On Mon 01 Mar 2021 at 14:13:08 (+0000), Brian wrote:
> On Sun 28 Feb 2021 at 18:36:49 -0600, David Wright wrote:
> > On Thu 25 Feb 2021 at 14:32:49 (+0000), Brian wrote:
> > > On Wed 24 Feb 2021 at 22:47:59 -0600, David Wright wrote:
> > > > On Thu 25 Feb 2021 at 10:36:40 (+0800), Robbi Nespu wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > > 5. Create /lib/firmware: mkdir /lib/firmware and transfer the
> > > > > > firmware there.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > 6. ALT-F1 to go back to d-i. d-i should now find the firmware.
> > > >
> > > > Note that on most systems, steps 3 through 6 are unnecessary as
> > > > the installer will find the firmware itself anyway.
> > >
> > > That's the advice given in Section 6.4.1 if the Installer Guide and,
> > > if it works, it works. However, I would not like to guarantee that it
> > > does, just as, in the case of the OP, the non-free installer ISO does
> > > not come up with installing the firmware.
> >
> > Agreed: it's difficult to do too much for the installer.
> >
> > And AFAICT my advice and the Installation Guide § 6.4.1 and
> > § 4.3.1 are all out of date. It appears that nowadays (official
> > buster 10.8 netinst, amd64 and i386), loose firmware files
> > don't get picked up, either off a second USB stick¹, or off an
> > extra partition added to the hybrid installation stick. You
> > have to offer it the firmware in .deb files.
>
> "loose firmware files" is a bit of a woolly term; it needs expanding
> on. The .deb files will have a directory structure (please see later).
>
> > OTOH my official wheezy 7.1.0 netinst i386 installer does pick up
> > the loose files, exactly as described in the Installation Guide.
> > So it appears we have a regression in the debian-installer.
>
> That isn't quite my recollection but it is so long ago that I am not
> willing to push it. I am also not motivated (yet) to try it out.
I thought it would be clearer to use the d-i's own nomenclature.
Anyway, here are the relevant lines of syslog, with just tg3_tso5.bin,
the one that comes in a subdirectory:
kernel: [] tg3.c:v3.121 (November 2, 2011)
kernel: [] tg3 0000:02:02.0: eth0: Tigon3 [partno(BCM95705A50) rev 3003]
(PCI:33MHz:32-bit) MAC address 00:c0:9f:44:15:b5
kernel: [] tg3 0000:02:02.0: eth0: attached PHY is 5705 (10/100/1000Base-T
Ethernet) (WireSpeed[0], EEE[0])
kernel: [] tg3 0000:02:02.0: eth0: RXcsums[1] LinkChgREG[0] MIirq[0] ASF[0]
TSOcap[1]
kernel: [] tg3 0000:02:02.0: eth0: dma_rwctrl[763f0000] dma_mask[64-bit]
net/hw-detect.hotplug: Detected hotpluggable network interface eth0
kernel: [] tg3 0000:02:02.0: firmware: agent aborted loading
tigon/tg3_tso5.bin (not found?)
kernel: [] tg3 0000:02:02.0: eth0: TSO capability disabled
kernel: [] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
kernel: [] tg3 0000:02:02.0: wake-up capability enabled by ACPI
check-missing-firmware: /dev/.udev/firmware-missing does not exist, skipping
check-missing-firmware: missing firmware files (tigon/tg3_tso5.bin) for tg3
check-missing-firmware: copying loose file tg3_tso5.bin from '/media/tigon' to
'/lib/firmware/tigon'
↑↑↑↑↑
kernel: [] tg3.c:v3.121 (November 2, 2011)
net/hw-detect.hotplug: Detected hotpluggable network interface eth0
kernel: [] tg3 0000:02:02.0: eth0: Tigon3 [partno(BCM95705A50) rev 3003]
(PCI:33MHz:32-bit) MAC address 00:c0:9f:…
kernel: [] tg3 0000:02:02.0: eth0: attached PHY is 5705 (10/100/1000Base-T
Ethernet) (WireSpeed[0], EEE[0])
kernel: [] tg3 0000:02:02.0: eth0: RXcsums[1] LinkChgREG[0] MIirq[0] ASF[0]
TSOcap[1]
kernel: [] tg3 0000:02:02.0: eth0: dma_rwctrl[763f0000] dma_mask[64-bit]
kernel: [] tg3 0000:02:02.0: firmware: agent loaded tigon/tg3_tso5.bin into
memory
> > > Transferring the firmware files directly to where the installer kernel
> > > can find them seems more assured of success. If it doesn't, there is a
> > > big problem for the system both during and after installation.
> >
> > I also haven't tested whether, when you copy loose files to
> > /lib/firmware, you have to preserve the directory structure.
> > For example, wheezy automatically copies the file tg3_tso5.bin
> > from '/media/tigon' to '/lib/firmware/tigon', but would manually
> > copying it to /lib/firmware/tg3_tso5.bin still work (if the
> > user wasn't aware of its usual location, …path-to/tigon/tg3_tso5.bin)?
> > ↑↑↑↑↑↑
>
> The directory structure has to remain intact. Execute, for example,
>
> modinfo zd1211rw | less
>
> At the top we have
>
> firmware: zd1211/zd1211_uphr
>
> The kernel would expect the firmware file to be in zd1211/.
I confirmed that. The good news is that the d-i tells you the name of
the subdirectory: I had forgotten that (and these are the screens that
are almost impossible to log). So it's not an issue even for someone
who doesn't know the name of the module, or doesn't know to get a
shell and use modinfo.
But the regression remains, AFAICT.
Cheers,
David.
