W: Possible missing firmware ???.fw.bin?? for module ??????.ko

[Robert G. (Doc) Savage]

On Wed, 2009-11-04 at 15:30 -0800, Rick Stevens wrote:
> Antonio Olivares wrote:
> > Dear fellow testers,
> > 
> > Has anyone noticed something like the Subject line?
> > 
> >   Installing     : kernel-2.6.31.5-115.fc12.x86_64                        10/87
> > W: Possible missing firmware aic94xx-seq.fw for module aic94xx.ko
> > W: Possible missing firmware ql8100_fw.bin for module qla2xxx.ko
> > W: Possible missing firmware ql2400_fw.bin for module qla2xxx.ko
> > W: Possible missing firmware ql2322_fw.bin for module qla2xxx.ko
> > W: Possible missing firmware ql2300_fw.bin for module qla2xxx.ko
> > W: Possible missing firmware ql2200_fw.bin for module qla2xxx.ko
> > W: Possible missing firmware ql2100_fw.bin for module qla2xxx.ko
> > 
> > 
> > Does it mean that if we have the above firmware on our machines, that the kernel modules are not there because of error?
> 
> The firmware files are expected to be installed in /lib/firmware by the
> modules.  Note that that's "/lib/firmware" regardless of 32- or 64-bit
> systems.
> 
> The QLogic firmware files (the qla2xxx driver is for QLogic fiberchannel
> HBAs) are installed by making sure you install the appropriate RPMs:
> 
> 	[root at prophead ~]# rpm -qf /lib/firmware/ql2300_fw.bin
> 	ql23xx-firmware-3.03.27-1.fc10.noarch
> 
> So "yum install ql*-firmware*" should get you all of them.  You're
> running a lot of fiberchannel stuff?  Wow!  I do, but only on big,
> honking (hundreds of TB) storage farms using EMC arrays.
> 
> As for the Adaptec file (aic94xx), I don't know.  I'm sure there's an 
> RPM for that as well.  I haven't run an Adaptec card that needed
> firmware in a long time.

Rick,

I just got these two warnings during a yum upgrade of a ThinkPad W700
laptop.

  Installing     : kernel-2.6.31.5-115.fc12.x86_64
W: Possible missing firmware aic94xx-seq.fw for module aic94xx.ko
W: Possible missing firmware ql8100_fw.bin for module qla2xxx.ko

This laptop may be a horse (quad cores), but it's not at all in the same
league as workstations/servers needing fibre channel cards to access SAN
storage. Why does this kernel seem to *expect* these files to be there,
then raise warnings when it doesn't find them? It seems to me the
overhelming majority of machines on which this kernel might be installed
would never have a need for a fiber channel card.

--Doc Savage
  Fairview Heights, IL