Hi Adrian and Michael,

Indeed, it would be great to have a floppy driver at installation time. But it seems that the
floppy-module udeb was removed. Would it be possible to ship it in the udeb kernel package instead,
either built-in or as a module ?

I wonder if one of the two following patches (against source package 'linux' - one patch would suffice !)
would work. They are untested - but I hope it will help to find the correct solution nevertheless.

Regards,
JH Chatenet

PS : it is the opportunity to thank you (and Samuel Thibault) for all your work on the alpha kernel and
towards a working debian installer on alpha - and the other ports !

First patch : have the floppy driver built-in

diff -Naur a/linux-5.5.17/debian/config/alpha/config b/linux-5.5.17/debian/config/alpha/config
--- a/linux-5.5.17/debian/config/alpha/config 2020-04-15 04:35:16.000000000 +0200
+++ b/linux-5.5.17/debian/config/alpha/config 2020-04-21 15:31:52.645845117 +0200
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@
##
## file: drivers/block/Kconfig
##
-CONFIG_BLK_DEV_FD=m
+CONFIG_BLK_DEV_FD=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_UMEM=m
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SX8=m
CONFIG_CDROM_PKTCDVD=m

Second patch : ship the floppy module in the kernel udeb

diff -Naur a/linux-5.5.17/debian/installer/modules/alpha-generic/kernel-image b/linux-5.5.17/debian/installer/modules/alpha-generic/kernel-image
--- a/linux-5.5.17/debian/installer/modules/alpha-generic/kernel-image 2018-12-29 20:49:45.000000000 +0100
+++ b/linux-5.5.17/debian/installer/modules/alpha-generic/kernel-image 2020-04-21 15:36:55.527347025 +0200
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
#include <kernel-image>
+floppy

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Hello!

On 4/21/20 4:00 PM, jhcha54008 wrote:

PS : it is the opportunity to thank you (and Samuel Thibault) for all your work on the alpha kernel and
towards a working debian installer on alpha - and the other ports !

You're welcome. Although it's sometimes so frustrating that I'm considering
to stop. But I can still keep myself motivated.

First patch : have the floppy driver built-in

diff -Naur a/linux-5.5.17/debian/config/alpha/config b/linux-5.5.17/debian/config/alpha/config
--- a/linux-5.5.17/debian/config/alpha/config 2020-04-15 04:35:16.000000000 +0200
+++ b/linux-5.5.17/debian/config/alpha/config 2020-04-21 15:31:52.645845117 +0200
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@
##
## file: drivers/block/Kconfig
##
-CONFIG_BLK_DEV_FD=m
+CONFIG_BLK_DEV_FD=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_UMEM=m
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SX8=m
CONFIG_CDROM_PKTCDVD=m

Second patch : ship the floppy module in the kernel udeb

diff -Naur a/linux-5.5.17/debian/installer/modules/alpha-generic/kernel-image b/linux-5.5.17/debian/installer/modules/alpha-generic/kernel-image
--- a/linux-5.5.17/debian/installer/modules/alpha-generic/kernel-image 2018-12-29 20:49:45.000000000 +0100
+++ b/linux-5.5.17/debian/installer/modules/alpha-generic/kernel-image 2020-04-21 15:36:55.527347025 +0200
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
#include <kernel-image>
+floppy

I don't think it makes sense to add a floppy module when you compile floppy support into the kernel. If it's compiled in, the driver is always present.

Adrian

--
.''`. John Paul Adrian Glaubitz
: :' : Debian Developer - glaubitz@debian.org
`. `' Freie Universitaet Berlin - glaubitz@physik.fu-berlin.de
`- GPG: 62FF 8A75 84E0 2956 9546 0006 7426 3B37 F5B5 F913

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Hi Adrian,
Thank you for your answer.

Sorry for my -not so clear- previous message.

There is an alternative between these two patches : only one of the
two may be merged. Indeed, a choice should be made :
to have the floppy driver built-in (in all stock kernels
or in the alpha-generic flavor only ?)
or to ship the module in the udeb.

I am sorry that I am not able to test (and certainly correct...) these
two patches presently - but I just hope that it may help to find a
solution.

(actually I contemplated opening a bug report some months ago, but
I never found the time to test)

Regards,
JH Chatenet

Le mardi 21 avril à 18h 59mn 43s (+0200), John Paul Adrian Glaubitz a écrit :

Hello!

On 4/21/20 4:00 PM, jhcha54008 wrote:

PS : it is the opportunity to thank you (and Samuel Thibault) for all your work on the alpha kernel and
towards a working debian installer on alpha - and the other ports !

You're welcome. Although it's sometimes so frustrating that I'm considering to stop. But I can still keep myself motivated.

First patch : have the floppy driver built-in

diff -Naur a/linux-5.5.17/debian/config/alpha/config b/linux-5.5.17/debian/config/alpha/config
--- a/linux-5.5.17/debian/config/alpha/config 2020-04-15 04:35:16.000000000 +0200
+++ b/linux-5.5.17/debian/config/alpha/config 2020-04-21 15:31:52.645845117 +0200
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@
##
## file: drivers/block/Kconfig
##
-CONFIG_BLK_DEV_FD=m
+CONFIG_BLK_DEV_FD=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_UMEM=m
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SX8=m
CONFIG_CDROM_PKTCDVD=m

Second patch : ship the floppy module in the kernel udeb

diff -Naur a/linux-5.5.17/debian/installer/modules/alpha-generic/kernel-image b/linux-5.5.17/debian/installer/modules/alpha-generic/kernel-image
--- a/linux-5.5.17/debian/installer/modules/alpha-generic/kernel-image 2018-12-29 20:49:45.000000000 +0100
+++ b/linux-5.5.17/debian/installer/modules/alpha-generic/kernel-image 2020-04-21 15:36:55.527347025 +0200
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
#include <kernel-image>
+floppy

I don't think it makes sense to add a floppy module when you compile floppy support into the kernel. If it's compiled in, the driver is always present.

Adrian

--
.''`. John Paul Adrian Glaubitz
: :' : Debian Developer - glaubitz@debian.org
`. `' Freie Universitaet Berlin - glaubitz@physik.fu-berlin.de
`- GPG: 62FF 8A75 84E0 2956 9546 0006 7426 3B37 F5B5 F913

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)