Force IIO_SENSOR_PROXY_TYPE to iio-buffer-als for some Dell models

Bug #1963628 reported by Yao Wei
8
This bug affects 1 person
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
OEM Priority Project
New
High
Yao Wei
iio-sensor-proxy (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
High
Unassigned
Focal
Fix Released
High
Unassigned

Bug Description

We are encountering issues, that when enabling some Dell laptops, the readings
from iio-poll-als are unstable, or could freeze on certain value. On these
systems they have ENV{IIO_SENSOR_PROXY_TYPE}="iio-poll-als iio-buffer-als", and
removing iio-poll-als makes reading stable.

This adds workaround to the affected Dell laptop models which may equip with
ALS.

[Impact]

 * Only models matching the same device BIOS IDs are affected.

[Test Plan]

 * Pick devices which BIOS IDs are listed in the patch, and test whether it's ambient light sensors are working properly without unexpected brightness flickers.

[Where problems could occur]

 * Machines matching the same BIOS ID, either having ALS built-in or not, but attached ambient light sensors externally (for example, ColorHug ALS) might experience failures.

[Other Info]

 * Upstream merge request: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/hadess/iio-sensor-proxy/-/merge_requests/352

Revision history for this message
Yao Wei (medicalwei) wrote :

This is debdiff for iio-sensor-proxy for focal

Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

Thanks for the report. Is it fixed in newer series of Ubuntu? If not we need to start by the devel one

> the readings from iio-poll-als are unstable, or could freeze on certain value

isn't that the real issue? is that an hardware or firmware bug? could it be fixed rather than worked around in udev rules?

Revision history for this message
Yao Wei (medicalwei) wrote :

This is debdiff for iio-sensor-proxy for jammy, which is also based on the same version in impish.

Revision history for this message
Yao Wei (medicalwei) wrote :

> isn't that the real issue? is that an hardware or firmware bug? could it be fixed rather than worked around in udev rules?

It's their hardware limitation that vendors are unable to handle.

Changed in iio-sensor-proxy (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → High
status: New → Fix Committed
tags: added: oem-priority
Changed in oem-priority:
importance: Undecided → High
assignee: nobody → Yao Wei (medicalwei)
Revision history for this message
Yao Wei (medicalwei) wrote (last edit ):

I'd like to add another debdiff to jammy which resolves the issue from the patch upstream

Upstream MR: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/hadess/iio-sensor-proxy/-/merge_requests/355

Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

Thanks, I've added the bug reference to the changelog and uploaded now

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package iio-sensor-proxy - 3.3-0ubuntu6

---------------
iio-sensor-proxy (3.3-0ubuntu6) jammy; urgency=medium

  * d/p/0003-prefer-buffer-driver-to-polling-driver.patch:
      Prefer buffer driver to polling driver for ALS
      (lp: #1963628)
  * d/p/0002-force-iio-buffer-als-on-some-dell-models.patch:
      Removed in favor of the patch above

 -- Yao Wei (魏銘廷) <email address hidden> Fri, 18 Mar 2022 12:02:27 +0800

Changed in iio-sensor-proxy (Ubuntu):
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Yao Wei (medicalwei) wrote :

Updating debdiff for focal to correct the bug number and use the upstream fix.

Revision history for this message
Brian Murray (brian-murray) wrote :

I've gone ahead and sponsored this, thanks for making the changes.

 $ dput iio-sensor-proxy_2.8-1ubuntu2_source.changes
Trying to upload package to ubuntu
Checking signature on .changes
gpg: /tmp/pkgs/focal/iio-sensor-proxy_2.8-1ubuntu2_source.changes: Valid signature from 1E918B66765B3E31
Checking signature on .dsc
gpg: /tmp/pkgs/focal/iio-sensor-proxy_2.8-1ubuntu2.dsc: Valid signature from 1E918B66765B3E31
Uploading to ubuntu (via ftp to upload.ubuntu.com):
  Uploading iio-sensor-proxy_2.8-1ubuntu2.dsc: done.
  Uploading iio-sensor-proxy_2.8-1ubuntu2.debian.tar.xz: done.
  Uploading iio-sensor-proxy_2.8-1ubuntu2_source.buildinfo: done.
  Uploading iio-sensor-proxy_2.8-1ubuntu2_source.changes: done.
Successfully uploaded packages.

Changed in iio-sensor-proxy (Ubuntu Focal):
status: New → In Progress
importance: Undecided → High
Changed in iio-sensor-proxy (Ubuntu Focal):
status: In Progress → Fix Committed
Revision history for this message
Brian Murray (brian-murray) wrote : Please test proposed package

Hello Yao, or anyone else affected,

Accepted iio-sensor-proxy into focal-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/iio-sensor-proxy/2.8-1ubuntu2 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation on how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested, what testing has been performed on the package and change the tag from verification-needed-focal to verification-done-focal. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-focal. In either case, without details of your testing we will not be able to proceed.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance for helping!

N.B. The updated package will be released to -updates after the bug(s) fixed by this package have been verified and the package has been in -proposed for a minimum of 7 days.

tags: added: verification-needed verification-needed-focal
Revision history for this message
Dirk Su (dirksu) wrote :

Tested with Dell machine (202203-30028) which has problem ambient light sensor. Import iio-sensor-proxy 2.8-1ubuntu2 from -proposed channel. With iio-sensor-proxy debug turned on, iio-sensor-proxy use buffer ALS to read light sensor value. Execute monitor-sensor can check ambient light sensor working properly

tags: added: verification-done verification-done-focal
removed: verification-needed verification-needed-focal
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package iio-sensor-proxy - 2.8-1ubuntu2

---------------
iio-sensor-proxy (2.8-1ubuntu2) focal; urgency=medium

  * d/p/0003-prefer-buffer-driver-to-polling-driver.patch:
      Prefer buffer driver to polling driver for ALS
      (LP: #1963628)

 -- Yao Wei (魏銘廷) <email address hidden> Fri, 01 Apr 2022 10:35:41 +0800

Changed in iio-sensor-proxy (Ubuntu Focal):
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Brian Murray (brian-murray) wrote : Update Released

The verification of the Stable Release Update for iio-sensor-proxy has completed successfully and the package is now being released to -updates. Subsequently, the Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team is being unsubscribed and will not receive messages about this bug report. In the event that you encounter a regression using the package from -updates please report a new bug using ubuntu-bug and tag the bug report regression-update so we can easily find any regressions.

To post a comment you must log in.
This report contains Public information  
Everyone can see this information.

Other bug subscribers

Remote bug watches

Bug watches keep track of this bug in other bug trackers.