Re: [GIT *] Allow request_firmware() to be satisfied from in-kernel,use it in more drivers.

From: Jeff Garzik
Date: Tue Jul 15 2008 - 04:07:54 EST


David Woodhouse wrote:
On Tue, 2008-07-15 at 03:21 -0400, Jeff Garzik wrote:
* forced a flag day build process change upon all distros/builders who switch to >= 2.6.27. no build script updates == non-working drivers.

Jeff, we don't usually call it a 'flag day' when it's just the normal
and uninteresting case that you update the upstream version of the
package, and you need minor tweaks to how you package it. That happens
all the time. A general rule of thumb is to stop drinking at least 4
hours before undertaking a full version upgrade of _any_ package you
maintain.

You could argue that converting a wireless driver to use mac80211 would
break ipkg distributions too. And call that a 'flag day'.

But that would be silly. Wouldn't it?

Normally, one can upgrade the kernel, not upgrade userland, and happily continue working.

With this change, there are several exceptions where this is not the case, across all driver types -- media, wan, char, net, scsi, ...

Package manifests, build scripts and other details MUST be updated, or these drivers will not work as they did in kernels <= 2.6.26.

That is not an opinion, that is a simple fact of life with the kernel as of 50515af207d410c9f228380e529c56f43c3de0bd.

And yes, for the people who have to clean up the mess, I call that a flag day.

Jeff



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