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authorDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-04-11 08:27:49 +0000
committerDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-04-11 08:27:49 +0000
commitace9429bb58fd418f0c81d4c2835699bddf6bde6 (patch)
treeb2d64bc10158fdd5497876388cd68142ca374ed3 /Documentation/driver-api/firmware
parentInitial commit. (diff)
downloadlinux-ace9429bb58fd418f0c81d4c2835699bddf6bde6.tar.xz
linux-ace9429bb58fd418f0c81d4c2835699bddf6bde6.zip
Adding upstream version 6.6.15.upstream/6.6.15
Signed-off-by: Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/driver-api/firmware')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/driver-api/firmware/built-in-fw.rst33
-rw-r--r--Documentation/driver-api/firmware/core.rst17
-rw-r--r--Documentation/driver-api/firmware/direct-fs-lookup.rst30
-rw-r--r--Documentation/driver-api/firmware/efi/index.rst11
-rw-r--r--Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fallback-mechanisms.rst308
-rw-r--r--Documentation/driver-api/firmware/firmware-usage-guidelines.rst44
-rw-r--r--Documentation/driver-api/firmware/firmware_cache.rst51
-rw-r--r--Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fw_search_path.rst31
-rw-r--r--Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fw_upload.rst127
-rw-r--r--Documentation/driver-api/firmware/index.rst19
-rw-r--r--Documentation/driver-api/firmware/introduction.rst27
-rw-r--r--Documentation/driver-api/firmware/lookup-order.rst20
-rw-r--r--Documentation/driver-api/firmware/other_interfaces.rst51
-rw-r--r--Documentation/driver-api/firmware/request_firmware.rst80
14 files changed, 849 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/built-in-fw.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/built-in-fw.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bc1c961bac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/built-in-fw.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+=================
+Built-in firmware
+=================
+
+Firmware can be built-in to the kernel, this means building the firmware
+into vmlinux directly, to enable avoiding having to look for firmware from
+the filesystem. Instead, firmware can be looked for inside the kernel
+directly. You can enable built-in firmware using the kernel configuration
+options:
+
+ * CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE
+ * CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE_DIR
+
+There are a few reasons why you might want to consider building your firmware
+into the kernel with CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE:
+
+* Speed
+* Firmware is needed for accessing the boot device, and the user doesn't
+ want to stuff the firmware into the boot initramfs.
+
+Even if you have these needs there are a few reasons why you may not be
+able to make use of built-in firmware:
+
+* Legalese - firmware is non-GPL compatible
+* Some firmware may be optional
+* Firmware upgrades are possible, therefore a new firmware would implicate
+ a complete kernel rebuild.
+* Some firmware files may be really large in size. The remote-proc subsystem
+ is an example subsystem which deals with these sorts of firmware
+* The firmware may need to be scraped out from some device specific location
+ dynamically, an example is calibration data for some WiFi chipsets. This
+ calibration data can be unique per sold device.
+
diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/core.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/core.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..803cd574bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/core.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+==========================
+Firmware API core features
+==========================
+
+The firmware API has a rich set of core features available. This section
+documents these features.
+
+.. toctree::
+
+ fw_search_path
+ built-in-fw
+ firmware_cache
+ direct-fs-lookup
+ fallback-mechanisms
+ lookup-order
+ firmware-usage-guidelines
+
diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/direct-fs-lookup.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/direct-fs-lookup.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e04353d1b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/direct-fs-lookup.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+========================
+Direct filesystem lookup
+========================
+
+Direct filesystem lookup is the most common form of firmware lookup performed
+by the kernel. The kernel looks for the firmware directly on the root
+filesystem in the paths documented in the section 'Firmware search paths'.
+The filesystem lookup is implemented in fw_get_filesystem_firmware(), it
+uses common core kernel file loader facility kernel_read_file_from_path().
+The max path allowed is PATH_MAX -- currently this is 4096 characters.
+
+It is recommended you keep /lib/firmware paths on your root filesystem,
+avoid having a separate partition for them in order to avoid possible
+races with lookups and avoid uses of the custom fallback mechanisms
+documented below.
+
+Firmware and initramfs
+----------------------
+
+Drivers which are built-in to the kernel should have the firmware integrated
+also as part of the initramfs used to boot the kernel given that otherwise
+a race is possible with loading the driver and the real rootfs not yet being
+available. Stuffing the firmware into initramfs resolves this race issue,
+however note that using initrd does not suffice to address the same race.
+
+There are circumstances that justify not wanting to include firmware into
+initramfs, such as dealing with large firmware files for the
+remote-proc subsystem. For such cases using a userspace fallback mechanism
+is currently the only viable solution as only userspace can know for sure
+when the real rootfs is ready and mounted.
diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/efi/index.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/efi/index.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4fe8abba9f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/efi/index.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+============
+UEFI Support
+============
+
+UEFI stub library functions
+===========================
+
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/firmware/efi/libstub/mem.c
+ :internal:
diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fallback-mechanisms.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fallback-mechanisms.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5f04c3bcdf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fallback-mechanisms.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,308 @@
+===================
+Fallback mechanisms
+===================
+
+A fallback mechanism is supported to allow to overcome failures to do a direct
+filesystem lookup on the root filesystem or when the firmware simply cannot be
+installed for practical reasons on the root filesystem. The kernel
+configuration options related to supporting the firmware fallback mechanism are:
+
+ * CONFIG_FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER: enables building the firmware fallback
+ mechanism. Most distributions enable this option today. If enabled but
+ CONFIG_FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER_FALLBACK is disabled, only the custom fallback
+ mechanism is available and for the request_firmware_nowait() call.
+ * CONFIG_FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER_FALLBACK: force enables each request to
+ enable the kobject uevent fallback mechanism on all firmware API calls
+ except request_firmware_direct(). Most distributions disable this option
+ today. The call request_firmware_nowait() allows for one alternative
+ fallback mechanism: if this kconfig option is enabled and your second
+ argument to request_firmware_nowait(), uevent, is set to false you are
+ informing the kernel that you have a custom fallback mechanism and it will
+ manually load the firmware. Read below for more details.
+
+Note that this means when having this configuration:
+
+CONFIG_FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER=y
+CONFIG_FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER_FALLBACK=n
+
+the kobject uevent fallback mechanism will never take effect even
+for request_firmware_nowait() when uevent is set to true.
+
+Justifying the firmware fallback mechanism
+==========================================
+
+Direct filesystem lookups may fail for a variety of reasons. Known reasons for
+this are worth itemizing and documenting as it justifies the need for the
+fallback mechanism:
+
+* Race against access with the root filesystem upon bootup.
+
+* Races upon resume from suspend. This is resolved by the firmware cache, but
+ the firmware cache is only supported if you use uevents, and its not
+ supported for request_firmware_into_buf().
+
+* Firmware is not accessible through typical means:
+
+ * It cannot be installed into the root filesystem
+ * The firmware provides very unique device specific data tailored for
+ the unit gathered with local information. An example is calibration
+ data for WiFi chipsets for mobile devices. This calibration data is
+ not common to all units, but tailored per unit. Such information may
+ be installed on a separate flash partition other than where the root
+ filesystem is provided.
+
+Types of fallback mechanisms
+============================
+
+There are really two fallback mechanisms available using one shared sysfs
+interface as a loading facility:
+
+* Kobject uevent fallback mechanism
+* Custom fallback mechanism
+
+First lets document the shared sysfs loading facility.
+
+Firmware sysfs loading facility
+===============================
+
+In order to help device drivers upload firmware using a fallback mechanism
+the firmware infrastructure creates a sysfs interface to enable userspace
+to load and indicate when firmware is ready. The sysfs directory is created
+via fw_create_instance(). This call creates a new struct device named after
+the firmware requested, and establishes it in the device hierarchy by
+associating the device used to make the request as the device's parent.
+The sysfs directory's file attributes are defined and controlled through
+the new device's class (firmware_class) and group (fw_dev_attr_groups).
+This is actually where the original firmware_class module name came from,
+given that originally the only firmware loading mechanism available was the
+mechanism we now use as a fallback mechanism, which registers a struct class
+firmware_class. Because the attributes exposed are part of the module name, the
+module name firmware_class cannot be renamed in the future, to ensure backward
+compatibility with old userspace.
+
+To load firmware using the sysfs interface we expose a loading indicator,
+and a file upload firmware into:
+
+ * /sys/$DEVPATH/loading
+ * /sys/$DEVPATH/data
+
+To upload firmware you will echo 1 onto the loading file to indicate
+you are loading firmware. You then write the firmware into the data file,
+and you notify the kernel the firmware is ready by echo'ing 0 onto
+the loading file.
+
+The firmware device used to help load firmware using sysfs is only created if
+direct firmware loading fails and if the fallback mechanism is enabled for your
+firmware request, this is set up with :c:func:`firmware_fallback_sysfs`. It is
+important to re-iterate that no device is created if a direct filesystem lookup
+succeeded.
+
+Using::
+
+ echo 1 > /sys/$DEVPATH/loading
+
+Will clean any previous partial load at once and make the firmware API
+return an error. When loading firmware the firmware_class grows a buffer
+for the firmware in PAGE_SIZE increments to hold the image as it comes in.
+
+firmware_data_read() and firmware_loading_show() are just provided for the
+test_firmware driver for testing, they are not called in normal use or
+expected to be used regularly by userspace.
+
+firmware_fallback_sysfs
+-----------------------
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/base/firmware_loader/fallback.c
+ :functions: firmware_fallback_sysfs
+
+Firmware kobject uevent fallback mechanism
+==========================================
+
+Since a device is created for the sysfs interface to help load firmware as a
+fallback mechanism userspace can be informed of the addition of the device by
+relying on kobject uevents. The addition of the device into the device
+hierarchy means the fallback mechanism for firmware loading has been initiated.
+For details of implementation refer to fw_load_sysfs_fallback(), in particular
+on the use of dev_set_uevent_suppress() and kobject_uevent().
+
+The kernel's kobject uevent mechanism is implemented in lib/kobject_uevent.c,
+it issues uevents to userspace. As a supplement to kobject uevents Linux
+distributions could also enable CONFIG_UEVENT_HELPER_PATH, which makes use of
+core kernel's usermode helper (UMH) functionality to call out to a userspace
+helper for kobject uevents. In practice though no standard distribution has
+ever used the CONFIG_UEVENT_HELPER_PATH. If CONFIG_UEVENT_HELPER_PATH is
+enabled this binary would be called each time kobject_uevent_env() gets called
+in the kernel for each kobject uevent triggered.
+
+Different implementations have been supported in userspace to take advantage of
+this fallback mechanism. When firmware loading was only possible using the
+sysfs mechanism the userspace component "hotplug" provided the functionality of
+monitoring for kobject events. Historically this was superseded be systemd's
+udev, however firmware loading support was removed from udev as of systemd
+commit be2ea723b1d0 ("udev: remove userspace firmware loading support")
+as of v217 on August, 2014. This means most Linux distributions today are
+not using or taking advantage of the firmware fallback mechanism provided
+by kobject uevents. This is specially exacerbated due to the fact that most
+distributions today disable CONFIG_FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER_FALLBACK.
+
+Refer to do_firmware_uevent() for details of the kobject event variables
+setup. The variables currently passed to userspace with a "kobject add"
+event are:
+
+* FIRMWARE=firmware name
+* TIMEOUT=timeout value
+* ASYNC=whether or not the API request was asynchronous
+
+By default DEVPATH is set by the internal kernel kobject infrastructure.
+Below is an example simple kobject uevent script::
+
+ # Both $DEVPATH and $FIRMWARE are already provided in the environment.
+ MY_FW_DIR=/lib/firmware/
+ echo 1 > /sys/$DEVPATH/loading
+ cat $MY_FW_DIR/$FIRMWARE > /sys/$DEVPATH/data
+ echo 0 > /sys/$DEVPATH/loading
+
+Firmware custom fallback mechanism
+==================================
+
+Users of the request_firmware_nowait() call have yet another option available
+at their disposal: rely on the sysfs fallback mechanism but request that no
+kobject uevents be issued to userspace. The original logic behind this
+was that utilities other than udev might be required to lookup firmware
+in non-traditional paths -- paths outside of the listing documented in the
+section 'Direct filesystem lookup'. This option is not available to any of
+the other API calls as uevents are always forced for them.
+
+Since uevents are only meaningful if the fallback mechanism is enabled
+in your kernel it would seem odd to enable uevents with kernels that do not
+have the fallback mechanism enabled in their kernels. Unfortunately we also
+rely on the uevent flag which can be disabled by request_firmware_nowait() to
+also setup the firmware cache for firmware requests. As documented above,
+the firmware cache is only set up if uevent is enabled for an API call.
+Although this can disable the firmware cache for request_firmware_nowait()
+calls, users of this API should not use it for the purposes of disabling
+the cache as that was not the original purpose of the flag. Not setting
+the uevent flag means you want to opt-in for the firmware fallback mechanism
+but you want to suppress kobject uevents, as you have a custom solution which
+will monitor for your device addition into the device hierarchy somehow and
+load firmware for you through a custom path.
+
+Firmware fallback timeout
+=========================
+
+The firmware fallback mechanism has a timeout. If firmware is not loaded
+onto the sysfs interface by the timeout value an error is sent to the
+driver. By default the timeout is set to 60 seconds if uevents are
+desirable, otherwise MAX_JIFFY_OFFSET is used (max timeout possible).
+The logic behind using MAX_JIFFY_OFFSET for non-uevents is that a custom
+solution will have as much time as it needs to load firmware.
+
+You can customize the firmware timeout by echo'ing your desired timeout into
+the following file:
+
+* /sys/class/firmware/timeout
+
+If you echo 0 into it means MAX_JIFFY_OFFSET will be used. The data type
+for the timeout is an int.
+
+EFI embedded firmware fallback mechanism
+========================================
+
+On some devices the system's EFI code / ROM may contain an embedded copy
+of firmware for some of the system's integrated peripheral devices and
+the peripheral's Linux device-driver needs to access this firmware.
+
+Device drivers which need such firmware can use the
+firmware_request_platform() function for this, note that this is a
+separate fallback mechanism from the other fallback mechanisms and
+this does not use the sysfs interface.
+
+A device driver which needs this can describe the firmware it needs
+using an efi_embedded_fw_desc struct:
+
+.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/efi_embedded_fw.h
+ :functions: efi_embedded_fw_desc
+
+The EFI embedded-fw code works by scanning all EFI_BOOT_SERVICES_CODE memory
+segments for an eight byte sequence matching prefix; if the prefix is found it
+then does a sha256 over length bytes and if that matches makes a copy of length
+bytes and adds that to its list with found firmwares.
+
+To avoid doing this somewhat expensive scan on all systems, dmi matching is
+used. Drivers are expected to export a dmi_system_id array, with each entries'
+driver_data pointing to an efi_embedded_fw_desc.
+
+To register this array with the efi-embedded-fw code, a driver needs to:
+
+1. Always be builtin to the kernel or store the dmi_system_id array in a
+ separate object file which always gets builtin.
+
+2. Add an extern declaration for the dmi_system_id array to
+ include/linux/efi_embedded_fw.h.
+
+3. Add the dmi_system_id array to the embedded_fw_table in
+ drivers/firmware/efi/embedded-firmware.c wrapped in a #ifdef testing that
+ the driver is being builtin.
+
+4. Add "select EFI_EMBEDDED_FIRMWARE if EFI_STUB" to its Kconfig entry.
+
+The firmware_request_platform() function will always first try to load firmware
+with the specified name directly from the disk, so the EFI embedded-fw can
+always be overridden by placing a file under /lib/firmware.
+
+Note that:
+
+1. The code scanning for EFI embedded-firmware runs near the end
+ of start_kernel(), just before calling rest_init(). For normal drivers and
+ subsystems using subsys_initcall() to register themselves this does not
+ matter. This means that code running earlier cannot use EFI
+ embedded-firmware.
+
+2. At the moment the EFI embedded-fw code assumes that firmwares always start at
+ an offset which is a multiple of 8 bytes, if this is not true for your case
+ send in a patch to fix this.
+
+3. At the moment the EFI embedded-fw code only works on x86 because other archs
+ free EFI_BOOT_SERVICES_CODE before the EFI embedded-fw code gets a chance to
+ scan it.
+
+4. The current brute-force scanning of EFI_BOOT_SERVICES_CODE is an ad-hoc
+ brute-force solution. There has been discussion to use the UEFI Platform
+ Initialization (PI) spec's Firmware Volume protocol. This has been rejected
+ because the FV Protocol relies on *internal* interfaces of the PI spec, and:
+ 1. The PI spec does not define peripheral firmware at all
+ 2. The internal interfaces of the PI spec do not guarantee any backward
+ compatibility. Any implementation details in FV may be subject to change,
+ and may vary system to system. Supporting the FV Protocol would be
+ difficult as it is purposely ambiguous.
+
+Example how to check for and extract embedded firmware
+------------------------------------------------------
+
+To check for, for example Silead touchscreen controller embedded firmware,
+do the following:
+
+1. Boot the system with efi=debug on the kernel commandline
+
+2. cp /sys/kernel/debug/efi/boot_services_code? to your home dir
+
+3. Open the boot_services_code? files in a hex-editor, search for the
+ magic prefix for Silead firmware: F0 00 00 00 02 00 00 00, this gives you
+ the beginning address of the firmware inside the boot_services_code? file.
+
+4. The firmware has a specific pattern, it starts with a 8 byte page-address,
+ typically F0 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 for the first page followed by 32-bit
+ word-address + 32-bit value pairs. With the word-address incrementing 4
+ bytes (1 word) for each pair until a page is complete. A complete page is
+ followed by a new page-address, followed by more word + value pairs. This
+ leads to a very distinct pattern. Scroll down until this pattern stops,
+ this gives you the end of the firmware inside the boot_services_code? file.
+
+5. "dd if=boot_services_code? of=firmware bs=1 skip=<begin-addr> count=<len>"
+ will extract the firmware for you. Inspect the firmware file in a
+ hexeditor to make sure you got the dd parameters correct.
+
+6. Copy it to /lib/firmware under the expected name to test it.
+
+7. If the extracted firmware works, you can use the found info to fill an
+ efi_embedded_fw_desc struct to describe it, run "sha256sum firmware"
+ to get the sha256sum to put in the sha256 field.
diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/firmware-usage-guidelines.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/firmware-usage-guidelines.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fdcfce42c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/firmware-usage-guidelines.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+===================
+Firmware Guidelines
+===================
+
+Users switching to a newer kernel should *not* have to install newer
+firmware files to keep their hardware working. At the same time updated
+firmware files must not cause any regressions for users of older kernel
+releases.
+
+Drivers that use firmware from linux-firmware should follow the rules in
+this guide. (Where there is limited control of the firmware,
+i.e. company doesn't support Linux, firmwares sourced from misc places,
+then of course these rules will not apply strictly.)
+
+* Firmware files shall be designed in a way that it allows checking for
+ firmware ABI version changes. It is recommended that firmware files be
+ versioned with at least a major/minor version. It is suggested that
+ the firmware files in linux-firmware be named with some device
+ specific name, and just the major version. The firmware version should
+ be stored in the firmware header, or as an exception, as part of the
+ firmware file name, in order to let the driver detact any non-ABI
+ fixes/changes. The firmware files in linux-firmware should be
+ overwritten with the newest compatible major version. Newer major
+ version firmware shall remain compatible with all kernels that load
+ that major number.
+
+* If the kernel support for the hardware is normally inactive, or the
+ hardware isn't available for public consumption, this can
+ be ignored, until the first kernel release that enables that hardware.
+ This means no major version bumps without the kernel retaining
+ backwards compatibility for the older major versions. Minor version
+ bumps should not introduce new features that newer kernels depend on
+ non-optionally.
+
+* If a security fix needs lockstep firmware and kernel fixes in order to
+ be successful, then all supported major versions in the linux-firmware
+ repo that are required by currently supported stable/LTS kernels,
+ should be updated with the security fix. The kernel patches should
+ detect if the firmware is new enough to declare if the security issue
+ is fixed. All communications around security fixes should point at
+ both the firmware and kernel fixes. If a security fix requires
+ deprecating old major versions, then this should only be done as a
+ last option, and be stated clearly in all communications.
+
diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/firmware_cache.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/firmware_cache.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..417b9e8347
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/firmware_cache.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+==============
+Firmware cache
+==============
+
+When Linux resumes from suspend some device drivers require firmware lookups to
+re-initialize devices. During resume there may be a period of time during which
+firmware lookups are not possible, during this short period of time firmware
+requests will fail. Time is of essence though, and delaying drivers to wait for
+the root filesystem for firmware delays user experience with device
+functionality. In order to support these requirements the firmware
+infrastructure implements a firmware cache for device drivers for most API
+calls, automatically behind the scenes.
+
+The firmware cache makes using certain firmware API calls safe during a device
+driver's suspend and resume callback. Users of these API calls needn't cache
+the firmware by themselves for dealing with firmware loss during system resume.
+
+The firmware cache works by requesting for firmware prior to suspend and
+caching it in memory. Upon resume device drivers using the firmware API will
+have access to the firmware immediately, without having to wait for the root
+filesystem to mount or dealing with possible race issues with lookups as the
+root filesystem mounts.
+
+Some implementation details about the firmware cache setup:
+
+* The firmware cache is setup by adding a devres entry for each device that
+ uses all synchronous call except :c:func:`request_firmware_into_buf`.
+
+* If an asynchronous call is used the firmware cache is only set up for a
+ device if the second argument (uevent) to request_firmware_nowait() is
+ true. When uevent is true it requests that a kobject uevent be sent to
+ userspace for the firmware request through the sysfs fallback mechanism
+ if the firmware file is not found.
+
+* If the firmware cache is determined to be needed as per the above two
+ criteria the firmware cache is setup by adding a devres entry for the
+ device making the firmware request.
+
+* The firmware devres entry is maintained throughout the lifetime of the
+ device. This means that even if you release_firmware() the firmware cache
+ will still be used on resume from suspend.
+
+* The timeout for the fallback mechanism is temporarily reduced to 10 seconds
+ as the firmware cache is set up during suspend, the timeout is set back to
+ the old value you had configured after the cache is set up.
+
+* Upon suspend any pending non-uevent firmware requests are killed to avoid
+ stalling the kernel, this is done with kill_requests_without_uevent(). Kernel
+ calls requiring the non-uevent therefore need to implement their own firmware
+ cache mechanism but must not use the firmware API on suspend.
+
diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fw_search_path.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fw_search_path.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d7cb1e8f00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fw_search_path.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+=====================
+Firmware search paths
+=====================
+
+The following search paths are used to look for firmware on your
+root filesystem.
+
+* fw_path_para - module parameter - default is empty so this is ignored
+* /lib/firmware/updates/UTS_RELEASE/
+* /lib/firmware/updates/
+* /lib/firmware/UTS_RELEASE/
+* /lib/firmware/
+
+The module parameter ''path'' can be passed to the firmware_class module
+to activate the first optional custom fw_path_para. The custom path can
+only be up to 256 characters long. The kernel parameter passed would be:
+
+* 'firmware_class.path=$CUSTOMIZED_PATH'
+
+There is an alternative to customize the path at run time after bootup, you
+can use the file:
+
+* /sys/module/firmware_class/parameters/path
+
+You would echo into it your custom path and firmware requested will be searched
+for there first. Be aware that newline characters will be taken into account
+and may not produce the intended effects. For instance you might want to use:
+
+echo -n /path/to/script > /sys/module/firmware_class/parameters/path
+
+to ensure that your script is being used.
diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fw_upload.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fw_upload.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..edf1d0c5e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fw_upload.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+===================
+Firmware Upload API
+===================
+
+A device driver that registers with the firmware loader will expose
+persistent sysfs nodes to enable users to initiate firmware updates for
+that device. It is the responsibility of the device driver and/or the
+device itself to perform any validation on the data received. Firmware
+upload uses the same *loading* and *data* sysfs files described in the
+documentation for firmware fallback. It also adds additional sysfs files
+to provide status on the transfer of the firmware image to the device.
+
+Register for firmware upload
+============================
+
+A device driver registers for firmware upload by calling
+firmware_upload_register(). Among the parameter list is a name to
+identify the device under /sys/class/firmware. A user may initiate a
+firmware upload by echoing a 1 to the *loading* sysfs file for the target
+device. Next, the user writes the firmware image to the *data* sysfs
+file. After writing the firmware data, the user echos 0 to the *loading*
+sysfs file to signal completion. Echoing 0 to *loading* also triggers the
+transfer of the firmware to the lower-lever device driver in the context
+of a kernel worker thread.
+
+To use the firmware upload API, write a driver that implements a set of
+ops. The probe function calls firmware_upload_register() and the remove
+function calls firmware_upload_unregister() such as::
+
+ static const struct fw_upload_ops m10bmc_ops = {
+ .prepare = m10bmc_sec_prepare,
+ .write = m10bmc_sec_write,
+ .poll_complete = m10bmc_sec_poll_complete,
+ .cancel = m10bmc_sec_cancel,
+ .cleanup = m10bmc_sec_cleanup,
+ };
+
+ static int m10bmc_sec_probe(struct platform_device *pdev)
+ {
+ const char *fw_name, *truncate;
+ struct m10bmc_sec *sec;
+ struct fw_upload *fwl;
+ unsigned int len;
+
+ sec = devm_kzalloc(&pdev->dev, sizeof(*sec), GFP_KERNEL);
+ if (!sec)
+ return -ENOMEM;
+
+ sec->dev = &pdev->dev;
+ sec->m10bmc = dev_get_drvdata(pdev->dev.parent);
+ dev_set_drvdata(&pdev->dev, sec);
+
+ fw_name = dev_name(sec->dev);
+ truncate = strstr(fw_name, ".auto");
+ len = (truncate) ? truncate - fw_name : strlen(fw_name);
+ sec->fw_name = kmemdup_nul(fw_name, len, GFP_KERNEL);
+
+ fwl = firmware_upload_register(THIS_MODULE, sec->dev, sec->fw_name,
+ &m10bmc_ops, sec);
+ if (IS_ERR(fwl)) {
+ dev_err(sec->dev, "Firmware Upload driver failed to start\n");
+ kfree(sec->fw_name);
+ return PTR_ERR(fwl);
+ }
+
+ sec->fwl = fwl;
+ return 0;
+ }
+
+ static int m10bmc_sec_remove(struct platform_device *pdev)
+ {
+ struct m10bmc_sec *sec = dev_get_drvdata(&pdev->dev);
+
+ firmware_upload_unregister(sec->fwl);
+ kfree(sec->fw_name);
+ return 0;
+ }
+
+firmware_upload_register
+------------------------
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/base/firmware_loader/sysfs_upload.c
+ :identifiers: firmware_upload_register
+
+firmware_upload_unregister
+--------------------------
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/base/firmware_loader/sysfs_upload.c
+ :identifiers: firmware_upload_unregister
+
+Firmware Upload Ops
+-------------------
+.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/firmware.h
+ :identifiers: fw_upload_ops
+
+Firmware Upload Progress Codes
+------------------------------
+The following progress codes are used internally by the firmware loader.
+Corresponding strings are reported through the status sysfs node that
+is described below and are documented in the ABI documentation.
+
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/base/firmware_loader/sysfs_upload.h
+ :identifiers: fw_upload_prog
+
+Firmware Upload Error Codes
+---------------------------
+The following error codes may be returned by the driver ops in case of
+failure:
+
+.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/firmware.h
+ :identifiers: fw_upload_err
+
+Sysfs Attributes
+================
+
+In addition to the *loading* and *data* sysfs files, there are additional
+sysfs files to monitor the status of the data transfer to the target
+device and to determine the final pass/fail status of the transfer.
+Depending on the device and the size of the firmware image, a firmware
+update could take milliseconds or minutes.
+
+The additional sysfs files are:
+
+* status - provides an indication of the progress of a firmware update
+* error - provides error information for a failed firmware update
+* remaining_size - tracks the data transfer portion of an update
+* cancel - echo 1 to this file to cancel the update
diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/index.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/index.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9d2c19dc8e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/index.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+==================
+Linux Firmware API
+==================
+
+.. toctree::
+
+ introduction
+ core
+ efi/index
+ request_firmware
+ fw_upload
+ other_interfaces
+
+.. only:: subproject and html
+
+ Indices
+ =======
+
+ * :ref:`genindex`
diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/introduction.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/introduction.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..211cb44eb9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/introduction.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+============
+Introduction
+============
+
+The firmware API enables kernel code to request files required
+for functionality from userspace, the uses vary:
+
+* Microcode for CPU errata
+* Device driver firmware, required to be loaded onto device
+ microcontrollers
+* Device driver information data (calibration data, EEPROM overrides),
+ some of which can be completely optional.
+
+Types of firmware requests
+==========================
+
+There are two types of calls:
+
+* Synchronous
+* Asynchronous
+
+Which one you use vary depending on your requirements, the rule of thumb
+however is you should strive to use the asynchronous APIs unless you also
+are already using asynchronous initialization mechanisms which will not
+stall or delay boot. Even if loading firmware does not take a lot of time
+processing firmware might, and this can still delay boot or initialization,
+as such mechanisms such as asynchronous probe can help supplement drivers.
diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/lookup-order.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/lookup-order.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6064672a78
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/lookup-order.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+=====================
+Firmware lookup order
+=====================
+
+Different functionality is available to enable firmware to be found.
+Below is chronological order of how firmware will be looked for once
+a driver issues a firmware API call.
+
+* The ''Built-in firmware'' is checked first, if the firmware is present we
+ return it immediately
+* The ''Firmware cache'' is looked at next. If the firmware is found we
+ return it immediately
+* The ''Direct filesystem lookup'' is performed next, if found we
+ return it immediately
+* The ''Platform firmware fallback'' is performed next, but only when
+ firmware_request_platform() is used, if found we return it immediately
+* If no firmware has been found and the fallback mechanism was enabled
+ the sysfs interface is created. After this either a kobject uevent
+ is issued or the custom firmware loading is relied upon for firmware
+ loading up to the timeout value.
diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/other_interfaces.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/other_interfaces.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..06ac89adaa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/other_interfaces.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+Other Firmware Interfaces
+=========================
+
+DMI Interfaces
+--------------
+
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/firmware/dmi_scan.c
+ :export:
+
+EDD Interfaces
+--------------
+
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/firmware/edd.c
+ :internal:
+
+Generic System Framebuffers Interface
+-------------------------------------
+
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/firmware/sysfb.c
+ :export:
+
+Intel Stratix10 SoC Service Layer
+---------------------------------
+Some features of the Intel Stratix10 SoC require a level of privilege
+higher than the kernel is granted. Such secure features include
+FPGA programming. In terms of the ARMv8 architecture, the kernel runs
+at Exception Level 1 (EL1), access to the features requires
+Exception Level 3 (EL3).
+
+The Intel Stratix10 SoC service layer provides an in kernel API for
+drivers to request access to the secure features. The requests are queued
+and processed one by one. ARM’s SMCCC is used to pass the execution
+of the requests on to a secure monitor (EL3).
+
+.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/firmware/intel/stratix10-svc-client.h
+ :functions: stratix10_svc_command_code
+
+.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/firmware/intel/stratix10-svc-client.h
+ :functions: stratix10_svc_client_msg
+
+.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/firmware/intel/stratix10-svc-client.h
+ :functions: stratix10_svc_command_config_type
+
+.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/firmware/intel/stratix10-svc-client.h
+ :functions: stratix10_svc_cb_data
+
+.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/firmware/intel/stratix10-svc-client.h
+ :functions: stratix10_svc_client
+
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/firmware/stratix10-svc.c
+ :export:
diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/request_firmware.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/request_firmware.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0d6ea03299
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/driver-api/firmware/request_firmware.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+====================
+request_firmware API
+====================
+
+You would typically load firmware and then load it into your device somehow.
+The typical firmware work flow is reflected below::
+
+ if(request_firmware(&fw_entry, $FIRMWARE, device) == 0)
+ copy_fw_to_device(fw_entry->data, fw_entry->size);
+ release_firmware(fw_entry);
+
+Synchronous firmware requests
+=============================
+
+Synchronous firmware requests will wait until the firmware is found or until
+an error is returned.
+
+request_firmware
+----------------
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/base/firmware_loader/main.c
+ :functions: request_firmware
+
+firmware_request_nowarn
+-----------------------
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/base/firmware_loader/main.c
+ :functions: firmware_request_nowarn
+
+firmware_request_platform
+-------------------------
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/base/firmware_loader/main.c
+ :functions: firmware_request_platform
+
+request_firmware_direct
+-----------------------
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/base/firmware_loader/main.c
+ :functions: request_firmware_direct
+
+request_firmware_into_buf
+-------------------------
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/base/firmware_loader/main.c
+ :functions: request_firmware_into_buf
+
+Asynchronous firmware requests
+==============================
+
+Asynchronous firmware requests allow driver code to not have to wait
+until the firmware or an error is returned. Function callbacks are
+provided so that when the firmware or an error is found the driver is
+informed through the callback. request_firmware_nowait() cannot be called
+in atomic contexts.
+
+request_firmware_nowait
+-----------------------
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/base/firmware_loader/main.c
+ :functions: request_firmware_nowait
+
+Special optimizations on reboot
+===============================
+
+Some devices have an optimization in place to enable the firmware to be
+retained during system reboot. When such optimizations are used the driver
+author must ensure the firmware is still available on resume from suspend,
+this can be done with firmware_request_cache() instead of requesting for the
+firmware to be loaded.
+
+firmware_request_cache()
+------------------------
+.. kernel-doc:: drivers/base/firmware_loader/main.c
+ :functions: firmware_request_cache
+
+request firmware API expected driver use
+========================================
+
+Once an API call returns you process the firmware and then release the
+firmware. For example if you used request_firmware() and it returns,
+the driver has the firmware image accessible in fw_entry->{data,size}.
+If something went wrong request_firmware() returns non-zero and fw_entry
+is set to NULL. Once your driver is done with processing the firmware it
+can call release_firmware(fw_entry) to release the firmware image
+and any related resource.