Subject: Re: [PATCH] be2net: Implementation of request_firmware interface.

From: Ben Hutchings <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:33:28 +0100

On Thu, 2009-07-02 at 16:48 +0530, Sarveshwar Bandi wrote: 
> Please review and apply patch to net-next tree. Patch implements the 
> request_firmware interface.
[...] 
> +	/* fw ver on board matches */
> +	if (!strncmp(fhdr->sign + strlen(FW_FILE_HDR_SIGN), fw_ver,
> +			FW_VER_LEN))
> +		goto fw_exit;
> +
> +	dev_info(&adapter->pdev->dev,
> +		"Flashing firmware file %s\n", fw_file);
[...]

request_firmware() is really intended for loading non-persistent
"firmware" that must be loaded into the device's RAM after power-on
reset.  It is not expected and should not be necessary that drivers
automatically update firmware in flash memory.  I also understand that
some OEMs specifically forbid their suppliers to do this automatically
in drivers.

Ben.

-- 
Ben Hutchings, Senior Software Engineer, Solarflare Communications
Not speaking for my employer; that's the marketing department's job.
They asked us to note that Solarflare product names are trademarked.