[elrepo] Anyway to install kmod-ath9k_htc without it forcing a kernel update?

[Manuel Wolfshant]

On 07/01/2014 09:33 AM, Phil Perry wrote:
> On 01/07/14 03:46, Michael B wrote:
>> Hi ElRepo,
>>
>> Well, I'm confused.  http://elrepo.org/tiki/kmod-ath9k_htc says:
>>
>> "This package provides the ath9k_htc kernel module for the Atheros
>> AR7010/AR9271 series USB wireless network adapters.  It is built to depend
>> upon the specific ABI provided by a range of releases of the same variant of
>> the Linux kernel and not on any one specific build."
>>
>> Yet it is trying to force me to update my kernel within CentOS 6.x ...
>>
>> Am I doing some­thing wrong?  (The firmware installed fine.)  Should I just
>> shove it in with a --skip-broken?  Is there an older package available for
>> older kernels? (although I thought not having to do that was the whole point
>> of using a kmod?)  Is there another repo for Atheros AR9271 USB pre-
>> kernel.x86_64 0:2.6.32-431 somewhere?
>>
>> How does one get an Atheros AR9271 802.11n working on CentOS 6.3?
>>
>> Details below.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Michael
>>
>> Details (w/ snipping of clutter):
>>
>> michael at localhost [~]$ lsusb
>> Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
>> Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0cf3:9271 Atheros Communications, Inc. AR9271 802.11n
>>
>> michael at localhost [~]$ cat /etc/redhat-release && uname -a
>> CentOS release 6.3 (Final)
>> Linux localhost.localdomain 2.6.32-279.1.1.el6.x86_64 #1 SMP Tue Jul 10
>> 13:47:21 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
>>
>> # # #
>>
>> After a plain "yum install kmod-ath9k_htc" wanted to force an update to
>> kernel.x86_64 0:2.6.32-431.20.3.el6, I tried this.  Same errors (less
>> verbose):
>>
>> root at localhost [~]$ yum --disablerepo="*" --enablerepo=elrepo install
>> kmod-ath9k_htc
>> {snip}
>> Error: Package: kmod-ath9k_htc-0.0-4.el6.elrepo.x86_64 (elrepo)
>>             Requires: kernel(ath_printk) = 0xd1f2f4e7
>>             Installed: kernel-2.6.32-279.1.1.el6.x86_64 (@updates)
>>                 kernel(ath_printk) = 0x900d9db9
>> {snip}
>> Error: Package: kmod-ath9k_htc-0.0-4.el6.elrepo.x86_64 (elrepo)
>>             Requires: kernel(ieee80211_queue_work) = 0xbd9db48f
>>             Installed: kernel-2.6.32-220.el6.x86_64
>> (@anaconda-CentOS-201112091719.x86_64/6.2)
>>                 kernel(ieee80211_queue_work) = 0x7c7c57fa
>>             Installed: kernel-2.6.32-220.13.1.el6.x86_64 (@updates)
>>                 kernel(ieee80211_queue_work) = 0x7c7c57fa
>>             Installed: kernel-2.6.32-220.17.1.el6.x86_64 (@updates)
>>                 kernel(ieee80211_queue_work) = 0x7c7c57fa
>>             Installed: kernel-2.6.32-279.1.1.el6.x86_64 (@updates)
>>                 kernel(ieee80211_queue_work) = 0x3507d36b
>> Error: Package: kmod-ath9k_htc-0.0-4.el6.elrepo.x86_64 (elrepo)
>>             Requires: kernel(ath9k_hw_ani_monitor) = 0x6746faf8
>>             Installed: kernel-2.6.32-279.1.1.el6.x86_64 (@updates)
>>                 kernel(ath9k_hw_ani_monitor) = 0xb06d271e
>>   You could try using --skip-broken to work around the problem
>>   You could try running: rpm -Va --nofiles -nodigest
>>
>>
>> Other Reference:
>>
>> michael at localhost [~]$ yum info ath9k_htc-firmware
>> {snip}
>> Installed Packages
>> Name        : ath9k_htc-firmware
>> Arch        : noarch
>> Version     : 1.3
>> Release     : 1.el6.elrepo
>> Size        : 121 k
>> Repo        : installed
>> >From repo   : elrepo
>> Summary     : Firmware for Atheros AR7010/AR9271 series USB wireless network
>> adapters
>> URL         : http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/ath9k_htc
>> License     : Redistributable, no modification permitted
>> Description : This package provides the firmware required for Atheros
>> AR7010/AR9271
>>              : series USB wireless network adapters using the ath9k_htc driver.
>>
>> michael at localhost [~]$ ll /lib/firmware/ht*
>> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 72992 May 12  2012 /lib/firmware/htc_7010.fw
>> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 51272 May 12  2012 /lib/firmware/htc_9271.fw
> Hi Michael,
>
> The current kmod-ath9k_htc package requires a minimum of
> kernel-2.6.32-358.el6 from the 6.4 release. We are unable to support
> this driver on older unsupported kernels.
>
> You will need to update your system if you wish to use this driver.
>
> In answer to your questions, no you are not doing anything wrong. In
> most cases our packages will work across all Enterprise Linux kernel
> releases, but in some cases the drivers use symbols that are not
> whitelisted in the upstream kernel and these kernel symbols can change
> between releases. If a driver uses such kernel symbols and these symbols
> change between kernel releases (as in this case), then the driver will
> not be backward compatible with older kernels from before the change.
> Hence in this case this driver is currently compatible only with kernels
>> =  kernel-2.6.32-358.el6 (el6.4 onwards). Yum identified a newer kernel
> was required and tried to pull in the latest kernel as this meets the
> requirements of the package.
>
> I'm wondering why you are unwilling/unable to update your system and are
> still running a kernel (and probably lots of other stuff?) that is 16
> months old and full of security vulnerabilities. Besides the obvious
> security benefits, you'd also get a working driver for your hardware :-)
I was tempted to say that we might have a candidate for a RHEL EUS 
subscription 
(https://access.redhat.com/site/support/policy/updates/errata/#Extended_Update_Support 
), but even 6.3 EUS ended June 30th. That is... yesterday.

     wolfy