Re: [PATCH 1/2] bnx2: factor out gzip unpacker

From: Denys Vlasenko
Date: Fri Sep 21 2007 - 15:18:25 EST


On Friday 21 September 2007 19:36, Valdis.Kletnieks@xxxxxx wrote:
> On Fri, 21 Sep 2007 19:05:23 BST, Denys Vlasenko said:
>
> > I plan to use gzip compression on following drivers' firmware,
> > if patches will be accepted:
> >
> > text data bss dec hex filename
> > 17653 109968 240 127861 1f375 drivers/net/acenic.o
> > 6628 120448 4 127080 1f068 drivers/net/dgrs.o
> > ^^^^^^
>
> Should this be redone to use the existing firmware loading framework to
> load the firmware instead?

Not in every case.

For example, bnx2 maintainer says that driver and
firmware are closely tied for his driver. IOW: you upgrade kernel
and your NIC is not working anymore.

Another argument is to make kernel be able to bring up NICs
without needing firmware images in initramfs/initrd/hard drive.
--
vda
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