The following reply was made to PR kern/32342; it has been noted by GNATS.
From: Jason Thorpe <thorpej (AT) shagadelic (DOT) org>
To: matthew green <mrg (AT) eterna (DOT) com.au>
Cc: Iain Hibbert <plunky (AT) rya-online (DOT) net>, kern-bug-people (AT) netbsd (DOT) org,
gnats-admin (AT) netbsd (DOT) org, netbsd-bugs (AT) netbsd (DOT) org, gnats-bugs (AT) netbsd (DOT) org
Subject: Re: kern/32342: BSD firmware loading framework
Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 19:49:54 -0800
Dec 19, 2005, at 5:02 PM, matthew green wrote:

>
1. It seems to me that it would be better to read such a
firmware file one
time and free it after use than to waste a chunk of memory (even
if paged
out) for ever.
u
>
some drivers need to reload the firmware "semi-often". ie, when
my iwi(4) craps out, reloading the firmware fixes it usually. so
getting rid of it isn't always isn't a good idea.
Yes, drivers should control the memory allocated for the firmware
image so that they can make their own decisions about when it should
stay or go.
-- thorpej