The following reply was made to PR kern/32342; it has been noted by GNATS.

From: matthew green <mrg@eterna.com.au>
To: Iain Hibbert <plunky@rya-online.net>
Cc: kern-bug-people@netbsd.org, gnats-admin@netbsd.org,
	netbsd-bugs@netbsd.org, gnats-bugs@netbsd.org
Subject: re: kern/32342: OpenBSD firmware loading framework 
Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 12:02:14 +1100

    
    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.