How do i install/apply this .patch file

[burdlinux]

I've been trying to google and learn alot about linux since the past 2 days and am on Pop OS 21.04, although i've reached a wall in a specific spot, my wifi is absolutely garbage compared to windows and there appears to be a patch of sorts to fix that. I dont know how to go about applying it to my system and am hoping someone who does can fill me in on the details and guide me.

 

https://gist.github.com/harrykipper/d1bedb234c4af0692f7ccd33329a02d7

 

Someone commented that the patch worked but i dont even know what mac.c is

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1689990#p1689990

[Master Disaster]

34 minutes ago, burdlinux said:

I've been trying to google and learn alot about linux since the past 2 days and am on Pop OS 21.04, although i've reached a wall in a specific spot, my wifi is absolutely garbage compared to windows and there appears to be a patch of sorts to fix that. I dont know how to go about applying it to my system and am hoping someone who does can fill me in on the details and guide me.

 

https://gist.github.com/harrykipper/d1bedb234c4af0692f7ccd33329a02d7

 

Someone commented that the patch worked but i dont even know what mac.c is

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1689990#p1689990

That's not something you can really do, its a kernel patch and to apply it you would have to manually rebuild the entire kernel. Plus see below anyway.

 

Heres the file - https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath10k/mac.c?h=v5.15-rc7

Line 3399

 

From what I can see and my (very limited) understanding of C it seems like the entire section of the driver has been rewritten since this patch was suggested (the line thats suggested to be altered doesn't exist at all anymore), chances are this patch won't work on anything more modern than a 2019 kernel.

[burdlinux]

27 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

That's not something you can really do, its a kernel patch and to apply it you would have to manually rebuild the entire kernel. Plus see below anyway.

 

Heres the file - https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath10k/mac.c?h=v5.15-rc7

Line 3399

 

From what I can see and my (very limited) understanding of C it seems like the entire section of the driver has been rewritten since this patch was suggested (the line thats suggested to be altered doesn't exist at all anymore), chances are this patch won't work on anything more modern than a 2019 kernel.

 

Damn, would you happen know what could be done in order to fix wifi speeds? On any version of Windows its around 90-100Mbps but on Pop OS or Ubuntu its very inconsistent and around 100kbps-3mbps and its obviously very slow while browsing or very laggy while gaming.

[Sauron]

7 minutes ago, burdlinux said:

 

Damn, would you happen know what could be done in order to fix wifi speeds? On any version of Windows its around 90-100Mbps but on Pop OS or Ubuntu its very inconsistent and around 100kbps-3mbps and its obviously very slow while browsing or very laggy while gaming.

Let's take a step back... do you even have the same wifi hardware as the one that patch is supposed to improve support for?

[burdlinux]

2 hours ago, Sauron said:

Let's take a step back... do you even have the same wifi hardware as the one that patch is supposed to improve support for?

Yea it is afaik.

[Sauron]

1 hour ago, burdlinux said:

Yea it is afaik.

Maybe you need to update the firmware https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/ath10k/firmware#update_firmware

[burdlinux]

2 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Maybe you need to update the firmware https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/ath10k/firmware#update_firmware

will sudo -H nautilus and copy pasting a newer bin file do?

[Sauron]

13 minutes ago, burdlinux said:

will sudo -H nautilus and copy pasting a newer bin file do?

sure, just remember to change the extension to just ".bin"

[burdlinux]

2 minutes ago, Sauron said:

sure, just remember to change the extension to just ".bin"

Yea i already did all of it, no change. I used the latest from 28days back.

[flindeberg]

17 minutes ago, burdlinux said:

will sudo -H nautilus and copy pasting a newer bin file do?

It should, but I would use the terminal instead. Starting a root nautilus is a dangerous task

[burdlinux]

5 minutes ago, flindeberg said:

It should, but I would use the terminal instead. Starting a root nautilus is a dangerous task

Its more confusing though

[Master Disaster]

4 minutes ago, burdlinux said:

Its more confusing though

I think what's probably happened here is...

 

You ran nautilus as yourself with temporary admin privilages

You used nautilus to copy the file

While copying nautilus set you as the owner of the file

Now you have a system file with the wrong owner

 

Open terminal and do

 

ls -la /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0

 

then take a screenshot of the output and post it.

[Sauron]

14 minutes ago, burdlinux said:

Yea i already did all of it, no change. I used the latest from 28days back.

double check that the system is actually using that version https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/drivers/ath10k/debug#firmware_version

[burdlinux]

11 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

I think what's probably happened here is...

 

You ran nautilus as yourself with temporary admin privilages

You used nautilus to copy the file

While copying nautilus set you as the owner of the file

Now you have a system file with the wrong owner

 

Open terminal and do

 

ls -la /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0

 

then take a screenshot of the output and post it.

Im using QCA6174 and i think it should be hw3.0

[Master Disaster]

4 minutes ago, burdlinux said:

Im using QCA6174 and i think it should be hw3.0

If you think so, I just copied the example from the link

[burdlinux]

21 minutes ago, Sauron said:

double check that the system is actually using that version https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/drivers/ath10k/debug#firmware_version

seems to be

[burdlinux]

7 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

If you think so, I just copied the example from the link

Alright, thanks for that, heres the output

 

[Master Disaster]

27 minutes ago, burdlinux said:

seems to be

firmware ver 4.4.1-00288

 

Matches the latest firmware from the git repo, either your transfer worked or you already had the latest build.

[burdlinux]

2 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

firmware ver 4.4.1-00288

 

Matches the latest firmware from the git repo, either your transfer worked or you already had the latest build.

The transfer worked probably, the older file was a few kbs smaller

[Sauron]

1 hour ago, burdlinux said:

seems to be

All right, let's take a look at that patch again...

6 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

From what I can see and my (very limited) understanding of C it seems like the entire section of the driver has been rewritten since this patch was suggested (the line thats suggested to be altered doesn't exist at all anymore)

It does exist with slight alterations on line 3705 as mentioned by the comment on the patch's gist:

	const struct ieee80211_hdr *hdr = (void *)skb->data;
	const struct ath10k_skb_cb *skb_cb = ATH10K_SKB_CB(skb);
	__le16 fc = hdr->frame_control;

	if (!vif || vif->type == NL80211_IFTYPE_MONITOR)
		return ATH10K_HW_TXRX_RAW;

and you can try applying the same workaround (no need for the patch tool, it's just one line):

	const struct ieee80211_hdr *hdr = (void *)skb->data;
	const struct ath10k_skb_cb *skb_cb = ATH10K_SKB_CB(skb);
	__le16 fc = hdr->frame_control;

	skb_orphan(skb);

	if (!vif || vif->type == NL80211_IFTYPE_MONITOR)
		return ATH10K_HW_TXRX_RAW;

The only problem is that afterwards you still need to compile your own kernel, which isn't trivial for a beginner. Don't be discouraged though, here's a step by step guide: https://kernelnewbies.org/KernelBuild

[burdlinux]

9 minutes ago, Sauron said:

 

The only problem is that afterwards you still need to compile your own kernel, which isn't trivial for a beginner. Don't be discouraged though, here's a step by step guide: https://kernelnewbies.org/KernelBuild

Thanks, i will look into it, i dont think i will build one, but its great to learn.