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

[Krzysztof Oledzki]

On Fri, 21 Sep 2007, Denys Vlasenko wrote:

> 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.
Firmware may come with a kernel. We have a "install modules", we can also 
add "install firmware".

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

It is not possible to bring up things like FC or WiFi without firmware, 
what special is in classic NICs?

Best regards,

				Krzysztof Olędzki