octool

A small project to help me continue my learning of the Rust language. All suggestions and criticisms are welcome (but that doesn't mean I'll get to them in a timely manner, I can be lazy at times)
You can build from the included source by running cargo build --release (if you have the Rust environment installed) or you can use the binary from the Releases section on GitHub. Unlike my older OC-tool, this tool does not auto update itself to the latest version, but it will let you know if there is an update.

You can find a basic picture guide for the use of octool here https://rusty-bits.github.io/octool/

Command line options

./octool [options] [-V x.y.z] [INPUT_folder || config.plist]

-d use debug versions for EFI instead of release versions

-h print help/usage message then exit

-v print octool version information and booted OpenCore version if the var is in NVRAM then exit

-V x.y.z select OpenCore version number to use e.g. -V 0.9.7

without this option octool will make a quick guess as to which version to use based on the INPUT config.plist, if no INPUT config.plist is provided, octool will default to the latest OpenCore version

octool takes a path to a folder whos name contains INPUT at any point. This folder contains a config.plist and additional files for a specific build which allows the user to have numerous differing configs. octool will also take a direct path to a specific config.plist to use if desired and will gather what is needed for that specific config in the generic INPUT folder If you run octool with no path provided ./octool will look for config.plist in the generic INPUT folder, if it doesn't find it there it will use the OpenCorePkg/Docs/Sample.plist file.

At startup, octool checks for a local copy of the builds branch of the Dortania/build-repo so it will know the urls and hashes of the prebuilt binary resources. Thank you dhinakg, hieplpvip, and khronokernel.

It will update or download it to the build-repo into the tool_config_files folder as needed.

Next, octool does the same thing for the master branch of the Acidanthera OpenCorePkg source files, thanks to the people of Acidanthera, in order to have the corresponding Sample.plist and Configuration.tex files, etc. for the version of OpenCore that you are building. They will be placed into the resources folder along with the corresponding binaries from the Dortania builds. This will allow octool to use Acidanthera tools while building the EFI, such as the ocvalitate and CreateVault tools. Thanks, again dhinakg.

Lastly, octool will run the input config.plist through ocvalitade and give you the option to quit or continue.
If you continue you then enter the

config.plist editor...

Navigation: arrow keys or some standard vi keys
          'up'/'k'            jump to top of section
              ^                       't'
              |                        ^
'left'/'h' <-- --> 'right'/'l'         |
              |                        v
              v                       'b'
          'down'/'j'          jump to bottom of section

Usage:
'ENTER' will switch to edit mode for string, integer, or data fields. When editing a data field 'TAB' will toggle between editing the data as hex or as a string.

'ENTER' will save any changes made
'ESC' will discard and changes
if the field being edited has values listed in the Configuration.tex file, octool will display a list of them

'SPACE' will toggles boolean value between true/false

'SPACE' will also toggle the Enabled status of kexts, drivers, tools, and amls when they are highlighted in the section list
and will toggle binary values for fields that have bit values listed in the Configuration.tex file

'a' add - if in a resource section there is option to select from a list of known resources, or add a blank resource template to the working plist from the Sample.plist

if in another section you can select a type and key name to add to the working plist

'ctrl-c' copy - copy the highlighted field or section

'd' delete - will delete the highlighted field or section after confirmation (dd command). The deleted data can be replaced by using the 'p' paste command

'f' find - find all occurances of a string in the plist

if there is only one occurance, it will jump to the location
if there is more than one occurance, it will present a list to select from
'n' can be used to go to the next item without needing to do another find command

'G' go (capital G) - make an OUTPUT/EFI/OC folder from the config.plist

if OpenCanopy.efi is enabled it will copy the OcBinaryData Resources to OUTPUT/EFI/OC/Resources
if Misc > Security > Vault is set to Basic or Secure, octool will compute the required files and sign the OpenCore.efi if needed
octool will ignore resources that it doesn't know unless they are placed in the INPUT folder, it will print out a warning, but it will not make a change to the config.plist for the unknown resource
any file placed in the INPUT folder will take priority and will be used for the OUTPUT/EFI, even if a more recent version of that resource is available elsewhere. This is good for using a specific version of a kext, for example, or for using a specific SSDT or USBMap
lastly, it will again validate the OUTPUT/EFI/OC/config.plist file with ocvalidate

'i' show info of highlighted item.

If item is resource such as a kext or driver, octool will show the source of the file it will place in the OUTPUT/EFI folder.
Otherwise, octool will show the description and info from the corresponding Acidanthera Configuration.tex file.

'I' - Capital I - Insert - enter the path to a plist file, or drop it on the window, and octool will add the fields from that plist

useful to add a plist that just contains Patches, for example the patches_OC.plist file created by CorpNewt's SSDTTime tool

'K' Key - capital K - edit the name of the highlighted key

'M' merge - capital M - will add missing fields to the config.plist from the Sample.plist without changing any existing fields.

this command, coupled with its companion Purge command (capital P) will update a config.plist when OpenCore plist format changes occur

'n' next - jump to the next found item if more than one occurance was found

'O' order - Capital O - if currently in the Kernel > Add section the 'O' command will check the order and dependencies of kexts.

If a kext is in the wrong order based on a dependency then octool will reorder them.
If a required dependency is missing then octool will add and enable the required dependency.
If there are any duplicate enabled kexts then octool will disable the duplicates.

'P' purge - Capital P - removes fields from the config.plist that are not in the Sample.plist

this command, coupled with it's companion merge command (capital M) will update a config.plist when OpenCore plst format changes occur

'p' paste - places the last deleted or modified etc. item into the plist (for those familiar with vi commands)

if pasting into a dictionary, octool will append -copy to the pasted item

'q' quit - if unsaved changes were made to the config.plist octool will show a warning so changes can be saved

'r' reset - if a single item is selected, reset its value to the same as the Sample.plist value

if a section is highlighted, reset the whole section to the same as the section in the Sample.plist

's' save a copy of the config.plist as INPUT/modified_config.plist

modified_ will be added to the begining of the saved file unless you are already working on a modified_ file
the saved file will be checked with ocvalidate for any errors

'V' Version - Capital V - change the version of OpenCore that will be checked against and used in the OUTPUT EFI

or, if 'V' is used while a resource is highlighted, you can change the version of that specific resource

'ctrl-x' cut - remove the highlighted field or section from the plist

'y' yank - copy the highlighted field or section (included for those vim users used to 'y' for copying)

'ctrl-v' paste - place the last cut, copied, etc. item into the plist

File and Folder Descriptions

tool_config_files folder - contains various json formatted files

octool_config.json - settings for octool itself, octool will create this if it doesn't exist
resource_list.json - list of resources by full name e.g. Lilu.kext and their parent resource, octool will create this if it doesn't exist
build-repo folder - contains the config.json file from the Dortania builds repo with url, version, hash, date created, etc. info for the parent resources. octool will download this from Dortania if it doesn't exist
other.json - contains a list of additional parent resources not included in the Dortania build--repo, octool will create this if it doesn't exist

INPUT folder - place your config.plist here along with other files to be included in the OUTPUT/EFI, such as custom SSDT files, custom Drivers, custom OpenCanopy themes, etc.

octool will not overwrite the input config.plist on save, instead it will save a version called modified_config.plist in this folder so the original config.plist can still be used if needed
octool will also automatically save a config.plist titled last_built_config.plist when the build command is run for easy reference to a copy of the config.plist that is in the OUTPUT/EFI folder

OUTPUT folder - location where octool will put the created EFI folder

resources folder - location where octool places the resources needed to create the OUTPUT/EFI folder. Can be deleted if desired, octool will gather any resources it needs when run

To Do:

change tool configuration from inside tool, the configuration file tool_config_files/octool_config.json contains vars to set up octool, for example the language versions of the audio files for OpenCanopy for e.g. en
keep the highlighted item on screen while reading long info from the Configuration.tex so the user can edit the field while also reading the info
fix some style formatting of the info screens so underline, bold, etc. looks better when it crosses multiple lines