regression on udev rules for HUAWEI mobile broadband?

[ghomem]

I found several bug reports about mobile broadband USB sticks not working on Ubuntu 16.04. It seems that all the low level support is in place but the udev rules are incomplete, in what could be a regression from previous versions.

----------------------- 16.04 -------------------------

ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{manufacturer}!="Android", ATTR{bInterfaceNumber}=="00", ATTR{bInterfaceClass}=="08", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTR{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTR{idProduct}=="1573", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"

----------------------- 12.04 -------------------------

ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1001", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1003", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1009", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="101e", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1030", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1031", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1414", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1446", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1449", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="14ad", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="14b5", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="14b7", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="14c1", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="14c4", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="14c5", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="14d1", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="14fe", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1505", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1520", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1521", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1523", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1553", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1557", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1c0b", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1d50", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1da1", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1f01", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="380b", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"

For example the HUAWEI device with vendor:product pair 12d1:1f01 (see #1527914 ) worked fine (plug and play) on Ubuntu 12.04 but appears as as mass storage device on Ubuntu 16.04.

The missing rule is simply:

ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTR{idProduct}=="1f01", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"

References: #1431179 #1527914 #1514231

[Ubuntu Kernel Bot (ubuntu-kernel-bot)]

This bug is missing log files that will aid in diagnosing the problem. While running an Ubuntu kernel (not a mainline or third-party kernel) please enter the following command in a terminal window:

apport-collect 1707810

and then change the status of the bug to 'Confirmed'.

If, due to the nature of the issue you have encountered, you are unable to run this command, please add a comment stating that fact and change the bug status to 'Confirmed'.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.

[ghomem (gustavo)]

Just to be clear, I commented the "catch all" line:

#ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{manufacturer}!="Android", ATTR{bInterfaceNumber}=="00", ATTR{bInterfaceClass}=="08", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"

and added this line:

ATTR{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTR{idProduct}=="1f01", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"

[Kai-Heng Feng (kaihengfeng)]

$ dpkg -S /lib/udev/rules.d/40-usb_modeswitch.rules
usb-modeswitch-data: /lib/udev/rules.d/40-usb_modeswitch.rules

So probably not Linux kernel related?

[ghomem (gustavo)]

Strange as this sounds I went to try the solution above on a different computer with the same Ubuntu version (16.04) and didn't work - device appeared as mass storage. The line that worked was this one:

ATTR{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTR{idProduct}=="1f01", RUN+="/usr/sbin/usb_modeswitch -v 12d1 -p 1f01 -J"

which bypasses the udev modeswitch wrapper and has the parameters hardcoded. [1]

There is a related bug on the Debian bug tracker:

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=754348

[1] http://www.draisberghof.de/usb_modeswitch/bb/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2562

[Kai-Heng Feng (kaihengfeng)]

The post mentioned it was fixed here: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=751271

[Mantas Kriaučiūnas (mantas)]

I've backported usb-modeswitch 2.4 and usb-modeswich-data 2017-01 from Ubuntu 17.04 (Zesty) to 16.04 LTS (Xenial), you can update packages from ppa:baltix-members , see
https://launchpad.net/~baltix-members/+archive

Please reboot after installing usb-modeswitch 2.4 and usb-modeswich-data 2017-01 from ppa:baltix-members , test if your USB modem works correctly with updated packages and write a comment here in any case (works or not).

Thanks,
Mantas Kriaučiūnas
Developer of Baltix GNU/Linux Ubuntu derivative