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

[Shannon McMackin]

jidanni@jidanni.org wrote:
> 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 			"WARNING: Outdated ThinkPad BIOS/EC firmware\n");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.
BTW, here's the link to your BIOS update:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-55042

IMHO, it's the hardware owner's responsibility to maintain BIOS/FW 
revisions as a condition of ownership.  It's not Henrique's 
responsibility to make his code give you all the information about where 
to get the update and how to apply it.  I think it's wonderful that the 
current version at least knows what the current BIOS rev is, that in 
itself is a huge amount of work to add in considering the variety of 
ThinkPad models.