[BUG] sof-ctl blob format is not the same as with ALSA UCM, should align the sof-ctl format

[singalsu]

Describe the bug

Sof-ctl supports ASCII text format uint32_t numbers data (txt) and binary (blob) format. The binary blobs supported by UCM's cset-tlv need to have an additional 8 bytes header to work. The header contains for ALSA control API an index SOF_CTRL_CMD_BINARY (value 3) and size of following blob data without this header.

As result we need two kinds of binary blobs.

To Reproduce Trying to cset-tlv an existing blob is not working. There is a fix in #9070 to produce new format binary blobs for UCM. But those blobs do not work with sof-ctl.

Reproduction Rate Always

Expected behavior Tools support for blobs without confusion to developers. Likely it would be best to change in sof-ctl both text and binary format data files to use the version with header from UCM.

The topology embedded format is same as sof-ctl's current format, no 8 bytes header. The topology blob format (.m4 or .conf ASCII hex bytes) should stay the same to avoid a compatibility break.

Impact Annoyance.

Environment 1) Branch name and commit hash of the 2 repositories: sof (firmware/topology) and linux (kernel driver).

• Kernel: {SHA}
• SOF: {SHA} 2) Name of the topology file
• Topology: {FILE} 3) Name of the platform(s) on which the bug is observed.
• Platform: {PLATFORM}

Screenshots or console output If applicable, add a screenshot (drag-and-drop an image), or console logs (cut-and-paste text and put a code fence (```) before and after, to help explain the issue.

Please also include the relevant sections from the firmware log and kernel log in the report (and attach the full logs for complete reference). Kernel log is taken from dmesg and firmware log from sof-logger. See https://thesofproject.github.io/latest/developer_guides/debugability/logger/index.html

[lgirdwood]

@singalsu is the intention to align sof-ctl with how cset-tlv works or the other way around ?

[singalsu]

@singalsu is the intention to align sof-ctl with how cset-tlv works or the other way around ?

There's already a lot of products mass with UCM's cset-tlv so we should follow it with sof-ctl (used only by developers).

[kv2019i]

@singalsu Is this still planned for v2.11 (rc1 tag next Friday)?

[singalsu]

@singalsu Is this still planned for v2.11 (rc1 tag next Friday)?

I'll change it to v2.12, not enough time to test the change impact to various scripts (GUI, sof-test etc.). It's not critical since it's a developer feature.