[elrepo-devel] iwl3945-firmware

[Phil Perry]

Akemi Yagi wrote:
> I installed iwl3945-firmware-15.28.1.8-2.elrepo.noarch.rpm from
> elrepo.  The installed firmware files are dated Oct 2008
> (iwlwifi-3945-1.ucode) and Dec 2008 (iwlwifi-3945-2.ucode).
> 

I think you may have made a mistake there? This is what I see after yum 
installing it from elrepo:

[phil at Quad firmware]$ ll
total 312
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 149816 Oct 21  2008 iwlwifi-3945-1.ucode
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 149652 Jun 20  2007 iwlwifi-3945.ucode

> RHEL5.4 beta offers iwl3945-firmware-15.28.2.8-2.noarch.  I installed
> it.  Both files were dated Oct 2008.
> 

now lets install the RHEL5.4beta package:

[root at Quad firmware]# ll
total 468
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 149816 Oct 21  2008 iwlwifi-3945-1.ucode
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 149816 Oct 21  2008 iwlwifi-3945-2.ucode
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 149652 Jun 20  2007 iwlwifi-3945.ucode

# rpm -q --changelog iwl3945-firmware | more
* Wed Oct 22 2008 Matthias Saou <http://freshrpms.net> 15.28.2.8-2
- Update the iwlwifi-3945-1.ucode from 2.14.1.5 to 15.28.1.8.

* Wed Oct 22 2008 Matthias Saou <http://freshrpms.net> 15.28.2.8-1
- Update to 15.28.2.8.
- Keep both 2.14.4 (iwlwifi-3945.ucode) and 2.14.1.5 
(iwlwifi-3945-1.ucode) as
   the new 15.28.2.8 is now iwlwifi-3945-2.ucode.


So the 5.4beta package now includes all 3 firmwares (hence the 5.28.2.8 
version), and the (all important) revision -1 firmware has been updated 
to 15.28.1.8 in line with what we currently ship. Timestamps and file 
sizes all match.

> Is the version number 15.28.1.8 correct for the elrepo rpm?  Isn't
> this newer than RHEL's 15.28.2.8 ?
> 

Our version number is based off the latest revision -1 firmware and 
their package version number is based off the latest revision -2 firmware.

 From what I can gather, RHEL5 doesn't currently need the revision -2 
firmware (RHEL 5.3 uses the rev -1 firmware). I don't know what RHEL 5.4 
kernels use so it would be good if you could find out/confirm that.

It seems to me that Red Hat have just used a community package that is 
designed to be nodist, i.e support all dists including the latest 
Fedora, hence why the package is updated to the latest rev -2 firmware 
(this package also updates the rev -1 firmware that *is* required to the 
latest version which is probably the reason Red Hat have included it in 
5.4, rather than that 5.4 needs the rev -2 firmware.

So what I really need to know is what firmware revision the 5.4 kernel 
requires. Probably the easiest way to determine this is to remove all 
firmwares, reboot to a 5.4 series kernel and look in /var/log/messages 
for errors regarding missing firmwares - you'll normally see an error 
like unable to load firmware 'iwlwifi-3945-1.ucode' which instantly 
tells us which revision that kernel driver requires. Then please log 
that information somewhere (here and/or elrepo.org/bugs) for future 
reference.

Likewise, anyone with an Intel iwl5000 series adapter, we also need this 
information confirmed for the iwl5000-firmware package (I have an 
iwl4965 so can confirm myself for that package).