rtl8188fu-openipc: drop unused firmware blob (driver embeds it)#2159
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The openipc/realtek-wlan rtl8188fu fork defines LOAD_FW_HEADER_FROM_DRIVER unconditionally in include/autoconf.h, and hal/rtl8188f/hal8188f_fw.c ships the firmware as u8 array_mp_8188f_fw_*[] byte arrays compiled into the .ko. The driver never calls request_firmware() for the FU blob, so the rtl8188fufw.bin file PR #2157 placed at /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/ was dead weight (~21 KB on every board that builds 8188fu.ko). Drop the blob and the POST_INSTALL hook that installed it; revert the LICENSE field to plain GPL-2.0. Also drop BR2_PACKAGE_LINUX_FIRMWARE_OPENIPC_RTL_8188EU=y from gk7202v300_ultimate (I added it in #2157 by mistake; the gk7205v200 ultimate template never had it, and r8188eu kernel module on this platform doesn't need a userspace blob either). Verified locally: gk7202v300_ultimate rebuild produces a squashfs with 8188fu.ko present, /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/ no longer created, rootfs 7040 KB (was 7064 KB). Spotted by @flyrouter on #2157. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Summary
Follow-up cleanup to #2157, per @flyrouter's catch in #2157 (comment).
The
openipc/realtek-wlanrtl8188fubranch already carries the firmware compiled into the.ko:include/autoconf.hdefinesLOAD_FW_HEADER_FROM_DRIVERunconditionallyhal/rtl8188f/hal8188f_fw.c(~372 KB source) emitsu8 array_mp_8188f_fw_*[]byte arrays that the driver consumes directly — norequest_firmware()callSo the
rtl8188fufw.binfile I shipped to/lib/firmware/rtlwifi/in #2157 was dead weight on every board that builds8188fu.ko. This PR drops:general/package/rtl8188fu-openipc/rtl8188fufw.bin(the orphaned blob, ~21 KB)RTL8188FU_OPENIPC_INSTALL_FIRMWAREPOST_INSTALL hook + theproprietary (rtl8188fufw.bin firmware blob)LICENSE note inrtl8188fu-openipc.mkBR2_PACKAGE_LINUX_FIRMWARE_OPENIPC_RTL_8188EU=yfromgk7202v300_ultimate_defconfig— I'd added this in gk7202v300: add ultimate variant + ship rtl8188fufw blob from the FU package #2157 by mistake; thegk7205v200_ultimatetemplate never had it, andr8188eufrom the kernel staging tree on this platform doesn't loadrtl8188eufw.bineitherLocal verification (
make BOARD=gk7202v300_ultimate)unsquashfs -l rootfs.squashfs.gk7202v300 | grep -E 'rtl8188|8188fu|rtlwifi|wpa_sup':/lib/firmware/rtlwifi/is gone (no consumers). FU and EU kernel modules both still ship — only the unused blobs leave.Test plan
gk7202v300_ultimatecleanlyhi3518ev200_ultimatecontinues to pass (regression check — that board's image also stops shipping the dead blob)fw_setenv wlandev rtl8188fu-generic→ reboot →wlan0up) should still work, because the FU driver's firmware is in the.ko🤖 Generated with Claude Code