DPA Application Security Attributes to Blob

dpa-app-attributes2blob is a tool for converting between FlexIO attributes YAML files and binary blob files, and vice versa. It is typically used to generate binary configuration blobs from human-readable YAML attributes, or to reverse the process for inspection and debugging.

• Converts attributes YAML files to binary blobs (default mode)

• Converts binary blobs back to attributes YAML files

• Supports a nested Feature_list structure

• Validates input files and provides clear error messages

• Sets default values to false for unspecified fields

• Provides detailed feature descriptions in generated YAML files

• Supports error modes for blob-to-YAML conversion

• Configurable blob size for YAML-to-binary conversion

• Comprehensive bit validation in binary blobs

            

            
dpa-app-attributes2blob [--help] [--version] [mode] [error_mode] [blob_size] <input-file> <output-file>
        

Examples

• Convert YAML to binary blob:

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  dpa-app-attributes2blob --yaml2bin config.yaml output.bin
          

• Simple convert YAML to binary blob:

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  dpa-app-attributes2blob config.yaml output.bin
          

• Convert YAML to binary blob with custom size:

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  dpa-app-attributes2blob --yaml2bin --blob-size 16 config.yaml output.bin
          

• Convert binary blob to YAML:

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  dpa-app-attributes2blob --bin2yaml output.bin config.yaml
          

• Convert binary blob to YAML with warning mode:

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  dpa-app-attributes2blob --bin2yaml --notification output.bin config.yaml
          

• The attributes must have a top-level mapping containing only a Feature_list key.

• The Feature_list value must be a mapping containing feature flags.

• Field values must be boolean (true/false, yes/no, on/off).

• Fields not explicitly set default to false.

• Supported fields:

  • Congestion_Control_Flow_Context_Access: Enables the application to access the Congestion Control Flow Context.

  • Programmable_Congestion_Control: Enables the application to serve Programmable Congestion Control events.

  • Generating_Empty_CQE: Enables the application to generate an Empty CQE on a given CQ (e.g., for triggering other software entries).

  • Device_Emulation: Enables the application to emulate a PCIe device.

Example Attributes YAML

            

            
Feature_list:
  Congestion_Control_Flow_Context_Access: true
  Programmable_Congestion_Control: false
  Generating_Empty_CQE: true
  Device_Emulation: true
        

Generated YAML Output

When converting from binary to YAML, the tool generates descriptive comments:

            

            
# This file was generated by dpa-app-attributes2blob
# A dictionary of features enabled/disabled for the application
Feature_list:
  # Enables application to access Congestion Control Flow Context
  Congestion_Control_Flow_Context_Access: true
  # Disables application to serve Programmable Congestion Control events
  Programmable_Congestion_Control: false
  # Enables application to generate Empty CQE on a given CQ, e.g. for triggering other SW entries
  Generating_Empty_CQE: true
  # Enables application to emulate a PCI device
  Device_Emulation: true
        

• The tool checks for duplicate fields, unknown fields, invalid boolean values, and malformed YAML structure.

• Only one document and the specified nested structure are allowed in the YAML.

• Sequences and aliases/anchors are not supported.

• In blob-to-YAML mode, the tool validates that only valid feature bits are set in the binary blob.

• Invalid bits can be treated as errors (default) or warnings (using --notification).

• The tool provides detailed error messages showing which specific bits are invalid in the binary blob.

• Command-line validation ensures error modes are only used with --bin2yaml and size options are only used with --yaml2bin.

• The binary blob is stored in big-endian byte order.

• Custom blob sizes can be specified using the --blob-size option.

• The blob size must be a multiple of 4 bytes and cannot exceed 1024 bytes.

• Only the bits corresponding to defined features are validated; other bits are checked to ensure they are not set to 1.