-.TH FLASHROM 8 "December 20, 2006"
+.TH FLASHROM 8 "June 22, 2008"
.SH NAME
-flashrom \- a universal flash programming utility
+flashrom \- a universal BIOS/ROM/flash programming utility
.SH SYNOPSIS
-.B flashrom \fR[\fB\-rwvEVfh\fR] [\fB\-c\fR chipname] [\fB\-s\fR exclude_start] [\fB\-e\fR exclude_end]
+.B flashrom \fR[\fB\-rwvEVfLhR\fR] [\fB\-c\fR chipname] [\fB\-s\fR exclude_start] [\fB\-e\fR exclude_end]
[\fB-m\fR vendor:part] [\fB-l\fR file.layout] [\fB-i\fR image_name] [file]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B flashrom
-is a universal flash programming utility for flash chips
-(e.g. in DIP or PLCC packaging). It can be used to flash BIOS images,
-for example.
+is a universal flash programming utility for DIP, PLCC, or SPI flash ROM
+chips. It can be used to flash BIOS/coreboot/firmware images, for example.
+.sp
+(see
+.B http://coreboot.org
+for details on coreboot)
.SH OPTIONS
If no file is specified, then all that happens
is that flash info is dumped and the flash chip is set to writable.
.TP
.B "\-r, \-\-read"
-Read flash and save contents into file.
+Read flash ROM contents and save them into the given file.
.TP
.B "\-w, \-\-write"
-Write file into flash (default when file is specified).
+Write file into flash ROM (default when file is specified).
.TP
.B "\-v, \-\-verify"
-Verify flash against file.
+Verify the flash ROM contents against the given file.
.TP
.B "\-E, \-\-erase"
-Erase flash device.
+Erase the flash ROM device.
.TP
.B "\-V, \-\-verbose"
More verbose output.
.TP
.B "\-c, \-\-chip" <chipname>
-Probe only for specified flash chip.
+Probe only for specified flash ROM chip.
.TP
.B "\-s, \-\-estart" <addr>
-Exclude start position. (obsolete)
+Exclude start position (obsolete).
.TP
.B "\-e, \-\-eend" <addr>
-Exclude end postion. (obsolete)
+Exclude end postion (obsolete).
.TP
-.B "\-m, \-\-mainboard" <vendor:part>
-Override mainboard settings.
+.B "\-m, \-\-mainboard" <[vendor:]part>
+Override mainboard settings. This option is needed for some mainboards,
+see the
+.B "flashrom \-\-list\-supported"
+output for a list. The vendor is not required when the board name is unique.
.TP
.B "\-f, \-\-force"
-Force write without checking image.
+Force write without checking whether the ROM image file is really meant
+to be used on this board.
+.sp
+Note: This check only works while coreboot is running, and only for those
+boards where the coreboot code supports it.
.TP
.B "\-l, \-\-layout" <layout.file>
Read ROM layout from file.
.TP
.B "\-i, \-\-image" <name>
-Only flash image name from flash layout.
+Only flash image
+.B <name>
+from flash layout.
+.TP
+.B "\-L, \-\-list\-supported"
+List the ROM chips, chipsets, and mainboards supported by flashrom.
+The list of mainboards consists of those boards which need a special
+ROM write-enable function for flashrom to work.
+.sp
+There are many other boards which will work out of the box, without such
+special support in flashrom. Some of the known-good/known-bad and tested ones
+are listed at
+.BR http://coreboot.org/Flashrom#Supported_mainboards ,
+but the list is not exhaustive, of course.
.TP
.B "\-h, \-\-help"
Show a help text and exit.
-.\".TP
-.\".B "\-\-version"
-.\"Show version information and exit.
+.TP
+.B "\-R, \-\-version"
+Show version information and exit.
.SH BUGS
-Please report any bugs at http://tracker.linuxbios.org/trac/LinuxBIOS/.
+Please report any bugs at
+.BR http://tracker.coreboot.org/trac/coreboot/newticket ","
+or on the coreboot mailing list
+.RB "(" http://coreboot.org/Mailinglist ")."
.SH LICENCE
.B flashrom
is covered by the GNU General Public License (GPL), version 2 or later.
-.SH SEE ALSO
-.BR romcc (1),
-.BR abuild (1).
.SH COPYRIGHT
2000 Silicon Integrated System Corporation
.br
some others
.PP
This manual page was written by Uwe Hermann <uwe@hermann-uwe.de>.
-It is licensed under the terms of the GNU GPL (v2 or later).
+It is licensed under the terms of the GNU GPL (version 2 or later).
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