Re: [PATCH v2] carl9170: Clarify kconfig text

[Kalle Valo]

Christian Lamparter  writes:

> On Monday, April 18, 2016 07:42:05 PM Kalle Valo wrote:
>> Christian Lamparter  writes:
>> 
>> > On Monday, April 18, 2016 06:45:09 PM Kalle Valo wrote:
>> >
>> >> Why even mention anything about a "special firmware" as the firmware is
>> >> already available from linux-firmware.git? 
>> >
>> > Yes and no. 1.9.6 is in linux-firmware.git. I've tried to add 1.9.9 too
>> > but that failed.
>> > 
>> 
>> Rick's comment makes sense to me, better just to provide the latest
>> version. No need to unnecessary confuse the users. And if someone really
>> wants to use an older version that she can retrieve it from the git
>> history.
>
> Part of the fun here is that firmware is GPLv2. The linux-firmware.git has
> to point to or add the firmware source to their tree. They have added every
> single source file to it instead of "packaging" it in a tar.bz2/gz/xz
> like you normally do for release sources.
>
> If you want to read more about it:
> 

Yeah, that's more work. I get that. But I'm still not understanding
what's the actual problem which prevents us from updating carl9170
firmware in linux-firmware.

-- 
Kalle Valo

Re: [PATCH v2] carl9170: Clarify kconfig text

[Christian Lamparter]

On Monday, April 18, 2016 06:47:44 PM Xose Vazquez Perez wrote:
> Christian Lamparter wrote:
> 
> > Sure, but this could be a different patch then. I think Intel devices 
> > (iwlwifi, iwlegacy and ipw2x00) have a similar text about "download
> > firmware from this device from our homepage here" too. So if we want,
> > we can remove them altogether?
> 
> linux-firmware.git does not contain firmware for all drivers. _At least_
> zd1211rw [1], atmel [2] and ipw2x00 [3] are out of the tree.

Yeah, don't forget p54. It needs out-of-tree firmwares as well.

But what about iwlegacy? Isn't that another candidate that would fit both
requirements (no recent firmware update, firmware in linux-firmware.git) ?

> [1] http://sf.net/projects/zd1211/files/
> [2] 
> http://web.archive.org/web/20121016132320/http://at76c503a.berlios.de/fw_dl.html
> [3] http://ipw2100.sf.net/firmware.php http://ipw2200.sf.net/firmware.php

Re: [PATCH v2] carl9170: Clarify kconfig text

[Christian Lamparter]

On Monday, April 18, 2016 07:42:05 PM Kalle Valo wrote:
> Christian Lamparter  writes:
> 
> > On Monday, April 18, 2016 06:45:09 PM Kalle Valo wrote:
> >> Lauri Kasanen  writes:
> >> 
> >> > --- a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> >> > +++ b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> >> > @@ -5,12 +5,10 @@ config CARL9170
> >> >  select FW_LOADER
> >> >  select CRC32
> >> >  help
> >> > -  This is another driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB 
> >> > devices.
> >> > +  This is the mainline driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n 
> >> > USB devices.
> >> >  
> >> > -  This driver provides more features than the original,
> >> > -  but it needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw) to do that.
> >> > -
> >> > -  The firmware can be downloaded from our wiki here:
> >> > +  It needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw), which can be 
> >> > downloaded
> >> > +  from our wiki here:
> >> >
> >> 
> >> Why even mention anything about a "special firmware" as the firmware is
> >> already available from linux-firmware.git? 
> >
> > Yes and no. 1.9.6 is in linux-firmware.git. I've tried to add 1.9.9 too
> > but that failed.
> > 
> 
> Rick's comment makes sense to me, better just to provide the latest
> version. No need to unnecessary confuse the users. And if someone really
> wants to use an older version that she can retrieve it from the git
> history.
Part of the fun here is that firmware is GPLv2. The linux-firmware.git has
to point to or add the firmware source to their tree. They have added every
single source file to it instead of "packaging" it in a tar.bz2/gz/xz
like you normally do for release sources.

If you want to read more about it:

Re: [PATCH v2] carl9170: Clarify kconfig text

[Xose Vazquez Perez]

Christian Lamparter wrote:

> Sure, but this could be a different patch then. I think Intel devices 
> (iwlwifi, iwlegacy and ipw2x00) have a similar text about "download
> firmware from this device from our homepage here" too. So if we want,
> we can remove them altogether?

linux-firmware.git does not contain firmware for all drivers. _At least_
zd1211rw [1], atmel [2] and ipw2x00 [3] are out of the tree.

[1] http://sf.net/projects/zd1211/files/
[2] 
http://web.archive.org/web/20121016132320/http://at76c503a.berlios.de/fw_dl.html
[3] http://ipw2100.sf.net/firmware.php http://ipw2200.sf.net/firmware.php

Re: [PATCH v2] carl9170: Clarify kconfig text

[Kalle Valo]

Christian Lamparter  writes:

> On Monday, April 18, 2016 06:45:09 PM Kalle Valo wrote:
>> Lauri Kasanen  writes:
>> 
>> > --- a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
>> > +++ b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
>> > @@ -5,12 +5,10 @@ config CARL9170
>> >select FW_LOADER
>> >select CRC32
>> >help
>> > -This is another driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB devices.
>> > +This is the mainline driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB 
>> > devices.
>> >  
>> > -This driver provides more features than the original,
>> > -but it needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw) to do that.
>> > -
>> > -The firmware can be downloaded from our wiki here:
>> > +It needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw), which can be downloaded
>> > +from our wiki here:
>> >  
>> 
>> Why even mention anything about a "special firmware" as the firmware is
>> already available from linux-firmware.git? 
>
> Yes and no. 1.9.6 is in linux-firmware.git. I've tried to add 1.9.9 too
> but that failed.
> 

Rick's comment makes sense to me, better just to provide the latest
version. No need to unnecessary confuse the users. And if someone really
wants to use an older version that she can retrieve it from the git
history.

>> That's default location for all firmware images and I think most, if not all,
>> distros should have it available. So wouldn't it be better not to mention 
>> anything about firmware at all?
>
> Sure, but this could be a different patch then. I think Intel devices 
> (iwlwifi, iwlegacy and ipw2x00) have a similar text about "download
> firmware from this device from our homepage here" too. So if we want,
> we can remove them altogether?

So iwlwifi now has:

  In order to use this driver, you will need a firmware
  image for it. You can obtain the microcode from:

  .

Maybe that could be changed to mention about the wiki page in general:

  The driver has a wiki page at:

  .

But I know iwlwifi updates the firmware images pretty often so Emmanuel
might see this differently.

-- 
Kalle Valo

Re: [PATCH v2] carl9170: Clarify kconfig text

[Christian Lamparter]

On Monday, April 18, 2016 06:45:09 PM Kalle Valo wrote:
> Lauri Kasanen  writes:
> 
> > The previous text was confusing, leading readers to think this
> > driver was a duplicate, and so didn't need to be enabled.
> >
> > After the removal of the older staging driver, this is the only
> > driver in mainline for these devices.
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Lauri Kasanen 
> > ---
> > v2: Remove the mention of the previous driver, suggested by Christian.
> >
> >  drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig | 8 +++-
> >  1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
> >
> > diff --git a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig 
> > b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> > index 1a796e5..2e34bae 100644
> > --- a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> > +++ b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> > @@ -5,12 +5,10 @@ config CARL9170
> > select FW_LOADER
> > select CRC32
> > help
> > - This is another driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB devices.
> > + This is the mainline driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB 
> > devices.
> >  
> > - This driver provides more features than the original,
> > - but it needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw) to do that.
> > -
> > - The firmware can be downloaded from our wiki here:
> > + It needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw), which can be downloaded
> > + from our wiki here:
> >   
> 
> Why even mention anything about a "special firmware" as the firmware is
> already available from linux-firmware.git? 
Yes and no. 1.9.6 is in linux-firmware.git. I've tried to add 1.9.9 too
but that failed.


> That's default location for all firmware images and I think most, if not all,
> distros should have it available. So wouldn't it be better not to mention 
> anything about firmware at all?
Sure, but this could be a different patch then. I think Intel devices 
(iwlwifi, iwlegacy and ipw2x00) have a similar text about "download
firmware from this device from our homepage here" too. So if we want,
we can remove them altogether?

Regards,
Christian

Re: [PATCH v2] carl9170: Clarify kconfig text

[Kalle Valo]

Lauri Kasanen  writes:

> The previous text was confusing, leading readers to think this
> driver was a duplicate, and so didn't need to be enabled.
>
> After the removal of the older staging driver, this is the only
> driver in mainline for these devices.
>
> Signed-off-by: Lauri Kasanen 
> ---
> v2: Remove the mention of the previous driver, suggested by Christian.
>
>  drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig | 8 +++-
>  1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig 
> b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> index 1a796e5..2e34bae 100644
> --- a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> +++ b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> @@ -5,12 +5,10 @@ config CARL9170
>   select FW_LOADER
>   select CRC32
>   help
> -   This is another driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB devices.
> +   This is the mainline driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB 
> devices.
>  
> -   This driver provides more features than the original,
> -   but it needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw) to do that.
> -
> -   The firmware can be downloaded from our wiki here:
> +   It needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw), which can be downloaded
> +   from our wiki here:
> 

Why even mention anything about a "special firmware" as the firmware is
already available from linux-firmware.git? That's default location for
all firmware images and I think most, if not all, distros should have it
available. So wouldn't it be better not to mention anything about
firmware at all?

-- 
Kalle Valo

Re: [PATCH v2] carl9170: Clarify kconfig text

[Christian Lamparter]

On Saturday, April 16, 2016 05:18:56 PM Lauri Kasanen wrote:
> The previous text was confusing, leading readers to think this
> driver was a duplicate, and so didn't need to be enabled.
> 
> After the removal of the older staging driver, this is the only
> driver in mainline for these devices.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Lauri Kasanen 
Acked-by: Christian Lamparter 

> ---
> v2: Remove the mention of the previous driver, suggested by Christian.

Thanks!
 
>  drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig | 8 +++-
>  1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig 
> b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> index 1a796e5..2e34bae 100644
> --- a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> +++ b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
> @@ -5,12 +5,10 @@ config CARL9170
>   select FW_LOADER
>   select CRC32
>   help
> -   This is another driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB devices.
> +   This is the mainline driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB 
> devices.
>  
> -   This driver provides more features than the original,
> -   but it needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw) to do that.
> -
> -   The firmware can be downloaded from our wiki here:
> +   It needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw), which can be downloaded
> +   from our wiki here:
> 
>  
> If you choose to build a module, it'll be called carl9170.
> 

[PATCH v2] carl9170: Clarify kconfig text

[Lauri Kasanen]

The previous text was confusing, leading readers to think this
driver was a duplicate, and so didn't need to be enabled.

After the removal of the older staging driver, this is the only
driver in mainline for these devices.

Signed-off-by: Lauri Kasanen 
---
v2: Remove the mention of the previous driver, suggested by Christian.

 drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig | 8 +++-
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig 
b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
index 1a796e5..2e34bae 100644
--- a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/Kconfig
@@ -5,12 +5,10 @@ config CARL9170
select FW_LOADER
select CRC32
help
- This is another driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB devices.
+ This is the mainline driver for the Atheros "otus" 802.11n USB 
devices.
 
- This driver provides more features than the original,
- but it needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw) to do that.
-
- The firmware can be downloaded from our wiki here:
+ It needs a special firmware (carl9170-1.fw), which can be downloaded
+ from our wiki here:
  
 
  If you choose to build a module, it'll be called carl9170.
-- 
2.6.2