Re: [PATCH 1/2] bnx2: factor out gzip unpacker

Denys Vlasenko
2007-09-21T19:18:24Z

On Friday 21 September 2007 19:36, Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu wrote:
> On Fri, 21 Sep 2007 19:05:23 BST, Denys Vlasenko said:
>
> > I plan to use gzip compression on following drivers' firmware,
> > if patches will be accepted:
> >
> > text data bss dec hex filename
> > 17653 109968 240 127861 1f375 drivers/net/acenic.o
> > 6628 120448 4 127080 1f068 drivers/net/dgrs.o
> > ^^^^^^
>
> Should this be redone to use the existing firmware loading framework to
> load the firmware instead?

Not in every case.

For example, bnx2 maintainer says that driver and
firmware are closely tied for his driver. IOW: you upgrade kernel
and your NIC is not working anymore.

Another argument is to make kernel be able to bring up NICs
without needing firmware images in initramfs/initrd/hard drive.
--
vda