RE: [PATCH] rtlwifi: update firmware for rtl8192eu to v35.7

[Ping-Ke Shih <pkshih@realtek.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: James Hilliard <james.hilliard1@gmail.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2022 9:30 PM
> To: Josh Boyer <jwboyer@kernel.org>
> Cc: Ping-Ke Shih <pkshih@realtek.com>; linux-firmware@kernel.org; linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org; Jes
> Sorensen <jes.sorensen@gmail.com>; Bitterblue Smith <rtl8821cerfe2@gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [PATCH] rtlwifi: update firmware for rtl8192eu to v35.7
> 
> On Wed, Oct 19, 2022 at 8:10 AM Josh Boyer <jwboyer@kernel.org> wrote:
> >
> > On Fri, Oct 14, 2022 at 9:27 AM James Hilliard
> > <james.hilliard1@gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > This is v35.7 firmware for the rtl8192eu.
> > >
> > > This adds 2 new firmware variants extracted from vendor drivers that
> > > were not previously present:
> > > rtl8192eu_ap.bin
> > > rtl8192eu_nic_setupbox.bin

I think these two are not suitable to rtl8xxxu, so I suggest to ignore them.

> > >
> > > These firmware files occurs as data statements in the latest Realtek
> > > vendor driver I found for the rtl8192eu in addition to some older
> > > vendor driver releases:
> > > rtl8192EU_WiFi_linux_v5.11.2.1-18-g8e7df912b.20210527_COEX20171113-0047
> >
> > I have no idea what this is, nor is there any indication that Realtek
> > wants these published to the linux-firmware repo under redistributable
> > license terms.  You've extracted firmware from elsewhere and are
> > assuming it is licensed under the existing license, but there's no
> > indication that's actually the case.  The provenance of this firmware
> > is questionable.
> 
> I just extracted them from the vendor driver same as last time:
> https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/commit/rtlwifi/rtl8192eu_n
> ic.bin?id=91d5dd136153e0a199d7bf30fd03763d83586b73
> 
> The vendor file license just says GPLv2:
> https://github.com/clnhub/rtl8192eu-linux/blob/5.11.2.1/hal/rtl8192e/hal8192e_fw.c
> 

I'm not a lawyer, no idea about this. I hope someone can comment this. 

> >
> > I've copied Ping-Ke Shih in case they have some insight here, but I
> > can't really take this patch as it is based on what is represented
> > here.  An ack or Signed-off-by from someone at Realtek would go a long
> > way.

I think I can take patches related to Realtek firmware to my github tree,
and send out pull-request after checking content of firmware patch.
Does it work to you, Josh?

> >
> > josh
> >
> > > Note that the existing rtl8192eu_ap_wowlan.bin firmware header
> > > indicates it is actually v18.0 and not v19.0 as indicated by the
> > > commit that introduced it 91d5dd136153e0a199d7bf30fd03763d83586b73,
> > > as such it is marked as version 18.0.
> > >
> > > So far I have managed to find the following firmware versions for the
> > > rtl8192eu in various vendor driver releases:
> > > v18.0
> > > v19.0
> > > v27.0
> > > v35.7
> > >
> > > The rtl8192eu_ap_wowlan.bin firmware does not appear to have received
> > > any updates unlike the other rtl8192eu firmware variants.
> > >
> > > Previous firmware load in rtl8xxxu:
> > > rtl8xxxu: Loading firmware rtlwifi/rtl8192eu_nic.bin
> > > Firmware revision 19.0 (signature 0x92e1)
> > >
> > > Updated firmware load in rtl8xxxu:
> > > rtl8xxxu: Loading firmware rtlwifi/rtl8192eu_nic.bin
> > > Firmware revision 35.7 (signature 0x92e1)
> > >
> > > Cc: Jes Sorensen <jes.sorensen@gmail.com>
> > > Cc: Bitterblue Smith <rtl8821cerfe2@gmail.com>
> > > Signed-off-by: James Hilliard <james.hilliard1@gmail.com>
> > > ---
> > >  WHENCE                             |   9 ++++++++-
> > >  rtlwifi/rtl8192eu_ap.bin           | Bin 0 -> 25816 bytes
> > >  rtlwifi/rtl8192eu_nic.bin          | Bin 31818 -> 32286 bytes
> > >  rtlwifi/rtl8192eu_nic_setupbox.bin | Bin 0 -> 28554 bytes
> > >  rtlwifi/rtl8192eu_wowlan.bin       | Bin 25878 -> 29008 bytes
> > >  5 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
> > >  create mode 100644 rtlwifi/rtl8192eu_ap.bin
> > >  create mode 100644 rtlwifi/rtl8192eu_nic_setupbox.bin
> > >
> > > diff --git a/WHENCE b/WHENCE
> > > index 816cf7c..e7ae78a 100644
> > > --- a/WHENCE
> > > +++ b/WHENCE
> > > @@ -3257,12 +3257,19 @@ File: rtlwifi/rtl8723bu_wowlan.bin
> > >  File: rtlwifi/rtl8723bu_ap_wowlan.bin
> > >
> > >  Info: rtl8192eu taken from Realtek driver
> > > -      rtl8192EU_linux_v4.3.1.1_11320.20140505
> > > +      rtl8192EU_WiFi_linux_v5.11.2.1-18-g8e7df912b.20210527_COEX20171113-0047
> > >        Firmware is embedded in the driver as data statements. This info
> > >        has been extracted into a binary file.
> > >  File: rtlwifi/rtl8192eu_nic.bin
> > > +Version: 35.7
> > > +File: rtlwifi/rtl8192eu_nic_setupbox.bin
> > > +Version: 35.7
> > >  File: rtlwifi/rtl8192eu_wowlan.bin
> > > +Version: 35.7
> > > +File: rtlwifi/rtl8192eu_ap.bin
> > > +Version: 35.7
> > >  File: rtlwifi/rtl8192eu_ap_wowlan.bin
> > > +Version: 18.0
> > >
> > >  Licence: Redistributable. See LICENCE.rtlwifi_firmware.txt for details.
> > >

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