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

From: Jason Thorpe <thorpej@shagadelic.org>
To: matthew green <mrg@eterna.com.au>
Cc: Iain Hibbert <plunky@rya-online.net>, 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: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 19:49:54 -0800

 On 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