On Mon, 22 Oct 2007 13:46:43 +0200
quoted text
> > In that kernel CONFIG_SCSI_QLA_FC is set to y but still it is not
> > possible to boot from any of those cards as the driver requires a
> > firmware file. 
> Then an initrd-less boot is impossible for this
> device - even the modular approach needs
> an initrd to load the module if you want that
> device as root fs.

Today I was able to boot from an FC disk with a modified kernel 2.6.21
without any initrd. The modification was basically to replace the contents
of drivers/scsi/qla2xxx with the code in qla2xxx-v8.02.02-dist.tgz from
ftp://ftp.qlogic.com/outgoing/linux/beta/8.x/ as that driver has the
firmware built in.

quoted text
> Better to just fix the driver - which can't be that
> hard for anyone capable of making the driver in
> the first place. Modularity and firmware loading
> are not connected. One is for kernel flexibility, the other
> is for making a particular device work.

In this case I finally did prefer a solution which didn't depend on any
separate firmware file. Being able to boot straight to the FC drive
without the need of initrd was really nice.

When I first asked my question I assumed that I would have to compile the
driver as a module and use an initrd containing both the module and the
firmware together with userspace mechanisms to load the firmware. This
solution with a replaced qla2xxx driver was not the answer to my first
question about bool and tristate, but that question also got answered in
this thread.

Best regards Henrik
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