| Message ID | 1358030383-15609-1-git-send-email-xose.vazquez@gmail.com (mailing list archive) |
|---|---|
| State | Not Applicable, archived |
| Headers | show |
On Sat, Jan 12, 2013 at 11:39 PM, Xose Vazquez Perez <xose.vazquez@gmail.com> wrote: > to document the reason why a firmware is not present > > Cc: Daniel Drake <dsd@laptop.org> > Cc: Ulrich Kunitz <kune@deine-taler.de> > Cc: David Woodhouse <dwmw2@infradead.org> > Cc: Ben Hutchings <ben@decadent.org.uk> > Cc: <linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org> > Cc: <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org> > Signed-off-by: Xose Vazquez Perez <xose.vazquez@gmail.com> > --- > MISSING | 20 ++++++++++++++++++++ > 1 file changed, 20 insertions(+) > create mode 100644 MISSING > > diff --git a/MISSING b/MISSING > new file mode 100644 > index 0000000..f228099 > --- /dev/null > +++ b/MISSING > @@ -0,0 +1,20 @@ > + *********** > + * MISSING * > + *********** > + > +This file attempts to document the reason why a firmware is not present > +in this bundle. From the user's point of view this not really helpful. Wouldn't a in-kernel table of known but missing firmware files make more sense? The kernel could write a log like "Yeah, I know this firmware but sadly I don't have it because of ..."
On Sun, 13 Jan 2013 00:09:46 +0100 richard -rw- weinberger <richard.weinberger@gmail.com> wrote: > > +This file attempts to document the reason why a firmware is not > > present +in this bundle. > > From the user's point of view this not really helpful. > Wouldn't a in-kernel table of known but missing firmware files make > more sense? The kernel could write a log like "Yeah, I know this > firmware but sadly I don't have it because of ..." The firmware file may be absent on the system even if it's in the linux-firmware tree. Conversely, the firmware may be present on the system but not in the linux-firmware tree. The kernel doesn't know whether the firmware is missing due to licensing issues or due to misconfiguration. The kernel cannot know that. And I don't think the kernel should include as much information as the MISSING file would include.
On Mon, 2013-01-14 at 17:55 -0500, Pavel Roskin wrote: > On Sun, 13 Jan 2013 00:09:46 +0100 > richard -rw- weinberger <richard.weinberger@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > +This file attempts to document the reason why a firmware is not > > > present +in this bundle. > > > > From the user's point of view this not really helpful. > > Wouldn't a in-kernel table of known but missing firmware files make > > more sense? The kernel could write a log like "Yeah, I know this > > firmware but sadly I don't have it because of ..." > > The firmware file may be absent on the system even if it's in the > linux-firmware tree. Conversely, the firmware may be present on the > system but not in the linux-firmware tree. > > The kernel doesn't know whether the firmware is missing due to > licensing issues or due to misconfiguration. The kernel cannot know > that. And I don't think the kernel should include as much information > as the MISSING file would include. I can see some value in an index explaining where to get firmware, whether it's available from the copyright holder or some licensee or must be extracted from Windows drivers with a particular tool. I'm not sure whether linux-firmware.git is the right place for that, though. Would distributions include this in their packages and would users be able to find it there? Would a wiki page be more useful? Putting my Debian hat, I can say that we don't distribute any of the older files that are 'GPL but no source visible', while we do distribute some files not included in linux-firmware.git that require click-wrap licences. I also prune files that aren't referenced by the kernel version in any current release. So a file that says what's missing from linux-firmware.git would not be that useful to Debian users, for example. Ben.
diff --git a/MISSING b/MISSING new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f228099 --- /dev/null +++ b/MISSING @@ -0,0 +1,20 @@ + *********** + * MISSING * + *********** + +This file attempts to document the reason why a firmware is not present +in this bundle. + +-------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Driver: zd1211rw -- ZyDAS/Atheros ZD1211/ZD1211B/AR5007UG wireless driver + +Trouble: Allegedly GPLv2, but no source visible. Found in hex form in the + vendor driver. + +URL: http://sf.net/projects/zd1211/files/ + +Implication: CRITICAL, hardware undetected. + +-------------------------------------------------------------------------- +
to document the reason why a firmware is not present Cc: Daniel Drake <dsd@laptop.org> Cc: Ulrich Kunitz <kune@deine-taler.de> Cc: David Woodhouse <dwmw2@infradead.org> Cc: Ben Hutchings <ben@decadent.org.uk> Cc: <linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org> Cc: <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org> Signed-off-by: Xose Vazquez Perez <xose.vazquez@gmail.com> --- MISSING | 20 ++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 20 insertions(+) create mode 100644 MISSING