Revamp sysexts building to allow more complex drivers

[jumpyvi]

• Move the modprobe database to the base image
• Add broadcom support

Fix #858
Fix #869

[jumpyvi]

https://github.com/elementary/os/actions/runs/35393553678

[jumpyvi]

Should work, waiting for testers...

[ryonakano]

I have a MacBook Air Early 2015, so I can test if my Wi-Fi module is recognized out of box.

[jumpyvi]

Thanks!

[jumpyvi]

You can check in the discord for the steps

[jumpyvi]

Are you sure you have the right iso?

20260919232040 Is not in the bucket.

This this the iso with broadcom:

https://pub-5ee9e894011e427f95c5e5998565aa78.r2.dev/elementaryos-9.0-daily-x86-64.20260919204836.iso

[ryonakano]

I built iso from this branch by running just do-daily. Doesn't that work……?

I'll try again with the prebuilt iso 🙇

[ryonakano]

Now I can install and enable the broadcom feature, but the Wi-Fi module does not seem to be recognized.

Installation succeeded:

user@elementary:~$ sudo sysupdate features
[sudo: authenticate] Password:     
Automatically discovered root block device '/dev/sda'.
Automatically discovered root block device '/dev/sda'.
Automatically discovered root block device '/dev/sda'.
Discovering installed instances…
  FEATURE         DESCRIPTION                                DOCUMENTATION                                       
✗ ext-virt        Virtualization host packages (qemu)                                                            
✗ driver-nvidia   NVIDIA (Open) GPU Driver                   https://github.com/nvidia/open-gpu-kernel-modules   
✗ driver-broadcom Broadcom STA Wireless Driver (x86-64 only) http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php
✗ ext-sdk         Tooling for elementary developers                                                              
user@elementary:~$ sudo updatectl enable --now driver-broadcom
host@20260919204836: ✓ Done
Feature(s) downloaded.
user@elementary:~$ 

Result of cat /proc/cmdline as requested in Discord:

user@elementary:~$ cat /proc/cmdline 
usrhash=e6406f9cfd7fa097e87817cdd5bc2e9ac471200740818b52cb15f4b2b4d1bf87 splash quiet root=dissect mount.usr=dissect rw audit=0 systemd.image_policy=esp=unprotected:xbootldr=unprotected+unused+absent:usr=signed:root=unprotected+absent:home=unprotected+absent:=ignore systemd.image_filter=usr=elementary_*:usr-verity=elementary_*:usr-verity-sig=elementary_*:root=elementary-*:home=elementary-* ipe.enforce=0 module_blacklist=b43,bcma,brcmsmac,brcmutil,ssb
user@elementary:~$ 

The broadcom feature is enabled but the Wi-Fi module is not recognized:

[jumpyvi]

You probably rebooted right?

I'm not really sure how I can debug this...

Can you check dmseg/modprobe/modinfo for errors?

The module did load for me in a VM, but I don't have an actual adapter to test it out.

[ryonakano]

You probably rebooted right?

Yes.

Can you check dmseg/modprobe/modinfo for errors?

Atatching dmesg: dmesg.log
What command should I execute for modprobe/modinfo?

[ryonakano]

FYI my hardware information is at elementary/hardware#11 (installation report with live-build image)

[jumpyvi]

Can you try maybe running this /usr/bin/udevadm trigger --action=add --subsystem-match=pci --attr-match=vendor=0x14e4

It's possible the driver tries to load before the sysext is merged

[ryonakano]

@jumpyvi Thanks, it worked! 🎉

[jumpyvi]

Absolutely amazing, I'm gonna add a simple systemd script to reload the driver after sysext are loaded

[jumpyvi]

Assuming this passes, "https://github.com/elementary/os/actions/runs/35617306845/job/106391213530", extensions should properly be loaded in the initrd, manual workarounds (udevadm trigger) shouldnt be needed anymore.

This changes the name of the module, so it's likely systemd-sysupdate won't be able to remove the old one on older releases

[jumpyvi]

There where still issues with systemd-sysext-initrd, they should be fixed in 20260921195708