Bug 375805

Summary: YaST network module
Product: [openSUSE] openSUSE 11.0 Reporter: Freek de Kruijf <freek>
Component: YaST2Assignee: Michal Zugec <mzugec>
Status: RESOLVED FIXED QA Contact: Jiri Srain <jsrain>
Severity: Normal    
Priority: P5 - None    
Version: Factory   
Target Milestone: ---   
Hardware: Other   
OS: Other   
Whiteboard:
Found By: --- Services Priority:
Business Priority: Blocker: ---
Marketing QA Status: --- IT Deployment: ---

Description Freek de Kruijf 2008-04-01 10:40:43 UTC 
In src/modules/LanItems.ycp:486 the sentence is:
<p>Unable to configure the network card because the kernel device is not present</p>

Should device not be module?
Comment 1 Michal Zugec 2008-04-01 10:48:07 UTC 
No, meaning of that is missing device like "eth0" or "wlan0". It's only one of many possibilities that it's because of missing module (driver).
Comment 2 Freek de Kruijf 2008-04-01 11:15:15 UTC 
Right, you said it yourself, so the message should be: Unable to configure the network card because the kernel module is not present
So instead of the word device the word module should be in the sentence.
In other words the device (is network card) is present but the kernel module is not present.
Comment 3 Robert Vojcik 2008-04-01 11:49:31 UTC 
I think this sentence is correct.
You can have device (network card) without module. If you configure linux kernel and in configuration mark driver to your network device as build in (not module) then you have your network device (eth0, wlan0, ...) bud no module is installed. 
Driver to network device is build directly into the linux kernel.
Comment 4 Freek de Kruijf 2008-04-01 13:27:04 UTC 
OK. But I still have a problem with the word device. In my view a device is a piece of hardware and that hardware is present. So is driver a better word? Being it build-in in the kernel or loaded as a module? In this case it is apparently not build-in, so you need to load it as a module?
Comment 5 Michal Zugec 2008-04-01 13:34:19 UTC 
It's not device, it's "kernel device". That means it's device (piece of hardware) representation in kernel. The sentence says this representation is missing. 

Imagine situation (wlan) when module with driver is loaded but firmware is missing. In this case kernel device is not created. You have device, module and driver, only kernel device is not present. (Unfortunate there is no information about firmware)
Comment 6 Freek de Kruijf 2008-04-01 22:44:29 UTC 
OK. But I know my way around in Linux but I did not catch the meaning of kernel device. So how does a person knowing less about these technical things know what this message means. So in my view this message should explain more. It is obvious this message comes when the hardware is there, so either the driver or firmware is missing or both or whatever. Why not say so? The message should direct the reader towards a solution.
Comment 7 Michal Zugec 2008-04-02 08:26:20 UTC 
What about this:

Unable to configure the network card because the kernel device is not
present.This is mostly caused by missing firmware (for wlan devices).

?
Comment 8 Freek de Kruijf 2008-04-02 09:30:37 UTC 
This much better. Thanks. Is kernel device something like /dev/.... ? So what about:

Unable to configure the network card because the kernel device (/dev/...) can't be (made/generated).This is mostly caused by missing firmware (for wlan devices).
Comment 9 Michal Zugec 2008-04-02 09:34:01 UTC 
No, it's different from /dev/ because they have representation in a filesystem and "this" kernel devices not.
But as an example we can use "eth0" or "wlan0"
Comment 10 Michal Zugec 2008-04-02 09:46:44 UTC 
fixed in yast2-network-2.16.30