Discovered cpufreq kernel modules are not loaded any more

[Paul F]

loadcpufreq: Discovered cpufreq kernel modules are not loaded any more

--Expected--
cpufreq driver to be loaded at boot when cpufrequtils is installed

--What happened instead---
The driver was not loaded. (Can be manually loaded).

--Description--
The shell script file `loadcpufreq' fails to load cpufreq driver kernel modules since the modules were renamed.

Script: /etc/init.d/loadcpufreq
Kernel modules: /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/cpufreq/

The loadcpufreq script is hard-wired to know the cpu-specific module names that it loads at boot. Additionally, it attempts to discover and load other, unknown cpufreq drivers.

The unknown modules are assumed by the script to have a name beginning `cpufreq_', eg, `cpufreq_nforce2'.

At some point, the cpufreq module names in the distro have been rationalised resulting in the `cpufreq_' modules being renamed to `cpufreq-'. Consequently, they are no longer discovered and loaded by loadcpufreq.

--Solution--
Attached is a patch to loadcpufreq which resolves the problem. A changelog entry is included. The diff is made against the latest (version 8) cpufrequtils package source which has been verified against the Quantal version of /etc/init.d/loadcpufreq.

I have tested the patch under a number of scenarios and am confident that it does not introduce new problems or regressions. Perhaps it can be floated upstream to the package maintainer.

--Impact--
Limited.
This bug will only affect systems with the cpufrequtils package installed, a specific kernel configuration and particular cpu scaling hardware.

--Test case--
1. Install cpufrequtils under a kernel with a modularised rather than built-in hardware-specific cpufreq driver named cpufreq-*.ko. Eg, an nforce2-based machine running Quantal with kernel 3.5.0-18.29 with module cpufreq-nforce2.ko.

2. Reboot

3. Verify that the module has not been loaded at boot
% lsmod | grep cpufreq

4. Manually insert the module and verify.
% sudo modprobe cpufreq-<name>
% lsmod | grep cpufreq

5. Apply patch

6. Reboot

7. Repeat 3 above to verify that this time the module *has* been loaded.

My installation info

% lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 12.10
Release: 12.10

% apt-cache policy cpufrequtils
cpufrequtils:
  Installed: 008-1
  Candidate: 008-1
  Version table:
 *** 008-1 0
        500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/universe i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

The attachment "Patch for loadcpufreq shell script" of this bug report has been identified as being a patch. The ubuntu-reviewers team has been subscribed to the bug report so that they can review the patch. In the event that this is in fact not a patch you can resolve this situation by removing the tag 'patch' from the bug report and editing the attachment so that it is not flagged as a patch. Additionally, if you are member of the ubuntu-reviewers team please also unsubscribe the team from this bug report.

[This is an automated message performed by a Launchpad user owned by Brian Murray. Please contact him regarding any issues with the action taken in this bug report.]

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Paul F (boxjunk)]

See also LP: 1079900 #10 (not duplicate, but related and dependant).

[dino99 (9d9)]

Hopes to get that issue fixed asap, either with cpufrequtils or cpupower replacement (ppa:kamalmostafa/cpupower)

[Paul F (boxjunk)]

What's the difference between cpufreq and cpupower? Can you point me at cpupower tech spec and/or sources please?

[dino99 (9d9)]

hi Paul,
i've discovered that package while googling around that module issue. But i cant say much about it: only that it has not been updated since a while.

Myself have not found how to make the 3.9 kernel (and the others too) to identify the right driver: it's an intel q9550, and should accept speedstep_centrino, but does not (even acpi_cpufreq is refused)

https://launchpad.net/~kamalmostafa/+archive/cpupower

[Kaizoku (neoark)]

I am having the same problem. After Every reboot i restart cpufrequtils services since there is no kernel module loaded.

[dino99 (9d9)]

Saucy xsession-errors output:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/indicator-cpufreq", line 79, in <module>
    ind = MyIndicator(options.show_frequency)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/indicator_cpufreq/indicator.py", line 99, in __init__
    self.update_ui()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/indicator_cpufreq/indicator.py", line 110, in update_ui
    fmin, fmax, governor = cpufreq.get_policy(self.cpus[0])
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/indicator_cpufreq/cpufreq.py", line 143, in get_policy
    policy = (p.contents.min, p.contents.max, p.contents.governor.decode())
ValueError: NULL pointer access

/var/log/upstart/kmod.log:
ERROR: could not insert 'w83627ehf': Device or resource busy

[Shahar Or (mightyiam)]

Someone please check whether this is still a thing?

[Alberto Salvia Novella (es20490446e)]

If you are still experiencing this bug, please:

1. Set its status to "confirmed".
2. In the tag list under the bug description, add the first name of the release where you are experiencing the bug.