From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1755534Ab0I2MfG (ORCPT ); Wed, 29 Sep 2010 08:35:06 -0400 Received: from exchange.solarflare.com ([216.237.3.220]:45515 "EHLO exchange.solarflare.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1755278Ab0I2MfF (ORCPT ); Wed, 29 Sep 2010 08:35:05 -0400 Subject: Re: [RFC] Online firmware upgrade in non-embedded systems From: Ben Hutchings To: Carl-Daniel Hailfinger Cc: netdev , linux-kernel , linux-mtd , sf-linux-drivers , flashrom In-Reply-To: <4CA26F35.6060408@gmx.net> References: <1285696787.2282.45.camel@achroite.uk.solarflarecom.com> <4CA26F35.6060408@gmx.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Organization: Solarflare Communications Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2010 13:35:00 +0100 Message-ID: <1285763700.2283.6.camel@achroite.uk.solarflarecom.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Evolution 2.30.2 (2.30.2-4.fc13) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-OriginalArrivalTime: 29 Sep 2010 12:35:04.0085 (UTC) FILETIME=[BDB70450:01CB5FD2] X-TM-AS-Product-Ver: SMEX-8.0.0.1181-6.500.1024-17672.005 X-TM-AS-Result: No--26.032900-0.000000-31 X-TM-AS-User-Approved-Sender: Yes X-TM-AS-User-Blocked-Sender: No Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Wed, 2010-09-29 at 00:41 +0200, Carl-Daniel Hailfinger wrote: > [adding flashrom@flashrom.org to CC, senders will be whitelisted after a > short delay] > > On 28.09.2010 19:59, Ben Hutchings wrote: > > Network and disk controllers normally have at least some firmware in > > flash to support their use as boot devices. [...] > > > > Currently the sfc network driver is optionally combined with an MTD > > driver (CONFIG_SFC_MTD) which exposes all upgradable firmware and > > configuration partitions in flash. This works nicely in kernels with > > MTD enabled, but since MTD is mainly used in embedded systems with > > on-board flash it is often disabled in distribution kernels and custom > > kernels alike. This leaves users of sfc unable to upgrade firmware > > without rebuilding the kernel or booting some other distribution. The > > lack of widespread MTD support is a regular cause of support requests. > > > > There are two main alternatives I'm aware of: > > > > - Use the ethtool ETHTOOL_SEEPROM [...] > > > > - Use the ethtool ETHTOOL_FLASHDEV command [..] > > > > Of course these are both specific to network devices; it seems deisrable > > to have a more general convention for online firmware upgrades. MTDs > > clearly are more generally applicable, and pretty much every computer > > does have flash storage for firmware and boot configuration, so perhaps > > it should be treated as more of a standard feature? > > > > Given that the flashrom utility (GPLv2) > supports flashing many network cards, SATA/PATA controllers, graphics > cards, and of course the main system firmware/BIOS/EFI, and it does that > from userspace without any kernel support, [...] I'm looking for a clean solution, not a hack. 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.