Ubuntu
jockey package

Proprietary driver ath_hal tagged as free

Bug #290264 reported by Oibaf
2
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
jockey (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Medium
Martin Pitt

Bug Description

Recently the free ath5k module was removed from the kernel due to bugs. This caused some confusion with how the driver are managed. I have four suggestion to clarify this:

1)
Jokey now suggests to install "Support for Atheros 802.11 wireless LAN cards." This driver needs the ath_hal module which is under a proprietary licence:

$ modinfo ath_hal
filename: /lib/modules/2.6.27-7-generic/volatile/ath_hal.ko
license: Proprietary
version: 0.9.18.0
description: Atheros Hardware Access Layer (HAL)
author: Errno Consulting, Sam Leffler
srcversion: 6109C7067013DAF6BA8B0A2
depends:
vermagic: 2.6.27-7-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 586

$ dmesg | grep -i tai
[17591.535013] ath_hal: module license 'Proprietary' taints kernel.

However, in jockey, the driver is tagged as free: "Licenza: Libero" (italian words for "Licence: Free").

2)
Also it would be nice to rename the driver from "Support for Atheros 802.11 wireless LAN cards." to something like "Proprietary <<madwifi>> driver for Atheros 802.11 wireless LAN cards.", to make sure to users that this driver is
a) proprietary
b) the madwifi driver and not the ath5k driver shipped in the linux-backports-modules-intrepid package

3) When linux-backports-modules-intrepid package is installed the ath5k driver is identified by: "Support for 5xxx series of Atheros 802.11 wireless LAN card.". This should be renamed to something like: "Free <<ath5k>> driver for 5xxx series of Atheros 802.11 wireless LAN card.", to make sure to users that this driver is
a) free
b) the ath5k driver and not the madwifi driver shipped with the linux-restricted packages

4) it should not be possible to enable both the ath5k and the madwifi driver.

See original description
Oibaf (oibaf)
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Martin Pitt (pitti) wrote :

What you see there isn't ath_hal, it's the free driver:

$ modinfo ath9k
filename: /lib/modules/2.6.27-7-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ath9k/ath9k.ko
license: Dual BSD/GPL
description: Support for Atheros 802.11n wireless LAN cards.

This doesn't need ath_hal. Can you please give the output of "jockey-gtk --list"?

Changed in jockey:
status: New → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Oibaf (oibaf) wrote :

It seems that "Support for Atheros 802.11 wireless LAN cards." uses ath_pci, which depends on ath_hal, which is non free:

Output of "jockey-gtk --list":
kmod:ath5k - Support for 5xxx series of Atheros 802.11 wireless LAN cards. (Libero, Abilitato, In uso)
kmod:ath_pci - Support for Atheros 802.11 wireless LAN cards. (Libero, Disabilitato, Non in uso)
xorg:fglrx - ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver (Proprietario, Disabilitato, Non in uso)

(Translations:
Libero -> Free
Proprietario -> Proprietary
Abilitato -> Enabled
Disabilitato -> Disabled
In uso -> In use
Non in uso -> Not in use
)

Note that actually I have installed the linux-backports-modules-intrepid package and I have enabled the free ath5k module from there.

Oibaf (oibaf)
Changed in jockey:
status: Incomplete → New
Revision history for this message
Martin Pitt (pitti) wrote :

Seems it's time to give them a proper handler, to clarify the descriptions.

Changed in jockey:
assignee: nobody → pitti
importance: Undecided → Medium
status: New → In Progress
Revision history for this message
Oibaf (oibaf) wrote :

Any news on this?

Martin Pitt (pitti)
Changed in jockey (Ubuntu):
status: In Progress → Fix Committed
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package jockey - 0.5-0ubuntu5

---------------
jockey (0.5-0ubuntu5) jaunty; urgency=low

  * Add debian/watch.
  * Add bzr-builddeb configuration.
  * data/handlers/fglrx.py: Enable again, 2:8.600-0ubuntu1 works on Jaunty
    now.
  * Merge bug fixes from trunk:
    - Fix KernelModuleHandler.available() to return False when the handler
      package is not available. This fixes the situation that Jockey
      advertises e. g. the nvidia driver before apt-get update was run, or on
      "free software only" installs. (LP: #341647)
    - kde/jockey-kde.desktop.in: Do not run as root any more, PolicyKit-KDE
      exists now; update README.txt
    - kde/jockey-kde: Port to knotify4. UIF exception approval and original
      patch by Jonathan Riddell. Now properly i18n'ed and integrated into
      standard build system.
    - Update German translations.
  * debian/control: Add policykit-kde dependency to jockey-kde.
  * Add madwifi handler (merged from trunk). This now takes care of properly
    flipping the blacklisting between ath5k and ath_pci (LP: #323830), and
    fixes the description and freeness state (LP: #290264)
  * jockey/oslib.py: Overwrite apt.InstallProgress.fork() to capture the
    child's stdout/stderr into temporary files, and then send that to logging.
    Before this, apt/dpkg output was sent to oblivion, making it hard to
    remotely debug package installation problems. (LP: #280291)

 -- Martin Pitt <email address hidden> Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:04:01 +0100

Changed in jockey:
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
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