Re: Qlogic/FC firmware

Ricky Beam
2001-08-21T22:45:51Z

On Tue, 21 Aug 2001, Rik van Riel wrote:
>I guess using an initrd on these 0.3% of machines shouldn't
>be too big a problem

Were's the initrd going to get the firmware? It's not in the freakin' tree
anymore. If I have to go download a firmware image and stick it in an
initrd, why the hell wouldn't I just plug it directly into the kernel?
It's *my* kernel.

> compared to violating the GPL

Oh for the love of God, will you people stop drooling over the fucking GPL?
It's *firmware*... it's just a bunch of bits. It's *not* a program the
kernel executes. It's just data. (__init_data to be exact.)

> and adding
>to kernel bloat for everybody else.

One man's bloat is another man's functionality. Besides, it's got a hell of
a lot of company. Ask yourself, will you miss 128_K_ in a machine with a
fiber channel card in it? It "bloats" the kernel for people using that
hardware -- machines that don't need it can release it.

--Ricky

(If Sun would get off their ass(es) and support firewire, I'd stop using linux
all together. And before some smartass says they do, point to the ohci and
sbp-2 drivers on the Solaris 8 Sparc CD.)