port-i386/40437: ipw firmware not loaded when partition containing firmware is not root

[John.C.Hayward%wheaton.edu@localhost]

>Number:         40437
>Category:       port-i386
>Synopsis:       ipw firmware not loaded when partition containing firmware is 
>not root
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       serious
>Priority:       medium
>Responsible:    port-i386-maintainer
>State:          open
>Class:          change-request
>Submitter-Id:   net
>Arrival-Date:   Mon Jan 19 18:30:00 +0000 2009
>Originator:     John Hayward
>Release:        4.0
>Organization:
Wheaton College
>Environment:
NetBSD oldlaptop 4.0 NetBSD 4.0 (GENERIC_LAPTOP) #3: Mon Jan 19 09:16:00 CST 
2009  johnh@oldlaptop:/usr/src/sys/arch/i386/compile/GENERIC_LAPTOP i386

>Description:
When working with ipw device one needs to install package 
sysutils/ipw-firmware.  This package installs the required firmware in 
/usr/pkg/libdata/if_ipw.  When the system boots it attempts to find the 
firmware from FIRMWAREPATHS 
"/libdata/firmware:/usr/libdata/firmware:/usr/pkg/libdata/firmware:/usr/
pkg/libdata" (../dev/firmware.c line 80).

If /usr is on a different partition than root the firmware is not loaded if it 
is not in /libdata/firmware/if_ipw.  I believe this is because /usr is not 
mounted at this point.

A workaround is to copy the /usr/pkg/libdata/if_ipw directory to 
/libdata/firmware

There may be some way to require /usr to be mounted before the ipw driver 
attempts to read the firmware. 

The message which shows up is:
ipw0: could not cache the firmware (ipw2100-1.2.fw)

>How-To-Repeat:
Have /usr on a differnt partition than root, remove firmware from 
/libdata/firmware/if_ipw have a ipw device.
>Fix:
After installing package sysutils/ipw-firmware copy /usr/pkg/libdata/if_ipw to 
/libdata/firmware

or

don't mount /usr on a different partition.