Subject: Re: [bug?] tg3: Failed to load firmware "tigon/tg3_tso.bin"

From: Jeff Garzik <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:14:23 -0400

Alan Cox wrote:
>> Further, all current kernel build and test etc. scripts are unaware of 
>> 'make firmware_install', and it is unfair to everybody to force a 
>> flag-day build process change on people, just to keep their drivers in 
>> the same working state today as it was yesterday.
> 
> IMHO we want firmware built in as the default for the moment. If the
> firmware model makes sense (as I think it does) then the distributions
> will catch up, turn it on and sort out the default behaviour - exactly as
> they did all those years ago with modules, more recently with "use an
> initrd" and so on.

Agreed.

>> as "making no sense".  All these are real world examples where users 
>> FOLLOWING THEIR NORMAL, PROSCRIBED KERNEL PROCESSES will produce 
> 
> I hope you mean "prescribed" ;)

heh, *cough* yes

>> The only valid assumption here is to assume that the user is /unaware/ 
>> of these new steps they must take in order to continue to have a working 
>> system.
> 
> To a large extent not the user but their distro - consider "make install"

Actually, I was tossing that about in my head:

Is it a better idea to eliminate 'make firmware_install' completely, and 
instead implement it silently via 'make install'?

'make install' is already a big fat distro hook...

	Jeff