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SubjectRe: Kernel Firmware - Adding Right way??
On 11 Nov 2012 at 16:57, Ming Lei wrote:

Date sent: Sun, 11 Nov 2012 16:57:42 +0800
Subject: Re: Kernel Firmware - Adding Right way??
From: Ming Lei <tom.leiming@gmail.com>
To: "Michael D. Setzer II" <msetzerii@gmail.com>
Copies to: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org

> On Sun, Nov 11, 2012 at 3:57 PM, Michael D. Setzer II
> <msetzerii@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I've been the maintainer of the g4l project since about 2004, and
> > have had issues with a few users that have hardware that requires
> > firmware that isn't included in the kernel.org kernel.
> >
> > I want to do this the right way, since this is what it shows in the
> > kernel firmware directory.
> >
> >
> > DO NOT ADD FIRMWARE TO THIS DIRECTORY.
> > ======================================
> >
> > This directory is only here to contain firmware images extracted
> > from old device drivers which predate the common use of
> > request_firmware().
> >
> > Problem is that when I manually add the missing firmware to the
> > firmware directory, and add it to the list in the Makefile it works
> > just fine, but I then tried to add the new firmware file directory to
> > the cd it doesn't find the firmware.
> >
> > User reports this in dmesg.
> >
> > firmware 0000:04:00.0: firmware: requesting
> > bnx2x/bnx2x-e2-7.2.51.0.fw
> > PM: Removing info for No Bus:0000:04:00.0
> > bnx2x: bnx2x_init_firmware:11647(eth0)Can't load firmware file
> > bnx2x/bnx2x-e2-7.2.51.0.fw
> > bnx2x: bnx2x_func_hw_init:5477(eth0)Error loading firmware
> > bnx2x: bnx2x_nic_load:2136(eth0)HW init failed, aborting
> >
> > The firmware is download using
> >
> > git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.
> > git
> >
> > and files and subdirectories are placed in the /lib/firmware
> > directory except for the .git directory.
> >
> > So, not sure why it isn't finding the the kernel files.
> >
> > The options involving FIRMWARE are currently
> > CONFIG_PREVENT_FIRMWARE_BUILD=y
> > # CONFIG_FIRMWARE_IN_KERNEL is not set
> > CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE=""
> > # CONFIG_HOSTAP_FIRMWARE is not set
> > CONFIG_FIRMWARE_MEMMAP=y
> > # CONFIG_GOOGLE_FIRMWARE is not set
> >
> > The project builds all options in the kernel instead of using
> > moduals since it includes a number of kernels to support various
>
> Maybe building the driver into kernel causes your problem because
> the rootfs is not ready when requesting, or the firmware is not included
> into initrd.
>

The project currently includes 10 different kernels, and prior to my
taking it over in 2004, it was the same basic setup. Don't really
know the whole proces that would be required to convert the
standalone kernels to kernels using moduals. Setting up the
moduals and the process to load them, which the kernel now does
automatically. Project has 800 to 1000+ downloads per week.

I see it load the firmware, and the it shows loading the ramdisk
file, before the probing happens, but don't know if loading the
ramdisk is the same as making the rootfs available with the
/lib/firmware directory. Know that is the directory that distros
seem to use, but perhaps the kernel is using other location.
Message doesn't specify where it was looking for kernel?

> As far as I know, now the preferred approach is to build the
> driver as module for the issue, or you can introduce probe
> deferral in driver to solve the problem.
>

Don't write the drivers, so don't know if this is an option. I've only
heard of this issue with the bnx2x driver with HP servers and only
with a couple of users. So, perhaps just manually adding the
bnx2x.

> > hardware and has most nics and disk adapters selected.
> >
> > link to the latest config file.
> >
> > ftp://amd64gcc.dyndns.org/bz3x6.6.config
> >
> > I've search over the web, and have even been communicating
> > with the maintainer of the bnx2x firmware that is the issue.
> >
> > I'm hoping it is just some simple setting or option that needs to be
> > set. Adding the 40M of firmware required increasing the ramdisk
> > size for 64M to 128M to make room, but would like to have the
> > firmware available for users that might need it to have the project
> > work on there hardware.
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > +----------------------------------------------------------+
> > Michael D. Setzer II - Computer Science Instructor
> > Guam Community College Computer Center
> > mailto:mikes@kuentos.guam.net
> > mailto:msetzerii@gmail.com
> > http://www.guam.net/home/mikes
> > Guam - Where America's Day Begins
> > G4L Disk Imaging Project maintainer
> > http://sourceforge.net/projects/g4l/
> > +----------------------------------------------------------+
> >
> > http://setiathome.berkeley.edu (Original)
> > Number of Seti Units Returned: 19,471
> > Processing time: 32 years, 290 days, 12 hours, 58 minutes
> > (Total Hours: 287,489)
> >
> > BOINC@HOME CREDITS
> > SETI 13233290.532525 | EINSTEIN 9012033.029852
> > ROSETTA 5329761.808862 | ABC 15417521.047462
> >
> > --
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> > Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
>
>
> Thanks,
> --
> Ming Lei


+----------------------------------------------------------+
Michael D. Setzer II - Computer Science Instructor
Guam Community College Computer Center
mailto:mikes@kuentos.guam.net
mailto:msetzerii@gmail.com
http://www.guam.net/home/mikes
Guam - Where America's Day Begins
G4L Disk Imaging Project maintainer
http://sourceforge.net/projects/g4l/
+----------------------------------------------------------+

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu (Original)
Number of Seti Units Returned: 19,471
Processing time: 32 years, 290 days, 12 hours, 58 minutes
(Total Hours: 287,489)

BOINC@HOME CREDITS
SETI 13233290.532525 | EINSTEIN 9012033.029852
ROSETTA 5329761.808862 | ABC 15417521.047462



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