0 byte sized firmware files in linux-firmware[solved]

Message

Adel Ahmed · Post by **Adel Ahmed** » Fri Dec 27, 2024 1:56 pm

firmware installed by linux-firmware is zero sized, how can I resolve this?:

root@localhost $ emerge linux-firmware -pv

 * IMPORTANT: config file '/etc/portage/savedconfig/sys-kernel/linux-firmware-20241210-r1' needs updating.
 * See the CONFIGURATION FILES and CONFIGURATION FILES UPDATE TOOLS
 * sections of the emerge man page to learn how to update config files.

These are the packages that would be merged, in order:

Calculating dependencies... done!
Dependency resolution took 25.26 s (backtrack: 0/20).

[ebuild   R    ] sys-kernel/linux-firmware-20241210-r1::gentoo  USE="savedconfig -bindist -compress-xz -compress-zstd -deduplicate -dist-kernel -initramfs -redistributable (-unknown-license)" 0 Ki

Code: Select all

root@localhost $ ls -lh /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/
total 12K
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  0 Dec 27 13:34 rtl8723aufw_A.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  0 Dec 27 13:34 rtl8723aufw_B.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  0 Dec 27 13:34 rtl8723aufw_B_NoBT.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  0 Dec 27 13:34 rtl8723befw.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  0 Dec 27 13:34 rtl8723befw_36.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 23 Dec 27 13:35 rtl8723bs_ap_wowlan.bin -> rtl8723bu_ap_wowlan.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  0 Dec 27 13:34 rtl8723bs_bt.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 17 Dec 27 13:35 rtl8723bs_nic.bin -> rtl8723bu_nic.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 Dec 27 13:35 rtl8723bs_wowlan.bin -> rtl8723bu_wowlan.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  0 Dec 27 13:34 rtl8723bu_ap_wowlan.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  0 Dec 27 13:34 rtl8723bu_nic.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  0 Dec 27 13:34 rtl8723bu_wowlan.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  0 Dec 27 13:34 rtl8723defw.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  0 Dec 27 13:34 rtl8723fw.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  0 Dec 27 13:34 rtl8723fw_B.bin

Josef.95 · Post by **Josef.95** » Fri Dec 27, 2024 9:06 pm

Not sure, but don't disable USE=redistributable should probably help.

Adel Ahmed · Post by **Adel Ahmed** » Sat Dec 28, 2024 8:58 am

definitely helped, do not understand why but the size is now non-zero, I have another machine with -redistributable and did not encounter that problem.
I'm happy it worked, thank you josef for your help

hdcg · Post by **hdcg** » Sat Dec 28, 2024 9:29 am

The size shown, is the download size. If the files are already available in distfiles, the size is always zero. Bottom line of emerge output shows this explicit:

Code: Select all

~ # emerge linux-firmware -pv

These are the packages that would be merged, in order:

Calculating dependencies... done!

[ebuild   R    ] sys-kernel/linux-firmware-20241210-r1::gentoo  USE="redistributable -bindist -compress-xz -compress-zstd -deduplicate -dist-kernel -initramfs -savedconfig (-unknown-license)" 0 KiB

Total: 1 package (1 reinstall), Size of downloads: 0 KiB
~ # rm /var/cache/distfiles/linux-firmware-20241210.tar.xz 
~ # emerge linux-firmware -pv

These are the packages that would be merged, in order:

Calculating dependencies... done!

[ebuild   R    ] sys-kernel/linux-firmware-20241210-r1::gentoo  USE="redistributable -bindist -compress-xz -compress-zstd -deduplicate -dist-kernel -initramfs -savedconfig (-unknown-license)" 401,798 KiB

Total: 1 package (1 reinstall), Size of downloads: 401,798 KiB

logrusx · Post by **logrusx** » Sat Dec 28, 2024 10:05 am

Adel Ahmed wrote:definitely helped, do not understand why

Redistributable includes files that are non-free but redistributable i.e. files with problematic licenses. It's by default enabled, you should have disabled it yourself.

hdcg wrote:The size shown, is the download size. If the files are already available in distfiles, the size is always zero. Bottom line of emerge output shows this explicit:

The original question addresses the files, not the distfiles.

p.s. I just filed a bug on that: https://bugs.gentoo.org/947106

Best Regards,
Georgi

Post by Hu » Sat Dec 28, 2024 3:00 pm

OP: if you revert to the USE flags you used originally, does the problem reappear? It would be good to understand whether your first problem was an errant bad install (perhaps related to an ill-timed system crash) that would have been fixed by rebuilding with the same options or is a reproducible defect in the package.

Website · Post by **Zucca** » Sat Dec 28, 2024 3:52 pm

logrusx wrote:p.s. I just filed a bug on that: https://bugs.gentoo.org/947106

Best Regards,
Georgi

Thanks for filling the bug report.

I too was confused because of the naming. I thought redistributable was another bindist, or so...

Adel Ahmed · Post by **Adel Ahmed** » Sun Dec 29, 2024 11:07 am

yeah the problem reappears if I revert to the flags I used originally

logrusx · Post by **logrusx** » Mon Dec 30, 2024 5:04 am

Adel Ahmed wrote:yeah the problem reappears if I revert to the flags I used originally

Do you have ACCEPT_LICENSE set in your make.conf? Also do you remember why did you disable the redistributable flag?

Zucca wrote:
logrusx wrote:p.s. I just filed a bug on that: https://bugs.gentoo.org/947106

Best Regards,
Georgi
Thanks for filling the bug report.

I too was confused because of the naming. I thought redistributable was another bindist, or so...

I don't like the direction the discussion is taking, could I have your input on the bug please?

Best Regards,
Georgi

Adel Ahmed · Post by **Adel Ahmed** » Mon Dec 30, 2024 1:21 pm

yes I have this accept_license:

Code: Select all

ACCEPT_LICENSE="*"

I disable all redistributable flags by default, there is no reason for disabling this particular use flag

logrusx · Post by **logrusx** » Mon Dec 30, 2024 1:24 pm

Adel Ahmed wrote:I disable all redistributable flags by default

That doesn't make much sense, there are only 3 packages having this flag in ::gentoo and ::guru combined. Better not make your life more interesting than it should be.

Best Regards,
Georgi

Website · Post by **Zucca** » Mon Dec 30, 2024 2:06 pm

@logrusx: Users choosing to set -redistributable globally is their choice is then to go more "libre" way.

That said, there should be more visible messages telling them what might not work if they choose to go this route, which I [bug=947106#c6]expressed in my comment[/bug] under the bug report.

logrusx · Post by **logrusx** » Mon Dec 30, 2024 2:50 pm

Zucca wrote:@logrusx: Users choosing to set -redistributable globally is their choice is then to go more "libre" way.

You're saying that in light of the current discussion. However, think about it, what does even redistributable mean on its own. When there are all in all 3 packages having that use flag, it doesn't make sense to enable/disable it globally. That has the potential to cause troubles, as we see in this very discussion.

Also OP has ACCEPT_LICENCE="*" which contradicts that.

@Ahmed, I thought ACCPET_LICENSE could have something to do with your issue, but it turns out it's only relevant on package level, just like keywords. It doesn't influence the package itself, so disregard that.

Best Regards,
Georgi

Post by **pjp** » Mon Dec 30, 2024 5:51 pm

Zucca wrote:@logrusx: Users choosing to set -redistributable globally is their choice is then to go more "libre" way.

That said, there should be more visible messages telling them what might not work if they choose to go this route, which I [bug=947106#c6]expressed in my comment[/bug] under the bug report.

The choice to install 0 byte files also seems wrong.

Something like xxx firmware files not installed due to -redistributable would at least be less cryptic than 0 byte files.

But in the end, randomly turning one of the very many knobs without knowing what it does may produce undesirable results.

logrusx · Post by **logrusx** » Mon Dec 30, 2024 6:09 pm

pjp wrote:
Zucca wrote:@logrusx: Users choosing to set -redistributable globally is their choice is then to go more "libre" way.

That said, there should be more visible messages telling them what might not work if they choose to go this route, which I [bug=947106#c6]expressed in my comment[/bug] under the bug report.
The choice to install 0 byte files also seems wrong.

Something like xxx firmware files not installed due to -redistributable would at least be less cryptic than 0 byte files.

But in the end, randomly turning one of the very many knobs without knowing what it does may produce undesirable results.

Actually that might be a real bug.

Best Regards,
Georgi

Post by **pjp** » Mon Dec 30, 2024 7:03 pm

That seems more likely than it being an indicator of "what went wrong." Or at least I hope that wasn't the intent :)

logrusx · Post by **logrusx** » Wed Jan 01, 2025 9:29 pm

Zucca wrote:@logrusx: Users choosing to set -redistributable globally is their choice is then to go more "libre" way.

It is not their intentional choice. It's not the Libre way either. It's the USE=-* way. See the user's other thread.

Best Regards,
Georgi

Post by Hu » Thu Jan 02, 2025 1:12 am

logrusx wrote:It is not their intentional choice. It's not the Libre way either. It's the USE=-* way. See the user's other thread.

For curious readers, logrusx is referring to OP mentioning USE=-* (though not by the canonical phrasing) in a post in emerging mpv fails:

[post=8850301]Adel Ahmed[/post] wrote:my something fancy in make.conf is that I disable all use flags by default