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

Jeff Garzik
2008-09-12T21:02:19Z

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
I still think it would be useful to add [back].

Jeff