On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 16:01, Hr. Philip Rueegsegger <rue@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >>> I want to use a monolithic kernel (loadable module support disabled) for >>> security reasons. The in-kernel-driver for the network card (bnx2) needs >>> firmware to be loaded. Of course, when the kernel boots there is no > filesystem >>> available from where the firmware can be loaded nor a firmware loader agent. >> > >>You can also compile firmware in kernel in which case request from >>driver will be transparently served by compiled-in firmware. > >>Not sure when compiled-in firmware support was introduced first. Check >>for CONFIG_FIRMWARE_IN_KERNEL. > > Unfortunately, for the kernel I'm using (2.6.26 from Debian Lenny), this is not > the case. > > Is there no other possibility to accomplish this? For example, kind of postpone > loading of the driver? Yeah, you should use a recent kernel. :) You can try to unbind/bind the driver from/to the device with /sys/bus/pci/drivers/*/*bind. For some drivers it works that way. Anyway, it's probably easier to leave it as a module. There are thousand ways to get code into the running kernel with the right permissions, disabling the module loader does not really add security. Kay -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-hotplug" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
