On Wed, Oct 14, 2026 at 02:15:19PM +0200, Michal Simek wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> On 10/14/26 10:12, Rahul Pathak wrote:
> > Hi Michal,
> > 
> > It is not correct to say that SCMI already exists and so RPMI is not
> > needed. If you read the RPMI specification you will find that the two
> > differ significantly. I don't mean overlapping names, but how things
> > are defined and implemented in the spec. Compare the transport,
> > compare the defined messages.
> > 
> > RPMI defines many service groups that have no counterpart in SCMI like
> > System MSI/System IRQ, TEE, RAS Agent, Management Mode, CPPC,
> > Logging, Request Forward and others. Together they cover use cases
> > ranging from typical systems to confidential computing and
> > virtualization, all in one specification.
> > 
> > There is also a difference in governance, which is visible from the
> > licences of the two specifications.
> > 
> > RPMI is under CC-BY 4 license which allows anyone to adapt it and share
> > modified versions with attribution, and changes are developed in
> > the open under RISC-V International. The development does not happen
> > behind closed door but rather any indivudial/organization can also take 
> > part in
> > the discussions.
> 
> I don't think license is an argument here because someone decided not to
> talk to ARM about it. Based on my information none really talked to ARM to
> change that license for SCMI (if that was an issue) or move it to neutral
> place.
> I have already talked to ARM about it.
> 
> > I think open source projects always give users/vendors freedom
> > to use any protocol which suits their platform. It must not be dictated
> > that everyone must stick to one interface.  As Heinrich pointed out that 
> > U-Boot
> > already supports alternatives for various things and
> > Linux and OpenSBI already support RPMI. Adding RPMI support to U-Boot
> > does not take anything away from SCMI.
> > 
> > Platforms that use SCMI can continue to do so, and platforms
> > built on RPMI get the support they need.
> > 
> > So RPMI is not another interface that does the same thing. It is a
> > broader specification, developed openly by the community that uses
> > it in which you and anyone can also take part.
> 
> It wasn't my cover letter which described
> "The goals and purpose of RPMI are similar to ARM's SCMI."

I can change that part a bit.

I do think it's good to mention SCMI at least once because it will give
some anchoring to readers new to RPMI.

Thanks,
Charles

> 
> I am just saying that it looks like that you are creating parallel firmware
> interface instead of extending/reusing existing one without really even
> trying to talk to other vendors. I would prefer if we can work together on
> one spec and extend it to cover both architectures.
> 
> When you have heterogeneous systems where you have mix of ARM and RISC-V
> cores make no sense to have SCMI and RPMI servers both running to serve the
> same purpose.
> 
> Thanks,
> Michal
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

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