eudev-3 dropped firmware loader support

Message

ayvango · Post by **ayvango** » Sun Apr 12, 2015 9:24 am

And how should I configure the system without it? I can't disable the kernel option for userspace helper, make menuconfig marks it as mandatory.

What kernel tricks or userspace substitute may be used? I've tried linux-firmware ebuild, but it can't take the place of eudev.

Post by **NeddySeagoon** » Sun Apr 12, 2015 11:04 am

ayvango,

Firmware loading is a kernel feature. It should be forced on by any modules that require it.
It can be manually selected so you have support for external kernel modules that need firmware to be loaded too.

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  │ Symbol: FW_LOADER [=y]                                                       │  
  │ Type  : tristate                                                             │  
  │ Prompt: Userspace firmware loading support

turns on the in kernel firmware loader.

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 │ Symbol: FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER [=n]

Passes firmware loading to userspace if kernel firmware loading fails.
There is no userspace firmware loadng any more.

In short, everything should just work as you have

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 -*- Userspace firmware loading support

ayvango · Post by **ayvango** » Sun Apr 12, 2015 7:44 pm

NeddySeagoon wrote:ayvango,
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 │ Symbol: FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER [=n]  
Passes firmware loading to userspace if kernel firmware loading fails.

I have FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER forced to y by menuconfig. And when I load the kernel with eudev-3 I have all firmware loading failed. Should I fix the kernel configuration or fix something with userspace configuration?

Post by **asturm** » Sun Apr 12, 2015 8:17 pm

This breaks kernel 3.4, btw, which does not have direct firmware loading. So, same issue as with systemd.

Post by **NeddySeagoon** » Sun Apr 12, 2015 8:21 pm

ayvango,

In menuconfig press / for seach and enter FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER

That will show what it deponds on and what selects it. I get

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  │   Depends on: FW_LOADER [=y]                                                                                            │  
  │   Selects: FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER [=n]                                                                                   │  
  │   Selected by: DRM_STI [=n] && HAS_IOMEM [=y] && DRM [=y] && (SOC_STIH415 || SOC_STIH416 || ARCH_MULTIPLATFORM)

This shows the settingins in my kernel. Yours will be different.

For this expression to evaluate to true any one or more of (SOC_STIH415 || SOC_STIH416 || ARCH_MULTIPLATFORM) must be true.
I can't find any of them in kernel 3.19.3.

DRM_STI is for

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DRM Support for STMicroelectronics SoC stiH41x Series (DRM_STI)

and its not visible unless you are building a kernel for whatever arch that happens to be, so an amd64 and i686 FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER should not be forced on.

s4e8 · Post by **s4e8** » Mon Apr 13, 2015 7:26 am

This is entry for FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER_FALLBACK. The FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER may be forced by DELL_RBU, a DELL BIOS update interface.

NeddySeagoon wrote:ayvango,
For this expression to evaluate to true any one or more of (SOC_STIH415 || SOC_STIH416 || ARCH_MULTIPLATFORM) must be true.

Anon-E-moose · Post by **Anon-E-moose** » Mon Apr 13, 2015 9:43 am

I masked eudev 2 and above a while back. System works perfectly fine with eudev-1*

ayvango · Post by **ayvango** » Thu Apr 16, 2015 4:49 am

NeddySeagoon,

I mistook menu entry "Userspace firmware loader" with FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER. FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER have no presence in menu. It seems to be activated only by dependencies. I switch off FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER_FALLBACK and FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER become disabled. So I manage to configure kernel without FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER

But doing so does not solve the problem. I've tried new kernel with eudev-3 and the system still misses all firmware.

Post by **NeddySeagoon** » Thu Apr 16, 2015 6:30 pm

ayvango,

Please put both your kernel .config file and the dmesg it produces onto a pastebin site and post the links here.
wgetpaste is your friend.

I expect to see some messages about firmware loading failing in dmesg, and maybe why.
Then I can poke about in your kernel to see why.