Return-path: Received: from mail-sn1nam02on0041.outbound.protection.outlook.com ([104.47.36.41]:8210 "EHLO NAM02-SN1-obe.outbound.protection.outlook.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-FAIL) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1756225AbcK2JLA (ORCPT ); Tue, 29 Nov 2016 04:11:00 -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: <12af5088-f026-380a-333d-2a2bb2b7a248@quantenna.com> (sfid-20161129_101120_945448_DF1D5A90) Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2016 12:10:42 +0300 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"; format=flowed Sender: linux-wireless-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: On 11/29/2016 06:49 AM, Oleksij Rempel wrote: > Am 28.11.2016 um 20:01 schrieb IgorMitsyanko: >> 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. > you mean, this driver will not use mac80211 framework provided by kernel? Yes, this driver is FullMAC - converting Quantenna drivers codebase to mac80211 framework will require significant effort from developers and QA, but I think in the future it will have to be done anyway. > >> 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. > Will Quantenna provide documentation for at least old chipsats? Playing > fair with OSS developer community has some advantages :) Will forward the request. I agree with this, though this is more about protecting from other wifi vendors on a highly competitive market rather than hiding something from community) QSR1000 chipset that I mentioned is actually "current" chipset while QSR10G can be considered future chipset. > >