Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1756778AbYGHHWm (ORCPT ); Tue, 8 Jul 2008 03:22:42 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1756523AbYGHHWc (ORCPT ); Tue, 8 Jul 2008 03:22:32 -0400 Received: from earthlight.etchedpixels.co.uk ([81.2.110.250]:43705 "EHLO the-village.bc.nu" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-FAIL) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751866AbYGHHWb (ORCPT ); Tue, 8 Jul 2008 03:22:31 -0400 Date: Tue, 8 Jul 2008 07:49:47 +0100 From: Alan Cox To: david@lang.hm Cc: David Miller , mchan@broadcom.com, dwmw2@infradead.org, bastian@waldi.eu.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: [PATCH] bnx2 - use request_firmware() Message-ID: <20080708074947.2734d71f@the-village.bc.nu> In-Reply-To: References: <1215421413.3189.199.camel@shinybook.infradead.org> <1215456981.5532.20.camel@dell> <20080707.143803.99767036.davem@davemloft.net> <20080707221950.3dfba435@the-village.bc.nu> X-Mailer: Claws Mail 3.4.0 (GTK+ 2.12.8; i386-redhat-linux-gnu) Organization: Red Hat UK Cyf., Amberley Place, 107-111 Peascod Street, Windsor, Berkshire, SL4 1TE, Y Deyrnas Gyfunol. Cofrestrwyd yng Nghymru a Lloegr o'r rhif cofrestru 3798903 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 993 Lines: 21 > so make the firmware part of the module if the driver is compiled as a > module. this way if the driver (and firmware) end up not being used they > don't take up any space. this seems a lot simpler (as well as more > reliable) then adding a mandatory dependancy on a different userspace > tool. For the majority of drivers that would be a serious regression as they load the firmware when needed, which is not when loaded. In some cases there are many sets of firmware and only one is needed according to the device, and only needed once per device detect. It might well make sense for tg3 although even there it seems most tg3 work fine without loading new firmware, and examples like aic7xxx where the firmware and code must match. Alan -- 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/