BFE Engineering
42fb386f60
Replace every em dash with real punctuation (rewrites, not hyphen swaps) in docs, code comments, scripts, configs, and the port records; convert en dashes, curly quotes, ellipsis glyphs, arrows, and section signs to ASCII; drop machine-writing tell phrases from living docs. ADR titles now use a colon. The M2 bring-up DTS model string carried an em dash into the patch series and its record echoes; fixed at both, and the full series re-verified to apply cleanly onto pristine 6.18.46. One comment in freshness.h deliberately names the em dash glyph the UI renders as the unknown mark; that is data, kept as prose naming it. Verified: cargo tests (sim, config-lint, rs485-bridge), shellcheck, both driver MC/DC harnesses, patches-apply.
55 lines
3.3 KiB
Markdown
55 lines
3.3 KiB
Markdown
# Driver provenance & openness ledger
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Standing directive: **every** driver we run on the self-built 6.18 kernel must be
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open source we can read, harden, and bend (not a binary blob) and this applies
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to the drivers *already* ported, not just the new ones. This ledger records, for
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each, where the source came from and under what license. Every entry is GPL-2.0
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kernel source; nothing here is a binary-only kernel module.
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## Legend
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- **vendor-src**: C source from the Rockchip 5.10 vendor SDK
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(`flare-edge/sdk/sysdrv/source/kernel/`), forward-ported 5.10 -> 6.18.
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- **mainline-sibling**: 6.18 mainline driver, extended with an rv1106 data table
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derived from a sibling SoC (rv1126/px30/rk3562) whose IP block matches.
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- All Rockchip vendor kernel code is a GPL-2.0 fork of mainline Linux -> GPL-clean.
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## Already-ported drivers (audited for openness per directive)
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| Driver | Origin | License | Openness notes |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| clk-rv1106 (CRU) | vendor-src | GPL-2.0 | full register/PLL source; readable + hardenable |
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| pinctrl-rockchip | vendor-src | GPL-2.0-only | rv1106 mux/drive tables in-source |
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| rockchip_vop_reg VOP | mainline-sibling (rv1126) | GPL-2.0-only | data table only; no blob |
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| phy-rockchip-inno-usb2 | mainline-sibling + vendor regs | GPL-2.0-or-later | rv1106_phy_cfgs from TRM/vendor |
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| rockchip_saradc | mainline-sibling (v2) | GPL-2.0-or-later | 2-ch data table |
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| rtc-rockchip | vendor-src | GPL-2.0 | whole driver, source |
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| rockchip_thermal (tsadc) | vendor-src | GPL-2.0-only | rv1106 code-table + init from source |
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| RGA (rga3/) | vendor-src | GPL-2.0 | full multicore 2D engine source |
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## In-flight
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| Driver | Origin | License | Openness notes |
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| AIC8800 wifi/BT | vendor-src (AICSemi) | `MODULE_LICENSE("GPL")` | full full-MAC source; 50 files use GPL-only kernel/cfg80211/sdio symbols; **no** proprietary/redistribution restriction in-tree |
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## The one unavoidable blob, and why it is *not* kernel code
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- **`aic8800dc_fw`** (`/oem/usr/ko/`) is device firmware that the GPL host driver
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*uploads to the wifi chip's on-die processor*. It never runs on the A7; it is not
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linked into the kernel. This is the standard Linux firmware split (cf. every
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ath10k/mt76 device) and is the only binary in the wifi path: the driver itself
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is source. No open re-implementation of the AIC on-die MAC firmware exists;
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reverse-engineering it is out of scope for the panel and buys nothing (the host
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driver is where our control + hardening lives).
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## NPU: the openness line we will not cross
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The **kernel** rknpu driver is portable GPL source (`npu/PORT-PLAN.md`). What is
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closed is the *userspace* RKNN runtime + the regcmd stream format, a binary blob.
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Per directive we do **not** ship that blob; if NPU compute is ever wanted, the open
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path is a from-scratch/reverse-engineered regcmd encoder, tracked separately, never
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a vendored binary runtime. (See `npu/PORT-PLAN.md` and the graphics investigation.)
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## Posture
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Every kernel driver we run is source we hold. The only binaries in the whole
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enablement are on-device *firmware* (wifi chip), which by construction cannot be
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source on the host. That is the intended openness boundary: **host = source,
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device-internal firmware = vendor blob**, and no vendor binary is ever loaded into
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*our* kernel's address space.
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