From: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:54:31 -0800 (PST) > > > On Fri, 25 Jan 2008, Michael Buesch wrote: > > > Well, you forgot the point that maybe it is not that simple to get such > > > a seemingly simple change into the firmware for a long list of reasons. > > > > The reasons being? > > .. the reason being that people just expect existing firmware to work, for > example. > > The point being, even if a newer firmware was _available_, people wouldn't > necessarily run with it. How differently would the situation be handled if the firmware source were available and changeable by anyone in the community? This situation therefore only exists because it is not available to anyone to hack on. Drivers like the aic7xxx and sym53c8xx scsi ones come with scripts and other firmware that we build, if a bug were found in it we would simply fix it instead of bastardizing the C portions of the driver to fit the limitations of the firmware. The firmware is source, just that in this case we don't have access to a usable form of it, and the entity that does chooses to not band over a little bit to be cooperative. - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-wireless" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
