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Bug#868352: linux: Please enable USB_SERIAL_CONSOLE



On Wednesday, 28 July 2021 10:02:47 CEST Michael Stapelberg wrote:
> Ben Hutchings <ben@decadent.org.uk> writes:
> > On Fri, 2017-07-14 at 20:34 +0200, Sascha Silbe wrote:
> >> Source: linux
> >> Version: 4.11.6-1
> >> 
> >> on some amd64 systems no native or PCI(e) serial ports are available
> >> resp. possible. USB serial adapters are the only option to get a
> >> serial console for debugging boot problems in this case.
> > 
> > I think this case is too unusual to make it worth building in all the
> > USB stuff needed to make this work on all x86 systems.
> 
> I’d like to respectfully ask you to reconsider this position.
> 
> Over the years, more and more mainboards have dropped all support for
> any onboard serial ports. Using a USB serial console is nowadays often
> the only option for getting boot messages to another computer.
> 
> To make the USB console work, I had to build my own Debian kernel with
> the following options changed:
> 
> CONFIG_USB=y
> CONFIG_USB_SERIAL=y
> CONFIG_USB_SERIAL_CONSOLE=y
> 
> Given Debian’s popularity for server scenarios, I think we should make
> troubleshooting easier and have USB serial consoles just work.
> 
> Could you please enable CONFIG_USB_SERIAL_CONSOLE=y?

$ grep -E "(CONFIG_USB|CONFIG_USB_SERIAL|CONFIG_USB_SERIAL_CONSOLE)=" /boot/config-5.18.0-1-amd64 
CONFIG_USB=m
CONFIG_USB_SERIAL=m

In drivers/usb/serial/Kconfig at config USB_SERIAL_CONSOLE, I see this:
depends on USB_SERIAL=y

Can you check whether the following kernel config works?
CONFIG_USB=m
CONFIG_USB_SERIAL=y
CONFIG_USB_SERIAL_CONSOLE=y

Preferably only make the changes on the amd64 config, thus not globally.
F.e. on my RPi and Rock64 (arm), I don't need USB_SERIAL_CONSOLE to have
a working serial console (connected to the GPIO pins).

usbserial.ko is 135K on my 5.18.0-1-amd64 kernel, so that's another aspect
that needs to be evaluated.

Note that I'm only trying to find the smallest change possible. I don't know
whether these changes have other 'side affects'. I also have no idea whether
it will change anything wrt being considered.
IOW: you may be wasting your time.

But I do see most/all peripherals disappearing, except USB and the 'wontfix'
decision was from almost 5 years ago. USB serial consoles tend to be rather
cheap and it (therefor) may also result in better bug reports on the kernel.

Cheers,
  Diederik

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