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gdstew

Member

Registered: 2018-11-20

Posts: 16  

Missing USB kernel modules

First, I would very much like to thank the person/persons that finally upgraded Devuan to aarch64 for the Raspberry Pi 4 and 5. I have a portable NFS server project using the Pi 5 that has been on the back burner for over three months as I looked for a good light weight Devuan aarch64 replacement that did not use systemd. After trying a couple of other distros I had finally settled on Void Linux but having to deal with the a new package handler that has a couple of annoying quirks, learning runit, and having problems getting the network interfaces properly configured at boot was taking much longer than I wanted. Anyway I really wanted to use Devuan because I have been using it since it was first available and Debian for several years before that and I knew how to get my project configured and working quickly with it. So when I recently found the updated versions of Devuan I immediately downloaded them and quickly got everything but a USB-3 transfer cable working. I need this cable to synchronize the portable NFS server with my home NFS server and using a regular Ethernet connection causes problems with a IP addressing conflict. To test it I am using a AMD 1500X computer using Devuan of course which has the transfer cable showing up as usb0 in ifconfig output. It is not however showing up on the portable NFS server. First guess that it might be a module problem was confirmed by a quick comparison of the modules list that showed two USB modules, usbcore and usbnet,  were missing from the Pi 5 Devuan module list and insmod error messages said they could not be found. I could attempt to build them myself although I would much prefer not to but I can't find the kernel source or build instructions for this release. Both of these are supposed to be provided when requested by the GNU GPL 2 license but there is absolutely no mention of how to get them that I can find. Like I said I would much prefer to just get the pre-compiled modules but I am willing to go the hard route if I have to and share the results when built and working.

I really need to get this project finished and getting this close and then being stopped dead by this is very annoying. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Last edited by gdstew (2025-11-19 16:28:38)

g4sra

Member

Registered: 2018-12-12

Posts: 90  

Re: Missing USB kernel modules

using a regular Ethernet connection causes problems with a IP addressing conflict

Would it not be better to resolve this conflict, making it possible to access both NFS servers independently as well as have access between them ?

gdstew

Member

Registered: 2018-11-20

Posts: 16  

Re: Missing USB kernel modules

Thanks for your reply. There are a couple of problems with this. There would be a conflict with the NFS servers' IP addresses because both use the same IP address. This allows my laptop to connect to either of them when needed without having to flip the NFS server IP address back and forth on the laptop. It would also require the laptop to connect to both NFS servers at the same time which looks to be possible but that would again require flipping an Ethernet configuration I normally use to connect to the Internet to the NFS network and back. The NFS (static IP) and Internet (dhcp) networks each have their own Gb network hardware and the Internet configuration would have to be changed back and forth to make that work. A second alternative would be to connect the two NFS servers to each other which I think would mean one would have to be reconfigured as a NFS client while the files are synchronized and then flipped back to a server for normal use. The laptop does not have a built in Ethernet interface, the hardware for both is provided by two USB-3 to Gb Ethernet adapters so a separate connection using the USB-3 transfer cable only when needed would actually simplify things. The modules I need already exist and could easily be compiled when the rest of the kernel and modules are compiled. In an interesting turn I checked the current version of Raspberry Pi OS which uses a 6.12.47 kernel (close enough?) to see if I could use their modules but they were not available there either, usbpl was. As far as I can tell there is no reason to compile and include the ubspl module without them.

Last edited by gdstew (2025-11-20 06:12:07)

ralph.ronnquist

Administrator

From: Battery Point, Tasmania, AUS

Registered: 2016-11-30

Posts: 1,526  

Re: Missing USB kernel modules

I'm thoroughly confused by your explanation. It surely would be simpler to assign two different IP addresses to the two NFS servers (whether or not they are connected on the network concurrently), and then have two alternative mount declarations on a client, which could be onto the same mount point if that's your intention.

In my mind, that would be the simple way. Especially compared to whatever is involved in chasing two or a few modules to fit your kernel.

But that may be of no help to you I suppose.

g4sra

Member

Registered: 2018-12-12

Posts: 90  

Re: Missing USB kernel modules

@gdstew, either I have misunderstood your reply or you have borked your private network configuration. If you want to fix it I am willing to try but I will need a full breakdown of your current network topology. Is there a reason you are not using the Laptop's and Raspberry Pi's built-in Wifi ?

gdstew

Member

Registered: 2018-11-20

Posts: 16  

Re: Missing USB kernel modules

My network works perfectly as is. The only problem I have is two missing modules that prevent the usbpl module from working. Currently the only NFS server in use is my home server. This server has most of my home directory files on it so that any computer in my house (I have more than a few) has access to these files through a dedicated NFS network and network interface card that connects to the other computers and the home NFS server through a switch. My internet connection to these computers uses its own network and network card that connects to the other computers and the internet modem through a different switch. I also have a laptop which I need to be able to access the same files using a dedicated NFS network and network adapter when I am (home server), and am not (portable server) at home. So I have built a portable NFS server for my laptop for when I am not at home using a Raspberry Pi 5 that will provide it access to the same NFS network files using the same NFS network configuration as it uses when it is connected to the home server. These files will be modified sometimes on the road, mostly at home so the servers need to be synchronized regularly, probably using a bash script for the UI and rsync to do the heavy lifting. I use a similar program on my home server to back up the NFS server's hard drive to an external hard drive (eSATA) every night. The only time the laptop will be connected to both servers at the same time is when they need to be synchronized to each other. But when they are connected for synchronization I do not want the connection to the home server to use the NFS network because both servers use the same IP address. Using the same IP address on both NFS servers allows the laptop to "just connect" to either server for normal use. However it also means they can not be connected to the NFS network at the same time without changing one of the server's IP address to prevent a conflict. I want to use a third network that uses a USB-3 "transfer cable" mainly because I don't have to add any hardware to the home server or the laptop (they both have USB-3 ports) and I already have the transfer cable. With all three of the kernel modules needed it presents itself as a network interface (usb0) but two of the three modules needed to make it work are not available and the one that is available won't work without the other two.

g4sra

Member

Registered: 2018-12-12

Posts: 90  

Re: Missing USB kernel modules

My network works perfectly as is.

OK , as long as you are happy with your setup.

Last edited by g4sra (2025-11-20 21:23:39)

stargate-sg1-cheyenne-mtn

Member

Registered: 2023-11-27

Posts: 446  

Re: Missing USB kernel modules

thoughts of Rube Goldberg... make it stop.

also see https://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?pid=59903#p59903

more

no offense intended, it's all in good humour mate.

Last edited by stargate-sg1-cheyenne-mtn (Yesterday 04:44:19)

---

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Do unto others as you would have them do instantaneously back to you!

stargate-sg1-cheyenne-mtn

Member

Registered: 2023-11-27

Posts: 446  

Re: Missing USB kernel modules

see https://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?id=7592 for OT of OP regarding OP(or something like that)

---

Be Excellent to each other and Party On!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rph_1DODXDU
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_%26_Ted%27s_Excellent_Adventure
Do unto others as you would have them do instantaneously back to you!

gdstew

Member

Registered: 2018-11-20

Posts: 16  

Re: Missing USB kernel modules

@g4sra, once again and for the final time the network is not and never has been the problem, the MISSING MODULES are the problem!

@stargate-sg1-cheyenne -(mountain?), nothing in the least Rube Goldberg about it. It might be good humor to you but I did not come here to be entertained, mate. I have a problem that I need solved and so far nobody has offered anything that in the slightest way helps. Just a bunch of jibber-jabber, no offense intended.

Since it is clear that I'm going to have to do this myself back to something in the original post. Any software that is distributed under the GPL 2 license MUST provide the source and the build environment when requested. I am formally requesting it from anybody in this non-official community that can provide it. If it is in a git repository server I only need read access.

ralph.ronnquist

Administrator

From: Battery Point, Tasmania, AUS

Registered: 2016-11-30

Posts: 1,526  

Re: Missing USB kernel modules

If you are looking for linux source, then
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/ke … /linux.git
is a good place. That would be all 8G (currently) of all linux release versions, tagged. By instead running

git archive --remote=https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git --format=tgz v6.9.10  | tar xzf - -C mydir

will get you only that particular version, v6.9.10, in (pre-existing) directory mydir. i.e. you need to create that directory beforehand, and of course choose the version you want.

If you are looking for debian's packaging source, then probably running apt-get source linux-image-... is a good way. Or you can chase it up via the package information.

Though I feel I must again add my opinion, that apart from your mind lock, the easy way would be to assign two different IP addresses to the two different servers. Yes, the laptop operator would need to exercise some situational awareness and make the appropriate choices in different situations; but that's like turning your bike to the left when the path bends left.

g4sra

Member

Registered: 2018-12-12

Posts: 90  

Re: Missing USB kernel modules

@ralph.ronnquist, Thanks for

git archive --remote=https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git --format=tgz v6.9.10  | tar xzf - -C mydir

not seen it done that way before, added to my git cheat sheet.