I currently use Groovy (20.10) on an HP Pavilion x360 laptop; the wireless card is a Realtek 8821ce. For over a year, I've depended on an unofficial wireless driver from GitHub for lack of kernel support. However, the release candidates for Linux 5.12 that came out recently have begun to include support for this card, which motivated me to download and compile v5.12-rc5.
There are various resources on AskUbuntu and the Ubuntu website itself providing instructions on how an upstream kernel can be compiled and installed; I will skip the details unless asked. The basic commands I used were:
cp /boot/config-5.8.0-48-generic .config
time make -j9 olddefconfig bindeb-pkg
followed by "dpkg -i" for the headers and the image. I rebooted and entered a kernel supporting neither my touchpad nor my wireless card.
I poked around a little and realised that olddefconfig is somehow excluding kernel modules which support the above two hardware components. I edited the .config file manually to indiscriminately enable everything pertaining to HID and RTL8821, and compiled a kernel that does work.
Therefore, the bug I am requesting to be fixed is the omission of necessary kernel configuration options on the default /boot/config-5.8.0-48-generic file. The fix I am requesting is the inclusion of these options, although I'm not sure from looking at /proc/modules which ones they are. So in the attachment section I'm going to reproduce the contents of /proc/modules and both kernel configs - this will all be in one file because I cannot seem to upload multiple attachments. Hopefully, this will be enough for the issue to be fixed so that the many users of the RTL8821ce chip can switch over to a suitable kernel sooner rather than later (which will apparently be some time after Ubuntu Hirsute ships with Linux 5.10.)
To address the bug reporting guidelines below:
1. Description: Ubuntu 20.10
Release: 20.10
2. linux-image-5.8.0-48-generic:
Installed: 5.8.0-48.54
Candidate: 5.8.0-48.54
Version table:
*** 5.8.0-48.54 500
500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu groovy-updates/main amd64 Packages
500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu groovy-security/main amd64 Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
3. I expected to be able to compile the kernel with the necessary modules.
4. I compiled a kernel with no support for my touchpad or my wireless card.
Thanks,
Mihir.
PS: I'm also willing to make a patch myself if someone can help me identify the components the patch is for!
---
ProblemType: Bug
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu50.5
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.10
InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-11-04 (148 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 20.10 "Groovy Gorilla" - Release amd64 (20201022)
Package: linux (not installed)
ProcEnviron:
TERM=xterm-256color
PATH=(custom, no user)
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
SHELL=/bin/bash
Tags: groovy
Uname: Linux 5.12.0-rc5 x86_64
UnreportableReason: The running kernel is not an Ubuntu kernel
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
UserGroups: adm cdrom dip lpadmin lxd plugdev sambashare sudo
_MarkForUpload: True
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 1922260
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.