Bug#695403: installation-guide: Please point out the limitations of firmware detection
On Sat 08 Dec 2012 at 13:59:57 +0000, Ben Hutchings wrote:
> On Sat, 2012-12-08 at 12:29 +0100, Gaudenz Steinlin wrote:
> > Hi
> >
> > Brian Potkin <claremont102@gmail.com> writes:
> > >
> > > +</para><para>
> > > +
> > > +The routines used to detect missing firmware can only be of help for
> > > +modules loaded after &d-i; has started.
>
> This is irrelevant; not all drivers are included in d-i (and in
> particular radeon is not).
Even though I thought I had implied this there may be some element of
imprecision in my expression. I was also trying not to be too specific
about which missing firmware might not be detected. Is this any better?
The installer only prompts for firmware needed by kernel
modules loaded during the installation. Not all drivers are
included in d-i (in particular radeon is not) so . . .
> > This implies that the
> > > +capabilities of some devices, the graphics card, for example, are no
> > > +different at the end of the installation from what they were at the
> > > +beginning and may mean some of your hardware is not being used to its
> > > +full potential. If you suspect this is the case, or are just curious, it
> > > +is not a bad idea to check the output of the <command>dmesg</command>
> > > +command on the newly booted system and search for "firmware", "missing",
> > > +"unable" or "fail".
> > > +
> >
> > Shouldn't we improve the installer to do this search instead? To me this
> > seems to be mostly scriptable.
>
> This doesn't work.
>
> I think we should standardise the log messages from the kernel.
Would a user employing the search terms have some chance of discovering
a lack of firmware on an installed system?
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