On Tue, Nov 9, 2021 at 8:42 AM Aleksei Bavshin alebastr@fedoraproject.org wrote:
A module can load a firmware binary with the `request_firmware` API at any moment of it's lifetime. Usually, this happens when the module is initialized or discovers a new supported device, but I don't believe that is a strictly enforced rule.
And some drivers will check if the firmware is already loaded and active on a device before loading (and restarting it) again.
And some drivers will load regulatory specific firmware for a device (meaning a fair percentage of the firmware for the device which is shipped for the device may not actually be used in one's location).