From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: David Miller Subject: Re: bnx2 dirver's firmware images Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 14:31:34 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <20070918.143134.112198097.davem@davemloft.net> References: <1190145951.9540.230.camel@dell> <20070918.122150.124083496.davem@davemloft.net> <20070918213025.GF10199@1wt.eu> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: mchan@broadcom.com, vda.linux@googlemail.com, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, netdev@vger.kernel.org To: w@1wt.eu Return-path: Received: from 74-93-104-97-Washington.hfc.comcastbusiness.net ([74.93.104.97]:41506 "EHLO sunset.davemloft.net" rhost-flags-OK-FAIL-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1753599AbXIRWLC (ORCPT ); Tue, 18 Sep 2007 18:11:02 -0400 In-Reply-To: <20070918213025.GF10199@1wt.eu> Sender: netdev-owner@vger.kernel.org List-Id: netdev.vger.kernel.org From: Willy Tarreau Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 23:30:25 +0200 > On Tue, Sep 18, 2007 at 12:21:50PM -0700, David Miller wrote: > > From: "Michael Chan" > > Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:05:51 -0700 > > > > > The bnx2 firmware changes quite frequently. A new driver quite often > > > requires new firmware to work correctly. Splitting them up makes things > > > difficult for the user. > > > > > > The firmware in tg3 is a lot more mature and I don't expect it to > > > change. I think tg3 is better suited for using request_firmware(). > > > > Like I said, I think neither should change and the driver should > > be fully functional when built statically into the kernel. > > Michael, doesn't a functional-yet-suboptimal firmware exist ? I mean, > just the same principle as we all have kernels, boot CDs, statically > built tools, etc... which run everywhere. If you have such a beast, > maybe it would be a good start to have it in the kernel, and provide > the users with the ability to upgrade the firmware once the system > is able to do more complex things. > > Just a thought... So let's save 60K instead of 80K. I mean, the entire discussion is just plain silly :)