Bug#664767: Brcmsmac driver woes, possible regression?

[Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>]

Camaleón wrote:

> I know I could try with kernel >3.3-rc2 where the patch is already 
> applied

Yep, results from the kernel in experimental would already be interesting.

>         but my guess is that you prefer to check if the patch works 
> with current kernel 3.2-9 because that's what wheezy will use, right?

Exactly.  Assuming 3.3 works well, I would like to see if that patch
works so it can be applied to the upstream 3.2.y tree, fixing this bug
in wheezy and other 3.2-based distros.

Possible instructions for building a module to test, based on [1]:

	# prerequisites
	apt-get build-dep linux-2.6; # as root

	# get and unpack the source
	apt-get source linux-2.6/sid
	cd linux-2.6-<version>
	fakeroot debian/rules source
	fakeroot debian/rules setup_i386_none_686-pae

	# apply patch
	cd debian/build/build_i386_none_686-pae
	patch -p1 < <the patch>

	# build driver
	make drivers/net/wireless/brcm80211/brcmsmac/

Alternatively, here is a simpler but more resource-intensive method
that more directly answers the question "is this patch suitable for
the 3.2.y-stable tree?":

	# prerequisites
	apt-get install git build-essential

	# fetch the kernel history if you don't already have it
	git clone \
	  git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git

	# fetch point releases
	cd linux
	git remote add -f stable \
	  git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git

	# test 3.2.y
	git checkout stable/linux-3.2.y
	cp /boot/config-$(uname -r) .config; # current configuration
	make localmodconfig; # optional: minimize configuration
	make nconfig; # making sure CONFIG_BRCMSMAC is enabled as a module
	make deb-pkg; # optionally with -j<num> for parallel build
	dpkg -i ../<name of package>; # as root
	reboot
	... test test test ...

	# hopefully it reproduces the bug.  So try the patch:
	cd linux
	git am -3sc <the patch>
	make deb-pkg; # maybe with -j4
	dpkg -i ../<name of package>; # as root
	reboot
	... test test test ...

Sorry for the lack of detail before.

Ciao,
Jonathan

[1] http://kernel-handbook.alioth.debian.org/ch-common-tasks.html#s-common-official
or the corresponding page in the debian-kernel-handbook package