Re: ifconfig stopped loading driver

> Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2007 09:15:22 -0700
> From: "Kip Macy" <kip.macy_at_gmail.com>
> 
> On 3/22/07, Kevin Oberman <oberman_at_es.net> wrote:
> > For a long time under V6 and current (and probably V5), if I issued an
> > ifconfig for my Atheros card, the driver (along with the HAL and rate
> > modules) would auto-load and my card would be found.
> >
> > Starting with my March 19 build, this no longer happens. I need to boot
> > single-user and manually load the module if I will need it. I don't want
> > the card to start by default since I don't want the radio on when I am
> > flying.
> >
> > Was this a deliberate change or did something break? It is a real pain.
> > --
> > R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer
> > Energy Sciences Network (ESnet)
> > Ernest O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)
> > E-mail: oberman_at_es.net                  Phone: +1 510 486-8634
> > Key fingerprint:059B 2DDF 031C 9BA3 14A4  EADA 927D EBB3 987B 3751
> >
> >
> 
> 
> Has devd.conf changed? AFAICT devd is what does the actual loading for
> ifconfig.
> 
>  -Kip

Not really. It is unchanged since Feb 23. And it is not the whole story
as it simply configures things when a new device is created. That doesn't
happen until after the driver is loaded. I see nothing in devd that
would load the driver.

There have been no changed to devd, pccard_ether, or devd.conf for some
time. I have tried my old kernel and it still fail to load, so it is in
userland. 

Looks like it was a change to ifconfig.c 1.129.by yar that may be a bit
more aggressive than he intended:
"Attempt to load the kernel module only if we are going to create a
new interface."

This is a new interface, but the driver still is not getting loaded.
-- 
R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer
Energy Sciences Network (ESnet)
Ernest O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)
E-mail: oberman_at_es.net			Phone: +1 510 486-8634
Key fingerprint:059B 2DDF 031C 9BA3 14A4  EADA 927D EBB3 987B 3751