Keyboard backlight sysfs sometimes is missing on Dell laptops

[Kai-Heng Feng]

[Impact]
When the keyboard backlight sysfs is missing, userspace does not know
the current keyboard backlight brightness.

[Fix]
There's a loading order race condition, between the dell-smbios and its
backends, dell-smbios-{smm,wmi}.
Build them as one module can solve the issue.

The last patch is what we want, but pulls the entire series as a whole.

[Test]
The backlight sysfs always exists with the patch. Userspace now knows
the current keyboard backlight brightness.

[Regression Potential]
Low. No functional change, as it simply links the modules together.
Limits to Dell machines.

[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 1797304

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.

[AceLan Kao (acelankao)]

This bug is awaiting verification that the kernel in -proposed solves the problem. Please test the kernel and update this bug with the results. If the problem is solved, change the tag 'verification-needed-bionic' to 'verification-done-bionic'. If the problem still exists, change the tag 'verification-needed-bionic' to 'verification-failed-bionic'.

If verification is not done by 5 working days from today, this fix will be dropped from the source code, and this bug will be closed.

See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Thank you!

[Leon Liao (lihow731)]

After upgrade kernel to 4.15.0-1024-oem, I can not reproduce this bug.
I did "reboot" 100 times. Fail rate: 0/100

SKU: Dell Inspiron 3585
BIOS: 0.4.3

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package linux-oem - 4.15.0-1024.29

---------------
linux-oem (4.15.0-1024.29) bionic; urgency=medium

  * linux-oem: 4.15.0-1024.29 -proposed tracker (LP: #1797069)

  * Keyboard backlight sysfs sometimes is missing on Dell laptops (LP: #1797304)
    - platform/x86: dell-smbios: Correct some style warnings
    - platform/x86: dell-smbios: Rename dell-smbios source to dell-smbios-base
    - platform/x86: dell-smbios: Link all dell-smbios-* modules together
    - [Config] CONFIG_DELL_SMBIOS_SMM=y, CONFIG_DELL_SMBIOS_WMI=y
    - [Config] CONFIG_DELL_SMBIOS_SMM=y, CONFIG_DELL_SMBIOS_WMI=y

  [ Ubuntu: 4.15.0-38.41 ]

  * linux: 4.15.0-38.41 -proposed tracker (LP: #1797061)
  * Silent data corruption in Linux kernel 4.15 (LP: #1796542)
    - block: add a lower-level bio_add_page interface
    - block: bio_iov_iter_get_pages: fix size of last iovec
    - blkdev: __blkdev_direct_IO_simple: fix leak in error case
    - block: bio_iov_iter_get_pages: pin more pages for multi-segment IOs

 -- Chia-Lin Kao (AceLan) <email address hidden> Tue, 16 Oct 2018 10:32:03 +0800

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package linux - 4.15.0-39.42

---------------
linux (4.15.0-39.42) bionic; urgency=medium

  * linux: 4.15.0-39.42 -proposed tracker (LP: #1799411)

  * Linux: insufficient shootdown for paging-structure caches (LP: #1798897)
    - mm: move tlb_table_flush to tlb_flush_mmu_free
    - mm/tlb: Remove tlb_remove_table() non-concurrent condition
    - mm/tlb, x86/mm: Support invalidating TLB caches for RCU_TABLE_FREE
    - [Config] CONFIG_HAVE_RCU_TABLE_INVALIDATE=y

  * Ubuntu18.04: GPU total memory is reduced (LP: #1792102)
    - Revert "powerpc/powernv: Increase memory block size to 1GB on radix"

  * arm64: snapdragon: reduce boot noise (LP: #1797154)
    - [Config] arm64: snapdragon: DRM_MSM=m
    - [Config] arm64: snapdragon: SND*=m
    - [Config] arm64: snapdragon: disable ARM_SDE_INTERFACE
    - [Config] arm64: snapdragon: disable DRM_I2C_ADV7511_CEC
    - [Config] arm64: snapdragon: disable VIDEO_ADV7511, VIDEO_COBALT

  * [Bionic] CPPC bug fixes (LP: #1796949)
    - ACPI / CPPC: Update all pr_(debug/err) messages to log the susbspace id
    - cpufreq: CPPC: Don't set transition_latency
    - ACPI / CPPC: Fix invalid PCC channel status errors

  * regression in 'ip --family bridge neigh' since linux v4.12 (LP: #1796748)
    - rtnetlink: fix rtnl_fdb_dump() for ndmsg header

  * screen displays abnormally on the lenovo M715 with the AMD GPU (Radeon Vega
    8 Mobile, rev ca, 1002:15dd) (LP: #1796786)
    - drm/amd/display: Fix takover from VGA mode
    - drm/amd/display: early return if not in vga mode in disable_vga
    - drm/amd/display: Refine disable VGA

  * arm64: snapdragon: WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 1 arch/arm64/kernel/setup.c:271
    reserve_memblock_reserved_regions (LP: #1797139)
    - SAUCE: arm64: Fix /proc/iomem for reserved but not memory regions

  * The front MIC can't work on the Lenovo M715 (LP: #1797292)
    - ALSA: hda/realtek - Fix the problem of the front MIC on the Lenovo M715

  * Keyboard backlight sysfs sometimes is missing on Dell laptops (LP: #1797304)
    - platform/x86: dell-smbios: Correct some style warnings
    - platform/x86: dell-smbios: Rename dell-smbios source to dell-smbios-base
    - platform/x86: dell-smbios: Link all dell-smbios-* modules together
    - [Config] CONFIG_DELL_SMBIOS_SMM=y, CONFIG_DELL_SMBIOS_WMI=y

  * rpi3b+: ethernet not working (LP: #1797406)
    - lan78xx: Don't reset the interface on open

  * 87cdf3148b11 was never backported to 4.15 (LP: #1795653)
    - xfrm: Verify MAC header exists before overwriting eth_hdr(skb)->h_proto

  * [Ubuntu18.04][Power9][DD2.2]package installation segfaults inside debian
    chroot env in P9 KVM guest with HTM enabled (kvm) (LP: #1792501)
    - KVM: PPC: Book3S HV: Fix guest r11 corruption with POWER9 TM workarounds

  * Provide mode where all vCPUs on a core must be the same VM (LP: #1792957)
    - KVM: PPC: Book3S HV: Provide mode where all vCPUs on a core must be the same
      VM

  * fscache: bad refcounting in fscache_op_complete leads to OOPS (LP: #1797314)
    - SAUCE: fscache: Fix race in decrementing refcount of op->npages

  * CVE-2018-9363
    - Bluetooth: hidp: buffer overflow in hidp_process_report

  * CVE-20...

[Anthony Wong (anthonywong)]

Already fixed in mainline, set to Fix Released.