On Mon, Feb 02, 2026 at 11:35:48PM +0530, Anand Moon wrote:

On Mon, 2 Feb 2026 at 15:25, Niklas Cassel [off-list ref] wrote:

quoted

On Sat, Jan 31, 2026 at 03:08:42PM +0530, Anand Moon wrote:

quoted

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I’ve attempted to reproduce the warning but was unable to trigger it locally.

I have tested with the built-in module
CONFIG_R8169=y
CONFIG_R8169_LEDS=y

As well as the module
CONFIG_R8169=m
CONFIG_R8169_LEDS=y

I'm running with:
CONFIG_R8169=y
CONFIG_PHYLIB=y
CONFIG_REALTEK_PHY=y
CONFIG_REALTEK_PHY_HWMON=y

I feel CONFIG_R8169 should not be built into the kernel image.
Since the driver is registered via module_pci_driver(rtl8169_pci_driver),
it is intended to be loaded as a module. In addition, this driver
requires external firmware
during initialization, which could make a built‑in configuration problematic.
Keeping it modular ensures proper firmware loading and avoids
early‑boot failures.

For what it is worth, I strongly disagree that you should not be allowed
to build something as built-in just because the driver is registered using
module_pci_driver().

In order to use NFS root, and to avoid the hassle of using an initramfs,
having the driver as built-in is a logical option.
Anyway, this is currently working fine with my setup today, and is
unrelated to the phylib splat that I have reported in this thread.

I know that the R8169 driver tries to load a firmware blob, I used to have
an initramfs just to be able to load this firmware blob, but I found out
that the driver probes and works perfectly fine even without the loading
any firmware, therefore I no longer use an initramfs.
Again, this is working perfectly fine today, and the R8169 loading or not
loading any firmware is unrealated to the phylib splat.

(Just for clarity, I don't think that the phylib splat should stop this
patch from being accepted.)


Kind regards,
Niklas