Christopher Head schrieb: >> Most external firmware is not needed to boot. If you need it to boot, >> you will have to stow it in the initramfs. > For those of us who prefer monolithic kernels, virtually all firmware > is needed to boot. Even if a network interface doesn't need to be > operational for boot, the kernel insists that the firmware be available > right at boot or else it will fail and the interface will never appear.
That is not fully correct. It is true that certain drivers or certain configurations (e.g. CONFIG_IP_PNP) may require firmware to be present during early boot. But unlike the Intel wifi driver which used to stop working and detach from the device when firmware loading failed, most other drivers will reattempt to load firmware every time on bringing up the interface. Best regards, Chí-Thanh Christopher Nguyễn
