[Bug]: CONFIG_RTL8189FS setting is missing in kernel 6.6.75 for orangepi pc plus

[Char11e]

What happened?

I found that in kernel version 6.6.75, the CONFIG_RTL8189FS=m option disappeared.

pi@orangepipcplus:/root$ cat /boot/config-6.6.75-current-sunxi | grep CONFIG_RTL81
CONFIG_RTL8187=m
CONFIG_RTL8187_LEDS=y
CONFIG_RTL8192CU=m
CONFIG_RTL8192C_COMMON=m
CONFIG_RTL8192EU=m
CONFIG_RTL8189ES=m
pi@orangepipcplus:/root$ uname -a
Linux orangepipcplus 6.6.75-current-sunxi #1 SMP Sat Feb 1 17:37:57 UTC 2025 armv7l armv7l armv7l GNU/Linux

This caused wlan0 to be lost.

How to reproduce?

update kernel to 6.6.75.

Branch

main (main development branch)

On which host OS are you running the build script and observing this problem?

Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy

Are you building on Windows WSL2?

• Yes, my Ubuntu/Debian/OtherOS is running on WSL2

Relevant log URL

No response

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[github-actions]

Jira ticket: AR-2645

[alive4ever]

Got this same issue (#8075) with 6.12.22 kernel (meson64)

[Char11e]

root@orangepipcplus:~# cat /etc/os-release 
PRETTY_NAME="Armbian 25.5.0-trunk.377 jammy"
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION_ID="22.04"
VERSION="22.04.5 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish)"
VERSION_CODENAME=jammy
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.armbian.com"
SUPPORT_URL="https://forum.armbian.com"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://www.armbian.com/bugs"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.armbian.com"
UBUNTU_CODENAME=jammy
ARMBIAN_PRETTY_NAME="Armbian 25.5.0-trunk.377 jammy"
root@orangepipcplus:~# uname -a
Linux orangepipcplus 6.12.20-current-sunxi #1 SMP Sat Mar 22 19:54:28 UTC 2025 armv7l armv7l armv7l GNU/Linux
root@orangepipcplus:~# ip a
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 02:81:64:17:11:3d brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.1.100/24 brd 192.168.1.255 scope global eth0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fe80::81:64ff:fe17:113d/64 scope link 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

The same issue was found in orangepipcplus when update to kernel 6.12.20.

[Char11e]

Hi @alive4ever ,

I refer to your guide on compiling the 8189fs module and can use the following steps to successfully use the WIFI function in the orange pi pc plus. Thank you!

RTL8189FS module installation steps (applicable to armhf architecture)

1. Update packages and install necessary tools

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y build-essential linux-headers-current-sunxi git

2. Download RTL8189FS source code (specify rtl8189fs branch)

git clone --branch=rtl8189fs https://github.com/jwrdegoede/rtl8189ES_linux.git
cd rtl8189ES_linux

3. Clear old compiled files (optional)

make clean

4. Set kernel version and header location

KVER="$(uname -r)"
KSRC="/lib/modules/$KVER/build"

5. Compile the driver (for arm architecture, avoid pic errors)

make -j$(nproc) ARCH=arm KSRC="$KSRC" KCFLAGS=-fno-pic

6. Confirm that the driver file has been generated

ls -lh 8189fs.ko

7. Install the driver module to the correct location

sudo cp 8189fs.ko /lib/modules/"$KVER"/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/

8. Reload the module list

sudo depmod -a

9. Loading modules

sudo modprobe 8189fs

Verify that loading is successful:

dmesg | grep 8189fs
lsmod | grep 8189fs
iw dev

Result

pi@orangepipcplus:~$ ip a
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 02:81:64:17:11:3d brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.1.100/24 brd 192.168.1.255 scope global eth0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fe80::81:64ff:fe17:113d/64 scope link 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
3: wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 12:81:64:17:11:3d brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.0.214/24 brd 192.168.0.255 scope global dynamic noprefixroute wlan0
       valid_lft 604179sec preferred_lft 604179sec
    inet6 fe80::fdea:d193:e755:6c6d/64 scope link noprefixroute 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
4: wlan1: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 12:81:64:17:13:3d brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
pi@orangepipcplus:~$ dmesg | grep 8189fs
[   10.248002] 8189fs: loading out-of-tree module taints kernel.
[   10.271931] RTW: rtl8189fs v5.7.9_35795.20191128
[   10.291336] RTW: rtw_read_efuse_from_file /system/etc/wifi/wifi_efuse_8189fs.map is not readable

[igorpecovnik]

#8077

and

grep -R CONFIG_RTL8189FS | grep sunxi
linux-sunxi64-current.config:CONFIG_RTL8189FS=m
linux-sunxi-edge.config:CONFIG_RTL8189FS=m
linux-sunxi64-edge.config:CONFIG_RTL8189FS=m
linux-sunxi-current.config:CONFIG_RTL8189FS=m
linux-sunxi64-legacy.config:CONFIG_RTL8189FS=m
linux-sunxi-legacy.config:CONFIG_RTL8189FS=m

Closing.