Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1751451AbaKDAiw (ORCPT ); Mon, 3 Nov 2014 19:38:52 -0500 Received: from mail.linuxfoundation.org ([140.211.169.12]:35793 "EHLO mail.linuxfoundation.org" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1750914AbaKDAiu (ORCPT ); Mon, 3 Nov 2014 19:38:50 -0500 Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2014 16:38:49 -0800 From: Greg Kroah-Hartman To: Andy Lutomirski Cc: Kweh Hock Leong , Matt Fleming , Ming Lei , Sam Protsenko , Linux Kernel Mailing List , linux-efi@vger.kernel.org, Ong Boon Leong Subject: Re: [PATCH v2 0/3] Enable user helper interface for efi capsule update Message-ID: <20141104003849.GA15147@kroah.com> References: <1414984030-13859-1-git-send-email-hock.leong.kweh@intel.com> <5457D883.4050201@amacapital.net> <20141103212706.GE7379@kroah.com> <20141103230234.GA9427@kroah.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.23 (2014-03-12) Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Mon, Nov 03, 2014 at 03:08:08PM -0800, Andy Lutomirski wrote: > On Mon, Nov 3, 2014 at 3:02 PM, Greg Kroah-Hartman > wrote: > > On Mon, Nov 03, 2014 at 01:32:46PM -0800, Andy Lutomirski wrote: > >> On Mon, Nov 3, 2014 at 1:27 PM, Greg Kroah-Hartman > >> wrote: > >> > On Mon, Nov 03, 2014 at 11:33:23AM -0800, Andy Lutomirski wrote: > >> >> On 11/02/2014 07:07 PM, Kweh Hock Leong wrote: > >> >> > From: "Kweh, Hock Leong" > >> >> > > >> >> > Hi Guys, > >> >> > > >> >> > This patchset is created on top of "efi: Capsule update support" patch: > >> >> > http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel.efi/4837 > >> >> > > >> >> > It leverages the request_firmware_nowait() to expose the user helper interface for user to upload the capsule binary and calling the > >> >> > efi_capsule_update() API to pass the binary to EFI firmware. > >> >> > >> >> I don't get it. Why is the firmware interface at all reasonable for > >> >> uploading capsules? > >> > > >> > Tradition dictates that BIOS updates go through the firmware interface, > >> > that way you don't have to write a new userspace tool, which is a good > >> > thing. > >> > > >> >> The firmware interface makes sense for nonvolatile firmware where > >> >> hotplugging something or otherwise loading a driver needs a blob. > >> > > >> > Or BIOS data. We've been doing it this way for a long time now. > >> > >> On what system? Dell? > > > > Yes. > > > >> IMO this sucks from a UI point of view. When I install wifi firmware, > >> I expect to stick it somewhere and have the driver find it, because > >> the driver knows exactly when it needs the firmware. When I update my > >> BIOS, I want to click a button or type a command and update my bios. > > > > I agree, it should be "triggered" by something, not just automagically > > loaded whenever the kernel randomly looks for it. > > > >> >> But uploading an EFI capsule is an *action*, not something that should > >> >> happen transparently. If there's an EFI firmware update available and > >> >> the user wants to install it, then the userspace tool should install it, > >> >> and it shouldn't hang around in /lib/firmware. In fact, you shouldn't > >> >> even need /lib to be on writable media to use this. > >> > > >> > What does /lib have to do with this? > >> > >> Where else does the file come from, given that udev no longer supports > >> userspace firmware loading? Is there really some pre-existing tool > >> that pokes it into the sysfs firmware class thing? > > > > Well, you can specify other locations than /lib/firmware/ for firmware > > updates, but yes, you are right, it should be in /lib somewhere. But > > /lib doesn't need to be writable, it's a read-only file. > > > > I assume that whoever downloaded the firmware update will want to > install it, right? I don't really expect distros to ship EFI capsules > in packages that install to /lib/firmware. Won't there be userspace > code that either installs a capsule from some URL or uses some future > magical find-my-firmware service? Good point, I don't know. Who ever wrote this code should know this, can someone please provide a use-case for how this is all supposed to work? thanks, greg k-h -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/