On Fri, Sep 02, 2016 at 09:41:18PM -0700, Linus Torvalds wrote: > On Sep 2, 2016 9:20 PM, "Dmitry Torokhov" <dmitry.torokhov@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > > Like what? Some devices do need to have firmware loaded so we know > > their capabilities, so we really can't push the firmware loading into > > "open". > > So you > (a) document that Document that device may come up half-broken? Not sure how that would help end user. > (b) make the driver only build as a module Unfortunately module loading and availability of firmware is very loosely coupled. Of course, if you only load modules from the same partition that your firmware is on you can get away with it, but if some of the modules are in initramfs and firmware is on final root fs then it still does not work. And populating also initramfs with firmware that might be used once in a 1000 boots is somewhat wasteful. That is not talking about systems that do not wish to use modules for one reason or another, or even more esoteric setups where non-essential for boot firmware can be mounted later over nfs, etc, etc. > (c) make sure the module and the firmware go together I do not think it is always possible. Quite often it is though, at the expense of increasing kernel/initramfs size. > > End of problem. > > Why make up random interfaces for crazy stuff? Because we want a solution that works well for all cases, simple and complex. This includes allowing drivers to be built into the kernel but allow them waiting for additional data (config/firmware) that may become available later in the game. We just need to be able to tell them when it does not make sense to wait anymore as the data they want is not coming, and do it more reliably then simply declaring 10 or 30 or 300 seconds time out. Thanks. -- Dmitry -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-serial" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
