Faidon Liambotis wrote: > Robert Edmonds wrote: >> This package provides the source code for the tg3dfsg kernel >> module. Kernel source or headers are required to compile this module. >> >> This driver complies with GR 2006-004 and should support all Tigon3 >> hardware except for 5701a0 chipsets. I intend to upload it should >> linux kernel images be uploaded which lack the tg3 driver. > This doesn't sound good. > > Any reason why your 5701a0-removal patch can't be applied to our kernel > packages? > > Or even better, why the driver can't be converted to use > request_firmware() instead of embedding the firmware to the source? There are three hunks of firmware code in the tg3 driver; the other two enable TSO on chipsets which lack TSO firmware in silicon, but AFAIK these chips should function without TSO. (In fact, TSO has been disabled in this driver in the past.) Any modification to the tg3 driver to produce a GR 2006-004 compliant driver would have to diverge from the kernel team's patch acceptance guidelines[0] since upstream is intransigent[1] on making tg3 firmware-free or firmware-optional. The kernel team does not appear to be interested in maintaining such a driver, and it appears future linux kernel source packages will be patched[2] to simply remove the blobs of firmware (I don't know why the driver isn't simply removed entirely since the result does not compile). Obviously, since I and many other users have computers with embedded Tigon3 hardware, I would be delighted if this package were unnecessary. [0] http://wiki.debian.org/DebianKernelPatchAcceptanceGuidelines [1] http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.debian.devel.kernel/32543/ [2] http://tinyurl.com/36xr2b, http://tinyurl.com/2u2cu5 -- Robert Edmonds edmonds@debian.org
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