[COMPLETED] 15.1.11-amd64 driver backports from 10-STABLE

[franco]

Hi guys,

initially motivated by updating ath(4) wireless device drivers (which didn't really turn out the way it should have), I've backported a couple of drivers from FreeBSD 10-STABLE:

o ath: unfortunately only a two compiler-noise-related fixes
o em: smaller set of fixes, especially for a multi queue hangup
o hyperv: large batch of changes I haven't reviewed due to the volume
o usb: smsc, urndis, rsu, run, urtwn
o re: disables mutlicast filtering for a broken chipset
o ral: support a few more chipsets
o qlxg*: minor code tweaks
o bxe: updated driver to version 1.78.79

For anybody willing to test, the kernel can be installed via:

# opnsense-update -kr 15.1.11_backports && reboot

If you wish to go back to the old kernel, simply do this:

# opnsense-update -k && reboot

Especially the hyperv stuff I'd like to see tested, we can always take it out if it isn't working well. :)


Cheers,
Franco

[gregober]

Considering the very small amount of updates to ath... I am not sure It is worst testing ?

Shouldn't change much. 

[franco]

For ath(4) not at all, yes. :/ I have pulled in the changes in to make the lack of stable updates a bit more visible...

[gregober]

Anyhow for ath, beside the interface problem, It seems quite stable.
Problem is to find the right settings for your staff... and make sure It is compatible with most setings.

Maybe a little mail to Adrian Chad could be interesting to see where he is standing with his updates.
Maybe he could push smthg interesting to 10.x ?

[weust]

As mentioned on IRC just now, I will test this tonight when I get home again.

Interested to see if this removes the Hyper-V integration message about being old.

[franco]

Thanks, Tom.

If Adrian knows more then that's a good idea. :)

[weust]

Well, that didn't go too well.
After the upgrade it can't detect the NICs anymore.

Unrelated, since I switched to using RAM disks it can't save dmesg anymore too.

Please see the attached screenshots I created.
If you need more info, let me know.

[franco]

It's completely vanilla, that's interesting to say the least. Worst case actually, NICs diappearing :(

The kernel can be restored via:

# rm -r /boot/kernel
# mv /boot/kernel.old /boot/kernel

Or you can use the FreeBSD boot loader to select the old kernel from the menu.

[weust]

I made a snapshot before trying out, so simply reverting it made it work again.

[chol]

Upgrade is possible only from .. what install exactly?

I tried from LibreSSL 15.1.9 amd64 and seemed to run through but after reboot it still shows latest 15.1.9_1

so test upgrade opnsense-update -kr 15.1.11_backports && reboot  failed

[franco]

You need to be on 15.1.11 to use the kernel... opnsense-update only updates FreeBSD base and kernel, not the OPNsense packages. If you want to do it manually, try:

# pkg upgrade -y
# pkg autoremove -y
# pkg clean -y

Maybe I can fold that into opnsense-update for convenience for future versions.

[franco]

Thanks for the (implicit) suggestion, the next opnsense-update will also support package updates via:

# opnsense-update -p

The default will remain no package updates though for a release or two to see if this works as intended.

[chol]

Thanks for the (implicit) suggestion

It's nice to help! The more so, thanks back and karma (!), and for what it's worth you've really earned every karma!

[franco]

The HyperV issue is solved: 10-STABLE now has a kernel configuration option that we don't have in our CONFIG. However, there is no new kernel at this point.

15.1.12 will be out on Wednesday, which brings new base and kernel fixes from 10.1-RELENG. 15.7 will likely based off of 10.1-RELENG as well. What this means is that after 15.7 is out it'll stay on 10.1-RELENG, maybe getting bumped to 10.2-RELENG when released, while switching 16.1 to 10-STABLE, most likely based on HardenedBSD.

Closed, thanks everyone for trying this out. :)

[chol]

15.7 will likely based off of 10.1-RELENG as well. What this means is that after 15.7 is out it'll stay on 10.1-RELENG, maybe getting bumped to 10.2-RELENG when released, while switching 16.1 to 10-STABLE, most likely based on HardenedBSD.

???
Now, what does -RELENG stands for?
-STABLE is a current Snapshot cutting edge.
-RELEASE is a stable distribution.

But RELENG never came across this. I am just curious.