From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1757776AbYFPVkR (ORCPT ); Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:40:17 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1754378AbYFPVkD (ORCPT ); Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:40:03 -0400 Received: from srv5.dvmed.net ([207.36.208.214]:54791 "EHLO mail.dvmed.net" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1753250AbYFPVkB (ORCPT ); Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:40:01 -0400 Message-ID: <4856DDAA.1080707@garzik.org> Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:39:54 -0400 From: Jeff Garzik User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.14 (X11/20080501) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Alan Cox CC: David Woodhouse , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, jaswinder@infradead.org Subject: Re: [PATCH] ip2: use request_firmware() References: <1213609751.26255.673.camel@pmac.infradead.org> <20080616115950.41bc65aa@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk> <4856C6C8.6060506@garzik.org> <4856C795.2050007@garzik.org> <20080616205820.1fe298d7@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk> <4856CB61.6030202@garzik.org> <20080616212111.406f9c96@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk> In-Reply-To: <20080616212111.406f9c96@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Spam-Score: -4.4 (----) X-Spam-Report: SpamAssassin version 3.2.4 on srv5.dvmed.net summary: Content analysis details: (-4.4 points, 5.0 required) Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Alan Cox wrote: >> Extracting the firmware: good >> >> Scattering a /single/ driver across multiple directories in the kernel >> tree: bad > > I'd equally argue that putting all the firmware in one place is more > logical than smearing it around the tree. Logical for whom? Drivers have always been self-contained... until now. This separation certainly does not make things _easier_ for users, our reason for existence. This separation certainly does not make it easier to drop in a driver with a firmware, i.e. not easier on driver developers. It is one more PITA detail when copying a driver from one kernel to another, or shipping the driver out of tree. There are good reasons why the Makefile rules, Kconfig rules, C source code and headers for a driver all live together... moving the firmware elsewhere is strangely, given that a driver simply /does not work/ without the firmware. I like the goal, but see little effort in the area of "make this transition painless for users." Jeff