Message-ID: <4B46367F.2020306@lwfinger.net>
Date: Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:31:11 -0600
From: Larry Finger <Larry.Finger@lwfinger.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: tim.gardner@canonical.com
CC: mb@bu3sch.de, stefano.brivio@polimi.it,
	linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org,
	Martin Pitt <martin.pitt@canonical.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] b43: Declare all possible firmware files.
References: <20100107183517.A322FF88D8@sepang.rtg.net> <4B463088.1020000@lwfinger.net> <4B4633CE.30906@canonical.com>
In-Reply-To: <4B4633CE.30906@canonical.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Sender: linux-wireless-owner@vger.kernel.org

On 01/07/2010 01:19 PM, Tim Gardner wrote:
> Larry Finger wrote:
>> On 01/07/2010 12:35 PM, Tim Gardner wrote:
>>> The following changes since commit 2c1f1895ef2aa8f0e5497893eff71304aef332e1:
>>>   Linus Torvalds (1):
>>>         Merge branch 'drm-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/.../airlied/drm-2.6
>>>
>>> are available in the git repository at:
>>>
>>>   git://kernel.ubuntu.com/rtg/linux-2.6 b43
>>>
>>> Tim Gardner (1):
>>>       b43: Declare all possible firmware files.
>>>
>>>  drivers/net/wireless/b43/main.c |   34 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
>>>  1 files changed, 32 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>>>
>>> >From def1157eaeb397f0afab25b91db8bab3fcb8816c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
>>> From: Tim Gardner <tim.gardner@canonical.com>
>>> Date: Thu, 7 Jan 2010 11:10:38 -0700
>>> Subject: [PATCH] b43: Declare all possible firmware files.
>>>
>>> BugLink: http://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/488636
>>>
>>> Enhances module information with the names of the firmware files
>>> that could be used by this driver. This helps tools like Jockey to
>>> correctly detect and/or install the firmware files relevant to
>>> this driver.
>>>
>>> Signed-off-by: Tim Gardner <tim.gardner@canonical.com>
>>> ---
>>
>> How does Jockey do the firmware installation? I'm not familiar with this tool.
>>
>> Larry
>>
> 
> Jockey is the codename for the Ubuntu Hardware Manager tool developed
> and maintained by Martin Pitt. Its primary purpose is to assist with the
> installation of not-completely open source components. Examples include
> nVidia and Broadcom 'wl'. In this case, I believe jockey offers a choice
> of b43 or wl (if the PCI IDs overlap).
> 
> Cc'ing Martin.

Assuming that Jockey does not violate Broadcom's copyright on these firmware
files, this approach is going to get a bit messy. There are two new kinds of
devices that are currently undergoing reverse engineering. Once code is
available for them, the number of firmware files will be increased by quite a
bit. My current /lib/firmware/b43 has 93 files in it. Having that many
MODULE_FIRMWARE macros seems wrong.

Larry