bcm43xx-fwcutter / wireless / troubleshoot

maclenin · 12-30-2006, 02:27 PM

I am a Linux maiden and soon-to-be mono-boot Xubuntu Edgy Eft (2.16.17.10-generic) user. However, before I take the plunge (and wipe clean all remnants of the windows world from my laptop) I'd like to jump-start my wireless card (Dell Truemobile 1350 / Broadcom 4306 on a Dell Inspiron 600m) within the LiveCD environment (i.e. Linux running from a CD, not from my hard drive).

Essentially, I am trying to extract and install my wireless driver's (bcmwl5.sys) firmware using the fwcutter tool (bcm43xx-fwcutter-006).

A. The first few steps seem productive:

Code:

sudo mkdir /c
sudo mount /dev/dha2 /c -t ntfs
sudo mkdir /home/utilities
sudo mkdir /home/drivers
sudo cp /c/windows/linux/bcm43xx-fwcutter-006.tar.bz2 /home/utilities
sudo cp /c/windows/system32/drivers/bcmwl5.sys /home/drivers
cd /home/utilities
sudo tar -jxvf bcm43xx-fwcutter-006.tar.bz2 -C /home/utilities

bcm43xx-fwcutter-006/
bcm43xx-fwcutter-006/bcm43xx-fwcutter.1
bcm43xx-fwcutter-006/Makefile
bcm43xx-fwcutter-006/md5.c
bcm43xx-fwcutter-006/README
bcm43xx-fwcutter-006/fwcutter_list.h
bcm43xx-fwcutter-006/fwcutter.c
bcm43xx-fwcutter-006/fwcutter.h
bcm43xx-fwcutter-006/COPYING

ubuntu@ubuntu:/home/utilities$

B. Then, I run into trouble. My research tells me that, in a perfect world, these next few steps (with the possible exception of the need for ./configure) should lead to (bcm4306) wireless nirvana:

1. I've run the ./configure and make commands, with the following results. The "make" errors are very briefly summarized:

Code:

cd /home/utilities/bcm43xx-fwcutter-006
./configure
bash: ./configure: No such file or directory
make

fwcutter_list.h:1653: error: unknown field 'iv_pos' specified in initializer
fwcutter_list.h:1653: warning: excess elements in struct initializer
fwcutter_list.h:1653: warning: (near initialization for 'files[124]')
fwcutter_list.h:1654: error: unknown field 'iv_map' specified in initializer
fwcutter_list.h:1654: warning: excess elements in struct initializer
fwcutter_list.h:1654: warning: (near initialization for 'files[124]')

fwcutter.c: In function 'do_cmp_arg':
fwcutter.c:655: error: 'size_t' undeclared (first use in this function)
fwcutter.c:655: error: expected ';' before 'arg_len'
fwcutter.c:659: error: 'arg_len' undeclared (first use in this function)
fwcutter.c:659: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function 'strlen'

fwcutter.c:850: warning: implicit declaration of function 'extract_iv'
fwcutter.c:850: error: 'const struct file' has no member named 'flags'
fwcutter.c:851: error: 'const struct file' has no member named 'iv_pos'
fwcutter.c:852: error: 'const struct file' has no member named 'iv_map'
make: *** [fwcutter.o] Error 1

2. I have yet to execute these commands:

Code:

fwcutter /home/drivers/bcmwl5.sys5
cd /home/drivers
sudo make installfw

C. Issues and Questions:

I could not run the ./configure command. Perhaps because the tool's Makefile already existed (or ./configure was not a part of the setup script)?

How might I resolve this wave of "make" errors. Could there be a problem with the files I'm trying to make/recompile? Is there something I need to be doing differently?

I can untar fwcutter, I just can't find / generate the fwcutter executable!

Any tiniest bits of advice would be welcomed.

Indiestory · 12-31-2006, 06:55 AM

./configure and make arent working because uber ubuntu to build/develop software you need to install the build essentials package. It makes no sense in a security sense for a user to have that if they dont need it so its not included by default.

You dont have to build the firmware cutter yourself anyway, you can download the package, using apt and not install it, your gonna have to check the man page i cant remember how, but that should give you the ability to install and then cut your firmware. Good luck

raskin · 12-31-2006, 07:42 AM

The errors indicate presence of relatively sane C compiler (so not a "build-essentials missing" issue). I would believe more in some include file problem, but I cannot understand what it is. Is the cited output all output of make or only its tail?

maclenin · 12-31-2006, 11:07 AM

Indiestory!

Thanks for the input. I am new to all of this (as a current w2k user) - but would like to get my head around the nuts and bolts of these issues/solutions - so building the fwcutter would be a welcome challenge. For my own edification, do you have a file name for the "build essentials package"?

raskin!

The error output I posted was merely the tip of the iceberg - excerpts from various parts of the whole. Is there a log file that I could access to find the rest of it? How might I go about accessing this file? Spacibo za pomosch....

raskin · 12-31-2006, 11:46 AM

Indiestory meant 'apt-get build-essentials'. Nevertheless, I guess it is not needed.

try 'make &>make.log' and read make.log. Maybe run it twice and post it after second time (it should contain the same error messages, but less success messages).

maclenin · 12-31-2006, 07:25 PM

...the error log contains 5000+ lines....

Do I need to post the entire log or can I sniff through it for some key error or warning types - and post just those? The excerpts I have posted are more or less indicative of a majority of the error or warning types.

In the meantime, here are the first few lines of the error flood, which I was not able to access via the terminal, earlier (until you provided 'make &>make.log'):

Code:

cc -02 -fomit-frame-pointer -std=c99 -Wall -pedantic -D_BSD_SOURCE -DFWCUTTER_VERSION_=006   -c -o fwcutter.o fwcutter.c
In file included from fwcutter.c:24:
md5.:4:20: error: stdint.h: No such file or directory
In file included from fwcutter.c:24:
md5.h:7: error: expected specifier-qualifier-list before 'uint32_t'
md5.h:10: warning: struct has no members
In file included from fwcutter.c:25:
fwcutter.h:4:20: error: stdlib.h: No such file or directory
fwcutter.h:5:19: error: ctype.h: No such file or directory
fwcutter.h:6:20: error: string.h: No such file or directory
fwcutter.h:7:19: error: stdio.h: No such file or directory
In file included from fwcutter.c:25:
fwcutter.h:70: error: expected ':', ',', ';', '}' or '_attribute_' before 'flags'
fwcutter.h:90: error: expected ':', ',', ';', '}' or '_attribute_' before 'type'
fwcutter.h:93: warning struct has no members

raskin · 12-31-2006, 11:06 PM

Oh.. Did you install gcc by hand or together with build-essentials? I guess you missed something like glibc-devel from build-essentials meta-package. The lines you chose are just the right lines to show you don't have a core header (I thought it is impossible to install gcc without installing it - I was wrong..).

maclenin · 01-01-2007, 12:42 AM

What do I need to do from here? It sounds like I need to run gcc or some such? Can you suggest some terminal syntax? Thanks for all of your guidance....

raskin · 01-01-2007, 12:45 AM

No... How did you install gcc? Was it by 'apt-get build-essentials' or not? If not - maybe you could try this way of fixing problem.. Or try installing glibc-devel.

maclenin · 01-01-2007, 11:47 AM

It seems that gcc was "installed" when I loaded linux from my CD (I am running linux virtually - i.e. have not installed it on my hard drive). I did not have to do anything to install gcc - For reference:

Code:

whereis gcc
gcc: /usr/bin/gcc /usr/lib/gcc /usr/X11R6/bin/gcc /usr/bin/X11/gcc /usr/share/man/man1/gcc.1.gz

I have not been able to locate "glibc-devel".

raskin · 01-01-2007, 11:49 AM

glibc-devel is package name. And is there any file called stdint.h?

maclenin · 01-01-2007, 12:18 PM

Regarding "stdint.h":

Code:

$ sudo find / -name stdint.h
$

I have no package with the name "glibc-devel", however, I did find these (uninstalled) packages in my package manager:

glibc-doc
glibc-doc-reference

fragos · 01-01-2007, 08:59 PM

The primary reason for compiles not working is dependencies. gcc alone isn't sufficient. Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Xubuntu all share the same repositories. You may only have whats called the supported or basic set of packages and will likely need packages from the universe and multiverse repositories. There is a package called build-essential that has most of what you will need. It includes header files and other common development libraries. In Ubuntu you would use Synaptic to install it and make sure all three repositories will be used. Depending on what you're trying to build you make require additional development libraries. Virtually every library has a development counterpart that you may need to install. Before compiling anything, check to see if a specific binary package from the Ubuntu repositories exists. If it does it will save much grief.

maclenin · 01-02-2007, 04:31 PM

Thanks for the info.

Assuming I were to "apt-get build-essential" or "aptitude build-essential", how would I go about ensuring build-essential and whatever components I needed were correctly and completely installed before I went back to trying to "make" my fwcutter tool? Is there a test I could perform - post-install?

Could you send along the terminal syntax I might use in order to install build-essential? I assume there's more to it than just apt-get or sudo apt-get or aptitude build-essential? Our should I just use Synaptic - which shows: "build-essential" as version "11.3" and under the description heading, as "informational list of build-essential packages".

Again, once I have (completely) installed build-essential, I should be able to proceed with the "make" of fwcutter?

Again, thanks for your help!

ADDENDUM:

1. I have found "build-essential" install instructions at...

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wi...e237b850a953ec

...which I think should work in my situation and which I have followed - to no avail (as the apt-get install run makes multiple unsuccessful attempts to access the internet).

2. I am attempting to complete this process under the following conditions:

a. While running linux "virtually" - from a CD. I have NOT installed linux on my hard drive.

b. While having NO CONNECTION TO THE INTERNET - which seems to be getting in the way of my being able to install the build/compile tools - among others.