RFC: install firmware in a kernel-dependent directory

RFC: install firmware in a kernel-dependent directory

[Michael Riepe]

Currently, make firmware_install puts all firmware blobs in
/lib/firmware. If you have several kernel versions installed, they will
overwrite each other's files, which may lead to problems if the blobs
eventually change. I think it would be better to use a separate
directory for every kernel version, like /lib/firmware/$(uname -r) or
/lib/modules/$(uname -r)/firmware (the latter is my favorite).

In either case, only a minimal modification in /lib/udev/firmware.sh is
required to make it look in the new directory first.

Comments?
-- 
Michael "Tired" Riepe <michael.riepe@googlemail.com>
X-Tired: Each morning I get up I die a little

Re: RFC: install firmware in a kernel-dependent directory

[Robert Hancock]

Michael Riepe wrote:
> Currently, make firmware_install puts all firmware blobs in
> /lib/firmware. If you have several kernel versions installed, they will
> overwrite each other's files, which may lead to problems if the blobs
> eventually change. I think it would be better to use a separate
> directory for every kernel version, like /lib/firmware/$(uname -r) or
> /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/firmware (the latter is my favorite).
> 
> In either case, only a minimal modification in /lib/udev/firmware.sh is
> required to make it look in the new directory first.
> 
> Comments?

Seems reasonable to me, it seemed rather bizarre to me that this wasn't 
done in the first place..

Re: RFC: install firmware in a kernel-dependent directory

[Jaswinder Singh Rajput]

On Sat, Feb 14, 2009 at 5:55 PM, Michael Riepe
<michael.riepe@googlemail.com> wrote:
> Currently, make firmware_install puts all firmware blobs in
> /lib/firmware. If you have several kernel versions installed, they will
> overwrite each other's files, which may lead to problems if the blobs
> eventually change. I think it would be better to use a separate
> directory for every kernel version, like /lib/firmware/$(uname -r) or
> /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/firmware (the latter is my favorite).
>
> In either case, only a minimal modification in /lib/udev/firmware.sh is
> required to make it look in the new directory first.
>
> Comments?

firmware version depends on hardware version not by kernel (software) version.

So /lib/firmware is absolutely OK.

--
JSR

Re: RFC: install firmware in a kernel-dependent directory

[Michael Riepe]

Hi!

Jaswinder Singh Rajput wrote:

> firmware version depends on hardware version not by kernel (software) version.

That means that it shouldn't be delivered with the kernel in the first
place, right? Neither built in nor as a separate file. Maybe that's an
even better solution: distribute it separately.

Which firmware to use is a matter of policy, in my opinion. I may want
to use a modified firmware, for example, and put that into /lib/firmware
where it belongs. But each time I install a new kernel, it will be
replaced with the standard version.

-- 
Michael "Tired" Riepe <michael.riepe@googlemail.com>
X-Tired: Each morning I get up I die a little

Re: RFC: install firmware in a kernel-dependent directory

[David Woodhouse]

On Sat, 2009-02-14 at 21:00 +0100, Michael Riepe wrote:
>  
> That means that it shouldn't be delivered with the kernel in the first
> place, right? Neither built in nor as a separate file. Maybe that's an
> even better solution: distribute it separately.

We do. See the linux-firmware.git repository, which contains a bunch of
extra firmware too; not just the bits we've stripped out of legacy
drivers.

You can completely ignore the firmware that's shipped with the kernel,
and you're right -- it should go away. In time I hope it will.

-- 
dwmw2

Re: RFC: install firmware in a kernel-dependent directory

[David Woodhouse]

On Sat, 2009-02-14 at 14:12 -0800, david@lang.hm wrote:
> are you sure? different firmware could have different interfaces for
> the kernel to use.
> 
> I don't know if this is a problem in practice (I think I've heard of 
> this), but there is no reason it couldn't be.

It would need different filenames then anyway (like sonames).

-- 
dwmw2

Re: RFC: install firmware in a kernel-dependent directory

[david]

On Sun, 15 Feb 2009, Jaswinder Singh Rajput wrote:

> On Sat, Feb 14, 2009 at 5:55 PM, Michael Riepe
> <michael.riepe@googlemail.com> wrote:
>> Currently, make firmware_install puts all firmware blobs in
>> /lib/firmware. If you have several kernel versions installed, they will
>> overwrite each other's files, which may lead to problems if the blobs
>> eventually change. I think it would be better to use a separate
>> directory for every kernel version, like /lib/firmware/$(uname -r) or
>> /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/firmware (the latter is my favorite).
>>
>> In either case, only a minimal modification in /lib/udev/firmware.sh is
>> required to make it look in the new directory first.
>>
>> Comments?
>
> firmware version depends on hardware version not by kernel (software) version.

are you sure? different firmware could have different interfaces for the 
kernel to use.

I don't know if this is a problem in practice (I think I've heard of 
this), but there is no reason it couldn't be.

David Lang

> So /lib/firmware is absolutely OK.
>
> --
> JSR
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