Initramfs possibly missing firmware module for rtl 8169 nic

[Matt Eskes]

While updating initfs-tools, I saw this error reported upon generation of the new ramdisk. I didn't initially notice anything weird since I rarely use my ethernet connection on this system. Feel free to email me if you would like more info.

Processing triggers for initramfs-tools ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-11-generic

W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8105e-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168e-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168e-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168d-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168d-1.fw for module r8169

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: initramfs-tools 0.99ubuntu5
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-11.18-generic 3.0.4
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-11-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
Date: Mon Sep 26 14:19:58 2011
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Beta amd64 (20110917)
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: initramfs-tools
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Tim Gardner (timg-tpi)]

These are the 5 firmware files referenced in drivers/net/r8169.c:

MODULE_FIRMWARE(FIRMWARE_8168D_1);
MODULE_FIRMWARE(FIRMWARE_8168D_2);
MODULE_FIRMWARE(FIRMWARE_8168E_1);
MODULE_FIRMWARE(FIRMWARE_8168E_2);
MODULE_FIRMWARE(FIRMWARE_8105E_1);

These firmware files are installed from the linux-firmware package. Can you confirm that they are present on this machine? If so, then I think that initramfs-tools has a post install error.

[Matt Eskes (matt.eskes-deactivatedaccount)]

Hey Tim, sorry for such a long time to respond. I never got the email from Launchpad. Lemme see what I can find for you.

Upon checking to see if linux-firmware was installed, it seems that, for some reason, it was not. I am installing it now and will do a force-reinstall of initramfs-tools to see if that took care of the issue.

Ok, installing linux-firmware seems to have done the trick at fixing this issue. The next question is this: shouldn't linux-firmware be flagged dep of initramfs-tools or am I getting too far ahead of myself here?