Re: Question about firmware in Debian packaging system
On 20140402_145422, Klaus wrote:
> On 02/04/14 14:30, Paul E Condon wrote:
> >Some time during March I made a fresh install of Wheezy on old HP
> >hardware using netinst v. 7.4 (the most recent version, I think).
> >During the install, I remember reading a warning message to the
> >effect that I might need to install non-free firmware and/or drivers.
> >I don't remember the exact wording, and there was no opportunity
> >to do anything but either 'go-back' or 'continue' , so I selected
> >'continue' and the rest of the install completed without error.
> >The issue of possible non-free (soft|firm)ware has remained un-resolved
> >in my mind until today when I looked into what was installed in Aptitude.
> >In Aptitude I see a number of firmware packages and none of them are
> >installed, so apparently they were not needed, so why was the warning
> >issued? Is there a place where this is all explained? Is there a generic
> >set of drivers that usually work or at least can possibly work. And I was
> >lucky enough to have them work, or what? I'm curious.
> >
> >TIA
> >
> Have you had a look in /var/log/syslog whether any firmware is
> loaded, or whether any firmware is reported missing?
>
> grep firmware /var/log/syslog
>
> --
> Klaus
Two lines:
Mar 30 14:32:50 pec NetworkManager[2898]: <info> monitoring kernel firmware directory '/lib/firmware'.
and
Mar 30 20:58:13 big NetworkManager[2843]: <info> monitoring kernel firmware directory '/lib/firmware'.
which I guess are from two separate reboots. I seem not to have shut
down between then and now. I don't think <info> means anything was
loaded, but I have not yet learned how to interpret a syslog.
Come to think of it: Isn't the binary code that is loaded into RAM at
boot time pre-assembled when a new kernel is installed and placed in
/boot/ and symlinks to it /vmlinuz and /initrd.img generated?
Thanks for the tip, but I'm still puzzled.
--
Paul E Condon
pecondon@mesanetworks.net
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