Source: hw-detect
User: debian-amd64@lists.debian.org
Usertags: amd64
X-Debbugs-Cc: debian-amd64@lists.debian.org
User: debian-boot@lists.debian.org
Usertags: amd64
X-Debbugs-Cc: debian-boot@lists.debian.org
Version: 1.176
Severity: grave
Justification: renders package unusable
Tags: d-i

Hello maintainers of hw-detect,

The new version of ethdetect.sh does not detect the network interfaces when booting from BIOS.

This can be seen on openQA [1] where the installer fails to find the network interfaces for the BIOS scenarios. The UEFI scenarios still work.

 From the d-i syslog (broken, BIOS) [2]:
Jul 29 21:33:12 main-menu[430]: INFO: Menu item 'ethdetect' selected
Jul 29 21:33:17 net/hw-detect.hotplug: Detected hotpluggable network interface lo
Jul 29 21:33:18 net/hw-detect.hotplug: Detected hotpluggable network interface ens4
Jul 29 21:33:18 kernel: [   30.969705] virtio_net virtio0 ens4: renamed from eth0
Jul 29 21:33:19 check-missing-firmware: looking at dmesg for the first time
Jul 29 21:33:19 check-missing-firmware: saving timestamp for a later use: [   30.969705]
Jul 29 21:33:19 check-missing-firmware: no missing firmware in loaded kernel modules

 From the d-i syslog (last working, BIOS) [3]:
Jul 29 16:03:07 main-menu[430]: INFO: Menu item 'ethdetect' selected
Jul 29 16:03:13 net/hw-detect.hotplug: Detected hotpluggable network interface lo
Jul 29 16:03:13 kernel: [   31.465192] virtio_net virtio0 ens4: renamed from eth0
Jul 29 16:03:13 net/hw-detect.hotplug: Detected hotpluggable network interface ens4
Jul 29 16:03:14 check-missing-firmware: looking at dmesg for the first time
Jul 29 16:03:14 check-missing-firmware: saving timestamp for a later use: [   31.465192]
Jul 29 16:03:14 check-missing-firmware: no missing firmware in loaded kernel modules
Jul 29 16:03:14 check-missing-firmware: taking network interface ens4 up/down
Jul 29 16:03:15 check-missing-firmware: looking at dmesg again, restarting from timestamp: [   31.465192]
Jul 29 16:03:15 check-missing-firmware: timestamp found, truncating dmesg accordingly
Jul 29 16:03:15 check-missing-firmware: keeping timestamp (no new lines): [   31.465192]
Jul 29 16:03:15 check-missing-firmware: no missing firmware in loaded kernel modules

After 1.176 entered unstable, all BIOS installer tests started to fail. There are no version differences in the other udebs, so that's why I report against hw-detect.

I think it might be caused by the 'Change hw-detect/firmware-lookup type to string' change, since that influences whether the network interface is taken down and up again.

With kind regards,
Roland Clobus

[1] https://openqa.debian.net/tests/overview?build=20260729-7&distri=debian&version=testing
[2] https://openqa.debian.net/tests/554214/logfile?filename=syslog.txt
[3] https://openqa.debian.net/tests/554110/logfile?filename=complete_install-DI_syslog.txt

Hi Roland,

Thanks for the report.

Roland Clobus <rclobus@rclobus.nl> (2026-07-30):

Commit 619ba547da555a9a87290c8ce9315c3db5376cf0 looks much more plausible
to me, as interface names can be preceeded by a number of spaces, with a
first column that's right-aligned. Depending on if and how the heading is
word-wrapped (I'm seeing Inter-\nface in several cases but I'm not
checking the actual implementation), the number of interfaces, and their
name length, a number of them can go missing. With default QEMU settings
on bookworm, latest mini.iso gets:

    Inter-|
     face |
        lo:
      ens3:

which probably explains the issue down the line.


Cheers,

Hello,

Bug #1143094 in hw-detect reported by you has been fixed in the
Git repository and is awaiting an upload. You can see the commit
message below and you can check the diff of the fix at:

https://salsa.debian.org/installer-team/hw-detect/-/commit/f655fc230ce9668a5999c20ca3efa468a232d05b
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ethdetect: Handle initial padding in /proc/net/dev

Closes: #1143094
------------------------------------------------------------------------

(this message was generated automatically)
-- 
Greetings

https://bugs.debian.org/1143094

We believe that the bug you reported is fixed in the latest version of
hw-detect, which is due to be installed in the Debian FTP archive.

A summary of the changes between this version and the previous one is
attached.

Thank you for reporting the bug, which will now be closed.  If you
have further comments please address them to 1143094@bugs.debian.org,
and the maintainer will reopen the bug report if appropriate.

Debian distribution maintenance software
pp.
Colin Watson <cjwatson@debian.org> (supplier of updated hw-detect package)

(This message was generated automatically at their request; if you
believe that there is a problem with it please contact the archive
administrators by mailing ftpmaster@ftp-master.debian.org)
Format: 1.8
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2026 13:04:47 +0100
Source: hw-detect
Architecture: source
Version: 1.177
Distribution: unstable
Urgency: medium
Maintainer: Debian Install System Team <debian-boot@lists.debian.org>
Changed-By: Colin Watson <cjwatson@debian.org>
Closes: 1143094
Changes:
 hw-detect (1.177) unstable; urgency=medium
 .
   * ethdetect: Handle initial padding in /proc/net/dev (closes: #1143094).
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