Updated Intel Drivers to Support the Intel I219V

[creator]

Any chance we can get support for the Intel I219V added to the kernel?

Link to the PFsense discussion on the same topic: https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=101689.0

Looks like we have the em & lem drivers compiled in the kernel too... or at least I'm getting similar errors.

Thanks,
PhilD

[creator]

Looks like the Intel 8260 isn't loading either... but I haven't sorted the drivers/path needed to solve that.  So, if anyone has an idea how to resolve that, I'd appreciate it too.

PhilD

[franco]

These are pretty new devices, things like that have always been a dent for FreeBSD adoption, but I'm hoping they will be available for 10.x at some point, maybe they are included in 10.3? FreeBSD 10.3 is on our roadmap for July.

Basic problem is that FreeBSD GENERIC configuration pulls the em(4) driver into the standard kernel, so making the module loadable would require anyone to recompile the kernel. This would require work on our side and deviating from the FreeBSD standards, which we've tried hard to enforce.

I can provide a test build when 10.3 is out, but for now it's still BETA/RC so we're not going to touch it. 10.3 is scheduled for end of March.

[creator]

Thanks for taking a look.  I know you've got to have a couple of items on your plate 

The thread I linked to suggests that it's in 10.3... but it's not that clear if that's because of some custom work or if it's already built in.

That said, I see no reason to be able to suck it up for a month or two.  Especially if I can get some of my older hardware to cooperate.  I figured I'd end up with a few bruises before I had this little monster working right regardless.

I have a software development background (but with windows and .NET)... so I certainly understand where your coming from from the project perspective.

Would you mind answering a couple of questions? At first blush, the changes I'd need to make appear trivial, but I don't know nix well enough to tell if it only appears that way because I'm clueless. 

Thanks again,
PhilD

Is this something that would be reasonable for a novice to tackle following the online resources (and re-do when new updates are applied)? Or is it something so complex that I'd be effectively on a digital snipe hunt?

[franco]

Checking out a FreeBSD 10-STABLE and trying your luck with the build system there seems to be a good match for your background. Applying the (few) patches that we still have and are needed for sub-parts of the system are (unfortunately) hard to explain and maintain. Their size has shrunken considerably, but we're still not in our proverbial happy place with the current state of things.

Things that may not work correctly without the custom kernel patches we've inherited through m0n0wall and pfSense: QinQ, PPP, L2TP, PPTP, Traffic Shaping through NAT, Firewall schedules and "match" type rules in floating rules.

The build instructions can be found online:

https://github.com/opnsense/tools/blob/master/README.md

Replacing /usr/src with a FreeBSD 10-STABLE branch should yield no build issues:

# cd /usr
# rm -rf src
# git clone https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd.git src
# cd /usr/src
# git checkout stable/10
# cd /usr/tools
# make clean-src,kernel kernel

Maybe I can provide a 10-STABLE branch with all OPNsense patches on top for easy building, but this will be off the project side and not supported with a lot of builds. This can certainly go wrong as ABI and patches shift, that's why there are reasons to stick to a 10.x-RELEASE branch instead. There may be ports problems, kernel ABI is especially annoying with e.g. VMware kernel modules that are in the ports and may simply stop working on upgrades.

I hope that helps. Not much, but it's a start. Feel free to ask as many questions as you like.

[creator]

Awesome.  That should help tremendously.

I'll tiptoe though and see if I can get away with making only a few changes needed to get my system working. I'd rather not loose traffic shaping if I can get away with it.  It's surprising how much traffic a single teenager can absorb if left unchecked.

That said, I won't say no to an already patched branch. Given time, I normally can figure out most puzzles... perhaps I'll be pleasantly surprised and things will work smoothly.

PhilD

[franco]

I did the patching for 10.3, but haven't build-tested yet:

https://github.com/fichtner/freebsd/commits/opnsense/10

This branch will be force-pushed anytime it's updated to keep all patches portable and visible.

To update after initial clone:

# git checkout opnsense/10
# git fetch
# git reset --hard opnsense/10

(This will remove local changes/commits, be careful.)

There are ways to avoid git scrubbing your commits like an extra branch that can be rebased, etc.

[creator]

Sorry it took me so long to reply.  I thought I already had until I looked today.  So, everything worked perfectly.  Running like a dream... till this week. 

Freak storm took us offline and my new breadboarded router fried on the desk.  At the end of the day, the motherboard and it's tiny cluster of hardware was perfectly fine.  Of all the nutty things: It was the HDD that got nuked. Literally burned a hole in it.

Soooooo... take 2. Every expectation it'll be fine... although this time I'll get the google drive backups working!

PhilD

[franco]

Thanks for checking back and sorry to hear about the storm.

10.3 is now in RELEASE state to be officially announced by FreeBSD in a few days. I updated the branch accordingly.