Re: [PATCH net-next 4/4] r8152: Add firmware upload capability for RTL8157/RTL8159

Andrew Lunn
2026-04-29T13:01:56Z

On Wed, Apr 29, 2026 at 06:21:58AM +0200, Birger Koblitz wrote:
> On 29/04/2026 3:57 am, Andrew Lunn wrote:
> > On Tue, Apr 28, 2026 at 05:47:24AM +0200, Birger Koblitz wrote:
> > > The RTL8159 requires firmware for its PHY in order to work at
> > > connection speeds > 5GBit. Add support for uploading firmware for
> > > the PHYs using the existing rtl8152_apply_firmware() function
> > > in r8157_hw_phy_cfg() and set up the correct names for the firmware
> > > files.

> No, since the RTL8157 (RTL_VER_16) also works in my experiments as expected
> without this change, i.e. without any updated firmware, or better the
> possibility to update the firmware. It is only for the RTL8159 where the
> firmware is necessary to even get 10GBit performance, at least for the
> link-partners I use for testing. My understanding of the Realtek "firmware"
> is that it mainly provides updated calibration constants, possibly better
> calibration routines for interoperability. Unlike for many other drivers,
> the firmware is not necessary to make the driver work at all.

O.K. Please could you expand the commit message. Explain why you are
adding code for RTL_VER_16 as well as RTL_VER_17.

Andrew