Re: HAL source code vs binary code

Alex Keda wrote:
> http://lkml.org/lkml/2008/9/26/321
> whether there are plans to include source code HAL in FreeBSD?
> It is very difficult to update 2 MB binary files ..

If someone wants to do the work I would happily turn over responsibility 
for ath.  Beware however that the code Atheros gave out, while derived 
from my code base (note my name is on the files), has very different 
api's (sometimes subtle), lacks important functionality present in my 
hal, and is missing support for 5210, 5211, and 5416 class parts.  
Furthermore they didn't even give out the driver that goes with it and 
the code is incomplete (I know as have access to the code base this 
stuff came from).

I will however say that releasing this code will enable me to start 
pushing certain useful tools into our code base (e.g. the register 
dumping tool I've used forever).  The disclosure now also enables to me 
to point out how to do certain things like disable CCA on certain chips 
(ar5212/ar5212reg.h):

#define AR_DIAG_SW                      0x8048  /* MAC PCU control 
register */
#define DIAG_FORCE_RXCLR                (1<<20) /* force rxclear (ignore 
CCA) */

The obvious right thing would have been to allow me to give out my code 
but that assumes Atheros really wanted to help the open source community.

    Sam