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Bjørn Mork authored
commit 9ac32e1b firmware: convert e100 driver to request_firmware() did a straight conversion of the in-driver ucode to external files. This introduced the possibility of the driver failing to enable an interface due to missing ucode. There was no evaluation of the importance of the ucode at the time. Based on comments in earlier versions of this driver, and in the source code for the FreeBSD fxp driver, we can assume that the ucode implements the "CPU Cycle Saver" feature on supported adapters. Although generally wanted, this is an optional feature. The ucode source is not available, preventing it from being included in free distributions. This creates unnecessary problems for the end users. Doing a network install based on a free distribution installer requires the user to download and insert the ucode into the installer. Making the ucode optional when possible improves the user experience and driver usability. The ucode for some adapters include a bugfix, making it essential. We continue to fail for these adapters unless the ucode is available. Signed-off-by:
Bjørn Mork <bjorn@mork.no> Signed-off-by:
David S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net>
8b0d2f9e