Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli <gnu...@cyberdimension.org> writes: >> Is the syscall available for non-root users? If so isn't that a linux >> kernel bug, surely non-privileged users shouldn't be allowed to load >> firmware that can modify hardware behaviour? > There is no syscall. You can do it by hand with echo and cat. > > It works in this way: > # echo 1 > /sys/class/firmware/loading > # cat /lib/firmware/my-firmware.bin > \ > /sys/class/firmware/data > # echo 0 > /sys/class/firmware/loading > > If I remember well, to run that at the right moment, there is also an > interface to be notified when a firmware is requested. But that can > also be done with a shell command: > # nano /bin/my-udev-replacement > # echo /bin/my-udev-replacement > /proc/sys/kernel/hotplug
Do these two interfaces work in linux-libre, or is it part of what they remove? Has anyone described how to load (for example) Intel WiFi blobs from userspace running linux-libre? I like how Replicant was fully free but still allowed me as a user of the system to load non-free firmware into it. For Linux distributions it seems you either have to go the non-free route with upstream Linux kernel (Debian, Fedora etc) or go with linux-libre (Guix, Trisquels' deblobed variant, etc) that disallow me as user the ability to load non-free firmware. I would prefer a fully free Guix system that allowed me to load non-free firmware if I so chose. Otherwise I have to use Debian, Fedora, Non-Guix or something else to use those features of the system. Of course, I tend to purchase hardware that is compatible with linux-libre (and I'm happy with my modern NovaCustom NV41), but I have a personal struggle how to approach using a laptop that isn't compatible. It seems there is room for improvement here: I think it should be possible to run proper Guix on such a system (with some minor add-on tweaks), and it doesn't seem to be today. /Simon
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