Raoul Bhatia [IPAX] wrote: > Keith Hopkins wrote: > > SuSE loads the driver as a module and the firmware in initrd. I haven't > > tried initramfs, nor compiling it into the kernel. > > > > I unpacked my current initrd, and in it I found: > > > > lib/firmware/aic94xx-seq.fw > > + some ql firmware that I don't need. > > > > I'm not sure if the driver compiled for SuSE "just knows" to look in > > /lib/firmware, or how it finds the file. It might have something to do > > with the firmware_class module in SuSE. > > I do remember that I needed to load 'edd' before 94xx, or it would not > > init the firmware. > > this is a default behaviour of this and many other drivers. Which part are you refering to as being default? Requiring edd or something else? > > As for compiling the driver in the kernel, and putting the firmware in > > initrd/initramfs, you would have to force the init of the 94xx module to > > be after the initrd/initramfs was initialized, loaded and mounted. I > > have not checked to see if that is currently possible. > > in the end, there is no big deal in putting the firmware into the > initramfs. some distributions may work out of the box, some might > require a little tuning of an initramfs hook. I compile kernels specifically for each machine that I have (which is not that often and not that many). Some mount NFS root, others have different drivers required to mount / and other CPU options as well. Thus I do not need the extra overhead and complexity of an initramfs. > which leads me to my question: why are you absolutly against an > initramfs image? properly configured - and that is not a big deal > in current versions of mkinitramfs and current distributions - there > are few possibilities to break the setup. I've always hated the idea that one would require this just to get their / mounted. Granted there are some setups out there that absolutely require it. I have one such setup at work, but that system was designed to run out of ram anyway. See comment about initramfs above. Now if I were attempting to mount NFSroot over wireless, I would have to use an initramfs. I see no point in using initramfs for something that can simply be compiled into the kernel. I am aware of possible hardware changes (IE going from ata, scsi, etc to sata or sas) that would require a recompile and I prefer this again over initramfs. As for the reason for this thread, the AIC94xx chip requires non-free firmware. Right now, my / is on SCSI and is compiled in. I had considered re-doing my system and doing away with the SCSI hard drives. That'd mean that I'd need the driver in the kernel (Key word is "I"). So how do I go about getting the firmware to the driver. My 2 options, if doable, is to somehow build the firmware into the kernel myself or build an initramfs with just enough tools to load the firmware into the driver and mount my /. I still like the "There's more than 1 way to do it" and I'll probably do a different way for anything =) > if you require assistance, i can help. I appreciate the offer. I think I know what needs to be done if/when I decide to redesign my system. -- Lab tests show that use of micro$oft causes cancer in lab animals Got Gas??? -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-scsi" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
