[SOLVED] Tethering iphone : kernel modules

allend · 09-19-2021, 04:19 AM

I have been experimenting with my iPhone 8 running iOS 14.8.

The use of the apple_mfi_fastcharge loaded as a module seems to be working correctly provided that I use a custom udev rule.
With that in place, then 'cat /sys/class/power_supply/apple_mfi_fastcharge/charge_type' returns Fast, otherwise Trickle.

Connecting seems to work best if the phone is powered on and unlocked before plugging the USB connection. If there are problems, check for a usbmuxd process that was not killed when the phone was unplugged.

marav · 09-19-2021, 05:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by allend

I have been experimenting with my iPhone 8 running iOS 14.8.

The use of the apple_mfi_fastcharge loaded as a module seems to be working correctly provided that I use a custom udev rule.
With that in place, then 'cat /sys/class/power_supply/apple_mfi_fastcharge/charge_type' returns Fast, otherwise Trickle.

Connecting seems to work best if the phone is powered on and unlocked before plugging the USB connection. If there are problems, check for a usbmuxd process that was not killed when the phone was unplugged.

Thank you
this will probably solve the charging problem
but mine is with the tethering
and I noticed when the apple_mfi_fastcharge module is built-in, tethering is working fine
which is not the case when compiled as a module

edit: all my tests are done with my own kernel and the slackware huge

allend · 09-19-2021, 08:36 AM

If, by tethering, you mean "the sharing of a mobile device's Internet connection with other connected computers" then no problem.
I am typing from a 32bit netbook running NetworkManager and the generic 5.14.5-smp kernel connected to the iPhone

Code:

bash-5.1$ nmcli | head -2
eth123: connected to Wired connection 2
	"Apple iPhone5/5C/5S/6"

marav · 09-19-2021, 08:59 AM

When I just plug the usb cable with network sharing "on" on my phone

/var/log/messages

Code:

Sep 19 15:56:10 blackstar kernel: usb 1-2: new high-speed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
Sep 19 15:56:10 blackstar kernel: usb 1-2: New USB device found, idVendor=05ac, idProduct=12a8, bcdDevice=10.05
Sep 19 15:56:10 blackstar kernel: usb 1-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Sep 19 15:56:10 blackstar kernel: usb 1-2: Product: iPhone
Sep 19 15:56:10 blackstar kernel: usb 1-2: Manufacturer: Apple Inc.
Sep 19 15:56:10 blackstar kernel: usb 1-2: SerialNumber: 153a6d81d93e9c3175a23556c638ac7f145c844d
Sep 19 15:56:12 blackstar mtp-probe: checking bus 1, device 2: "/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.1/0000:03:00.3/usb1/1-2" 
Sep 19 15:56:12 blackstar mtp-probe: bus: 1, device: 2 was not an MTP device 
Sep 19 15:56:11 blackstar kernel: usbcore: registered new device driver apple-mfi-fastcharge
Sep 19 15:56:11 blackstar kernel: usbcore: registered new interface driver ipheth

/var/log/syslog

Code:

Sep 19 15:56:12 blackstar usbmuxd[2611]: [2] Cannot find device entry while removing USB device 0xcbea10 on location 0x10002

I didn't remove anything

kernel huge 5.14.6
iphone 8 plus
ios 15 GM
(it's the same with my wife's iphone 11 + ios 14.x)

everything is fine with apple_mfi_fastcharge=y

hence this thread :-)

/var/log/messages, when the phone is pluged in, with apple_mfi_fastcharge built-in with custom kernel 5.14.6 / 5.15.0-rc1

Code:

Sep 19 16:06:16 blackstar kernel: usb 1-2: new high-speed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
Sep 19 16:06:16 blackstar kernel: usb 1-2: New USB device found, idVendor=05ac, idProduct=12a8, bcdDevice=10.05
Sep 19 16:06:16 blackstar kernel: usb 1-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Sep 19 16:06:16 blackstar kernel: usb 1-2: Product: iPhone
Sep 19 16:06:16 blackstar kernel: usb 1-2: Manufacturer: Apple Inc.
Sep 19 16:06:16 blackstar kernel: usb 1-2: SerialNumber: 153a6d81d93e9c3175a23556c638ac7f145c844d
Sep 19 16:06:17 blackstar mtp-probe: checking bus 1, device 3: "/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.1/0000:03:00.3/usb1/1-2" 
Sep 19 16:06:17 blackstar mtp-probe: bus: 1, device: 3 was not an MTP device 
Sep 19 16:06:16 blackstar kernel: ipheth 1-2:4.2: Apple iPhone USB Ethernet device attached
Sep 19 16:06:17 blackstar NetworkManager[1321]: <info>  [1632060377.3571] manager: (eth0): new Ethernet device (/org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/5)
Sep 19 16:06:17 blackstar NetworkManager[1321]: <info>  [1632060377.3736] device (eth0): state change: unmanaged -> unavailable (reason 'managed', sys-iface-state: 'external')
Sep 19 16:06:17 blackstar NetworkManager[1321]: <info>  [1632060377.3757] settings: (eth0): created default wired connection 'Wired connection 1'
Sep 19 16:06:17 blackstar kernel: IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
Sep 19 16:06:18 blackstar NetworkManager[1321]: <info>  [1632060378.4595] device (eth0): carrier: link connected
Sep 19 16:06:18 blackstar NetworkManager[1321]: <info>  [1632060378.4600] device (eth0): state change: unavailable -> disconnected (reason 'carrier-changed', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Sep 19 16:06:18 blackstar NetworkManager[1321]: <info>  [1632060378.4612] policy: auto-activating connection 'Wired connection 1' (9933af47-2dea-3b3b-bb75-2739b4404193)
Sep 19 16:06:18 blackstar NetworkManager[1321]: <info>  [1632060378.4618] device (eth0): Activation: starting connection 'Wired connection 1' (9933af47-2dea-3b3b-bb75-2739b4404193)
Sep 19 16:06:18 blackstar NetworkManager[1321]: <info>  [1632060378.4619] device (eth0): state change: disconnected -> prepare (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Sep 19 16:06:18 blackstar NetworkManager[1321]: <info>  [1632060378.4622] device (eth0): state change: prepare -> config (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Sep 19 16:06:18 blackstar NetworkManager[1321]: <info>  [1632060378.4629] device (eth0): state change: config -> ip-config (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Sep 19 16:06:18 blackstar NetworkManager[1321]: <info>  [1632060378.4630] dhcp4 (eth0): activation: beginning transaction (timeout in 45 seconds)
Sep 19 16:06:18 blackstar NetworkManager[1321]: <info>  [1632060378.4643] dhcp4 (eth0): dhcpcd started with pid 3230

Code:

blackstar :: ~ » nmcli
eth0: connecté à Wired connection 1
        "Apple iPhone5/5C/5S/6"
        ethernet (ipheth), 82:B0:3D:59:07:15, hw, mtu 1500
        ip4 par défaut
        inet4 172.20.10.6/28
        route4 0.0.0.0/0
        route4 172.20.10.0/28
        inet6 fe80::1ab:5947:62ab:1551/64
        route6 fe80::/64

anyway, if nobody else had issue with this module, I could deal with it :-) (as long as I don't ask my wife to recompile the kernel)

allend · 09-19-2021, 01:05 PM

Sorry. I cannot replicate on the setup I am posting from, a clean install of Slackware64-current booting the huge 5.14.5 kernel.

Code:

bash-5.1$ nmcli | head -2
eth1: connected to Wired connection 2
	"Apple iPhone5/5C/5S/6"

marav · 09-19-2021, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by allend

Sorry. I cannot replicate on the setup I am posting from, a clean install of Slackware64-current booting the huge 5.14.5 kernel.

Code:

bash-5.1$ nmcli | head -2
eth1: connected to Wired connection 2
	"Apple iPhone5/5C/5S/6"

In these cases, it's like NFS or other things we've seen recently,
which work perfectly for me but not for others
I don't try to understand, I keep what works :-)

maybe I miss some settings on the phone, but I don’t really believe it

kaott · 09-19-2021, 04:24 PM

I just tested it and got something working on an up to date -current64

However, I did have to do a bit of messing around to get it to work.

I plugged in the phone and OKed whatever had popped up, and then turn on tethering but the interface didn't show up.

After plugging and unplugging a few times nothing else had changed, so I killed usbmuxd (this gets started and stopped automatically by udev, see /lib/udev/rules.d/39-usbmuxd.rules) and this time plugged in the phone with the screen unlocked and tethering already turned on. After this I ran the

Code:

# idevicepair pair

as root just to be sure. After this the interface showed up under

Code:

 # ip a

Now it seems to consistently show the new network interface whenever the device is plugged in.

I don't use network manager, so I just edited the rc.inet1.conf file to have the new interface use DHCP and setup the interface properly.

Hopefully this helps.

marav · 09-19-2021, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaott

I just tested it and got something working on an up to date -current64

However, I did have to do a bit of messing around to get it to work.

I plugged in the phone and OKed whatever had popped up, and then turn on tethering but the interface didn't show up.

After plugging and unplugging a few times nothing else had changed, so I killed usbmuxd (this gets started and stopped automatically by udev, see /lib/udev/rules.d/39-usbmuxd.rules) and this time plugged in the phone with the screen unlocked and tethering already turned on. After this I ran the

Code:

# idevicepair pair

as root just to be sure. After this the interface showed up under

Code:

 # ip a

Now it seems to consistently show the new network interface whenever the device is plugged in.

I don't use network manager, so I just edited the rc.inet1.conf file to have the new interface use DHCP and setup the interface properly.

Hopefully this helps.

Thx for your sharing
It would be interesting if you could do a test with the MFI module built-in, if possible

marav · 09-19-2021, 05:20 PM

@kaott thx !

plug the phone
unplug
kill usbmuxd
plug the phone back in
- on the phone : popup "trust this device" --> YES
network works as expected

So, it seems that the problem is more related to usbmuxd.
The thing I can't explain is, why I don't have to do this with the module compile built-in ...

marav · 01-06-2022, 07:47 AM

I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier!

I just put the module (apple-mfi-fastcharge) in the initrd ...
Now, I can use the stock kernel :-)

marav · 01-30-2024, 02:25 PM

FYI

For those who are interested or have the problem

iPhone tethering (usb) with iOS 17.3 works fine with usbmuxd 1.1.1 + this patch:
https://cgit.sukimashita.com/usbmuxd...d-1.1.1.tar.gz
https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlin...ist-2.3.0.diff

but not with the latest release, nor the one provided by Slackware

With the stock one, the device is call (usb0) and never get an IP address (vs. eth0)

Code:

NetworkManager[1052]: <warn>  [1706643517.5289] device (usb0): Activation: failed for connection 'Wired connection 1'

vs.

Code:

eth0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 172.20.10.3  netmask 255.255.255.240  broadcast 172.20.10.15
        inet6 2a0d:e487:115f:eabb:7e93:4e55:93d6:7eb5  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x0<global>
        inet6 fe80::85b9:1ec:d802:580  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>

The phone is also browsable with Dolphin (thanks to kio-extras)

EDIT:
+ a tip
If you want the fast charge to be real, add this to /etc/udev/rules.d/99-fastcharge.rules

Code:

# iPhone fast charge rule
SUBSYSTEM=="power_supply", ACTION=="change", ENV{POWER_SUPPLY_NAME}="apple_mfi_fastcharge", RUN+="/usr/bin/env sh -c 'echo Fast > /sys/class/power_supply/apple_mfi_fastcharge/charge_type'"

Code:

# cat /sys/class/power_supply/apple_mfi_fastcharge/charge_type
Fast

marav · 01-31-2024, 05:04 PM

The culprit seems to be this commit :
https://github.com/libimobiledevice/...2e3051a469ef50

Before, all works fine (without any patch)

Reported:
https://github.com/libimobiledevice/usbmuxd/issues/237

derekn13 · 04-17-2024, 01:35 AM

I just switched to an iPhone, and I've been trying to get USB tethering to work, with no luck so far. Here's what I've tried:

(1) With the stock Slackware 15.0 packages for libimobiledevice, usbmuxd, etc., it almost works: dhcpcd gets an address, but it doesn't seem to pass any network traffic after that. I can't do DNS lookups, or even ping the gateway.

(2) I built usbmuxd 1.1.1, leaving all of the other packages alone. It wouldn't build with the arch patch mentioned by marav, but it built fine without it. (Did you rebuild/modify/remove any of the other libimobiledevice packages?) Anyway, that results in the exact same behavior as (1).

(3) I built the latest versions of all of the libimobiledevice packages, checked out from git. That was even worse: dhcpcd didn't get an address.

(4) With those brand new packages, I followed one of the comments on your usbmuxd bug report, and ran usbmuxd manually, with an environment variable:

Code:

USBMUXD_DEFAULT_DEVICE_MODE=1 usbmuxd --user usbmux --udev

That gets me back to the earlier behavior: dhcpcd works, but no network traffic after that.

I'm kind of wondering if there's some other issue here, but I'm not sure what to look for. If it matters, I'm not using NetworkManager, just plain old /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.

For what it's worth, wifi tethering works fine, and USB tethering with my Android phone also worked fine.

marav · 04-17-2024, 02:39 PM

I use this SlackBuild:
https://gitlab.com/maravtdm/slackbui...ref_type=heads

Which is exactly the same than the stock one, except for the source archive
Just run: ./fetch-usbmuxd_91aa7be.sh
to grad the last commit that works (at least for me): usbmuxd-20230918_91aa7be.tar.xz
and build/install the package