumOS version of flashrom, so you will need to have that built. The easiest way to do so is to just setup the Chromium OS SDK.

Udev rules file

There is a udev rules file, extra/usb_serial/51-google-serial.rules that should be installed in /etc/udev/rules.d/ and udev should be told to reread its rules. This rules file can be installed using the extra/usb_serial/install script.

Kernel module

A trivial Linux kernel module that identifies case closed debug capable USB interfaces can be found in extra/usb_serial. This module is also built and installed using the extra/usb_serial/install script.

Chromium OS chroot

This is really only a requirement for using flashrom. If you only need access to the serial consoles then a checkout of the EC firmware repository should be sufficient.

Setup

Device Under Test (DUT)

If the DUT doesn't have a new enough PD firmware you will need to update the firmware using a Servo, ectool, or MCU specific DFU mode, all of which are outside the scope of this document.

Make sure your DUT is charged up, because while using Suzy-Q you can't currently charge the device.

Suzy-Q

Suzy-Q should be connected to the DUT using the Type-C cable and connector integrated into Suzy-Q. This connector may need to be flipped to make case closed debugging work because the SBU lines that are used to expose the PD MCU‘s USB interface are not orientation invariant. Only one port on the DUT will support CCD. Try using the other port if the CCD device doesn’t appear. Suzy-Q should be connected to the Host with a Type-A (Host) to Micro Type-B (Suzy-Q) cable. Look for the device vendor:product ID to your host sees the CCD device.

Host

Depending on your kernel version the consoles may exist at /dev/ttyUSB*. If using those works for you, you don't need to install any drivers or Udev rules.

If you want your host to generate useful symlinks for the different CCD consoles, install the Udev rule. It will generate symlinks in /dev/google/<device name>/serial/<console name> for each serial console that a device exports. It will also mark the DUT as incompatible with ModemManager. This last part ensures that ModemManager doesn't attempt to open and manipulate the various serial consoles exported by the device.

The kernel module in extra/usb_serial should be compiled and installed in the running kernel. It just adds an entry into the usbserial module's driver table that causes usbserial to recognize any case closed debugging serial console as a simple USB serial device. This addition has already made its way into the upstream kernel (v3.19), so eventually this module can be removed. The extra/usb_serial/install script will build and install the kernel module as well as install the udev rules file.

If for some reason you can‘t or don’t want to use the kernel module the install script provides a --fallback option that will install a udev rules file and helper script instead that will add each new CCD capable device that is attached to the host to the list of devices that usbserial will handle. The disadvantage of this method is that it will generate /dev/ttyUSB* entries for any USB interface on the device that has an IN/OUT pair of bulk endpoints. This results in extra /dev/ttyUSB* entries that should not be used because they are actually I2C or SPI bridges.

The raiden module solves this by identifying a CCD serial port by the subclass and protocol numbers of the USB device interface. This means that there does not need to be a list of CCD capable device IDs anywhere.

Basic CCD

Here's the basic information for how to use CCD. Cr50 restricts debugging features to try and ensure only the device owner can use CCD. For information on how to get access to Cr50 CCD see the Cr50 specific CCD doc.

Consoles

The serial consoles exposed by case closed debugging can be found in /dev/ttyUSB* or /dev/google/<device name>/serial/<console name> if you installed the Udev rules. The consoles can be opened with any program that you would normally use to open a TTY character device such as minicom or screen.

If you installed the Udev rules, the console path will be determined based on the device and USB bus. The <device name> field is generated from the DUT‘s USB descriptor iProduct field as well as the USB bus index and device path on that bus (the list of port numbers for the hub connections between the Host and DUT). As such it is unique to a particular setup and won’t change across reboots of either the Host or the DUT. The <console name> field is just the iInterface USB descriptor field from the particular USB interface that is associated with this console device. This allows a single DUT to expose multiple serial consoles in a discoverable and consistent manner.

If you're using the consoles at /dev/ttyUSB*, you can just check which console it is by running a few commands like version.

Flash AP

Programming the AP SPI flash with a new firmware image can be done with flashrom using the command:

(chroot) $ sudo /usr/sbin/flashrom -p raiden_debug_spi -w /build/<board>/firmware/image.bin

If there are more than one case closed debug capable devices connected to the host you will have to disambiguate the DUT with additional programmer parameters. Flashrom will list all DUTs that are found along with programmer parameters that can be used to identify the intended DUT. Flashrom programmer added to the programmer name (the -p argument) by appending a colon and then a colon and then a comma separated list of key=value pairs. The serial parameter is best for this.

(chroot) $ sudo /usr/sbin/flashrom -p raiden_debug_spi:serial=${SERIAL} -w /build/<board>/firmware/image.bin

Cr50 can be used to flash the AP or EC. You will need to specify the AP as the target device, so cr50 knows to flash the AP.

(chroot) $ sudo flashrom -p raiden_debug_spi:target=AP -w image.bin

Flash EC

You can use util/flash_ec to flash the EC. Steps for flashing the EC are more complex and board specific than flashing the AP. This script will handle all the board specific setup.

Known Issues

  1. Charge and the use of the Type-A port on Suzy-Q do not work, so for now if you need to attach a flash drive, or use Fastboot/adb you'll need to swap cables.

  2. Ryu implementation: software sync of the EC/PD processor and the jump from RO to RW versions will cause the case closed debugging USB device to disconnect and reconnect. This can be prevented by disabling software sync. This is done by setting the GBB_FLAG_DISABLE_EC_SOFTWARE_SYNC and GBB_FLAG_DISABLE_PD_SOFTWARE_SYNC flags with`gbb_utility.

Troubleshooting

Check for the CCD device using the following vendor:product IDs

DeviceVID:PID
servo_micro18d1:501a
servo_v418d1:501b
servo_v218d1:5002
ryu18d1:500f
cr5018d1:5014

See the SERVO_PID_DEFAULTS in the servo code for all values.

Can't see the CCD device on the host

  1. Type-C cable from Suzy-Q to the DUT may be upside down. The SBU lines used for case closed debugging are not orientation invariant.
  2. You may be using the wrong device port. Try using the other port.
  3. The device may not be charged enough to boot. Suzy-Q can't charge the device or supply enough power for the DUT to boot. Make sure the device is somewhat charged.

No console interfaces are available in the “/dev/google/” directory

  1. Kernel module may not be loaded.
  2. Udev rules file might not be installed correctly.
  3. PD firmware version may be too old.
  4. Type-C cable from Suzy-Q to the DUT may be upside down. The SBU lines used for case closed debugging are not orientation invariant.

Garbage messages (AT command set) show up on one or more consoles

  1. ModemManager has claimed the interface, Udev rules file may not be installed correctly.

Console interfaces appear and then quickly disappear

  1. Software sync from the AP has replaced the PD firmware with a version that is not compatible with case closed debugging.