Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1758854AbYGPICx (ORCPT ); Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:02:53 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1754443AbYGPICj (ORCPT ); Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:02:39 -0400 Received: from boogie.lpds.sztaki.hu ([193.224.70.237]:47896 "EHLO boogie.lpds.sztaki.hu" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1754202AbYGPICh (ORCPT ); Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:02:37 -0400 Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:02:35 +0200 From: Gabor Gombas To: Sven-Haegar Koch Cc: David Woodhouse , Linux-Kernel-Mailinglist Subject: Re: [GIT *] Allow request_firmware() to be satisfied from in-kernel, use it in more drivers. Message-ID: <20080716080235.GB11485@boogie.lpds.sztaki.hu> References: <487CF01E.6000208@garzik.org> <20080715185801.GH8185@mit.edu> <487CF70C.1030309@garzik.org> <487D1327.7090805@garzik.org> <487D1925.50008@garzik.org> <1216159959.26991.48.camel@shinybook.infradead.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: X-Copyright: Forwarding or publishing without permission is prohibited. Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1993 Lines: 43 On Wed, Jul 16, 2008 at 02:55:32AM +0200, Sven-Haegar Koch wrote: > Something from the non-development world: > > At least the initramfs-tools (which contains mkinitrd) of Debian Etch do > not do this (the current testing/development version Lenny does) - no > firmware support in the initrd at all - and not needed for booting until > now. > (It has /lib/firmware support after the initrd for the not-so-important > stuff like usb/sound/video/wireless) > > Yes, it may be nearly ancient by now, but for servers it contains all we > need, and most certainly would not want to use something that changes and > needs checking/hand-fixing every month - I expect this version to be still > in use a year from now, then just gradually being updated to the next > debian version. > > Currently we use 2.6.24, and I expect to use some newer kernel to support > newer replacement hardware before all installs are upgraded. So having the > firmware-inside-module support would be a help for us when modules are > starting to be needed for disk or network access, keeping from the need to > try backporting huge initrd/make-kpkg changes. You can easyly install initramfs-tools from lenny on an etch box. It only depends on a newer klibc, so it won't disturb any other services. Btw., the Debian-provided 2.6.25 kernel already lacks the firmware for some popular modules (like bnx2). So if you're using Debian, you as a sysadmin already have to handle the "firmware is in a separate package" issue. Gabor -- --------------------------------------------------------- MTA SZTAKI Computer and Automation Research Institute Hungarian Academy of Sciences --------------------------------------------------------- -- 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/