firmware(9) is a subsystem to load binary data into the kernel via a

specially crafted module.  There are several handrolled sollutions to this
problem in the tree already which will be replaced with this.  They include
iwi(4), ipw(4), ispfw(4) and digi(4).

No objection from:	arch
MFC after:		2 weeks
X-MFC after:		some drivers have been converted

1 files changed, 115 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/share/man/man9/firmware.9 b/share/man/man9/firmware.9
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+.\" Copyright (c) 2006 Max Laier <mlaier@FreeBSD.org>
+.\" All rights reserved.
+.\"
+.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
+.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
+.\" are met:
+.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
+.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
+.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
+.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
+.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
+.\"
+.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE DEVELOPERS ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR
+.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES
+.\" OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.
+.\" IN NO EVENT SHALL THE DEVELOPERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
+.\" INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT
+.\" NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
+.\" DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
+.\" THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
+.\" (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF
+.\" THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
+.\"
+.\" $FreeBSD$
+.\"
+.Dd January 6, 2006
+.Os
+.Dt FIRMWARE 9
+.Sh NAME
+.Nm firmware_register ,
+.Nm firmware_unregister ,
+.Nm firmware_get ,
+.Nm firmware_put
+.Nd firmware image loading and management
+.Sh SYNOPSIS
+.In sys/param.h
+.In sys/linker.h
+.In sys/firmware.h
+.Bd -literal
+struct firmware {
+	const char	*name;		/* system-wide name */
+	const void	*data;		/* location of image */
+	size_t		datasize;	/* size of image in bytes */
+	unsigned int	version;	/* version of the image */
+	int		refcnt;		/* held references */
+	struct firmware	*parent;	/* not null if a subimage */
+	linker_file_t	file;		/* loadable module */
+};
+.Ed
+.Ft struct firmware *
+.Fo firmware_register
+.Fa "const char *imagename"
+.Fa "const void *data"
+.Fa "size_t datasize"
+.Fa "unsigned int version"
+.Fa "struct firmware *parent"
+.Fc
+.Ft int
+.Fn firmware_unregister "const char *imagename"
+.Ft struct firmware *
+.Fn firmware_get "const char *imagename"
+.Ft void
+.Fn firmware_put "struct firmware *fp" "int flags"
+.Sh DESCRIPTION
+The firmware abstraction provides a convenient interface for loading firmware
+images into the kernel.
+Specially crafted kernel modules are used to hold the firmware images.
+.Pp
+The function
+.Fn firmware_register
+is used on load of such modules to register contained firmware images.
+The arguments to
+.Fn firmware_register
+include a name that identifies the image for later requests to the firmware
+system, a pointer to the actual image, the size of the image and an optional
+parent image.
+The parent image is used to keep track of references to a given module so that
+it can be unloaded on last reference.
+.Pp
+The function
+.Fn firmware_unregister
+removes the firmware image identified by the name from the system if there
+are no pending references or returns an error otherwise.
+.Pp
+The function
+.Fn firmware_get
+returns the requested firmware image.
+If the image is not yet registered with the system
+.Fn firmware_get
+tries to load a module with the corresponding name.
+This involves the linker subsystem and disk access which is why
+.Fn firmware_get
+must not be called with any locks (except for Giant).
+On success
+.Fn firmware_get
+returns a pointer to the image description and increases the reference count
+for this image.
+.Pp
+The function
+.Fn firmware_put
+is used to drop the reference to a firmware image.
+The flags argument may be set to
+.Dv FIRMWARE_UNLOAD
+to indicate that the caller wishes to unload the corresponding module if the
+image becomes unreferenced.
+.Sh SEE ALSO
+.Xr module 9
+.Pp
+.Pa /usr/share/examples/kld
+.Sh HISTORY
+The firmware system was introduced in
+.Fx 7.0 .
+.Sh AUTHORS
+This manual page was written by
+.An Max Laier Aq mlaier@FreeBSD.org .