Bug 217235

Summary:	ath11k: AHB: switch to mbn firmware files
Product:	Drivers	Reporter:	Dmitry Baryshkov (dbaryshkov)
Component:	network-wireless	Assignee:	drivers_network-wireless (drivers_network-wireless)
Status:	NEW ---
Severity:	enhancement	CC:	dbaryshkov, kvalo
Priority:	P5
Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
Kernel Version:	n/a	Subsystem:
Regression:	No	Bisected commit-id:

Description Dmitry Baryshkov 2023-03-23 09:34:15 UTC

For the past several years, the Qualcomm community has been shifting
from the pack of .mdt+.bNN files to a single .mbn file as a main
firmware file format. It reduces the back-and-forth between the kernel
and userspace and also simplifies handling of these files.

In-kernel mdt loader provides backwards compatibility, detecting the
file type and using .mbn instead of .mdt one, retaining the name (or
using symlink).

Please consider switching ath11k firmware files from .mdt+.bNN files to .mbn file formwat.
For the reference, the pil-squasher utility ([1]) can assist in this switch.

[1] https://github.com/andersson/pil-squasher

Comment 1 Kalle Valo 2023-03-23 10:19:37 UTC

What about backwards compatibility? How will older kernels support single .mbn firmware file feature?

Comment 2 Dmitry Baryshkov 2023-03-25 11:42:55 UTC

Assuming that the ath driver uses standard mdt loader (I didn't check the sources, but I think I can safely assume it does), the kernel doesn't check file extension. Instead it peeks into the file contents and determines it is an mbn file or an mdt from mdt+bNN combo. 

Thus we can simply use wpss.mbn file and add a wpss.mdt -> wpss.mbn symlink next to it. Venus team performed such conversion few months ago keeping full backwards compatibility with older kernels.