[ltp] Re: Bug#565789: say what the current Thinkpad BIOS/Firmware should be

[linux-thinkpad@linux-thinkpad.org]

OK, I found the file. One needs to scrape it out of a browser, as there
is no way to wget it.

All I know is you do
	printk(TPACPI_INFO "%s v%s\n", TPACPI_DESC, TPACPI_VERSION);
	printk(TPACPI_INFO "%s\n", TPACPI_URL);
and then later
	if ((bios_version > thinkpad_id.bios_release) ||
	    (ec_version > thinkpad_id.ec_release &&
				ec_version != TPACPI_MATCH_ANY)) {
		printk(TPACPI_WARN
			"WARNING: Outdated ThinkPad BIOS/EC firmware\n");
		printk(TPACPI_WARN
			"WARNING: This firmware may be missing critical bug "
			"fixes and/or important features\n");

And then, bios_version and ec_version, which you have right there at
your fingertips, are not revealed to the user. He isn't even told which
one of these seemingly top secret values is the culprit.

And indeed, looking at the code, it would take perhaps several days for
him to rewrite your program to cough up these two values... especially
if he is just a .debs user, and does not want to have to download and
compile Linux kernels. Open but very complicated source.

Also just as valuable as printing TPACPI_URL would, if he is to be told
to upgrade, be printing " http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/BIOS_Upgrade ".
Or who knows what he might Google himself to. Adult BIOS upgrades...

>> >>>>> "H" == Henrique de Moraes Holschuh <hmh@debian.org> writes:
H> The driver always logs the current version number at INFO priority at
H> startup, because otherwise I don't know what firmware is in a thinkpad when
H> I request the logs from someone.
You get to know what BIOS we have but we don't get to know what BIOS you
think we should have. You don't know how frustrating this is -- that's
why I'm sending all these mails.
You could even add a disclaimer that all you know
is there is a newer version ####, but you don't necessarily recommend it.
H> That is NOT part of the warning. It is not even in the same priority level.
All I know is they both show up together in syslog. I don't think we
.deb users can adjust priority levels anyway.