From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from smtp1.linuxfoundation.org (smtp1.linux-foundation.org [172.17.192.35]) by mail.linuxfoundation.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 0EDCD4D3 for ; Mon, 3 Aug 2015 15:30:26 +0000 (UTC) Received: from smtp.tuxdriver.com (charlotte.tuxdriver.com [70.61.120.58]) by smtp1.linuxfoundation.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id BB3381B4 for ; Mon, 3 Aug 2015 15:30:21 +0000 (UTC) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2015 11:29:02 -0400 From: "John W. Linville" To: Tim Bird Message-ID: <20150803152902.GA3598@tuxdriver.com> References: <20150723105726.GC30929@amd> <20150723121441.GB29747@amd> <20150723084251.54da2be0@gandalf.local.home> <20150723154014.GD11162@sirena.org.uk> <55B7FD82.8010806@sonymobile.com> <20150728230743.GO4753@usrtlx11787.corpusers.net> <55BBAF9B.7010007@sonymobile.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <55BBAF9B.7010007@sonymobile.com> Cc: =?iso-8859-1?B?IkFuZGVyc3NvbiwgQmr2cm4i?= , "ksummit-discuss@lists.linuxfoundation.org" , "riverful.kim@samsung.com" , "kyungmin.park@samsung.com" , John Stultz , Pavel Machek Subject: Re: [Ksummit-discuss] [CORE TOPIC] Mainline kernel on a cellphone List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , On Fri, Jul 31, 2015 at 10:25:47AM -0700, Tim Bird wrote: > I'm doing some research now on the usefulness of backporting the current > brcm80211 code to 3.18, which many of the next round of Android phones > will be using. This at least exposes the stack to mobile device vendors > and device owners, who (with some luck) can test it in production settings > and find deficiencies. > > If we do nothing, then we'll have another full generation of phones > which focus exclusively on out-of-tree wireless driver code. This will > end up delaying the adoption of the mainline driver (in this product > area) by another few years, IMHO. > > Feedback on the and sanity of this approach are welcome. :-) If anyone knows > things about the broadcom driver or the wireless stack that would make this > backport particularly costly, please let me know. It probably goes without saying, but you should make sure that brcm80211 actually supports the chips in use. Broadcom has not done a very good job at keeping brcm80211 up-to-date with the hardware that they actually release for laptops. Installing out-of-tree Broadcom wireless drivers on laptops still seems to be a common requirement. :-( John -- John W. Linville Someday the world will need a hero, and you linville@tuxdriver.com might be all we have. Be ready.