linux-kernel - Re: Problems loading firmware using built-in drivers with kernels that use initramfs.

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Message-ID: <CA+55aFypOcK6fiiUo8FtN1srw8M9FZtqcSsFfA2eVeFu7Nug7w@mail.gmail.com>
Date:	Wed, 26 Aug 2015 11:07:18 -0700
From:	Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>
To:	Liam Girdwood <liam.r.girdwood@...ux.intel.com>
Cc:	"Jie, Yang" <yang.jie@...el.com>, Takashi Iwai <tiwai@...e.de>,
	Dmitry Torokhov <dmitry.torokhov@...il.com>,
	"Luis R. Rodriguez" <mcgrof@...e.com>,
	"joonas.lahtinen@...ux.intel.com" <joonas.lahtinen@...ux.intel.com>,
	Tom Gundersen <teg@...m.no>, Ming Lei <ming.lei@...onical.com>,
	Al Viro <viro@...iv.linux.org.uk>,
	Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>,
	Kay Sievers <kay@...y.org>,
	David Woodhouse <dwmw2@...radead.org>,
	Luis Rodriguez <mcgrof@...not-panic.com>,
	lkml <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	yalin wang <yalin.wang2010@...il.com>
Subject: Re: Problems loading firmware using built-in drivers with kernels
 that use initramfs.

On Wed, Aug 26, 2015 at 1:06 AM, Liam Girdwood
<liam.r.girdwood@...ux.intel.com> wrote:
>
> I think the options are to either :-
>
> 1) Don not support audio DSP drivers using topology data as built-in
> drivers. Audio is not really a critical system required for booting
> anyway.

Yes, forcing it to be a module and not letting people compile it in by
mistake (and then not have it work) is an option.

That said, there are situations where people don't want to use
modules. I used to eschew them for security reasons, for example - now
I instead just do a one-time temporary key. But others may have other
reasons to try to avoid modules.

> 2) Create a default PCM for every driver that has topology data on the
> assumption that every sound card will at least 1 PCM. This PCM can then
> be re-configured when the FW is loaded.

That would seem to be the better option if it is reasonably implementable.

Of course, some kind of timer-based retry (limited *somehow*) of the
fw loading could work too, but smells really really hacky.

                  Linus
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