FS#61090 - [broadcom-wl-dkms] Patch to remove "Wrong Mac address" error code

Attached to Project: Community Packages
Opened by Tobias Bachmann (tobac) - Saturday, 15 December 2018, 18:20 GMT
Last edited by Alexander F. Rødseth (xyproto) - Monday, 11 February 2019, 18:23 GMT
Task Type Bug Report
Category Packages
Status Closed
Assigned To Alexander F. Rødseth (xyproto)
Architecture All
Severity Low
Priority Normal
Reported Version
Due in Version Undecided
Due Date Undecided
Percent Complete 100%
Votes 0
Private No

Details

This driver exhibits a rather annoying behaviour when used with certain roamable networks broadcasting multiple SSIDs. It will disconnect and display the following error:

```
ERROR @wl_cfg80211_get_station : Wrong Mac address, mac = xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx profile =xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xy
```

Searching the web for this error yields hundreds of results, e.g. https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=202471

I've successfully used the attached patch for the past few months, which simply removes the offending error code. No adverse consequences have been observed. It might be worth considering adding it to the official package.
   009-fix_mac_profile_discrepan... (0.5 KiB)
This task depends upon

Closed by  Alexander F. Rødseth (xyproto)
Monday, 11 February 2019, 18:23 GMT
Reason for closing:  Fixed
Additional comments about closing:  But Broadcom should probably still be contacted.
Comment by Eli Schwartz (eschwartz) - Sunday, 16 December 2018, 03:17 GMT
That's some interesting analysis, but I'd be worried about why this code exists in the first place. Have you at least tried to reach out to broadcom's theoretical support address? Do other distros do this?

We don't really do "feature patches", we only patch what we need to keep it working with new kernel releases.
Comment by Tobias Bachmann (tobac) - Sunday, 16 December 2018, 20:01 GMT
I thought it futile to contact Broadcom about this and have no idea how other distros deal with this issue (they probably don't at all as it only occurs in somewhat niche situations). I do understand your worry and patch policy, though. I can try and reach Broadcom's technical support if that would help to address one of your concerns.

On second thought, maybe it'd be more appropriate to add this hacky solution to the "Troubleshooting" section of the Broadcom wireless wiki entry. This would have the added benefit of making it more readily findable for non-Arch users experiencing this problem.
Comment by Alexander F. Rødseth (xyproto) - Wednesday, 23 January 2019, 14:34 GMT
Thanks for reporting, I will consider applying the patch while awaiting an answer from Broadcom.

Please contact Broadcom. If they don't reply, then we know that the kernel module is unmaintained.
Comment by Alexander F. Rødseth (xyproto) - Monday, 11 February 2019, 18:22 GMT
Applied the patch, with a small modification: the error message is kept as it is.

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