Re: [PATCH] MODULE_FIRMWARE for binary firmware(s)

Michael Buesch
2006-08-29T19:05:54Z

On Tuesday 29 August 2006 20:32, Greg KH wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 29, 2006 at 08:46:45AM -0700, David Lang wrote:
> > On Mon, 28 Aug 2006, Greg KH wrote:
> >
> > >I think the current way we handle firmware works quite well, especially
> > >given the wide range of different devices that it works for (everything
> > >from BIOS upgrades to different wireless driver stages).
> >
> > the current system works for many people yes, but not everyone.
> >
> > I'm still waiting to find a way to get the iw2200 working without having to
> > use modules.
>
> Sounds like a bug you need to pester the iw2200 developers about then.
> I don't think it has much to do with the firmware subsystem though :)

Well, yes and no.
The ipw needs the firmware on insmod time (in contrast to bcm43xx
for example, which needs it on ifconfig up time).
So ipw needs to call request_firmware at insmod time. In case of
built-in, that is when the initcall happens. No userland is available
and request_firmware can not call the userspace helpers to upload
the firmware to sysfs.
Well, not really easy to find a sane solution for this. :)

--
Greetings Michael.