Including driver firmware on Linux kernel image_include in-kernel firmware blobs in kernel binary…-优快云博客

本文探讨了在嵌入式系统开发过程中遇到的固件加载问题，特别是当设备依赖于根文件系统中的固件才能工作时的先有鸡还是先有蛋的困境。文章提供了两种解决方案：一是创建包含所需固件的初始RAM磁盘；二是将驱动程序内置到内核中，并介绍了如何在Linux内核配置中启用相关选项。

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http://acassis.wordpress.com/2010/03/17/including-driver-firmware-on-linux-kernel-image/

Driver’s binary firmware is a dedicated issue to Linux. In fact even open source drivers usually load its firmware to internal chip and it drives some puritan GNU people to become crazy.

Unfortunately you don’t have much option because these firmware are necessary to get your device working.

When developing an embedded system you could face a “Chicken and Egg” dilemma related to firmware loading. For example, you could need to mount a root file system through NFS over wireless, but your wireless interface needs a firmware which is in the rootfs (at /lib/firmware).

Hopefully you have some approaches to solve this dilemma:
1) Create an initrd (initramfs) with needed firmware inside;
2) Include your driver built-in into the kernel.

To include the needed firmware into the kernel just select this option:

Device Drivers  --->
    Generic Driver Options  --->
    -*- Userspace firmware loading support
    [*]   Include in-kernel firmware blobs in kernel binary

Also you could specify an external firmware path at:

(/home/user/newfirmware.bin)    External firmware blobs to build