From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Sarveshwar Bandi Subject: Re: [PATCH] be2net: Implementation of request_firmware interface. Date: Sun, 5 Jul 2009 17:46:38 +0530 Message-ID: <20090705121637.GA3627@serverengines.com> References: <20090702111820.GA21085@serverengines.com> <1246566808.9821.2.camel@deadeye> Reply-To: Sarveshwar Bandi Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Cc: netdev@vger.kernel.org, davem@davemloft.net To: Ben Hutchings Return-path: Received: from segment-124-30.sify.net ([124.30.166.146]:49207 "EHLO akhaparde.serverengines.com" rhost-flags-OK-FAIL-OK-FAIL) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1753168AbZGEMQf (ORCPT ); Sun, 5 Jul 2009 08:16:35 -0400 Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <1246566808.9821.2.camel@deadeye> Sender: netdev-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: I understand that most drivers use request_firmware() to load volatile firmware. I do see that there are other nic drivers that use this inferface to flash persistent firmware. We have other tools for offline flashing; but there is requirement to flash f/w through driver without having to use other proprietary tools. Since the firmware load happens only when there is a version mismatch with f/w in /lib/firmware, Users who want to avoid automatic flashing at boot time can choose not to copy the f/w file under /lib/firmware. - Sarvesh On 02/07/09 21:33 +0100, Ben Hutchings wrote: > On Thu, 2009-07-02 at 16:48 +0530, Sarveshwar Bandi wrote: > > Please review and apply patch to net-next tree. Patch implements the > > request_firmware interface. > [...] > > + /* fw ver on board matches */ > > + if (!strncmp(fhdr->sign + strlen(FW_FILE_HDR_SIGN), fw_ver, > > + FW_VER_LEN)) > > + goto fw_exit; > > + > > + dev_info(&adapter->pdev->dev, > > + "Flashing firmware file %s\n", fw_file); > [...] > > request_firmware() is really intended for loading non-persistent > "firmware" that must be loaded into the device's RAM after power-on > reset. It is not expected and should not be necessary that drivers > automatically update firmware in flash memory. I also understand that > some OEMs specifically forbid their suppliers to do this automatically > in drivers. > > Ben. > > -- > Ben Hutchings, Senior Software Engineer, Solarflare Communications > Not speaking for my employer; that's the marketing department's job. > They asked us to note that Solarflare product names are trademarked.