Ubuntu
bcmwl package

  1. Bug #1156138
  2. Comment #10

Comment 10 for bug 1156138

Revision history for this message
Bernardo Reino (reinob) wrote : Re: [Bug 1156138] Re: bcmwl-kernel-source fails to build on lowlatency kernel [FATAL: modpost: GPL-incompatible module wl.ko uses GPL-only symbol '__rcu_read_unlock']

AFAIK the only solution is by (illegally) modifying the bcmwl license to
be GPL, which Ubuntu will never do (but you could, privately).

For some reason some kernel functions can only be used with GPL-licensed modules, which bcmwl isn't.

I currently don't know if a "technical" workaround exists, other than not
using the low-latency kernel.

On Fri, 12 Jul 2013, Brian Burch wrote:

> I was disappointed to find there was no activity on this problem for a
> week. It is hard to believe no-one knows of a circumvention.
>
> I've not been able to use the wireless adapter ever since I "upgraded"
> my laptop to 13.04, and will need to use it tomorrow but will not have
> access to an ethernet link...
>
> Fortunately, I am using ubuntu studio. It uses the low-latency kernel,
> but I had forgotten the distro also installs and maintains the generic
> kernel. I rebooted with 3.8.0-26-generic and was very happy to discover
> the dkms source compiled cleanly. The machine is running fine on wifi
> with the generic kernel.
>
> So what is it about the low-latency kernel headers that is different to
> generic, and also breaks the compile of bcmwl-kernel-source? Surely it
> isn't necessary?