From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1757620AbYILVrP (ORCPT ); Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:47:15 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1756292AbYILVq7 (ORCPT ); Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:46:59 -0400 Received: from 1wt.eu ([62.212.114.60]:3834 "EHLO 1wt.eu" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1756036AbYILVq6 (ORCPT ); Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:46:58 -0400 Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2008 23:43:51 +0200 From: Willy Tarreau To: Jeff Garzik Cc: Linus Torvalds , Frans Pop , david@lang.hm, Marcel Holtmann , David Woodhouse , arjan@infradead.org, akpm@linux-foundation.org, alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: [GIT *] Allow request_firmware() to be satisfied from in-kernel, use it in more drivers. Message-ID: <20080912214351.GA5126@1wt.eu> References: <1216077806.27455.85.camel@shinybook.infradead.org> <200807160222.40705.elendil@planet.nl> <487D441B.5010908@garzik.org> <20080716044228.GN1369@1wt.eu> <48CAD838.3050907@garzik.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <48CAD838.3050907@garzik.org> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.11 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Fri, Sep 12, 2008 at 04:59:36PM -0400, Jeff Garzik wrote: > Willy Tarreau wrote: > >Exactly. To give you an idea, I have a lot of servers running on a > >"firmware" which consists in two parts : > > - a bzImage containing an initramfs with modules and a few scripts > > - an initrd which is in fact the rootfs > > > >When the kernel boots, it mounts the initrd, does a pivot_root and mounts > >its modules into /boot/$(uname -r). All my kernels run modules from /boot > >and not from /lib/modules, because it makes them more convenient to add > >and remove. So /lib/modules is just a symlink to /boot. > > > >The above process is very convenient, as it is compatible with a lot of > >boot methods : hard disk, CDROM, USB stick, PXE, etc... > > > >And moreover, I can have multiple kernels with only one rootfs (SMP, etc). > >Introducing firmware there would mean a major thinking and rework of the > >build (and possibly boot) process. The least invasive would probably be > >to stuff them next to the modules in $(uname -r)/firmware, but even then, > >it will take a lot of time to switch to a new system. > > > >And judging from what I see around, I'm far from being the only one not > >using mkinitrd. > > > FWIW, due to both lack of time and lack of (apparent) interest, I didn't > bother moving forward with the compile-firmware-into-module, even though This is what I was assuming, but thanks for clarifying this, Jeff. > I still think it would be useful to add [back]. So do I. I think it will be easier to find time and work efficiently on the subject when directly facing an issue. Regards, Willy