linux-kernel - Re: The r8188eu kernel module does not depend on the rtlwifi/rtl8188eufw.bin firmware file

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Message-ID: <YukvnVWuhUeOgRyZ@kroah.com>
Date:   Tue, 2 Aug 2022 16:07:25 +0200
From:   Greg KH <greg@...ah.com>
To:     Grzegorz Szymaszek <gszymaszek@...rt.pl>,
        Larry Finger <Larry.Finger@...inger.net>,
        Phillip Potter <phil@...lpotter.co.uk>,
        linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, linux-staging@...ts.linux.dev
Subject: Re: The r8188eu kernel module does not depend on the
 rtlwifi/rtl8188eufw.bin firmware file

On Tue, Aug 02, 2022 at 03:17:58PM +0200, Grzegorz Szymaszek wrote:
> Dear r8188eu Maintainers,
> 
> The old rtl8188eu kernel module, removed in v5.15[1][2], indicated that
> it requires the rtlwifi/rtl8188eufw.bin firmware file[3]. The new
> r8188eu driver no longer does so.
> 
> I don’t know if it should be considered a regression or just a different
> behaviour of the two drivers. I’ve noticed it[4] when I tried to use an
> RTL8188EU‐based card in the initramfs of two different Ubuntu kernels:
> v5.4 and v5.15. In v5.4, the firmware would be automatically included
> when the (old) driver was included, whereas in v5.15 I would have to add
> it manually so that the card actually worked. (One can verify the active
> driver’s requirements using “modinfo -F firmware r8188eu”.)
> 
> If there are cards the new driver supports that do not need that
> firmware file, it makes sense to not automatically include it. In
> general, I don’t know the kernel policy on such dependencies.
> 
> [1]: commit 55dfa29b43d23bab37d98f087615ff46d38241df
> [2]: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20210731133809.196681-1-phil@philpotter.co.uk/
> [3]: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/staging/rtl8188eu/os_dep/os_intfs.c?id=06889446a78fb9655332954a2288ecbacc7f0ff8#n22
> [4]: https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-meta-hwe-5.15/+question/702611

Looks like someone needs to add a line to the driver that looks like:
	MODULE_FIRMWARE("rtlwifi/rtl8188eufw.bin");
so that the tools will automatically pick it up properly going forward.

Can you make a patch that does this?

thanks,

greg k-h