Re: [RFC PATCH net-next 3/4] ethtool: Add ability to flash transceiver modules' firmware

[Andrew Lunn <andrew@lunn.ch>]

On Sat, Nov 27, 2021 at 07:45:29PM +0200, Ido Schimmel wrote:
> From: Ido Schimmel <idosch@nvidia.com>
> 
> CMIS complaint modules such as QSFP-DD might be running a firmware that
> can be updated in a vendor-neutral way by exchanging messages between
> the host and the module as described in section 7.3.1 of revision 5.0 of
> the CMIS standard.
> 
> Add a pair of new ethtool messages that allow:
> 
> * User space to trigger firmware update of transceiver modules
> 
> * The kernel to notify user space about the progress of the process
> 
> The user interface is designed to be asynchronous in order to avoid RTNL
> being held for too long and to allow several modules to be updated
> simultaneously. The interface is designed with CMIS complaint modules in
> mind, but kept generic enough to accommodate future use cases, if these
> arise.
> 
> Example from the succeeding netdevsim implementation:
> 
> Trigger the firmware update process:
> 
>  # ethtool --flash-module-firmware eth0 file test.img

Hi Ido

Does the design allow control over which partition gets upgraded?

It seems like it should be possible to boot into the read only factory
firmware image, making both A and B eligible for upgrade.

	 Andrew