Proprietary driver ath_hal tagged as free
Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
jockey (Ubuntu) |
Fix Released
|
Medium
|
Martin Pitt |
Bug Description
Recently the free ath5k module was removed from the kernel due to bugs. This caused some confusion with how the driver are managed. I have four suggestion to clarify this:
1)
Jokey now suggests to install "Support for Atheros 802.11 wireless LAN cards." This driver needs the ath_hal module which is under a proprietary licence:
$ modinfo ath_hal
filename: /lib/modules/
license: Proprietary
version: 0.9.18.0
description: Atheros Hardware Access Layer (HAL)
author: Errno Consulting, Sam Leffler
srcversion: 6109C7067013DAF
depends:
vermagic: 2.6.27-7-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 586
$ dmesg | grep -i tai
[17591.535013] ath_hal: module license 'Proprietary' taints kernel.
However, in jockey, the driver is tagged as free: "Licenza: Libero" (italian words for "Licence: Free").
2)
Also it would be nice to rename the driver from "Support for Atheros 802.11 wireless LAN cards." to something like "Proprietary <<madwifi>> driver for Atheros 802.11 wireless LAN cards.", to make sure to users that this driver is
a) proprietary
b) the madwifi driver and not the ath5k driver shipped in the linux-backports
3) When linux-backports
a) free
b) the ath5k driver and not the madwifi driver shipped with the linux-restricted packages
4) it should not be possible to enable both the ath5k and the madwifi driver.
description: | updated |
Changed in jockey: | |
status: | Incomplete → New |
Changed in jockey (Ubuntu): | |
status: | In Progress → Fix Committed |
What you see there isn't ath_hal, it's the free driver:
$ modinfo ath9k 2.6.27- 7-generic/ kernel/ drivers/ net/wireless/ ath9k/ath9k. ko
filename: /lib/modules/
license: Dual BSD/GPL
description: Support for Atheros 802.11n wireless LAN cards.
This doesn't need ath_hal. Can you please give the output of "jockey-gtk --list"?