Re: [v4l-dvb-maintainer] Options depending on STANDALONE

On Sun, Aug 06, 2006 at 01:18:59PM +0200, Oliver Endriss wrote:
Adrian Bunk wrote:
On Thu, Aug 03, 2006 at 04:40:25PM -0700, Trent Piepho wrote:
On Thu, 3 Aug 2006, Adrian Bunk wrote:
On Thu, Aug 03, 2006 at 03:56:17PM -0400, Dave Jones wrote:
You're describing PREVENT_FIRMWARE_BUILD. The text Zach quoted is from
STANDALONE, which is something else completely. That allows us to not
build drivers that pull in things from /etc and the like during compile.
(Whoever thought that was a good idea?)

Is DVB_AV7110_FIRMWARE really still required?
ALL other drivers work without such an option.

The other DVB drivers that need firmware load it when the device is opened
or used (ie. a channel is tuned). At least for the ones I'm familiar
with. If they are compiled directly into the kernel, they can still use
FW_LOADER since the loading won't happen until utill well after booting is
done.

For AV7110, it looks like the firmware loading is done when the driver is
first initialized. If AV7110 is compiled into the kernel, FW_LOADER can
not be used. The filesystem with the firmware won't be mounted yet.

So AV7110 has an option to compile a firmware file into the driver.

But is there a technical reason why this has to be done this way?

This is the onle (non-OSS) driver doing it this way, and Zach has a
point that this is legally questionable.

This option _is_ useful because it allows allows a user to build an
av7110 driver without hotplug etc. I NAK any attempt to remove it.

If you look at the dependencies of DVB_AV7110 and the code in av7110.c
you'll note that your statement "it allows allows a user to build an
av7110 driver without hotplug" is not true.

Sorry, a kernel option cannot cause a legal issue. Only the user does.
For non-distribution kernels there is no difference whether firmware is
loaded at run-time or compiled-in.

Obviously, there might be a difference for distribution kernels if you
are not allowed to distribute the firmware (imho not a problem in this
case, but IANAL). Simple solution: Do not enable the option.

The general direction in Linux kernel development is to load the
firmware at runtime.

I have no problem if you want to remove STANDALONE: Simply remove the
dependency to STANDALONE, but keep DVB_AV7110_FIRMWARE with default 'n'.

The point of STANDALONE are working allmodconfig/allyesconfig compiles.

Removing the dependency on STANDALONE therefore implies that it compiles.

CU
Oliver

cu
Adrian

--

Gentoo kernels are 42 times more popular than SUSE kernels among
KLive users (a service by SUSE contractor Andrea Arcangeli that
gathers data about kernels from many users worldwide).

There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics.
Benjamin Disraeli

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/

Relevant Pages

  • Re: [linux-dvb] [PATCH] Remove fdump tool for av7110 firmware
    ... option to include arbitrary firmware files directly in the kernel image. ... This option allows to compile the firmware into the _driver_, ... Working with various driver versions is much easier with the ...
    (Linux-Kernel)
  • Re: webcam recommendations
    ... couple of driver sites. ... the driver refused to compile because Fedora ... kernels have CONFIG_REGPARM enabled. ...
    (Fedora)
  • Re: [v4l-dvb-maintainer] Options depending on STANDALONE
    ... The other DVB drivers that need firmware load it when the device is opened ... If they are compiled directly into the kernel, ... So AV7110 has an option to compile a firmware file into the driver. ...
    (Linux-Kernel)
  • Re: [v4l-dvb-maintainer] Options depending on STANDALONE
    ... The other DVB drivers that need firmware load it when the device is opened ... If they are compiled directly into the kernel, ... So AV7110 has an option to compile a firmware file into the driver. ...
    (Linux-Kernel)
  • [PATCH 1/5] Update DVB documentation
    ... [DVB] ... documentation update for recent DVB TTUSB driver changes ... TechnoTrend/Hauppauge DEC driver firmware ... For 2.4 kernels the firmware for the DECs is compiled into the driver itself. ...
    (Linux-Kernel)