I understand that most drivers  use request_firmware() to load  volatile
firmware. I do see that there are other nic drivers that use this inferface to
flash persistent firmware.

 We have other tools for offline flashing; but there is requirement
to flash f/w through driver without having to use other proprietary  tools.
Since the firmware load happens only when there is a version mismatch with
f/w in /lib/firmware, Users who want to avoid automatic flashing at boot time
can choose not to copy the f/w file under /lib/firmware.

- Sarvesh

On 02/07/09 21:33 +0100, Ben Hutchings wrote:
quoted text
> On Thu, 2009-07-02 at 16:48 +0530, Sarveshwar Bandi wrote: 
> > Please review and apply patch to net-next tree. Patch implements the 
> > request_firmware interface.
> [...] 
> > +	/* fw ver on board matches */
> > +	if (!strncmp(fhdr->sign + strlen(FW_FILE_HDR_SIGN), fw_ver,
> > +			FW_VER_LEN))
> > +		goto fw_exit;
> > +
> > +	dev_info(&adapter->pdev->dev,
> > +		"Flashing firmware file %s\n", fw_file);
> [...]
> 
> request_firmware() is really intended for loading non-persistent
> "firmware" that must be loaded into the device's RAM after power-on
> reset.  It is not expected and should not be necessary that drivers
> automatically update firmware in flash memory.  I also understand that
> some OEMs specifically forbid their suppliers to do this automatically
> in drivers.
> 
> Ben.
> 
> -- 
> Ben Hutchings, Senior Software Engineer, Solarflare Communications
> Not speaking for my employer; that's the marketing department's job.
> They asked us to note that Solarflare product names are trademarked.
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