So I've looked into this some more and the theory is sound. There are, however, a few stumbling blocks.
The first is software-properties-gtk is a bit rubbish because it doesn't provide much feedback about the package installation process. So if the firmware download fails then the firmware-b43-installer package is left in an unconfigured state, but the user is unaware of this. When you re- run the software-properties-gtk utility, the package is incorrectly marked as being used. There is even no error message when the download of the firmware-b43-installer package fails. So the user if left thinking "why isn't this working?". A message saying "please check your internet connection" is badly needed. The modaliases line used by the wl driver captures the whole sweep of broadcom cards. So people with unsupported cards are told to install it. Gosh, no wonder people have so many problems with broadcom! When they install wl this automatically blacklists and removes the b43, ssb, bcma, etc modules. This adds to the next problem: what modaliases should firmware-b43-installer use? Running the command: modinfo b43 | perl -nae 'print "alias $1 b43\n" if /^alias:\s+(.*)$/' gives alias bcma:m04BFid0812rev1Dcl* b43 alias bcma:m04BFid0812rev18cl* b43 alias bcma:m04BFid0812rev17cl* b43 alias bcma:m04BFid0812rev11cl* b43 alias ssb:v4243id0812rev10* b43 alias ssb:v4243id0812rev0F* b43 alias ssb:v4243id0812rev0D* b43 alias ssb:v4243id0812rev0C* b43 alias ssb:v4243id0812rev0B* b43 alias ssb:v4243id0812rev0A* b43 alias ssb:v4243id0812rev09* b43 alias ssb:v4243id0812rev07* b43 alias ssb:v4243id0812rev06* b43 alias ssb:v4243id0812rev05* b43 These aliases work for ubuntu-driver/software-properties-gtk until you blacklist b43/ssb/bcma or you rmmod them (like wl does). Then they are not found and the package is not matched. What we really need are aliases starting with pci, but how do we get these and correctly seperate them into the firmware-b43-installer and firmware-b43legacy- installer packages, accounting for revision numbers etc? I have to ask, but whose idea was it to create these seperate packages?! They've caused so much mayhem! Also, in the modaliases file (e.g. debian/firmware-b43-installer.modaliases) you can't use the name of an existing module (e.g. alias blahblahblah b43). If you do this the software-properties-gtk will not budge from the 'continue running a custom installed module' option. For testing I ended up using a file like so: alias pci:v000014E4d*sv*sd*bc02sc80i* firmware-b43-installer The final problem is with the b43 installer scripts. They don't rmmod/modprobe the b43/b43legacy modules therefore requiring a system reboot. Again, the user is not informed to do this. This feature should be added to the scripts. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1490212 Title: "Modaliases" field missing from debian control file To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/b43-fwcutter/+bug/1490212/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
