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author | Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org> | 2024-04-07 18:49:45 +0000 |
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committer | Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org> | 2024-04-07 18:49:45 +0000 |
commit | 2c3c1048746a4622d8c89a29670120dc8fab93c4 (patch) | |
tree | 848558de17fb3008cdf4d861b01ac7781903ce39 /Documentation/driver-api/firmware/built-in-fw.rst | |
parent | Initial commit. (diff) | |
download | linux-upstream.tar.xz linux-upstream.zip |
Adding upstream version 6.1.76.upstream/6.1.76upstream
Signed-off-by: Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>
Diffstat (limited to '')
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/driver-api/firmware/built-in-fw.rst | 33 |
1 files changed, 33 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 000000000..bc1c961ba --- /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. + |