#1139746 linux-image-6.1.0-49-686-pae: kernel driver requested extra firmware files: rtlwifi/rtl8723bu_bt.bin

Package:
firmware-realtek
Source:
firmware-realtek
Submitter:
Martin-Éric Racine
Date:
2026-06-13 16:59:01 UTC
Severity:
normal
Tags:
#1139746#5
Date:
2026-06-12 12:17:03 UTC
From:
To:
Feel free to reassign as required.

$ sudo isenkram-autoinstall-firmware
info: some kernel driver requested extra firmware files: rtlwifi/rtl8723bu_bt.bin
info: unable to find any local firmware info for dist trixie, using info for sid
info: locating packages with the requested firmware files
info: determining whether enabling other components is required
info: No new firmware package with requested firmware detected.

The above output appears on hosts running Linux kernels linux-image-6.1.0-49-686, linux-image-6.1.0-49-686-pae, linux-image-6.12.90+deb13.1-amd64 with a Realtek Wi-Fi USB dongle plugged in.

Could the missing firmware get enabled and shipped with upcoming updates for Bookworm and Trixie?

Thanks!
Martin-Éric
#1139746#10
Date:
2026-06-12 12:41:29 UTC
From:
To:
This is also confirmed when reconfiguring a kernel package:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure linux-image-6.1.0-48-686-pae
/etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools:
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-6.1.0-48-686-pae
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8723bu_bt.bin
for module rtl8xxxu

Martin-Éric
#1139746#21
Date:
2026-06-13 09:47:59 UTC
From:
To:
On Fri, 12 Jun 2026 15:41:29 +0300 =?UTF-8?Q?Martin=2D=C3=89ric_Racine?= <martin-eric.racine@iki.fi> wrote:

Thanks for reassigning this to the correct package. I'm curious to
hear the reasons for the wontfix and upstream tags.

Martin-Éric
#1139746#28
Date:
2026-06-13 10:08:21 UTC
From:
To:
On Sat, 2026-06-13 at 12:47 +0300, Martin-Éric Racine wrote:
[...]

The file isn't present upstream, and I won't spend time trying to get
Realtek to add it.

Ben.
#1139746#33
Date:
2026-06-13 10:20:19 UTC
From:
To:
Looking at upstream Git [1], I'm wondering if there is a typo in one filename:

rtl8723bs_bt.bin ... instead of the expected rtl8723bu_bt.bin?

Martin-Éric

[1] https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/rtlwifi
#1139746#38
Date:
2026-06-13 16:55:56 UTC
From:
To:
[...]

They are for similar yet different chips.  The letters S and U indicate
variants that connect to SDIO or USB, if I understand correctly.

Ben.