Gentoo-isms #2 – Can’t load firmware file

So, you find in your kernel logs or elsewhere some error message something like:

bnx2: Can’t load firmware file “bnx2/bnx2-mips-09-6.2.1b.fw”

That indicates there is a binary blob (or whatever firmware) missing that is needed for that device.

The fix is to load up the Gentoo packaged firmware files. Most are in (surprise, surprise 😉 ) the kernel firmware package:

# emerge linux-firmware

Regardless, you can check what package is needed by using the qfile utility, for this example:

# qfile -v /lib/firmware/bnx2/bnx2-mips-09-6.2.1b.fw

Which for this example should output:

sys-kernel/linux-firmware-20121225 (/lib/firmware/bnx2/bnx2-mips-09-6.2.1b.fw)

All very easy when known!

All by the power of Gentoo!