Re: [PATCH 00/18] firmware: moving drivers to request_firmware()
From: Jeff Garzik
Date: Thu Jun 05 2008 - 18:11:46 EST
Here is my "ideal firmware world":
* do NOT remove ability to compile firmware into the kernel (or into a
module)
* firmware should be field-replaceable, even if one was compiled in
* the preferred form of firmware is one or more binary blobs, stored in
a regular [filesystem|git] binary file.
* the preferred form is NOT ascii C source, or any other format other
than the native format that the hardware wants. Remember, the vendor
only provided an ASCII-ized firmware because our system required it that
way, not because that's the preferred form.
* in-tree firmwares should be stored in one or more binary files in the
tree, not in C source code or .ihex files.
* when firmware is stored as binary blob, it is easier for
(1) vendor to replace,
(2) developer/user to compare/verify using sha1,
(3) does not require a C compiler or binutils to unpack
Thus, if you are going to be touching the in-tree firmwares at all, it
doesn't make sense to convert from C source to any format other than
native binary.
Jeff
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