Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S262875AbTIANAp (ORCPT ); Mon, 1 Sep 2003 09:00:45 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S262877AbTIANAp (ORCPT ); Mon, 1 Sep 2003 09:00:45 -0400 Received: from sunpizz1.rvs.uni-bielefeld.de ([129.70.123.31]:16864 "EHLO mail.rvs.uni-bielefeld.de") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S262875AbTIANAo (ORCPT ); Mon, 1 Sep 2003 09:00:44 -0400 Subject: Re: request_firmware() backport to 2.4 From: Marcel Holtmann To: Marcelo Tosatti Cc: Marcelo Tosatti , Linux Kernel Mailing List In-Reply-To: References: Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Ximian Evolution 1.0.5 Date: 01 Sep 2003 15:00:18 +0200 Message-Id: <1062421224.13730.111.camel@pegasus> Mime-Version: 1.0 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1885 Lines: 50 Hi Marcelo, > > I have collected the patches for the request_firmware() interface > > backport for 2.4 done by Manuel Estrada Sainz. It is now in -ac for a > > while and I have used it in my -mh patches. It works fine and seems to > > be clean and very stable. Karsten Keil has tested it together with my > > ported bfusb.o Bluetooth driver on AMD64. > > > > Please do a > > > > bk pull http://linux-mh.bkbits.net/fw-loader-2.4 > > > > This will update the following files: > > > > drivers/bluetooth/bfusb.h |52261 ------------------ > > Now bfusb loads "bfubase.frm", but stock kernel has no such thing. > > I assume that breaks bfusb? no, the bfubase.frm is the original firmware file from AVM. This file have to be placed somewhere on the filesystem. And if you call request_firmware() this will call the firmware.agent hotplug script, which loads it into the kernel through the /proc interface. This is the big advantage of the request_firmware() architecture, because we don't have to place the firmware as header file in the kernel source. The firmware can be replaced with a newer version without recompiling the kernel, because the only thing you have to do is to unplug and replug the device. This also solves some legal problems with firmwares from companies who are not so Linux friendly like AVM. I have some short infos about the driver itself under http://www.holtmann.org/linux/bluetooth/bfusb.html Another driver which makes use of request_firmware() interface at the moment is the orinoco_usb.o wireless lan driver: http://orinoco-usb.alioth.debian.org Regards Marcel - 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/