Firmware

[Jarod Wilson]

Don Zickus wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 09, 2008 at 11:08:57AM -0400, Jarod Wilson wrote:
>> Don Zickus wrote:
>>>>>> I suspect that (for now) we should make the kernel binary packages
>>>>>> depend on kernel-firmware?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Should the package own the /lib/firmware/ directory?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Ideally we'll want kernel-firmware to be a .noarch.rpm, but we can't get
>>>>>> that until we start to build it from a separate srpm.
>>>>> I assume the %install would cause a rebuild of the initrd to deal with
>>>>> storage device firmware on bootup?
>>>> The kernel install already does that. Perhaps we should ensure that
>>>> kernel-firmware gets updated before the kernel proper, to ensure that
>>>> the new firmware is included. 
>>> Or maybe always rebuild initrd when installing kernel-firmware?  It's a
>>> little overkill but handles scenarios when the vendor updates their
>>> storage blob but we have no new kernel update to go with it (that's
>>> probably a little long term thinking to handle the scenario when you
>>> actually separate the srpms..).
>> I'd stick to rebuilding initrds only for a new kernel. Your issue of 'what 
>> do I do if the new firmware is bunk' pops up if installing kernel-firmware 
>> triggers a new initrd for an already functioning kernel. :)
> 
> Hmm, that would cause issues.  But then when folks like qlogic have new
> fw, how do you update it successfully?

Not sure. What happens in such cases today? Have to install a new kernel or kmod?

> A stub kernel?

Ew.

> Perhaps creating a new initrd based on the same kernel and a corresponding
> new grub entry (entry would consist of old kernel / new initrd image)
> would allow people to fallback to the old initrd image if the new one was
> bunk?

Could get messy, littering /boot with old initrds that aren't cleaned up, and 
your bootloader with extra entries you may never use -- what would trigger 
their removal and when? I just assume leave out the auto-rebuilding of the 
initrd though. I think if you know you need/want new firmware for a device, 
you should be able to figure out how to create a new initrd with it (and save 
the old initrd as a fallback).


> I didn't find that scenario interesting because you already have your
> rootfs mounted so you could do other tricks to recover from that.

Yeah, I sent a follow-up email saying the same, didn't take that into account 
until after hitting send, and my unsend button never seems to work... :)


-- 
Jarod Wilson
jwilson at redhat.com