Re: Staging: sxg: Add support to download the firmware using request_firmware()

Re: Staging: sxg: Add support to download the firmware using request_firmware()

[David Woodhouse]

On Sun, 2009-04-05 at 19:19 +0000, Linux Kernel Mailing List wrote:
> Gitweb:     http://git.kernel.org/linus/cda3b517a478324233d9be71232b60e2e2efe848
> Commit:     cda3b517a478324233d9be71232b60e2e2efe848
> Parent:     e5ea8da06ba610551a75c79c1467aae379e953ce
> Author:     Mithlesh Thukral <mithlesh@linsyssoft.com>
> AuthorDate: Fri Mar 20 17:39:04 2009 +0530
> Committer:  Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@suse.de>
> CommitDate: Fri Apr 3 14:53:14 2009 -0700
> 
>     Staging: sxg: Add support to download the firmware using request_firmware()
>     
>     Add support for downloading the firmware using kernel-builtin mechanism.
>     This will remove the need for the firmware files in the driver source code.
>     
>     Signed-off-by: Christopher Harrer <charrer@alacritech.com>
>     Signed-off-by: Mithlesh Thukral <mithlesh@linsyssoft.com>
>     Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@suse.de>
> ---
>  drivers/staging/sxg/saharadbgdownload-1.71.c  | 5233 ------------------------
>  drivers/staging/sxg/saharadbgdownloadB-1.10.c | 5251 -------------------------
>  drivers/staging/sxg/saharadownload-1.55.c     | 4531 ---------------------
>  drivers/staging/sxg/saharadownloadB-1.8.c     | 4532 ---------------------
>  drivers/staging/sxg/sxg.c                     |  206 +-
>  firmware/Makefile                             |    2 +
>  firmware/WHENCE                               |   12 +
>  firmware/sxg/saharadbgdownloadB.sys.ihex      | 3937 ++++++++++++++++++
>  firmware/sxg/saharadownloadB.sys.ihex         | 3385 ++++++++++++++++
>  9 files changed, 7437 insertions(+), 19652 deletions(-)

NO!

What the hell are you playing at, Greg?

We don't want to be adding _new_ binary firmware into the firmware/
directory -- that was only the temporary location for removing the
_existing_ crap.

We have the linux-firmware.git repository, into which we are collecting
new firmware blobs. Don't add them to the kernel sources.

This whole 'staging' clusterfuck is getting out of hand.

-- 
dwmw2

Re: Staging: sxg: Add support to download the firmware using request_firmware()

[Greg KH]

On Sun, Apr 05, 2009 at 05:41:33PM -0700, David Woodhouse wrote:
> On Sun, 2009-04-05 at 19:19 +0000, Linux Kernel Mailing List wrote:
> > Gitweb:     http://git.kernel.org/linus/cda3b517a478324233d9be71232b60e2e2efe848
> > Commit:     cda3b517a478324233d9be71232b60e2e2efe848
> > Parent:     e5ea8da06ba610551a75c79c1467aae379e953ce
> > Author:     Mithlesh Thukral <mithlesh@linsyssoft.com>
> > AuthorDate: Fri Mar 20 17:39:04 2009 +0530
> > Committer:  Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@suse.de>
> > CommitDate: Fri Apr 3 14:53:14 2009 -0700
> > 
> >     Staging: sxg: Add support to download the firmware using request_firmware()
> >     
> >     Add support for downloading the firmware using kernel-builtin mechanism.
> >     This will remove the need for the firmware files in the driver source code.
> >     
> >     Signed-off-by: Christopher Harrer <charrer@alacritech.com>
> >     Signed-off-by: Mithlesh Thukral <mithlesh@linsyssoft.com>
> >     Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@suse.de>
> > ---
> >  drivers/staging/sxg/saharadbgdownload-1.71.c  | 5233 ------------------------
> >  drivers/staging/sxg/saharadbgdownloadB-1.10.c | 5251 -------------------------
> >  drivers/staging/sxg/saharadownload-1.55.c     | 4531 ---------------------
> >  drivers/staging/sxg/saharadownloadB-1.8.c     | 4532 ---------------------
> >  drivers/staging/sxg/sxg.c                     |  206 +-
> >  firmware/Makefile                             |    2 +
> >  firmware/WHENCE                               |   12 +
> >  firmware/sxg/saharadbgdownloadB.sys.ihex      | 3937 ++++++++++++++++++
> >  firmware/sxg/saharadownloadB.sys.ihex         | 3385 ++++++++++++++++
> >  9 files changed, 7437 insertions(+), 19652 deletions(-)
> 
> NO!
> 
> What the hell are you playing at, Greg?
> 
> We don't want to be adding _new_ binary firmware into the firmware/
> directory -- that was only the temporary location for removing the
> _existing_ crap.

Is that written anywhere that I missed?  If so, sorry, I didn't realize
that.

> We have the linux-firmware.git repository, into which we are collecting
> new firmware blobs. Don't add them to the kernel sources.

Who do we email to add this to?

And finally, what's wrong with adding new firmware images into the
firmware/ directory?  What is the issue here?

thanks,

greg k-h

Re: Staging: sxg: Add support to download the firmware using request_firmware()

[David Woodhouse]

On Sun, 2009-04-05 at 18:07 -0700, Greg KH wrote:
> Who do we email to add this to?

Clone git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/dwmw2/linux-firmware.git,
add your firmware (and update the WHENCE file accordingly), and send me
a pull request. Preferably with a Signed-off-by: from within the company
that owns the firmware in question.

> And finally, what's wrong with adding new firmware images into the
> firmware/ directory?  What is the issue here?

We're working on _removing_ this crap from the kernel source tree -- not
adding new instances of it. We have a separate repository in which we're
collecting redistributable firmware images, and the distributions are
moving towards shipping that instead of just the legacy stuff from the
kernel tree. Add any new firmware to that repository instead, as
described above.

-- 
dwmw2

Re: Staging: sxg: Add support to download the firmware using request_firmware()

[Greg KH]

On Sun, Apr 05, 2009 at 06:19:55PM -0700, David Woodhouse wrote:
> On Sun, 2009-04-05 at 18:07 -0700, Greg KH wrote:
> > Who do we email to add this to?
> 
> Clone git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/dwmw2/linux-firmware.git,
> add your firmware (and update the WHENCE file accordingly), and send me
> a pull request. Preferably with a Signed-off-by: from within the company
> that owns the firmware in question.

Care to document this somewhere in the kernel tree so we know about it?

> > And finally, what's wrong with adding new firmware images into the
> > firmware/ directory?  What is the issue here?
> 
> We're working on _removing_ this crap from the kernel source tree -- not
> adding new instances of it.

Firmware isn't "crap", it's needed by devices, and I don't see the
problem of distributing it within the kernel tree, especially when the
license of the firmware is just fine, like these files are.

> We have a separate repository in which we're collecting
> redistributable firmware images, and the distributions are moving
> towards shipping that instead of just the legacy stuff from the kernel
> tree. Add any new firmware to that repository instead, as described
> above.

Are there releases of the firmware tree published and announced
anywhere so the distros know to do this?

thanks,

greg k-h

Re: Staging: sxg: Add support to download the firmware using request_firmware()

[Alan Cox]

> Firmware isn't "crap", it's needed by devices, and I don't see the
> problem of distributing it within the kernel tree, especially when the
> license of the firmware is just fine, like these files are.

For one firmware doesn't tie to the kernel release cycle so any
serious distribution has to split the two packages apart even if the
kernel community didn't.

For a second it keeps a lot of irrelevant, unreviewable enormous hex file
changesets *off* the kernel lists and out of the git tree tracking.


Alan

Re: Staging: sxg: Add support to download the firmware using request_firmware()

[Greg KH]

On Mon, Apr 06, 2009 at 10:10:26AM +0100, Alan Cox wrote:
> > Firmware isn't "crap", it's needed by devices, and I don't see the
> > problem of distributing it within the kernel tree, especially when the
> > license of the firmware is just fine, like these files are.
> 
> For one firmware doesn't tie to the kernel release cycle so any
> serious distribution has to split the two packages apart even if the
> kernel community didn't.

So you are calling distros that don't do this "non-serious" now?  :)

What is the release cycle for this firmware tree?  And where is it
released at?

> For a second it keeps a lot of irrelevant, unreviewable enormous hex file
> changesets *off* the kernel lists and out of the git tree tracking.

git can handle this kind of thing trivially, that should not be an
issue.  And I have not posted firmware updates to the kernel lists
either, they probably just filter them out due to the size anyway.

So for now, as the majority of the distros don't have a separate
firmware package for the kernel, and there seems to not be any
"kernel-wide policy" yet in place, I'll stick to the in-tree location
for new drivers that need such a thing, as long as their firmware is
allowed to be proper redistributed.

thanks,

greg k-h

> 
> 
> Alan