[linux-dvb] Re: dvb-kernel and upcoming Linux kernel 2.6

[Oliver Endriss <o.endriss@gmx.de>]

On Saturday 20 December 2003 19:09, Michael Hunold wrote:
> As one of the last bigger changes, the core developers decided to remove 
> the firmware from the av7110/dvb-ttpci driver. I know that this is a 
> controversial step, so I'd like to explain it further.
>...
> As a first step, the av7110 firmware file is gone now. Several people 
> have tested the firmware loading by using the hotplug system or by 
> manually loading the firmware. All this is described in the new 
> "Documentation/dvb" directory, please read it.

I installed the 2.6.0 kernel on my vdr box (single full-featured card
with stv0299 frontend). Until now everything seems to work.
Same problems^Wfeatures as before. ;-) 
I've got the impression that overall system performance was better with
kernel 2.4.23, but this requires more testing/optimizing...

> I admit that there are some things on the todo list for the av7110 
> driver, that I did not have the time to test yet. Tests and patches are 
> very welcome. Although I have some christmas holidays now, I don't want 
> to spend them entirely on the av7110 driver... ;-)
> 
> 1) It's unclear/untested what happens if you compile the driver 
> statically into the kernel now and what has to be done to make it work 
> again if there are problems.

IMHO nobody should compile the av7110 driver statically into the kernel:
If there is an arm crash, chances are good that you have to reboot your
machine, since the av7110 driver does not restore the arm state
completely. I don't know whether this can be fixed at all.
(That's why vdr uses the runvdr script to reload the driver.)

> 2) It should still be possible to compile the firmware into the driver, 
> both for a module build and a build into the kernel if you know what 
> your're doing. This is what some drivers are already doing, this should 
> be available for the av7110 driver too.

I suggest to modify the build process in a way that the firmware is
automagically compiled into the driver if there is a firmware file in
the driver directory. I admit that I don't like the hotplug stuff. ;-)
This way the driver can be distributed without firmware to make the
lawyers happy, but nobody has to use hotplug...

> 5) With the recent patches, 2.6 and "dvb-kernel" are further drifting 
> apart. We need to decide when to drop the backward compatiblity to 2.4 
> kernels via "build-2.4" for the DVB drivers. (The dvb-core needs to 
> remain stable and backward compatible of course)

I don't know whether 2.6 runs on all kinds of old hardware.
vdr machines often use outdated chipsets, slow processors etc.
We should keep backward compatibility as long as possible.

Merry Christmas everyone,

Oliver


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