[PATCH stable] b43: Reject new firmware early

[PATCH stable] b43: Reject new firmware early

[Michael Buesch]

We must reject new incompatible firmware early to avoid
running into strange transmission failures.

The current development tree supports newer firmware revisions.
These revisions cause strange failures on the stable 2.6.24 kernel.
Add a check to avoid confusing users a lot.

Signed-off-by: Michael Buesch <mb@bu3sch.de>


Index: linux-2.6.24/drivers/net/wireless/b43/main.c
===================================================================
--- linux-2.6.24.orig/drivers/net/wireless/b43/main.c	2008-01-25 11:50:05.000000000 +0100
+++ linux-2.6.24/drivers/net/wireless/b43/main.c	2008-01-26 13:25:07.000000000 +0100
@@ -1800,6 +1800,18 @@ static int b43_upload_microcode(struct b
 		err = -EOPNOTSUPP;
 		goto out;
 	}
+	if (fwrev > 351) {
+		b43err(dev->wl, "YOUR FIRMWARE IS TOO NEW. Please downgrade your "
+		       "firmware.\n");
+		b43err(dev->wl, "Use this firmware tarball: "
+		       "http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2\n");
+		b43err(dev->wl, "Use this b43-fwcutter tarball: "
+		       "http://bu3sch.de/b43/fwcutter/b43-fwcutter-009.tar.bz2\n");
+		b43err(dev->wl, "Read, understand and _do_ what this message says, please.\n");
+		b43_write32(dev, B43_MMIO_MACCTL, 0);
+		err = -EOPNOTSUPP;
+		goto out;
+	}
 	b43dbg(dev->wl, "Loading firmware version %u.%u "
 	       "(20%.2i-%.2i-%.2i %.2i:%.2i:%.2i)\n",
 	       fwrev, fwpatch,

Re: [stable] [PATCH stable] b43: Reject new firmware early

[Greg KH]

On Sat, Jan 26, 2008 at 01:54:52PM +0100, Michael Buesch wrote:
> We must reject new incompatible firmware early to avoid
> running into strange transmission failures.
> 
> The current development tree supports newer firmware revisions.
> These revisions cause strange failures on the stable 2.6.24 kernel.
> Add a check to avoid confusing users a lot.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Michael Buesch <mb@bu3sch.de>

I don't see this in Linus's tree yet, can you please resend it to
stable@kernel.org when it gets there?

thanks,

greg k-h

Re: [stable] [PATCH stable] b43: Reject new firmware early

[Greg KH]

On Sat, Jan 26, 2008 at 01:54:52PM +0100, Michael Buesch wrote:
> We must reject new incompatible firmware early to avoid
> running into strange transmission failures.
> 
> The current development tree supports newer firmware revisions.
> These revisions cause strange failures on the stable 2.6.24 kernel.
> Add a check to avoid confusing users a lot.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Michael Buesch <mb@bu3sch.de>

Oh wait, I see why it's not in Linus's tree, it doesn't pertain :)

I'll queue this up, sorry for the noise.

greg k-h

Re: [stable] [PATCH stable] b43: Reject new firmware early

[Michael Buesch]

On Thursday 07 February 2008 08:26:24 Greg KH wrote:
> On Sat, Jan 26, 2008 at 01:54:52PM +0100, Michael Buesch wrote:
> > We must reject new incompatible firmware early to avoid
> > running into strange transmission failures.
> > 
> > The current development tree supports newer firmware revisions.
> > These revisions cause strange failures on the stable 2.6.24 kernel.
> > Add a check to avoid confusing users a lot.
> > 
> > Signed-off-by: Michael Buesch <mb@bu3sch.de>
> 
> Oh wait, I see why it's not in Linus's tree, it doesn't pertain :)
> 
> I'll queue this up, sorry for the noise.

Yeah, Linus' tree does have support for this firmware revision we are
rejecting with this patch. :) This patch was lost in the 2.6.24
release cycle, so I'd like to push it through -stable to confuse users
less with strange warnings caused by using wrong firmware.
This patch doesn't remove any functionality or something, it simply
transforms a blowing up firmware into a nice error message. :)

-- 
Greetings Michael.