Re: [PATCH 0/7] media: i2c: st-vd55g1: Genericize driver and add VD55G0 support

[Sergey Lebedev]

Following up on the firmware blocker I raised on 7 September, since it is
still the thing that stops anyone but the author from using VD55G0. Relayed
with Peter Marshall's agreement.

Peter sourced the firmware the same way I did for testing: the version 2.11
patch array in Andre Gilerson's out-of-tree VD55G0 driver, which he reports is
identical to the one in ST's standalone driver. He has published the extracted
blobs for testing at

  https://github.com/petm5/vd55g-firmware

and would prefer submission to linux-firmware over a built-in array, so that
firmware can be updated independently of the kernel version. I agree that is
the better end state.

Worth adding, because it may lower the bar for getting there: the built-in
arrangement is already in the tree, from ST, for the sibling part.
drivers/media/i2c/vd55g1.c is Copyright (C) 2025 STMicroelectronics SA under
SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0, and it carries vd55g1_patch_array[] - 3512
bytes, firmware revision 2.9 by its own defines. That file has no
request_firmware path at all; the built-in array is its only mechanism.

Different sensor and a different binary from the VD55G0 one, which measures
6868 bytes at revision 2.11, so it is precedent for the arrangement rather
than for the blob. But it does mean a built-in for VD55G0 would not be asking
ST for something they have not already done one part number over, whereas
linux-firmware needs an explicit redistribution grant in WHENCE from the
copyright holder.

So the two routes are not equally hard today, and they are not exclusive: a
built-in now and linux-firmware when ST are ready is not a wasted step.

Whether GPL-2.0 on the surrounding code carries the blob with it is a licence
question and not one I will answer.

Benjamin, Sylvain - this is the one blocker on the series that nobody outside
ST can clear.

Sergey