"Modaliases" field missing from debian control file
Bug #1490212 reported by
Adam Smith
This bug affects 1 person
Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
b43-fwcutter (Ubuntu) |
Expired
|
High
|
Unassigned |
Bug Description
The b43 module is not listed as an option by the "additional drivers" section of the software-
However, if I'm reading things correctly, the firmware-
Modaliases: wl(pci:
This would be scanned by the ubuntu-
no longer affects: | software-properties (Ubuntu) |
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So I've looked into this some more and the theory is sound. There are, however, a few stumbling blocks.
The first is software- properties- gtk is a bit rubbish because it doesn't provide much feedback about the package installation process. So if the firmware download fails then the firmware- b43-installer package is left in an unconfigured state, but the user is unaware of this. When you re-run the software- properties- gtk utility, the package is incorrectly marked as being used. There is even no error message when the download of the firmware- b43-installer package fails. So the user if left thinking "why isn't this working?". A message saying "please check your internet connection" is badly needed.
The modaliases line used by the wl driver captures the whole sweep of broadcom cards. So people with unsupported cards are told to install it. Gosh, no wonder people have so many problems with broadcom! When they install wl this automatically blacklists and removes the b43, ssb, bcma, etc modules. This adds to the next problem: what modaliases should firmware- b43-installer use?
Running the command:
modinfo b43 | perl -nae 'print "alias $1 b43\n" if /^alias:\s+(.*)$/'
gives
alias bcma:m04BFid081 2rev1Dcl* b43 2rev18cl* b43 2rev17cl* b43 2rev11cl* b43 rev10* b43 rev0F* b43 rev0D* b43 rev0C* b43 rev0B* b43 rev0A* b43 rev09* b43 rev07* b43 rev06* b43 rev05* b43
alias bcma:m04BFid081
alias bcma:m04BFid081
alias bcma:m04BFid081
alias ssb:v4243id0812
alias ssb:v4243id0812
alias ssb:v4243id0812
alias ssb:v4243id0812
alias ssb:v4243id0812
alias ssb:v4243id0812
alias ssb:v4243id0812
alias ssb:v4243id0812
alias ssb:v4243id0812
alias ssb:v4243id0812
These aliases work for ubuntu- driver/ software- properties- gtk until you blacklist b43/ssb/bcma or you rmmod them (like wl does). Then they are not found and the package is not matched. What we really need are aliases starting with pci, but how do we get these and correctly seperate them into the firmware- b43-installer and firmware- b43legacy- installer packages, accounting for revision numbers etc? I have to ask, but whose idea was it to create these seperate packages?! They've caused so much mayhem!
Also, in the modaliases file (e.g. debian/ firmware- b43-installer. modaliases) you can't use the name of an existing module (e.g. alias blahblahblah b43). If you do this the software- properties- gtk will not budge from the 'continue running a custom installed module' option. For testing I ended up using a file like so:
alias pci:v000014E4d* sv*sd*bc02sc80i * firmware- b43-installer
The final problem is with the b43 installer scripts. They don't rmmod/modprobe the b43/b43legacy modules therefore requiring a system reboot. Again, the user is not informed to do this. This feature should be added to the scripts.