2016-04-16 14:18:46

by Lauri Kasanen

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: [PATCH v2] carl9170: Clarify kconfig text

The previous text was confusing, leading readers to think this
driver was a duplicate, and so didn't need to be enabled.

After the removal of the older staging driver, this is the only
driver in mainline for these devices.

Signed-off-by: Lauri Kasanen <[email protected]>
---
v2: Remove the mention of the previous driver, suggested by Christian.

drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig | 8 +++-----
1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
index 1a796e5..2e34bae 100644
--- a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
@@ -5,12 +5,10 @@ config CARL9170
select FW_LOADER
select CRC32
help
- This is another driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB devices.
+ This is the mainline driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB devices.

- This driver provides more features than the original,
- but it needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw) to do that.
-
- The firmware can be downloaded from our wiki here:
+ It needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw), which can be downloaded
+ from our wiki here:
<http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/carl9170>

If you choose to build a module, it'll be called carl9170.
--
2.6.2


2016-04-16 15:32:58

by Christian Lamparter

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2] carl9170: Clarify kconfig text

On Saturday, April 16, 2016 05:18:56 PM Lauri Kasanen wrote:
> The previous text was confusing, leading readers to think this
> driver was a duplicate, and so didn't need to be enabled.
>
> After the removal of the older staging driver, this is the only
> driver in mainline for these devices.
>
> Signed-off-by: Lauri Kasanen <[email protected]>
Acked-by: Christian Lamparter <[email protected]>

> ---
> v2: Remove the mention of the previous driver, suggested by Christian.

Thanks!

> drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig | 8 +++-----
> 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> index 1a796e5..2e34bae 100644
> --- a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> +++ b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> @@ -5,12 +5,10 @@ config CARL9170
> select FW_LOADER
> select CRC32
> help
> - This is another driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB devices.
> + This is the mainline driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB devices.
>
> - This driver provides more features than the original,
> - but it needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw) to do that.
> -
> - The firmware can be downloaded from our wiki here:
> + It needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw), which can be downloaded
> + from our wiki here:
> <http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/carl9170>
>
> If you choose to build a module, it'll be called carl9170.
>

2016-04-18 15:45:17

by Kalle Valo

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2] carl9170: Clarify kconfig text

Lauri Kasanen <[email protected]> writes:

> The previous text was confusing, leading readers to think this
> driver was a duplicate, and so didn't need to be enabled.
>
> After the removal of the older staging driver, this is the only
> driver in mainline for these devices.
>
> Signed-off-by: Lauri Kasanen <[email protected]>
> ---
> v2: Remove the mention of the previous driver, suggested by Christian.
>
> drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig | 8 +++-----
> 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> index 1a796e5..2e34bae 100644
> --- a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> +++ b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> @@ -5,12 +5,10 @@ config CARL9170
> select FW_LOADER
> select CRC32
> help
> - This is another driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB devices.
> + This is the mainline driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB devices.
>
> - This driver provides more features than the original,
> - but it needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw) to do that.
> -
> - The firmware can be downloaded from our wiki here:
> + It needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw), which can be downloaded
> + from our wiki here:
> <http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/carl9170>

Why even mention anything about a "special firmware" as the firmware is
already available from linux-firmware.git? That's default location for
all firmware images and I think most, if not all, distros should have it
available. So wouldn't it be better not to mention anything about
firmware at all?

--
Kalle Valo

2016-04-18 16:07:35

by Lauri Kasanen

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: [PATCH v3] carl9170: Clarify kconfig text

The previous text was confusing, leading readers to think this
driver was a duplicate, and so didn't need to be enabled.

After the removal of the older staging driver, this is the only
driver in mainline for these devices.

Signed-off-by: Lauri Kasanen <[email protected]>
---
v3: Remove all firmware mentions.

drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig | 8 +-------
1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
index 1a796e5..ca1ae09 100644
--- a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
@@ -5,13 +5,7 @@ config CARL9170
select FW_LOADER
select CRC32
help
- This is another driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB devices.
-
- This driver provides more features than the original,
- but it needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw) to do that.
-
- The firmware can be downloaded from our wiki here:
- <http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/carl9170>
+ This is the mainline driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB devices.

If you choose to build a module, it'll be called carl9170.

--
2.6.2

2016-04-18 16:20:12

by Christian Lamparter

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2] carl9170: Clarify kconfig text

On Monday, April 18, 2016 06:45:09 PM Kalle Valo wrote:
> Lauri Kasanen <[email protected]> writes:
>
> > The previous text was confusing, leading readers to think this
> > driver was a duplicate, and so didn't need to be enabled.
> >
> > After the removal of the older staging driver, this is the only
> > driver in mainline for these devices.
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Lauri Kasanen <[email protected]>
> > ---
> > v2: Remove the mention of the previous driver, suggested by Christian.
> >
> > drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig | 8 +++-----
> > 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
> >
> > diff --git a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> > index 1a796e5..2e34bae 100644
> > --- a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> > +++ b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> > @@ -5,12 +5,10 @@ config CARL9170
> > select FW_LOADER
> > select CRC32
> > help
> > - This is another driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB devices.
> > + This is the mainline driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB devices.
> >
> > - This driver provides more features than the original,
> > - but it needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw) to do that.
> > -
> > - The firmware can be downloaded from our wiki here:
> > + It needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw), which can be downloaded
> > + from our wiki here:
> > <http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/carl9170>
>
> Why even mention anything about a "special firmware" as the firmware is
> already available from linux-firmware.git?
Yes and no. 1.9.6 is in linux-firmware.git. I've tried to add 1.9.9 too
but that failed.
<http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel.wireless.general/114639>

> That's default location for all firmware images and I think most, if not all,
> distros should have it available. So wouldn't it be better not to mention
> anything about firmware at all?
Sure, but this could be a different patch then. I think Intel devices
(iwlwifi, iwlegacy and ipw2x00) have a similar text about "download
firmware from this device from our homepage here" too. So if we want,
we can remove them altogether?

Regards,
Christian

2016-04-18 16:24:10

by Christian Lamparter

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH v3] carl9170: Clarify kconfig text

On Monday, April 18, 2016 07:07:39 PM Lauri Kasanen wrote:
> The previous text was confusing, leading readers to think this
> driver was a duplicate, and so didn't need to be enabled.
>
> After the removal of the older staging driver, this is the only
> driver in mainline for these devices.
>
> Signed-off-by: Lauri Kasanen <[email protected]>
> ---
> v3: Remove all firmware mentions.
>
> drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig | 8 +-------
> 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 7 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> index 1a796e5..ca1ae09 100644
> --- a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> +++ b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> @@ -5,13 +5,7 @@ config CARL9170
> select FW_LOADER
> select CRC32
> help
> - This is another driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB devices.
> -
> - This driver provides more features than the original,
> - but it needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw) to do that.
> -
> - The firmware can be downloaded from our wiki here:
> - <http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/carl9170>
Please do keep the wiki link.

2016-04-18 16:42:14

by Kalle Valo

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2] carl9170: Clarify kconfig text

Christian Lamparter <[email protected]> writes:

> On Monday, April 18, 2016 06:45:09 PM Kalle Valo wrote:
>> Lauri Kasanen <[email protected]> writes:
>>
>> > --- a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
>> > +++ b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
>> > @@ -5,12 +5,10 @@ config CARL9170
>> > select FW_LOADER
>> > select CRC32
>> > help
>> > - This is another driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB devices.
>> > + This is the mainline driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB devices.
>> >
>> > - This driver provides more features than the original,
>> > - but it needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw) to do that.
>> > -
>> > - The firmware can be downloaded from our wiki here:
>> > + It needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw), which can be downloaded
>> > + from our wiki here:
>> > <http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/carl9170>
>>
>> Why even mention anything about a "special firmware" as the firmware is
>> already available from linux-firmware.git?
>
> Yes and no. 1.9.6 is in linux-firmware.git. I've tried to add 1.9.9 too
> but that failed.
> <http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel.wireless.general/114639>

Rick's comment makes sense to me, better just to provide the latest
version. No need to unnecessary confuse the users. And if someone really
wants to use an older version that she can retrieve it from the git
history.

>> That's default location for all firmware images and I think most, if not all,
>> distros should have it available. So wouldn't it be better not to mention
>> anything about firmware at all?
>
> Sure, but this could be a different patch then. I think Intel devices
> (iwlwifi, iwlegacy and ipw2x00) have a similar text about "download
> firmware from this device from our homepage here" too. So if we want,
> we can remove them altogether?

So iwlwifi now has:

In order to use this driver, you will need a firmware
image for it. You can obtain the microcode from:

<http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/iwlwifi>.

Maybe that could be changed to mention about the wiki page in general:

The driver has a wiki page at:

<http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/iwlwifi>.

But I know iwlwifi updates the firmware images pretty often so Emmanuel
might see this differently.

--
Kalle Valo

2016-04-18 16:47:50

by Xose Vazquez Perez

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2] carl9170: Clarify kconfig text

Christian Lamparter wrote:

> Sure, but this could be a different patch then. I think Intel devices
> (iwlwifi, iwlegacy and ipw2x00) have a similar text about "download
> firmware from this device from our homepage here" too. So if we want,
> we can remove them altogether?

linux-firmware.git does not contain firmware for all drivers. _At least_
zd1211rw [1], atmel [2] and ipw2x00 [3] are out of the tree.

[1] http://sf.net/projects/zd1211/files/
[2] http://web.archive.org/web/20121016132320/http://at76c503a.berlios.de/fw_dl.html
[3] http://ipw2100.sf.net/firmware.php http://ipw2200.sf.net/firmware.php

2016-04-18 17:07:07

by Christian Lamparter

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2] carl9170: Clarify kconfig text

On Monday, April 18, 2016 07:42:05 PM Kalle Valo wrote:
> Christian Lamparter <[email protected]> writes:
>
> > On Monday, April 18, 2016 06:45:09 PM Kalle Valo wrote:
> >> Lauri Kasanen <[email protected]> writes:
> >>
> >> > --- a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> >> > +++ b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> >> > @@ -5,12 +5,10 @@ config CARL9170
> >> > select FW_LOADER
> >> > select CRC32
> >> > help
> >> > - This is another driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB devices.
> >> > + This is the mainline driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB devices.
> >> >
> >> > - This driver provides more features than the original,
> >> > - but it needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw) to do that.
> >> > -
> >> > - The firmware can be downloaded from our wiki here:
> >> > + It needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw), which can be downloaded
> >> > + from our wiki here:
> >> > <http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/carl9170>
> >>
> >> Why even mention anything about a "special firmware" as the firmware is
> >> already available from linux-firmware.git?
> >
> > Yes and no. 1.9.6 is in linux-firmware.git. I've tried to add 1.9.9 too
> > but that failed.
> > <http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel.wireless.general/114639>
>
> Rick's comment makes sense to me, better just to provide the latest
> version. No need to unnecessary confuse the users. And if someone really
> wants to use an older version that she can retrieve it from the git
> history.
Part of the fun here is that firmware is GPLv2. The linux-firmware.git has
to point to or add the firmware source to their tree. They have added every
single source file to it.... instead of "packaging" it in a tar.bz2/gz/xz
like you normally do for release sources.

If you want to read more about it:
<http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-wireless/msg101868.html>

2016-04-18 17:11:03

by Christian Lamparter

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2] carl9170: Clarify kconfig text

On Monday, April 18, 2016 06:47:44 PM Xose Vazquez Perez wrote:
> Christian Lamparter wrote:
>
> > Sure, but this could be a different patch then. I think Intel devices
> > (iwlwifi, iwlegacy and ipw2x00) have a similar text about "download
> > firmware from this device from our homepage here" too. So if we want,
> > we can remove them altogether?
>
> linux-firmware.git does not contain firmware for all drivers. _At least_
> zd1211rw [1], atmel [2] and ipw2x00 [3] are out of the tree.

Yeah, don't forget p54. It needs out-of-tree firmwares as well.

But what about iwlegacy? Isn't that another candidate that would fit both
requirements (no recent firmware update, firmware in linux-firmware.git) ?

> [1] http://sf.net/projects/zd1211/files/
> [2] http://web.archive.org/web/20121016132320/http://at76c503a.berlios.de/fw_dl.html
> [3] http://ipw2100.sf.net/firmware.php http://ipw2200.sf.net/firmware.php

2016-04-20 07:59:54

by Kalle Valo

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2] carl9170: Clarify kconfig text

Christian Lamparter <[email protected]> writes:

> On Monday, April 18, 2016 07:42:05 PM Kalle Valo wrote:
>> Christian Lamparter <[email protected]> writes:
>>
>> > On Monday, April 18, 2016 06:45:09 PM Kalle Valo wrote:
>> >
>> >> Why even mention anything about a "special firmware" as the firmware is
>> >> already available from linux-firmware.git?
>> >
>> > Yes and no. 1.9.6 is in linux-firmware.git. I've tried to add 1.9.9 too
>> > but that failed.
>> > <http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel.wireless.general/114639>
>>
>> Rick's comment makes sense to me, better just to provide the latest
>> version. No need to unnecessary confuse the users. And if someone really
>> wants to use an older version that she can retrieve it from the git
>> history.
>
> Part of the fun here is that firmware is GPLv2. The linux-firmware.git has
> to point to or add the firmware source to their tree. They have added every
> single source file to it.... instead of "packaging" it in a tar.bz2/gz/xz
> like you normally do for release sources.
>
> If you want to read more about it:
> <http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-wireless/msg101868.html>

Yeah, that's more work. I get that. But I'm still not understanding
what's the actual problem which prevents us from updating carl9170
firmware in linux-firmware.

--
Kalle Valo

2016-04-20 21:11:15

by Christian Lamparter

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: [RESEND] Re: updating carl9170-1.fw in linux-firmware.git

On Wednesday, April 20, 2016 10:59:44 AM Kalle Valo wrote:
> Christian Lamparter <[email protected]> writes:
>
> > On Monday, April 18, 2016 07:42:05 PM Kalle Valo wrote:
> >> Christian Lamparter <[email protected]> writes:
> >>
> >> > On Monday, April 18, 2016 06:45:09 PM Kalle Valo wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> Why even mention anything about a "special firmware" as the firmware is
> >> >> already available from linux-firmware.git?
> >> >
> >> > Yes and no. 1.9.6 is in linux-firmware.git. I've tried to add 1.9.9 too
> >> > but that failed.
> >> > <http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel.wireless.general/114639>
> >>
> >> Rick's comment makes sense to me, better just to provide the latest
> >> version. No need to unnecessary confuse the users. And if someone really
> >> wants to use an older version that she can retrieve it from the git
> >> history.
> >
> > Part of the fun here is that firmware is GPLv2. The linux-firmware.git has
> > to point to or add the firmware source to their tree. They have added every
> > single source file to it.... instead of "packaging" it in a tar.bz2/gz/xz
> > like you normally do for release sources.
> >
> > If you want to read more about it:
> > <http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-wireless/msg101868.html>
>
> Yeah, that's more work. I get that. But I'm still not understanding
> what's the actual problem which prevents us from updating carl9170
> firmware in linux-firmware.
I'm not sure, but why not ask? I've added the cc'ed Linux Firmware
Maintainers. So for those people reading the fw list:

What would it take to update the carl9170-1.fw firmware file in your
repository to the latest version?

Who has to sent the firmware update. Does it have to be the person who
sent the first request? (Xose)? The maintainer of the firmware (me)?
someone from Qualcomm Atheros? Or someone else (specific)? (the
firmware is licensed as GPLv2 - in theory anyone should be able to
do that)

How should the firmware source update be handled? Currently the latest
.tar.xz of the firmware has ~130kb. The formated patches from 1.9.6 to
latest are about ~100kb (182 individual patches).

How does linux-firmware handle new binary firmware images and new
sources? What if carl9170fw-2.bin is added. Do we need another
source directory for this in the current tree then? Because
carl9170fw-1.bin will still be needed for backwards compatibility
so we basically need to duplicate parts of the source?

Also, how's the situation with ath9k_htc? The 1.4.0 image contains
some GPLv2 code as well? So, why is there no source in the tree, but
just the link to it? Because, I would like to do basically the same
for carl9170fw and just add a link to the carl9170fw repository and
save everyone this source update "song and dance".

Regards,
Christian