The hsfmodem package installs various support files into ``/etc/hsfmodem'', and more specifically installs driver-specific metadata into ``/etc/hsfmodem/nvm/$drivername'', where the directory in this problem is ``/etc/hsfmodem/nvm/hsfmc97ich''. Unfortunately, it would seem that the source package is actually incomplete, or the installation process is broken or incomplete, because not all drivers have Region data installed properly, in this case the Intel ICH ``hsfmc97ich'' driver. This causes the ``hsfconfig'' process to fail when it queries the user for the proper region name/data. I was able to fix this with: mv /etc/hsfmodem/nvm/hsfmc97ich /etc/hsfmodem/nvm/hsfmc97ich.old ln -s /etc/hsfmodem/nvm/hsfpcibasic2 /etc/hsfmodem/nvm/hsfmc97ich and then re-running hsfconfig. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. emerge hsfmodem 2. run hsfconfig for a non-standard driver (in this case ``hsfmc97ich''). note that driver selection is automatic so the proper hardware is required (in this case, a sony vaio s-175) 3. Actual Results: hsfconfig lists available regions as an empty list, asks me to select the proper region with a default value of [0]. neither hitting enter nor selecting ``0'' lets hsfconfig continue, so it just loops and repeatedly lists an empty list of regions asking for one to be selected. Expected Results: in my case, auto-selected "USA", and subsequently let me select another region from the list if I wanted. Portage 2.0.51.19 (default-linux/x86/2004.2, gcc-3.2.3, glibc-2.3.4.20040808-r1, 2.6.11 i686) ================================================================= System uname: 2.6.11 i686 Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 2.00GHz Gentoo Base System version 1.4.16 Python: dev-lang/python-2.3.4-r1 [2.3.4 (#1, Feb 8 2005, 12:08:09) ] dev-lang/python: 2.3.4-r1 sys-devel/autoconf: 2.13, 2.59-r6 sys-devel/automake: 1.8.5-r3, 1.5, 1.7.9-r1, 1.6.3, 1.4_p6, 1.9.4 sys-devel/binutils: 2.15.92.0.2-r1 sys-devel/libtool: 1.5.10-r4 virtual/os-headers: 2.4.21-r1 ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86" AUTOCLEAN="yes" CFLAGS="-march=pentium4 -O3 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer -fstack-protector" CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/kde/2/share/config /usr/kde/3.3/env /usr/kde/3.3/ share/config /usr/kde/3.3/shutdown /usr/kde/3/share/config /usr/lib/X11/xkb / usr/share/config /usr/share/texmf/dvipdfm/config/ /usr/share/texmf/dvips/config/ /usr/share/texmf/tex/generic/config/ /usr/share/texmf/tex/platex/config/ /usr/ share/texmf/xdvi/ /var/qmail/control" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/gconf /etc/terminfo /etc/env.d" CXXFLAGS="-march=pentium4 -O3 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer -fstack-protector" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" FEATURES="autoaddcvs autoconfig ccache distlocks sandbox sfperms" GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://distfiles.gentoo.org http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/ distributions/gentoo" MAKEOPTS="-j2" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" SYNC="rsync://rsync.namerica.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage" USE="x86 X acpi alsa arts avi berkdb bitmap-fonts cdr crypt cups curl dbm dvd emacs emboss encode f77 fam flac font-server foomaticdb fortran gdbm gif iconv imagemagick jpeg kde libg++ libwww mad mbox mikmod mmx mp3 mpeg ncurses nls oci8 oggvorbis opengl oss pam pcmcia pdflib perl png python qt quicktime readline samba sdl sockets sse ssl sysvipc tcpd tetex tiff truetype truetype-fonts type1- fonts usb userlocales xine xinerama xml2 xv zlib" Unset: ASFLAGS, CBUILD, CTARGET, LANG, LC_ALL, LDFLAGS, PORTDIR_OVERLAY
There is little we can do here. I don't know why some drivers have no regions. I will send a request to upstream.
What is the Gentoo philosophy on providing workarounds for broken projects? In the past one of my projects had some problems with it and Gentoo's ebuild added both patches and workarounds to fix it. Could we not do something like the workaround I provided here as an interim solution until the author/maintainer fixed this?
Of course we can do, but this package is a binary one and I can't patch something I do not understand. I've contacted the upstream and I wait their reply.
fixed in hsfmodem-7.18.00.03-r1. please test it and reopen the bug if something is wrong. thanks for your help!