Bug 31473

Summary:	The Network Center mistakenly sees bcma as a wireless device driver and shows it as a possible choice for a wifi connection
Product:	Mageia	Reporter:	Thomas Andrews <andrewsfarm>
Component:	RPM Packages	Assignee:	Mageia tools maintainers <mageiatools>
Status:	NEW ---	QA Contact:
Severity:	major
Priority:	High	CC:	marja11
Version:	9
Target Milestone:	---
Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:	MGA8TOO
Source RPM:	drakx-net-2.56-1.mga9	CVE:
Status comment:
Attachments:	Network Center as initially presented Error message if listing for "BCM43224 device is selected Network Center with both wifi possibilities opened. The bottom one is the one that works.

Description Thomas Andrews 2023-01-29 20:40:23 CET

Description of problem:

I have a Probook 6550b with an internal Broadcom BCM43224 wifi device. If used with the bcma kernel module, the Network Center sees bcma as a device driver, and offers it as a possibility for establishing a connection, labeling it as the driver for the BCM43224 device. 

This does not work, because the bcma module is not a driver in and of itself. It is a "bridge" that selects the proper driver for the Broadcom device. Uninformed users that select it, assuming it drives the device in question, will be greeted with and error message.

The Network Center also offers another possibility, labeled as for a cryptic-looking "wlp68s0b1" device. This is actually the correct driver for the BCM43224, and can be used to establish a connection.

The broadcom-wl driver also works with this device, and if that is installed the Network Center displays the choice for the BCM43224 properly, mostly because the bcma module is blacklisted in that case. 

Network Manager does not have the issue.

Mageia 8 is also affected.

The Network Center does still work with this issue, but it is unnecessarily confusing for uninformed and inexperienced users. It looks bad, unprofessional.

Thomas Andrews 2023-01-29 20:41:05 CET

Whiteboard: (none) => MGA8TOO

Comment 1 Thomas Andrews 2023-01-29 20:42:53 CET

Created attachment 13663 [details]
Network Center as initially presented

Comment 2 Thomas Andrews 2023-01-29 20:44:17 CET

Created attachment 13664 [details]
Error message if listing for "BCM43224 device is selected

Comment 3 Thomas Andrews 2023-01-29 20:45:51 CET

Created attachment 13665 [details]
Network Center with both wifi possibilities opened. The bottom one is the one that works.

Comment 4 Marja Van Waes 2023-02-04 22:51:11 CET

Assigning to the Mageia Tools maintainers.

Assignee: bugsquad => mageiatools
CC: (none) => marja11
Source RPM: (none) => drakx-net-2.56-1.mga9

Comment 5 Thomas Andrews 2023-05-29 05:04:46 CEST

Somewhere along the line, this bug was fixed for Cauldron. The Cauldron Network Center now shows just one possible wifi for this device, labeled as for the BCM43224, and which works.

But, the bug is still valid for Mageia 8, and it causes a problem if a user tries an upgrade from MGA8 to MGA9 using the mgaapplet with a wifi connection.

At the point in the upgrade where the MGA9 bcma driver is installed, the connection is broken. This is normally temporary, and soon becomes re-established during the process. But, because the system being upgraded is still using the MGA8 Network Center, it tries to establish a connection with the faulty bcma option that's first on the list. This fails, and the entire process fails when it can't find any mirrors with MIRRORLIST.

During a test of the mgaapplet upgrade function, after the process failed I was able to reboot into the... um... hybrid MGA8/MGA9 system. It was using the MGA9 Network Center, which automatically connected the wifi to my network. I was then able to finish the upgrade by setting up a specific mirror and getting update, but this makes me believe that if this bug had been addressed in MGA8 as it has been in MGA9, I probably would never have had the problem at all.

I'm changing this from a Cauldron bug to a MGA8 bug. Because it affects upgrades via wifi, I'm also raising the priority and severity levels. I'm tempted to make it a release blocker because it disrupts the upgrade process, but because it's relatively easy to recover from the failure and complete the upgrade, I suppose it doesn't quite reach that level.

Still, it's sloppy and unprofessional as it is - not up to what I believe Mageia's standards should be.

Priority: Normal => High
Version: Cauldron => 8
Whiteboard: MGA8TOO => (none)
Severity: normal => major

Comment 6 Thomas Andrews 2023-11-06 15:58:49 CET

Somewhere along the line, this bug came back for my MGA9-32 Xfce system. Restoring this to a MGA9 bug, and restoring MGA8TOO.

Whiteboard: (none) => MGA8TOO
Version: 8 => 9