ath10k / WCN3990: firmware-5.bin and wlanmdsp.mbn being out of sync

ath10k / WCN3990: firmware-5.bin and wlanmdsp.mbn being out of sync

[Dmitry Baryshkov]

Hello,

I wanted to ask your opinion regarding one of the issues we stumbled
upon on the Qualcomm RB1 and RB2 platforms. These platforms use ath10k
snoc (WCN3990) WiFi "card". We noticed the following messages being
spawned on the console, which I traced it to the
ATH10K_FW_FEATURE_SINGLE_CHAN_INFO_PER_CHANNEL feature:

ath10k_snoc c800000.wifi: chan info: invalid frequency 0 (idx 41 out of bounds)

As a reminder, on this platform the wlan firmware and firmware-N.bin
files come separately.
The wlanmdsp.mbn is downloaded by the onboard modem DSP via the
tqftpserv request (which is served from the board-specific folder
qcom/qcm2210). The firmware-N.bin file is loaded by the WiFi driver
itself from the generic folder, ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0. Current
firmware-5.bin file was provided with the sdm845's wlanmdsp.mbn, which
is older than qcm2210/qrb4210's wlanmdsp.mbn.

I'm looking for suggestions on how to make ath10k driver load
firmware-N.bin file which corresponds to the board-specific
wlanmdsp.mbn.

In particular I'd like to hear your opinion on the following proposal:

Add the  optional property to the board DT, that specifies:
firmware-name = "path/to/wlanmdsp.mbn".  The property, if present,
will be used as an override for the firmware directory. So, while the
ath10k driver will not load wlanmdsp.mbn on its own, it will still
look for the firmware-N files in the specified directory.

-- 
With best wishes
Dmitry

Re: ath10k / WCN3990: firmware-5.bin and wlanmdsp.mbn being out of sync

[Kalle Valo]

Hi Dmitry,

Dmitry Baryshkov <dmitry.baryshkov@linaro.org> writes:

> I wanted to ask your opinion regarding one of the issues we stumbled
> upon on the Qualcomm RB1 and RB2 platforms. These platforms use ath10k
> snoc (WCN3990) WiFi "card". We noticed the following messages being
> spawned on the console, which I traced it to the
> ATH10K_FW_FEATURE_SINGLE_CHAN_INFO_PER_CHANNEL feature:
>
> ath10k_snoc c800000.wifi: chan info: invalid frequency 0 (idx 41 out of bounds)
>
> As a reminder, on this platform the wlan firmware and firmware-N.bin
> files come separately.
> The wlanmdsp.mbn is downloaded by the onboard modem DSP via the
> tqftpserv request (which is served from the board-specific folder
> qcom/qcm2210). The firmware-N.bin file is loaded by the WiFi driver
> itself from the generic folder, ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0. Current
> firmware-5.bin file was provided with the sdm845's wlanmdsp.mbn, which
> is older than qcm2210/qrb4210's wlanmdsp.mbn.
>
> I'm looking for suggestions on how to make ath10k driver load
> firmware-N.bin file which corresponds to the board-specific
> wlanmdsp.mbn.

We have had similar discussions in the past but it didn't go very far.
It would be so nice if you could finally fix this :) At one point we
even had a discussion that we might need something similar for ath11k
but it didn't go anywhere.

> In particular I'd like to hear your opinion on the following proposal:
>
> Add the  optional property to the board DT, that specifies:
> firmware-name = "path/to/wlanmdsp.mbn".  The property, if present,
> will be used as an override for the firmware directory. So, while the
> ath10k driver will not load wlanmdsp.mbn on its own, it will still
> look for the firmware-N files in the specified directory.

Back in the day I was thinking something like below, please let me know
what you think.

So the normal firmware path for WCN3990 is:

ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/

My idea was that if we could extend it for different "platforms" (not
sure what's the proper term for this) by having platform specific
directories:

ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-platform/

(Replace "platform" with a unique name for the platform, for example
"acme-kv7" for a product from Acme with model name kv7.)

Then DT could inform ath10k about this "platform" string and ath10k
would then download boath firmware-N.bin and board-2.bin from the
platform specific directory.

And even cleaner if we could have the *.mbn firmware files in the same
directory, even if ath10k doesn't access them directly.

-- 
https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/linux-wireless/list/

https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/developers/documentation/submittingpatches

Re: ath10k / WCN3990: firmware-5.bin and wlanmdsp.mbn being out of sync

[Dmitry Baryshkov]

On Mon, 4 Dec 2023 at 14:56, Kalle Valo <kvalo@kernel.org> wrote:
>
> Hi Dmitry,
>
> Dmitry Baryshkov <dmitry.baryshkov@linaro.org> writes:
>
> > I wanted to ask your opinion regarding one of the issues we stumbled
> > upon on the Qualcomm RB1 and RB2 platforms. These platforms use ath10k
> > snoc (WCN3990) WiFi "card". We noticed the following messages being
> > spawned on the console, which I traced it to the
> > ATH10K_FW_FEATURE_SINGLE_CHAN_INFO_PER_CHANNEL feature:
> >
> > ath10k_snoc c800000.wifi: chan info: invalid frequency 0 (idx 41 out of bounds)
> >
> > As a reminder, on this platform the wlan firmware and firmware-N.bin
> > files come separately.
> > The wlanmdsp.mbn is downloaded by the onboard modem DSP via the
> > tqftpserv request (which is served from the board-specific folder
> > qcom/qcm2210). The firmware-N.bin file is loaded by the WiFi driver
> > itself from the generic folder, ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0. Current
> > firmware-5.bin file was provided with the sdm845's wlanmdsp.mbn, which
> > is older than qcm2210/qrb4210's wlanmdsp.mbn.
> >
> > I'm looking for suggestions on how to make ath10k driver load
> > firmware-N.bin file which corresponds to the board-specific
> > wlanmdsp.mbn.
>
> We have had similar discussions in the past but it didn't go very far.
> It would be so nice if you could finally fix this :) At one point we
> even had a discussion that we might need something similar for ath11k
> but it didn't go anywhere.
>
> > In particular I'd like to hear your opinion on the following proposal:
> >
> > Add the  optional property to the board DT, that specifies:
> > firmware-name = "path/to/wlanmdsp.mbn".  The property, if present,
> > will be used as an override for the firmware directory. So, while the
> > ath10k driver will not load wlanmdsp.mbn on its own, it will still
> > look for the firmware-N files in the specified directory.
>
> Back in the day I was thinking something like below, please let me know
> what you think.
>
> So the normal firmware path for WCN3990 is:
>
> ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/
>
> My idea was that if we could extend it for different "platforms" (not
> sure what's the proper term for this) by having platform specific
> directories:
>
> ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-platform/
>
> (Replace "platform" with a unique name for the platform, for example
> "acme-kv7" for a product from Acme with model name kv7.)
>
> Then DT could inform ath10k about this "platform" string and ath10k
> would then download boath firmware-N.bin and board-2.bin from the
> platform specific directory.
>
> And even cleaner if we could have the *.mbn firmware files in the same
> directory, even if ath10k doesn't access them directly.

We can, and a symlink from qcom/SoC/.../dir to that subdir.

So, for example, for Pixel-3, using your schema we will have:

ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn
ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-blueline/firmware-5.bin
ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-blueline/board-2.bin

qcom/sdm845/Google/blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn ->
../../../../ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn

This sounds mostly fine to me. My only suggestions is to change it as following:

ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/board-2.bin

ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn
ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/blueline/firmware-5.bin
ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/blueline/board-2.bin

qcom/sdm845/Google/blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn ->
../../../../ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn

-- 
With best wishes
Dmitry

Re: ath10k / WCN3990: firmware-5.bin and wlanmdsp.mbn being out of sync

[Kalle Valo]

Dmitry Baryshkov <dmitry.baryshkov@linaro.org> writes:

> On Mon, 4 Dec 2023 at 14:56, Kalle Valo <kvalo@kernel.org> wrote:
>
>>
>> Hi Dmitry,
>>
>> Dmitry Baryshkov <dmitry.baryshkov@linaro.org> writes:
>>
>> > I wanted to ask your opinion regarding one of the issues we stumbled
>> > upon on the Qualcomm RB1 and RB2 platforms. These platforms use ath10k
>> > snoc (WCN3990) WiFi "card". We noticed the following messages being
>> > spawned on the console, which I traced it to the
>> > ATH10K_FW_FEATURE_SINGLE_CHAN_INFO_PER_CHANNEL feature:
>> >
>> > ath10k_snoc c800000.wifi: chan info: invalid frequency 0 (idx 41 out of bounds)
>> >
>> > As a reminder, on this platform the wlan firmware and firmware-N.bin
>> > files come separately.
>> > The wlanmdsp.mbn is downloaded by the onboard modem DSP via the
>> > tqftpserv request (which is served from the board-specific folder
>> > qcom/qcm2210). The firmware-N.bin file is loaded by the WiFi driver
>> > itself from the generic folder, ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0. Current
>> > firmware-5.bin file was provided with the sdm845's wlanmdsp.mbn, which
>> > is older than qcm2210/qrb4210's wlanmdsp.mbn.
>> >
>> > I'm looking for suggestions on how to make ath10k driver load
>> > firmware-N.bin file which corresponds to the board-specific
>> > wlanmdsp.mbn.
>>
>> We have had similar discussions in the past but it didn't go very far.
>> It would be so nice if you could finally fix this :) At one point we
>> even had a discussion that we might need something similar for ath11k
>> but it didn't go anywhere.
>>
>> > In particular I'd like to hear your opinion on the following proposal:
>> >
>> > Add the  optional property to the board DT, that specifies:
>> > firmware-name = "path/to/wlanmdsp.mbn".  The property, if present,
>> > will be used as an override for the firmware directory. So, while the
>> > ath10k driver will not load wlanmdsp.mbn on its own, it will still
>> > look for the firmware-N files in the specified directory.
>>
>> Back in the day I was thinking something like below, please let me know
>> what you think.
>>
>> So the normal firmware path for WCN3990 is:
>>
>> ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/
>>
>> My idea was that if we could extend it for different "platforms" (not
>> sure what's the proper term for this) by having platform specific
>> directories:
>>
>> ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-platform/
>>
>> (Replace "platform" with a unique name for the platform, for example
>> "acme-kv7" for a product from Acme with model name kv7.)
>>
>> Then DT could inform ath10k about this "platform" string and ath10k
>> would then download boath firmware-N.bin and board-2.bin from the
>> platform specific directory.
>>
>> And even cleaner if we could have the *.mbn firmware files in the same
>> directory, even if ath10k doesn't access them directly.
>
> We can, and a symlink from qcom/SoC/.../dir to that subdir.
>
> So, for example, for Pixel-3, using your schema we will have:
>
> ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn
> ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-blueline/firmware-5.bin
> ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-blueline/board-2.bin
>
> qcom/sdm845/Google/blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn ->
> ../../../../ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn
>
> This sounds mostly fine to me. My only suggestions is to change it as following:
>
> ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/board-2.bin
>
> ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn
> ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/blueline/firmware-5.bin
> ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/blueline/board-2.bin
>
> qcom/sdm845/Google/blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn ->
> ../../../../ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn

Is there a specific reason why you propose adding a new subdirectory?
Personally I find it confusing that hw1.0 directory contains the
firmware files and then there's a subdirectory which also contains
similar firmware files.

-- 
https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/linux-wireless/list/

https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/developers/documentation/submittingpatches

Re: ath10k / WCN3990: firmware-5.bin and wlanmdsp.mbn being out of sync

[Dmitry Baryshkov]

On Mon, 4 Dec 2023 at 18:14, Kalle Valo <kvalo@kernel.org> wrote:
>
> Dmitry Baryshkov <dmitry.baryshkov@linaro.org> writes:
>
> > On Mon, 4 Dec 2023 at 14:56, Kalle Valo <kvalo@kernel.org> wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> Hi Dmitry,
> >>
> >> Dmitry Baryshkov <dmitry.baryshkov@linaro.org> writes:
> >>
> >> > I wanted to ask your opinion regarding one of the issues we stumbled
> >> > upon on the Qualcomm RB1 and RB2 platforms. These platforms use ath10k
> >> > snoc (WCN3990) WiFi "card". We noticed the following messages being
> >> > spawned on the console, which I traced it to the
> >> > ATH10K_FW_FEATURE_SINGLE_CHAN_INFO_PER_CHANNEL feature:
> >> >
> >> > ath10k_snoc c800000.wifi: chan info: invalid frequency 0 (idx 41 out of bounds)
> >> >
> >> > As a reminder, on this platform the wlan firmware and firmware-N.bin
> >> > files come separately.
> >> > The wlanmdsp.mbn is downloaded by the onboard modem DSP via the
> >> > tqftpserv request (which is served from the board-specific folder
> >> > qcom/qcm2210). The firmware-N.bin file is loaded by the WiFi driver
> >> > itself from the generic folder, ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0. Current
> >> > firmware-5.bin file was provided with the sdm845's wlanmdsp.mbn, which
> >> > is older than qcm2210/qrb4210's wlanmdsp.mbn.
> >> >
> >> > I'm looking for suggestions on how to make ath10k driver load
> >> > firmware-N.bin file which corresponds to the board-specific
> >> > wlanmdsp.mbn.
> >>
> >> We have had similar discussions in the past but it didn't go very far.
> >> It would be so nice if you could finally fix this :) At one point we
> >> even had a discussion that we might need something similar for ath11k
> >> but it didn't go anywhere.
> >>
> >> > In particular I'd like to hear your opinion on the following proposal:
> >> >
> >> > Add the  optional property to the board DT, that specifies:
> >> > firmware-name = "path/to/wlanmdsp.mbn".  The property, if present,
> >> > will be used as an override for the firmware directory. So, while the
> >> > ath10k driver will not load wlanmdsp.mbn on its own, it will still
> >> > look for the firmware-N files in the specified directory.
> >>
> >> Back in the day I was thinking something like below, please let me know
> >> what you think.
> >>
> >> So the normal firmware path for WCN3990 is:
> >>
> >> ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/
> >>
> >> My idea was that if we could extend it for different "platforms" (not
> >> sure what's the proper term for this) by having platform specific
> >> directories:
> >>
> >> ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-platform/
> >>
> >> (Replace "platform" with a unique name for the platform, for example
> >> "acme-kv7" for a product from Acme with model name kv7.)
> >>
> >> Then DT could inform ath10k about this "platform" string and ath10k
> >> would then download boath firmware-N.bin and board-2.bin from the
> >> platform specific directory.
> >>
> >> And even cleaner if we could have the *.mbn firmware files in the same
> >> directory, even if ath10k doesn't access them directly.
> >
> > We can, and a symlink from qcom/SoC/.../dir to that subdir.
> >
> > So, for example, for Pixel-3, using your schema we will have:
> >
> > ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn
> > ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-blueline/firmware-5.bin
> > ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-blueline/board-2.bin
> >
> > qcom/sdm845/Google/blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn ->
> > ../../../../ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn
> >
> > This sounds mostly fine to me. My only suggestions is to change it as following:
> >
> > ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/board-2.bin
> >
> > ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn
> > ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/blueline/firmware-5.bin
> > ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/blueline/board-2.bin
> >
> > qcom/sdm845/Google/blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn ->
> > ../../../../ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn
>
> Is there a specific reason why you propose adding a new subdirectory?
> Personally I find it confusing that hw1.0 directory contains the
> firmware files and then there's a subdirectory which also contains
> similar firmware files.

My main idea was to allow fallback at least for board-2.bin. I don't
think we should have 10 instances of the file (or load it from the
platform-specific location).

-- 
With best wishes
Dmitry

Re: ath10k / WCN3990: firmware-5.bin and wlanmdsp.mbn being out of sync

[Kalle Valo]

Dmitry Baryshkov <dmitry.baryshkov@linaro.org> writes:

> On Mon, 4 Dec 2023 at 18:14, Kalle Valo <kvalo@kernel.org> wrote:
>
>>
>> Dmitry Baryshkov <dmitry.baryshkov@linaro.org> writes:
>>
>> > On Mon, 4 Dec 2023 at 14:56, Kalle Valo <kvalo@kernel.org> wrote:
>> >
>> >>
>> >> Hi Dmitry,
>> >>
>> >> Dmitry Baryshkov <dmitry.baryshkov@linaro.org> writes:
>> >>
>> >> > I wanted to ask your opinion regarding one of the issues we stumbled
>> >> > upon on the Qualcomm RB1 and RB2 platforms. These platforms use ath10k
>> >> > snoc (WCN3990) WiFi "card". We noticed the following messages being
>> >> > spawned on the console, which I traced it to the
>> >> > ATH10K_FW_FEATURE_SINGLE_CHAN_INFO_PER_CHANNEL feature:
>> >> >
>> >> > ath10k_snoc c800000.wifi: chan info: invalid frequency 0 (idx 41 out of bounds)
>> >> >
>> >> > As a reminder, on this platform the wlan firmware and firmware-N.bin
>> >> > files come separately.
>> >> > The wlanmdsp.mbn is downloaded by the onboard modem DSP via the
>> >> > tqftpserv request (which is served from the board-specific folder
>> >> > qcom/qcm2210). The firmware-N.bin file is loaded by the WiFi driver
>> >> > itself from the generic folder, ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0. Current
>> >> > firmware-5.bin file was provided with the sdm845's wlanmdsp.mbn, which
>> >> > is older than qcm2210/qrb4210's wlanmdsp.mbn.
>> >> >
>> >> > I'm looking for suggestions on how to make ath10k driver load
>> >> > firmware-N.bin file which corresponds to the board-specific
>> >> > wlanmdsp.mbn.
>> >>
>> >> We have had similar discussions in the past but it didn't go very far.
>> >> It would be so nice if you could finally fix this :) At one point we
>> >> even had a discussion that we might need something similar for ath11k
>> >> but it didn't go anywhere.
>> >>
>> >> > In particular I'd like to hear your opinion on the following proposal:
>> >> >
>> >> > Add the  optional property to the board DT, that specifies:
>> >> > firmware-name = "path/to/wlanmdsp.mbn".  The property, if present,
>> >> > will be used as an override for the firmware directory. So, while the
>> >> > ath10k driver will not load wlanmdsp.mbn on its own, it will still
>> >> > look for the firmware-N files in the specified directory.
>> >>
>> >> Back in the day I was thinking something like below, please let me know
>> >> what you think.
>> >>
>> >> So the normal firmware path for WCN3990 is:
>> >>
>> >> ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/
>> >>
>> >> My idea was that if we could extend it for different "platforms" (not
>> >> sure what's the proper term for this) by having platform specific
>> >> directories:
>> >>
>> >> ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-platform/
>> >>
>> >> (Replace "platform" with a unique name for the platform, for example
>> >> "acme-kv7" for a product from Acme with model name kv7.)
>> >>
>> >> Then DT could inform ath10k about this "platform" string and ath10k
>> >> would then download boath firmware-N.bin and board-2.bin from the
>> >> platform specific directory.
>> >>
>> >> And even cleaner if we could have the *.mbn firmware files in the same
>> >> directory, even if ath10k doesn't access them directly.
>> >
>> > We can, and a symlink from qcom/SoC/.../dir to that subdir.
>> >
>> > So, for example, for Pixel-3, using your schema we will have:
>> >
>> > ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn
>> > ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-blueline/firmware-5.bin
>> > ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-blueline/board-2.bin
>> >
>> > qcom/sdm845/Google/blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn ->
>> > ../../../../ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn
>> >
>> > This sounds mostly fine to me. My only suggestions is to change it as following:
>> >
>> > ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/board-2.bin
>> >
>> > ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn
>> > ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/blueline/firmware-5.bin
>> > ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/blueline/board-2.bin
>> >
>> > qcom/sdm845/Google/blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn ->
>> > ../../../../ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn
>>
>> Is there a specific reason why you propose adding a new subdirectory?
>> Personally I find it confusing that hw1.0 directory contains the
>> firmware files and then there's a subdirectory which also contains
>> similar firmware files.
>
> My main idea was to allow fallback at least for board-2.bin. I don't
> think we should have 10 instances of the file (or load it from the
> platform-specific location).

A very good point, I didn't think of board files. I agree, we should
avoid having several board-2.bin files. But I don't see how a
subdirectory would solve that? What if we have symlinks for board-2.bin
file:

ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-blueline/board-2.bin -> ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/board-2.bin

That way we can have just one board-2.bin file to maintain. And I
suspect this would be easier to implement in ath10k driver.

In my previous mail I forgot to mention about backwards compatibility
which is important. So we need to be careful that older kernels continue
to work.

-- 
https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/linux-wireless/list/

https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/developers/documentation/submittingpatches

Re: ath10k / WCN3990: firmware-5.bin and wlanmdsp.mbn being out of sync

[Dmitry Baryshkov]

On Tue, 5 Dec 2023 at 14:37, Kalle Valo <kvalo@kernel.org> wrote:
>
> Dmitry Baryshkov <dmitry.baryshkov@linaro.org> writes:
>
> > On Mon, 4 Dec 2023 at 18:14, Kalle Valo <kvalo@kernel.org> wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> Dmitry Baryshkov <dmitry.baryshkov@linaro.org> writes:
> >>
> >> > On Mon, 4 Dec 2023 at 14:56, Kalle Valo <kvalo@kernel.org> wrote:
> >> >
> >> >>
> >> >> Hi Dmitry,
> >> >>
> >> >> Dmitry Baryshkov <dmitry.baryshkov@linaro.org> writes:
> >> >>
> >> >> > I wanted to ask your opinion regarding one of the issues we stumbled
> >> >> > upon on the Qualcomm RB1 and RB2 platforms. These platforms use ath10k
> >> >> > snoc (WCN3990) WiFi "card". We noticed the following messages being
> >> >> > spawned on the console, which I traced it to the
> >> >> > ATH10K_FW_FEATURE_SINGLE_CHAN_INFO_PER_CHANNEL feature:
> >> >> >
> >> >> > ath10k_snoc c800000.wifi: chan info: invalid frequency 0 (idx 41 out of bounds)
> >> >> >
> >> >> > As a reminder, on this platform the wlan firmware and firmware-N.bin
> >> >> > files come separately.
> >> >> > The wlanmdsp.mbn is downloaded by the onboard modem DSP via the
> >> >> > tqftpserv request (which is served from the board-specific folder
> >> >> > qcom/qcm2210). The firmware-N.bin file is loaded by the WiFi driver
> >> >> > itself from the generic folder, ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0. Current
> >> >> > firmware-5.bin file was provided with the sdm845's wlanmdsp.mbn, which
> >> >> > is older than qcm2210/qrb4210's wlanmdsp.mbn.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > I'm looking for suggestions on how to make ath10k driver load
> >> >> > firmware-N.bin file which corresponds to the board-specific
> >> >> > wlanmdsp.mbn.
> >> >>
> >> >> We have had similar discussions in the past but it didn't go very far.
> >> >> It would be so nice if you could finally fix this :) At one point we
> >> >> even had a discussion that we might need something similar for ath11k
> >> >> but it didn't go anywhere.
> >> >>
> >> >> > In particular I'd like to hear your opinion on the following proposal:
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Add the  optional property to the board DT, that specifies:
> >> >> > firmware-name = "path/to/wlanmdsp.mbn".  The property, if present,
> >> >> > will be used as an override for the firmware directory. So, while the
> >> >> > ath10k driver will not load wlanmdsp.mbn on its own, it will still
> >> >> > look for the firmware-N files in the specified directory.
> >> >>
> >> >> Back in the day I was thinking something like below, please let me know
> >> >> what you think.
> >> >>
> >> >> So the normal firmware path for WCN3990 is:
> >> >>
> >> >> ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/
> >> >>
> >> >> My idea was that if we could extend it for different "platforms" (not
> >> >> sure what's the proper term for this) by having platform specific
> >> >> directories:
> >> >>
> >> >> ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-platform/
> >> >>
> >> >> (Replace "platform" with a unique name for the platform, for example
> >> >> "acme-kv7" for a product from Acme with model name kv7.)
> >> >>
> >> >> Then DT could inform ath10k about this "platform" string and ath10k
> >> >> would then download boath firmware-N.bin and board-2.bin from the
> >> >> platform specific directory.
> >> >>
> >> >> And even cleaner if we could have the *.mbn firmware files in the same
> >> >> directory, even if ath10k doesn't access them directly.
> >> >
> >> > We can, and a symlink from qcom/SoC/.../dir to that subdir.
> >> >
> >> > So, for example, for Pixel-3, using your schema we will have:
> >> >
> >> > ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn
> >> > ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-blueline/firmware-5.bin
> >> > ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-blueline/board-2.bin
> >> >
> >> > qcom/sdm845/Google/blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn ->
> >> > ../../../../ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn
> >> >
> >> > This sounds mostly fine to me. My only suggestions is to change it as following:
> >> >
> >> > ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/board-2.bin
> >> >
> >> > ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn
> >> > ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/blueline/firmware-5.bin
> >> > ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/blueline/board-2.bin
> >> >
> >> > qcom/sdm845/Google/blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn ->
> >> > ../../../../ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/blueline/wlanmdsp.mbn
> >>
> >> Is there a specific reason why you propose adding a new subdirectory?
> >> Personally I find it confusing that hw1.0 directory contains the
> >> firmware files and then there's a subdirectory which also contains
> >> similar firmware files.
> >
> > My main idea was to allow fallback at least for board-2.bin. I don't
> > think we should have 10 instances of the file (or load it from the
> > platform-specific location).
>
> A very good point, I didn't think of board files. I agree, we should
> avoid having several board-2.bin files. But I don't see how a
> subdirectory would solve that? What if we have symlinks for board-2.bin
> file:
>
> ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0-blueline/board-2.bin -> ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/board-2.bin
>
> That way we can have just one board-2.bin file to maintain. And I
> suspect this would be easier to implement in ath10k driver.

I think it's the same amount of effort. Let me take a look at implementing it.

>
> In my previous mail I forgot to mention about backwards compatibility
> which is important. So we need to be careful that older kernels continue
> to work.

Yes, I had that in mind too.

For the current kernels to work, we need following three files:

ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/firmware-5.bin
ath10k/WCN3990/hw1.0/board-2.bin
qcom/sdm845/wlanmdsp.mbn

-- 
With best wishes
Dmitry