Bug 371193 – Kernel modesetting section of xorg configuration out of date w.r.t. make nconfig screens

• Product: [OLD] Docs on www.gentoo.org
• Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE

[Description bgoodr 2011-06-12 02:25:45 UTC]

Inside http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/xorg-config.xml we see this:

--------------------------------------------------------
Code Listing 2.5: AMD/ATI settings

(Setup the kernel to use the radeon-ucode firmware)
Device Drivers --->
  Generic Driver Options --->
  [*]  Include in-kernel firmware blobs in kernel binary
  # RadeonHD 2000, 3000, and 4000 series cards:
  (radeon/R600_rlc.bin radeon/R700_rlc.bin) External firmware blobs
  # RadeonHD 5000, a.k.a Evergreen, and newer cards:
  (radeon/CEDAR_me.bin radeon/CEDAR_pfp.bin radeon/CEDAR_rlc.bin
   radeon/CYPRESS_me.bin radeon/CYPRESS_pfp.bin radeon/CYPRESS_rlc.bin
   radeon/JUNIPER_me.bin radeon/JUNIPER_pfp.bin radeon/JUNIPER_rlc.bin
   radeon/REDWOOD_me.bin radeon/REDWOOD_pfp.bin
   radeon/REDWOOD_rlc.bin) External firmware blobs
  # Radeon HD 6200/6300 aka. Ontario/Zacate:
  (radeon/PALM_me.bin radeon/PALM_pfp.bin radeon/SUMO_rlc.bin) External
   firmware blobs
  # Radeon HD 6400-6900 aka. Northern Islands:
  (radeon/BARTS_mc.bin radeon/BARTS_me.bin radeon/BARTS_pfp.bin
   radeon/BTC_rlc.bin radeon/CAICOS_mc.bin radeon/CAICOS_me.bin
   radeon/CAICOS_pfp.bin radeon/TURKS_mc.bin radeon/TURKS_me.bin
   radeon/TURKS_pfp.bin) External firmware blobs
   (/lib/firmware/) Firmware blobs root directory

(Enable Radeon KMS support)
Device Drivers --->
  Graphics support --->
  <*>  Direct Rendering Manager --->
  <*>    ATI Radeon
  [*]      Enable modesetting on radeon by default
--------------------------------------------------------

Starting with the line "# RadeonHD 2000, 3000, and 4000 series cards:" and ending with the line "(/lib/firmware/) Firmware blobs root directory", it is confusing as to what is being expected that the user should do in that part of the kernel configuration screen (from "make nconfig", not "make menuconfig" but I don't think it matters). Consider what I see now in my "make nconfig" screen:

--------------------------------------------------------

           .config - Linux/i386 2.6.37-gentoo-r4 Kernel Configuration
 lqq Generic Driver Options qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqk
 x                                                                            x
 x     (/sbin/hotplug) path to uevent helper                                  x
 x [ ] Maintain a devtmpfs filesystem to mount at /dev                        x
 x [*] Select only drivers that don't need compile-time external firmware     x
 x [*] Prevent firmware from being built                                      x
 x {M} Userspace firmware loading support                                     x
 x [*]   Include in-kernel firmware blobs in kernel binary                    x
 x     ()    External firmware blobs to build into the kernel binary          x
 x [ ] Driver Core verbose debug messages                                     x
 x [ ] Managed device resources verbose debug messages                        x
 x                                                                            x
 x                                                                            x
 x                                                                            x
 x                                                                            x
 x                                                                            x
 x                                                                            x
 x                                                                            x
 x                                                                            x
 x                                                                            x
 x                                                                            x
 x                                                                            x
 mF1HelpqF2Sym InfoqF3InstsqF4ConfigqF5BackqF6SaveqF7LoadqF8Sym SearchqF9Exitqj
--------------------------------------------------------

The above selections are a result of a prior genkernel run that I am having to revisit and/or redo due to this Xorg configuration handbook. 

What I would expect to see is statements that explain what to do based upon which type of video card you have, complete with lspci output for the video cards using the open-source radeon driver.

Also, notice that in my "make nconfig" screen shown above, the "External firmware blobs to build into the kernel binary" is not referenced in the http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/xorg-config.xml page. It probably should be as if it is missing then the user is left to guess as to what it should be set to.

[Comment 1 nm (RETIRED) 2011-06-12 02:46:35 UTC]

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 371191 ***