You just got a reprieve. The linux support for firewire had been abandoned by its last maintainer. This meant that, if some new kernel accidentally broke the firewire support, you probably wouldn't be able to get a fix for it. Another developer just stepped forward to take over maintaining the kernel's firewire support until 2029.
To those still using Firewire
Moderators: raboof, MattKingUSA, khz
To those still using Firewire
Author of BackupBand at https://sourceforge.net/projects/backupband/files/
My fans show their support by mentioning my name in their signature.