LinuxQuestions.org - Current bug: netlink error: failed to retrieve link setting/No such device

The NIC is Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet using the r8169 module.

On a test partition with the latest Current packages, when booting directly to init 1 the network link is not initialized. Running ethtool results in stderr spew as seen in the title. I did not find any clues online or in the logs.

The bug does not manifest when booting to init 3.

Originally this test partition was 14.2. I restored the partition to a clone of 14.2 and repeated the update to Current. Same error on init 1. I have not yet tried a fresh install from scratch on this system. No such bug in 14.2.

While networking usually is not used in runlevel 1, I never have seen this behavior. I discovered the bug because my rc.local[_shutdown] scripts use ethtool to ensure WOL is enabled.

I cannot say when the bug started. I had not updated this specific test partition since about March 11 (5.10.23). While in my testing of Current I commonly boot to init 1, I cannot offer any memory of previous behavior other than I would have noticed this bug.

I have only a VM and a laptop for additional testing and I cannot replicate. Different NICs of course.

I tested the 5.11.12 and 5.10.27 kernels as they are the only packages I still had copies.

I do not have any previous kernel firmware packages. I'll test if anybody provides links. Likewise with previous kernel packages.

Any ideas?

Edit: Additional testing shows ethtool is working fine in runlevel 1 with different NICs. While there is no detected link in runlevel 1 because networking has not been initialized, ethtool does not falter on other NICs. Seems ethtool is affected only with this specific NIC or perhaps NIC module.