Don Zickus wrote:
On Mon, Jun 09, 2008 at 11:08:57AM -0400, Jarod Wilson wrote:
Don Zickus wrote:
I suspect that (for now) we should make the kernel binary packages depend on kernel-firmware?
Should the package own the /lib/firmware/ directory?
Ideally we'll want kernel-firmware to be a .noarch.rpm, but we can't get that until we start to build it from a separate srpm.
I assume the %install would cause a rebuild of the initrd to deal with storage device firmware on bootup?
The kernel install already does that. Perhaps we should ensure that kernel-firmware gets updated before the kernel proper, to ensure that the new firmware is included.
Or maybe always rebuild initrd when installing kernel-firmware? It's a little overkill but handles scenarios when the vendor updates their storage blob but we have no new kernel update to go with it (that's probably a little long term thinking to handle the scenario when you actually separate the srpms..).
I'd stick to rebuilding initrds only for a new kernel. Your issue of 'what do I do if the new firmware is bunk' pops up if installing kernel-firmware triggers a new initrd for an already functioning kernel. :)
Hmm, that would cause issues. But then when folks like qlogic have new fw, how do you update it successfully?
Not sure. What happens in such cases today? Have to install a new kernel or kmod?
A stub kernel?
Ew.
Perhaps creating a new initrd based on the same kernel and a corresponding new grub entry (entry would consist of old kernel / new initrd image) would allow people to fallback to the old initrd image if the new one was bunk?
Could get messy, littering /boot with old initrds that aren't cleaned up, and your bootloader with extra entries you may never use -- what would trigger their removal and when? I just assume leave out the auto-rebuilding of the initrd though. I think if you know you need/want new firmware for a device, you should be able to figure out how to create a new initrd with it (and save the old initrd as a fallback).
I didn't find that scenario interesting because you already have your rootfs mounted so you could do other tricks to recover from that.
Yeah, I sent a follow-up email saying the same, didn't take that into account until after hitting send, and my unsend button never seems to work... :)