Re: [PATCH] aic94xx: convert to request_firmware interface

[Douglas Gilbert <dougg@torque.net>]

James Bottomley wrote:
> On Mon, 2006-08-28 at 16:43 -0400, Douglas Gilbert wrote:
>> What I'm angling at is a firmware file name like:
>>    aic94xx-seq_10c6.req
> 
> I don't think that's a good idea ... the current razor firmware is
> backwards compatible, so if I hard code a version into the file there'd
> be no upgrade ability.
> 
>> and the driver attempts to read:
>>    aic94xx-seq*.req
> 
> It can't do that from the kernel ... this is all conditioned on how the
> user level firmware loader actually works
> 
>> If there a multiple matches then it takes the one
>> with the most recent date (reporting this in syslog).
> 
> The way you do this is to have a generic name (aic94xx-seq.fw) and then
> symbolically link it to the versioned file.
> 
> The firmware itself is versioned, so if the driver comes to require a
> particular version (or later), it can be programmed to complain.

Which may explain why firmware for a WIFI card that
I have has a versioned filename with a README in the
distribution tarball. The README says to add a symlink.
The README also tells me which directory to put the
firmware file and symlink in.

Doug Gilbert