nforce-net is a network driver, provided by nvidia, to support the network adapters found on many nvidia nForce-based motherboards. I'd like to remove the nforce-net package from the tree, for the following reasons: 1. Its a closed-source binary module. I don't like to support these without great demand. 2. The hardware was reverse engineered, and there is now a GPL driver in the kernel ("forcedeth") which has been in the kernel for a while and works well 3. forcedeth works around bugs that are still present in nforce-net 4. nvidia have started sending patches in to enhance the forcedeth driver So, unless any good reasons come up why we should keep this package in the tree, I'll remove it in 2 weeks time.
1. not something we should make an issue of ... that is LKML material, not Gentoo {2,3,4} are good reasons for removing it
I think 4 is reason enough. Is nvidia still releasing new versions of nforce-net?
I concur - forcedeth is working well for me.
I'm not sure what the case is with nvidia releasing new versions of the binary driver. It was seemingly left to rot for a while, but recently they pushed out a new version adding gigabit LAN support (about the same time as they sent a patch to make forcedeth support the same new devices). Linux nForce Driver - IA32 Version: 1.0-0283 Release Date: August 13, 2004
I am also using forcedeth and its running fine. My only concern with removing it is that the driver is currently still marked as "experimental" in the kernel. That is probably not much of a problem but in case nforce-net gets removed there should be some instruction given to users still using it (i.e. turning on experimental kernel features). I know that there were several people confused about the forcedeth driver because they were unable to find it when configuring their kernel.
I've put some user docs together in hope for a mention in an upcoming GWN: http://dev.gentoo.org/~dsd/nforce-net-to-forcedeth.htm
The forcedeth driver works very well indeed. I can't think of a single reason to keep the nvidia-net driver. Best regards, Stu
I can think of a reason to keep nforce-net: http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2496 There is a big problem for forcedeth that is around for months and still not fixed. I admit it somehow doesn't effect many users, but there are a lot of mainboards with nforce2 chipset that get this error. I quote from bugzilla.kernel.org: Hardware Environment: AMD XP 1800+, MSI K7N420 PRO(MS-6373), nForce 420-D/MCP-D Software Environment: 'Vanilla' Linux kernel 2.6.5 Problem Description: Loading the forcedeth module works, but after bringing up the device, it doesn't work at all. Kernel log messages report "no link during initialization", see full log below. The network device works in the 'other' OS, though after trying the linux driver and rebooting to it also makes it fail in that OS. Only after a full power down, then starting up does it work again in the other OS. But Linux forcedeth driver never does. The same thing happens for me. So why not leave nforce-net as an alternative? You might just change the install-guide to proposing forcedeth as the first choice.
Hmm, I thought that was fixed. I recently helped a user solve the issue, a kernel upgrade was all that was needed. I don't remember which kernels were involved, but can you confirm that the issue is still there on 2.6.9-rc3?
I can't confirm this now, I don't have access to my computer for the next two weeks. but last time I checked I had the problem with 2.6.9_rc1 using forcedeth.
Next time you have access to your hardware, could you please bump that bug and/or send a mail to the authors (CC linux netdev list)?
The 2.6.9 tree now contains a newer forcedeth driver (0.29) which has a workaround for this problem. Can you please test it?
Gerrit has confirmed that 2.6.9 fixes his problem. I'll remove this driver as soon as repoman is fixed so that I can commit again :)
Package removed.
