Re: [GIT *] Allow request_firmware() to be satisfied from in-kernel, use it in more drivers.

Linus Torvalds
2008-07-15T02:44:55Z

On Mon, 14 Jul 2008, David Miller wrote:
>
> They states that it was being done on a technical basis rather
> than being predominantly a legal one.

No.

Yes, the original reason for request_firmware() was obviously very much
partly legal.

HOWEVER.

Once you have a model that is required (for whatever reasons) for some
drivers, we're much better off using the _same_ model for all drivers,
whether it is necessary for legal reasons for those other drivers.

Put this way: if you do a distro, you _need_ to support firmware loading
anyway. And once you do that, it's just annoying how some drivers then do
something odd and special for the same thing, for no real good reason.

It's like having each wireless driver do their own 802.11 stack. It works,
and all those driver writers seem to be always convinced that it's the
right thing to do. But as a network maintainer, do you like it?

Now, replace "802.11 stack" with "firmware loader", and then replace
"network maintainer" with "kernel maintainer".

And maybe you can see why I like just making everybody do
request_firmware().

Do you call that a legal reason? Or a technical one?

Linus