--- Begin Message ---
- To: Debian Bug Tracking System <submit@bugs.debian.org>
- Subject: laptop-mode-tools: Ethernet module should check for carrier before changing link speed
- From: Matthew Gabeler-Lee <cheetah@fastcat.org>
- Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 21:32:19 -0800
- Message-id: <20141105053219.11880.83350.reportbug@bengal.lo>
Package: laptop-mode-tools
Version: 1.66-1
Severity: normal
I've found that laptop-mode-tools shuts off the ethernet interface any time
I go on battery, even if it is in use. After some digging, I found the
cause.
On at least my system (r8169 driver), any time ethtool is called to set the
advertised link speed, it causes a momentary loss of carrier. This causes
l-m-t to incorrectly think the link was not in use, and shut it off. The
temporary loss of carrier is an annoying behavior, but not l-m-t's fault.
It does seem like something that may happen with many NICs, however, not
just mine, so it seems like l-m-t ought to take the possibility into
account.
On a related note, the invocation of ethtool doesn't work at all on at least
that chipset. Apparently it is necessary to include the duplex setting as
well. Not including the duplex setting causes ethtool to emit "Cannot
advertise speed X" ... but still causes the momentary carrier loss. I
don't know if this requirement/limitation is specific to the r8169 driver.
Including the duplex setting allows it to actually restrict the link speed.
-- System Information:
Debian Release: jessie/sid
APT prefers testing
APT policy: (990, 'testing'), (500, 'unstable'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: i386
Kernel: Linux 3.16-3-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Versions of packages laptop-mode-tools depends on:
ii lsb-base 4.1+Debian13
ii psmisc 22.21-2
ii util-linux 2.25.1-5
Versions of packages laptop-mode-tools recommends:
ii ethtool 1:3.16-1
ii hdparm 9.43-1.1
ii net-tools 1.60-26
ii python-qt4 4.11.2+dfsg-1
pn sdparm <none>
ii udev 215-5+b1
ii wireless-tools 30~pre9-8
Versions of packages laptop-mode-tools suggests:
ii acpid 1:2.0.23-1
-- no debconf information
--- End Message ---