Re: Bug#491601: madwifi-source fails to build against 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-486

[dann frazier <dannf@dannf.org>]

On Mon, Jul 21, 2008 at 11:36:06AM +1000, Kel Modderman wrote:
> On Monday 21 July 2008 05:44:45 Michael Goetze wrote:
> > Package: madwifi-source
> > Version: 0.9.2+r1842.20061207-2etch2
> > 
> > When I try to compile madwifi-source against linux-2.6.24-etchnhalf. 
> > 1-486, I get the following error:
> > 
> > ...
> > make[2]: Entering directory `/usr/src/modules/madwifi'
> > Checking requirements... ok.
> > Checking kernel configuration... FAILED
> > Please enable wireless extensions.
> > make[2]: *** [configcheck] Error 1
> > ...
> > 
> > Presumably, the etchnhalf release would need to include a newer  
> > version of madwifi-source to rectify this problem.
> 
> Thats right, throw a kernel 6 upstream versions newer into an archive frozen
> when 2.6.18 was new and it's what you get ;-)
> 
> Unfortunately, I don't think etch will see another update to fix this problem.
> A backport from sid/testing could be done, the porter would need to drop
> debhelper compat level. However, the delta between madwifi upstream in etch
> and sid/testing is very large. A bacport of madwifi 0.9.4 based package could
> be possible, however the 0.9.4 based package has been superceded in sid/testing
> recently in favour of something far more bleeding edge.
> 
> Picking out the exact upstream backports required to fix the antiquated madwifi
> version in etch for 2.6.24 would be tedious, time consuming and very error
> prone. Especially hard for a novice Linux kernel code hacker such as myself.
> 
> The same problem exists for ndiswrapper in etch, and probably other
> module-source packages too. I am not aware of any module-source etch+1/2
> update plan. Hopefully there is such a plan for Lenny+1/2, and hopefully it
> doesn't mandate the cherry picking of exact API fixes for external modules,
> but rather the backporting of new upstream versions that had seen some time
> in the archive post-stable-release.

There is a plan for the module-source packages used by the
conglomerate (linux-modules-*) packages. etchnhalf list archives seem
to be down right now, but you can see an e-mail about it here:
  http://lists.debian.org/debian-kernel/2008/07/msg00494.html

There's no reason we couldn't also include similar new packages for
other out of tree modules that meet the listed requirements. Time is
getting very short for 4.0r4 - but it may still be an option if you
wanted to prepare and test something quickly. 4.0r5 is an option
if you want to do such an update but need more time to prepare it.

Also note that the ath5k driver is included in the 2.6.24 kernel - I
don't personally know how much hardware works with madwifi but not
ath5k though.

Cheers!

-- 
dann frazier