Comment 22 for bug 1156138

Revision history for this message
Brian Burch (brian-pingtoo) wrote :

Bernardo - I apologise for confusing you with the author of the patch - please disregard my comment!

I spent some time learning about the bcmwl patch referred to in #18 above. I tried a lot os things that frustratingly made no difference, but here is what counts as partial success:-

1. Backup the unpacked distro version of /usr/src/bcmwl-6.20.155.1+bdcom/patches/0006-add-support-for-linux-3.8.0.patch.
2. Move the new patch file to replace the original. A diff shows the patches have a lot in common, but also a lot of new conditional compile blocks that apply to the 3.8.0 kernels and alter the use of the gpl symbol.
3. sudo dkms status confirms bcmwl was already installed against my three kernels: generic, low-latency ans custom low-latency.
4. sudo dkms build bcmwl/6.20.155.1+bdcom -k 3.8.0-27-lowlatency and my custom kernel ran successfully (i.e. no failure due to invalid use of gpl symbol).
5. sudo dkms install bcmwl/6.20.155.1+bdcom -k 3.8.0-27-lowlatency passes the sanity check, installs wl.ko and rens depmod successfully.
6. /var/lib/dkms/bcmwl/kernel-3.8.0-27-lowlatency-i686/log/make.log shows the five compiles are ok, but the last stage issues the message "WARNING: "rcu_read_unlock_special" [/var/lib/dkms/bcmwl/6.20.155.1+bdcom/build/wl.ko] undefined!" before creating the wl.ko module. I don't know whether this warning is important or not - perhaps the patch is not complete?

Unfortunately, when I reboot the bcmwl driver does not load. I guess there is another step I need to make (update-initramfs perhaps?)