FIRMLOAD(9)

NAME
firmload - Firmware loader API for device drivers

SYNOPSIS
#include <dev/firmload.h>
int
firmware_open(const char *drvname, const char *imgname, firmware_handle_t *fhp);
int
firmware_close(firmware_handle_t fh);
off_t
firmware_get_size(firmware_handle_t fh);
int
firmware_read(firmware_handle_t fh, off_t offset, void *buf, size_t size);
void *
firmware_malloc(size_t size);
void
firmware_free(void *buf, size_t size);

DESCRIPTION
firmload provides a simple and convenient API for device drivers to load firmware images from files residing in the file system that are necessary for the devices that they control. Firmware images reside in sub-directories, one for each driver, of a series of colon-separated path prefixes specified the sysctl variable hw.firmware.path.

The following functions are provided by the firmload API:

int firmware_open(const char *drvname, const char *imgname, firmware_handle_t *fhp)

    Open then firmware image imgname for the driver drvname. The path to the firmware image file is constructed by appending the string “/drvname/imgname” to each configured path prefix until opening the firmware image file succeeds. Upon success, firmware_open() returns 0 and stores a firmware image handle in the location pointed to by fhp. Otherwise, an error code is returned to indicate the reason for failure.

int firmware_close(firmware_handle_t fh)

    Close the firmware image file associated with the firmware handle fh. Returns 0 upon success or an error code to indicate the reason for failure.

off_t firmware_get_size(firmware_handle_t fh)

    Returns the size of the image file associated with the firmware handle fh.

int firmware_read(firmware_handle_t fh, off_t offset, void *buf, size_t size)

    Reads from the image file associated with the firmware handle fh beginning at offset offset for length size. The firmware image data is placed into the buffer specified by buf. Returns 0 upon success or an error code to indicate the reason for failure.

void *firmware_malloc(size_t size)

    Allocates a region of wired kernel memory of size size. Note: firmware_malloc() may block.

void firmware_free(void *buf, size_t size)

    Frees a region of memory previously allocated by firmware_malloc().

SEE ALSO
autoconf(9), malloc(9), vnsubr(9)

HISTORY
The firmload framework first appeared in NetBSD 4.0.

AUTHORS
Jason Thorpe <thorpej@NetBSD.org>