Return-path: Received: from mail-dm3nam03on0042.outbound.protection.outlook.com ([104.47.41.42]:46244 "EHLO NAM03-DM3-obe.outbound.protection.outlook.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-FAIL) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1754081AbcK1Tey (ORCPT ); Mon, 28 Nov 2016 14:34:54 -0500 Subject: Re: [RFC] qtn: add FullMAC firmware for Quantenna QSR10G wifi device To: Oleksij Rempel , Kyle McMartin References: <1478700000-11624-1-git-send-email-igor.mitsyanko.os@quantenna.com> <1478706966.18306.1.camel@sipsolutions.net> <2fcb5f28-808e-f296-7e91-e5185e7577c9@quantenna.com> <1478725543.21403.4.camel@sipsolutions.net> <1478864146.4129.4.camel@sipsolutions.net> <063b80df-9cfa-14f1-4695-4239b42dfccb@rempel-privat.de> <217ac48f-d822-62d5-3def-744500821ac9@rempel-privat.de> CC: Ben Hutchings , Kyle McMartin , Johannes Berg , , , , , , Igor Mitsyanko , Kamlesh Rath , "Sergey Matyukevich" , Avinash Patil From: IgorMitsyanko Message-ID: (sfid-20161128_203527_903299_B39EFFF8) Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2016 22:01:05 +0300 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <217ac48f-d822-62d5-3def-744500821ac9@rempel-privat.de> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"; format=flowed Sender: linux-wireless-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: On 11/28/2016 08:33 PM, Oleksij Rempel wrote: > Am 28.11.2016 um 18:10 schrieb Oleksij Rempel: >> Am 28.11.2016 um 17:34 schrieb Kyle McMartin: >>> On Tue, Nov 22, 2016 at 9:44 AM, IgorMitsyanko >>> wrote: >>>> Hi Ben, Kyle, >>>> could you please share what is the position of linux-firmware regarding >>>> firmware binaries that include GPL components? Does it require entire GPL >>>> components codebase be present in linux-firmware tree, or maybe having this >>>> clause in license file is enough: >>>> +Open Source Software. The Software may include components that are licensed >>>> +pursuant to open source software (“Open Source Components”). Information >>>> +regarding the Open Source Components included with the Software is >>>> available >>>> +upon request to oslegal@quantenna.com. To the extent such Open Source >>>> +Components are required to be licensed to you under the terms of a separate >>>> +license (such as an open source license) then such other terms shall apply, >>>> and >>>> +nothing herein shall be deemed or interpreted to limit any rights you may >>>> have >>>> +under any such applicable license. >>>> >>>> From technical perspective, size of the codebase used to build Quantenna >>>> firmware is a few hundred MBs, it seems too much to include into >>>> linux-firmware tree. >>>> >>> I don't have strong feelings one way or another. I'd prefer not having >>> several hundred >>> MB of source that's unlikely to change included in the linux-firmware >>> git tree. I'm also not >>> a lawyer, so I can't help you decide what would satisfy the >>> distribution clause of the GPLv2. >>> We already have one GPL firmware (carl9170fw) which includes the >>> source, but just references >>> a seperate toolchain for downloading, so it's only approximately 1MB >>> in size in the tree. >>> >>> Is your firmware source really that large, or is it just including the >>> entire build toolchain with it? >>> >>> regards, >>> --Kyle >> We also have open BSD licensed open-ath9k-htc-firmware. Which is locate >> out of source too. >> https://github.com/qca/open-ath9k-htc-firmware >> and here is location of carl firmware: >> https://github.com/chunkeey/carl9170fw >> >> So, what is actual problem with Quantenna QSR10G FW? >> I would be really interesting to take a look on it. Is it somewhere >> available? Are there some devices to get hand on? > After seeing specs of this device i have strong feeling that "some open > source part" is actual linux kernel. > > Oleksij, yes, that's correct, it includes entire Linux environment; the reasoning is that it allows to hide all WiFi-related logic inside device itself, and emulate simple Ethernet device for external system (therefore, freeing external system resources). This approach was working really well for us until recently, but now that company is expanding, we want to have more flexible and standardize interface available for external system to manage wireless connection, and FullMAC driver seems to be the best solution here. For the availability of FW sources, QSR10G-based products are still under development at this moment (not in the market yet), but many products based on previous generation chipset QSR1000 are available. For example, Asus has a retail design with QSR1000 chipset, and has all GPL sourcecode available on their website (including what Quantenna has provided): http://www.asus.com/Networking/RTAC87U/HelpDesk_Download/ Quantenna provided code is in, for example, "GPL of ASUS RT-AC87U for firmware 3.0.0.4.378.7410" archive. It's basically the same as used for QSR10G.