GENERICSD snapshot on a BBB has issues with loading the if_rtwn_usb module

[Dr. Rolf Jansen]

I updated one of my BBB from an older 13-CURRENT (July 2020) to the latest 13-ALPHA1 snapshot from Jan, 14th — GENERICSD-20210114-7ae27c2d6c4-255938.

I had successfully employed an USB-WLAN dongle based on the RTL8188eu chipset. I only added the following into /boot/loader.conf:

if_rtwn_usb_load="YES"

By that all dependend modules were loaded automatically in a snap. With ALPHA1 this doesn’t work anymore. After hours of troubleshooting, I got it working by adding the following into /etc/rc.conf:

kld_list="if_rtwn_usb"

The "Loading kernel modules:" takes apprx. 4 seconds, however, then the USB-WLAN device is enumerated correctly and it is ready to use. This makes me think that this uncommon huge delay is the culprit. I checked this with some snapshot thats I had installed already. The issue seems to have been introduced together with the switch to GENERICSD. A GENERICSD 13-CURRENT from end of December showed this issue already, while a BBB-specific snapshot (from November 2020) that I had installed on another BBB works as before by loading the modules in /boot/loader.conf.

I don't mind to load the modules by the way of the kld_list directive in /etc/rc.conf. However, the unusual long duration of loading the module and its dependencies might be an indication for a more fundamental issue.

Please feel free to ask me for doing more tests. 

Best regards

Rolf