This is an unnamed and undocumented partition table format implemented by the bootloader and kernel that Amlogic provides for their Linux SoCs (Meson series at least, and probably others). They appear to use this rather than GPT, the industry standard, because their BootROM loads and executes the next stage loader from offset 512 (0x200) on the eMMC, which is exactly where the GPT header would have to start. So instead of changing their BootROM, Amlogic devised this partition table, which lives at an offset of 36MiB (0x240_0000) on the eMMC and so doesn't conflict. This parser expects as input just the partition table from that offset. The maximum number of partitions in a table is 32, which corresponds to a maximum table size of 1304 bytes (0x518).
This page hosts a formal specification of Amlogic proprietary eMMC partition table using Kaitai Struct. This specification can be automatically translated into a variety of programming languages to get a parsing library.
// Code generated by kaitai-struct-compiler from a .ksy source file. DO NOT EDIT.
import (
"github.com/kaitai-io/kaitai_struct_go_runtime/kaitai"
"bytes"
)
/**
* This is an unnamed and undocumented partition table format implemented by
* the bootloader and kernel that Amlogic provides for their Linux SoCs (Meson
* series at least, and probably others). They appear to use this rather than GPT,
* the industry standard, because their BootROM loads and executes the next stage
* loader from offset 512 (0x200) on the eMMC, which is exactly where the GPT
* header would have to start. So instead of changing their BootROM, Amlogic
* devised this partition table, which lives at an offset of 36MiB (0x240_0000)
* on the eMMC and so doesn't conflict. This parser expects as input just the
* partition table from that offset. The maximum number of partitions in a table
* is 32, which corresponds to a maximum table size of 1304 bytes (0x518).
* @see <a href="http://aml-code.amlogic.com/kernel/common.git/tree/include/linux/mmc/emmc_partitions.h?id=18a4a87072ababf76ea08c8539e939b5b8a440ef">Source</a>
* @see <a href="http://aml-code.amlogic.com/kernel/common.git/tree/drivers/amlogic/mmc/emmc_partitions.c?id=18a4a87072ababf76ea08c8539e939b5b8a440ef">Source</a>
*/
type AmlogicEmmcPartitions struct {
Magic []byte
Version string
NumPartitions int32
Checksum uint32
Partitions []*AmlogicEmmcPartitions_Partition
_io *kaitai.Stream
_root *AmlogicEmmcPartitions
_parent interface{}
}
func NewAmlogicEmmcPartitions() *AmlogicEmmcPartitions {
return &AmlogicEmmcPartitions{
}
}
func (this *AmlogicEmmcPartitions) Read(io *kaitai.Stream, parent interface{}, root *AmlogicEmmcPartitions) (err error) {
this._io = io
this._parent = parent
this._root = root
tmp1, err := this._io.ReadBytes(int(4))
if err != nil {
return err
}
tmp1 = tmp1
this.Magic = tmp1
if !(bytes.Equal(this.Magic, []uint8{77, 80, 84, 0})) {
return kaitai.NewValidationNotEqualError([]uint8{77, 80, 84, 0}, this.Magic, this._io, "/seq/0")
}
tmp2, err := this._io.ReadBytes(int(12))
if err != nil {
return err
}
tmp2 = kaitai.BytesTerminate(tmp2, 0, false)
this.Version = string(tmp2)
tmp3, err := this._io.ReadS4le()
if err != nil {
return err
}
this.NumPartitions = int32(tmp3)
if !(this.NumPartitions >= 1) {
return kaitai.NewValidationLessThanError(1, this.NumPartitions, this._io, "/seq/2")
}
if !(this.NumPartitions <= 32) {
return kaitai.NewValidationGreaterThanError(32, this.NumPartitions, this._io, "/seq/2")
}
tmp4, err := this._io.ReadU4le()
if err != nil {
return err
}
this.Checksum = uint32(tmp4)
for i := 0; i < int(this.NumPartitions); i++ {
_ = i
tmp5 := NewAmlogicEmmcPartitions_Partition()
err = tmp5.Read(this._io, this, this._root)
if err != nil {
return err
}
this.Partitions = append(this.Partitions, tmp5)
}
return err
}
/**
* To calculate this, treat the first (and only the first) partition
* descriptor in the table below as an array of unsigned little-endian
* 32-bit integers. Sum all those integers mod 2^32, then multiply the
* result by the total number of partitions, also mod 2^32. Amlogic
* likely meant to include all the partition descriptors in the sum,
* but their code as written instead repeatedly loops over the first
* one, once for each partition in the table.
*/
type AmlogicEmmcPartitions_Partition struct {
Name string
Size uint64
Offset uint64
Flags *AmlogicEmmcPartitions_Partition_PartFlags
Padding []byte
_io *kaitai.Stream
_root *AmlogicEmmcPartitions
_parent *AmlogicEmmcPartitions
_raw_Flags []byte
}
func NewAmlogicEmmcPartitions_Partition() *AmlogicEmmcPartitions_Partition {
return &AmlogicEmmcPartitions_Partition{
}
}
func (this *AmlogicEmmcPartitions_Partition) Read(io *kaitai.Stream, parent *AmlogicEmmcPartitions, root *AmlogicEmmcPartitions) (err error) {
this._io = io
this._parent = parent
this._root = root
tmp6, err := this._io.ReadBytes(int(16))
if err != nil {
return err
}
tmp6 = kaitai.BytesTerminate(tmp6, 0, false)
this.Name = string(tmp6)
tmp7, err := this._io.ReadU8le()
if err != nil {
return err
}
this.Size = uint64(tmp7)
tmp8, err := this._io.ReadU8le()
if err != nil {
return err
}
this.Offset = uint64(tmp8)
tmp9, err := this._io.ReadBytes(int(4))
if err != nil {
return err
}
tmp9 = tmp9
this._raw_Flags = tmp9
_io__raw_Flags := kaitai.NewStream(bytes.NewReader(this._raw_Flags))
tmp10 := NewAmlogicEmmcPartitions_Partition_PartFlags()
err = tmp10.Read(_io__raw_Flags, this, this._root)
if err != nil {
return err
}
this.Flags = tmp10
tmp11, err := this._io.ReadBytes(int(4))
if err != nil {
return err
}
tmp11 = tmp11
this.Padding = tmp11
return err
}
/**
* The start of the partition relative to the start of the eMMC, in bytes
*/
type AmlogicEmmcPartitions_Partition_PartFlags struct {
IsCode bool
IsCache bool
IsData bool
_io *kaitai.Stream
_root *AmlogicEmmcPartitions
_parent *AmlogicEmmcPartitions_Partition
}
func NewAmlogicEmmcPartitions_Partition_PartFlags() *AmlogicEmmcPartitions_Partition_PartFlags {
return &AmlogicEmmcPartitions_Partition_PartFlags{
}
}
func (this *AmlogicEmmcPartitions_Partition_PartFlags) Read(io *kaitai.Stream, parent *AmlogicEmmcPartitions_Partition, root *AmlogicEmmcPartitions) (err error) {
this._io = io
this._parent = parent
this._root = root
tmp12, err := this._io.ReadBitsIntLe(1)
if err != nil {
return err
}
this.IsCode = tmp12 != 0
tmp13, err := this._io.ReadBitsIntLe(1)
if err != nil {
return err
}
this.IsCache = tmp13 != 0
tmp14, err := this._io.ReadBitsIntLe(1)
if err != nil {
return err
}
this.IsData = tmp14 != 0
return err
}