From: Kalle Valo <kvalo@kernel.org>
To: Ping-Ke Shih <pkshih@realtek.com>
Cc: "linux-wireless\@vger.kernel.org"
<linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org>,
"rb0171610\@gmail.com" <rb0171610@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: New binary rtw8852b_fw.bin not loading firmware not recognized
Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2023 10:57:14 +0200 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <87edpnn4b9.fsf@kernel.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <e99f1dc26c83b24cb2bb7d6f8f92669b375d7512.camel@realtek.com> (Ping-Ke Shih's message of "Fri, 17 Mar 2023 07:29:13 +0000")
Ping-Ke Shih <pkshih@realtek.com> writes:
>> > > I did file a bug report with the details:
>> > >
>> > > https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=217207
>> > >
>> >
>> > The firmware format is changed, and wireless-next tree or upcoming 6.3 will
>> > support it. I will also post this information on the bug.
>>
>> We cannot break user space like that, linux-firmware needs to be
>> backwards compatible. In other words, anything you submit to
>> linux-firmware needs to work with old kernels. Should this new firmware
>> be reverted from linux-firmware?
>
> I think I should support two or more firmware with different name, like
> rwt89/rtw8852b_fw-2.bin, if format is changed. So, there will be two
> firmware existing in linux-firmware.
>
> Then, for old driver, it only supports rwt89/rtw8852b_fw.bin. For new driver,
> it will load rwt89/rtw8852b_fw-2.bin first, but if '-2' version doesn't present,
> it will try to load original version.
>
> I think it would work, but I want to confirm if this is acceptable rules
> for Linux.
Yes, this is the recommended way to handle backwards compatibility.
ath10k (and soon ath11k) will do something similar, we have
firmware-2.bin, firmware-3.bin and so on to avoid breaking older kernels
whenever there are incompatible changes in firmware.
Recently some guidelines were also written about this:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/driver-api/firmware/firmware-usage-guidelines.html
>> What about changes in the rtw89 driver? Do they still work with old
>> firmware?
>
> New driver can work with old or new firmware. The only case that doesn't
> work is old driver + new firmware.
Very good, thanks for confirming.
--
https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/linux-wireless/list/
https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/developers/documentation/submittingpatches
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2023-03-17 8:59 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 7+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2023-03-16 22:47 New binary rtw8852b_fw.bin not loading firmware not recognized rb
2023-03-17 0:35 ` Ping-Ke Shih
2023-03-17 5:12 ` Kalle Valo
2023-03-17 5:55 ` Larry Finger
2023-03-17 7:29 ` Ping-Ke Shih
2023-03-17 8:57 ` Kalle Valo [this message]
2023-03-17 5:53 ` Larry Finger
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