more ltmdm weirdness... (Was: ltmdm revision 1.4_13 caused issues on 4-Current)

[epilogue]

hello again,

> i'm probably not going to be able to explain this very well, but i
> hope nevertheless that this information will prove to be of some use.
> 
> 4-Current (last build perhaps 1 week ago)

okay, so i switched to 5.3 since this message.  on 5.3, everything
worked fine with the latest version of ltmdm. 

> i portupgraded ltmdm last night.  when i booted my desktop this
> morning, ltmdm would no longer connect.

this time, the problems began after upgrading 5.3 to patchset #2.  after
the reboot, i once again received various errors...

--> in dmesg:
ltmdm0: <Lucent Winmodem> port 0x1800-0x18ff,0x1080-0x1087 mem
0xfc000000-0xfc0000ff irq 5 at device 16.0 on p ci0
ltmdm0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
ltmdm0: type Virtual 16550A
ltmdm0: detached

--> and on the console:
tun0: Warning: deflink: tcsetattr: Failed configuring device
tun0: Warning: deflink: tcsetattr: Unable to restore device settings
tun0: Warning: deflink: /dev/cual0: Bad file descriptor

the last error above was caused by me trying to use various different
devices in an attempt to connect via manual ppp.  after several such
failed attempts, i happend upon a rather simple solution -- simply
'kldload ltmdm.ko' then use the expected /dev/cual0.

strangely, ltmdm.ko was nowhere to be found under /boot.  copies were
available, however, under /usr/local/share/ltmdm and in
/comms/ltmdm/work.  i ended up moving the kernel module to the
/boot/modules and added ltmdm_load="YES" to loader.conf.

note that was 'not' required prior to my updating to 5.3 patchset
#2.  and, for the record, i *did* reinstall the port after upgrading
both userland and the kernel.

hope that this helps.

cheers,
epi

> i tried running ppp manually and kept getting /dev related errors.  it
> would appear that /dev/cual0 had disappeared from /dev since my
> upgrading the port.  (because it was working fine the previous
> evening)
> 
> i tried 'sh MAKEDEV cual' and 'sh MAKEDEV all' but no happiness.  it
> seems that this device no longer exists in MAKEDEV.
> 
> i'm not quite sure which step (or combination of steps) /fixed/ the
> problem, but i ended getting the connection back up.
> 
> steps taken include:
> 	1) pkg_add an old version of ltmdm that i keep on hand for
> 	emergencies
>
> 	2) copying older versions of the comm/ltmdm files into ports and
> 	rebuilding
> 
> 	2) adding cual lines to MAKEDEV (simply by following the other
> 	examples, despite having no real understanding of what i was
> 	doing)
> 
> errors taken from /var/log/messages include:
> 
> ppp[215]: tun0: Warning: Chat script failed
> ppp[2556]: tun0: Warning: Chat script failed
> ppp[2559]: tun0: Warning: deflink: tcsetattr: Failed configuring
> device ppp[2559]: tun0:Warning:deflink:tcsetattr:Unable to restore
> device settings 
> 
> and, of course, variations of this one, as i tried the different
> devices which struck me as possible alternatives to cual0:
> 
> ppp[2573]: tun1: Warning: deflink: /dev/cualal: Bad file descriptor
> 
> anyway.  i'm back online with ltmdm-1.4_5, am now portdowngrading the
> ltmdm port, and rebuilding to the last known working version (_12). 
> hopefully that will sort out my connectivity issues for the next
> while.
> 
> if you'd like me to test anything, please just say the word.