Brian wrote: > Sharon Kimble wrote: > > W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168f-2.fw > > for module r8169 ... about 8 of them all saying more or less the > > same. I've been told that I should > ... > The r8169 module drives an ethernet adaptor. This card was working > before the upgrade, without firmware, we assume, so it is likely to > continue to work after it.
Since this is the Realtek ethernet driver and I have several of those and they seem to work fine with or without the firmware blob I agree with you. But in general the problem is when before an upgrade the firmware blob is present and after an upgrade it is not present. For example the linux kernel in Squeeze 6 contains many firmrware blobs that were removed in Wheezy 7. An upgrade from Squeeze 6 to Wheezy 7 will have the effect of *removing* many firmware blobs. I agree that if it wasn't there before and it was working then it will be the same afterward. But if it is removed during an upgrade then things might not work. Here is one example bug report that I filed concerning this concerning the AMD A4-3400 APU with Radeon HD Graphics hardware. http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=696571 The problem there is that previous versions of the Linux kernel package did include the firmware blobs but later versions have them removed into the firmware-linux-nonfree package and that the firmware blob is required for it to operate. > Don't bother with firmware is one option. If it is the wrong > decision you can always install the firmware-realtek package > afterwards to restore the adaptor to working order. Agreed. But specifically because the Realtek ethernet cards seem to work fine either way. Those are very common. I have several. Those are pretty well known. I don't doubt that the realtek firmware does make some subtle correction that would be desirable but whatever the changes that occur it doesn't seem catastrophic not to have it. I would have no qualms about proceeding without it. The only annoyance is seeing that message every time and separating it from other perhaps more important messages that shouldn't be ignored. Bob
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