Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    Package realtek-re-kmod198 for pfSense 2.8.0 (amd64)

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Hardware
    32 Posts 6 Posters 3.7k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • stephenw10S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by

      I'll see what I can do.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
      • S
        Seeking Sense @zeroepoch
        last edited by

        @zeroepoch Thanks for the information and more importantly the warning.

        Was contemplating upgrading my local instance of pfSense this weekend. I am using a dual port 2.5gb Realtek Nic and remembered that I had installed the realtek-re-kmod198-198.00.1400094 driver.

        Thankfully I came across your post when searching the forum looking for information regarding an updated driver for pfSense 2.8

        If you don't mind can you clarify the build process.

        You list steps 1-11 but was wondering if step 1 is to create a FreeBSD 15 VM and then do all the within that VM.

        Also in step 1 you say you installed some packages mentioned at https://github.com/nkbali/pfSense-Build. What packages?

        Thank you for your efforts and your support of the community.

        zeroepochZ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • zeroepochZ
          zeroepoch @Seeking Sense
          last edited by

          @Seeking-Sense

          Yes, this was all done in a FreeBSD 15 VM using VirtualBox. I had to change the default network card to VirtIO I believe since the performance with the other NICs was like dial-up modem speeds. I also had to install pkg manually using pkg-static since the auto installer when running pkg didn't work and just hung. I don't remember if I tried installing pkg before or after I fixed the slow network issue.

          I just installed all the packages mentioned throughout the page since I wasn't trying to optimize size since I intended to throw away the VM when I was done.

          Finding a working commit for the kernel was one of the main challenges. I looked for a commit right before a merge from main that was still 1500029.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • SpunkThingS SpunkThing referenced this topic on
          • R
            rob_denver
            last edited by

            thank you so much for this! I have been struggling with getting IPV6 working on my virtualized pfsense within Proxmox so I can have more reliable connections for tailscale. I could only get it to work by using PCI passthrough (vs using a bridge) but that of course required me to directly expose my Realtek ethernet controller which led to many lockups and crashes when IPV6 was enabled. I just installed this and -hopefully- this will give me a stable connection.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • S
              Seeking Sense @zeroepoch
              last edited by Seeking Sense

              @zeroepoch Finding bits of time here and there to work on this.

              I have FreeBSD 15 Current up and running, cloned and built pfSense src & ports.

              My NOOB question relates to the following:

              @zeroepoch said in Package realtek-re-kmod198 for pfSense 2.8.0 (amd64):

              In FreeBSD-src checkout a new local branch using the commit c665fe00146 (for 2.8.0)

              What does that mean? How? ( Looks away and hides in embarrassment.)

              What I am asking as a NOOB is how do I get to the correct version so that I can make the correct driver.

              Running make as is without selecting the correct branch produces:

              realtek-re-kmod198-198.00.1500046
              

              Furthermore when running MAKE in realtek-re-kmod198 I get the following warning:

              pkg-static: Warning: Major OS version upgrade detected.  Running "pkg bootstrap -f" recommended
              
              zeroepochZ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • zeroepochZ
                zeroepoch @Seeking Sense
                last edited by

                @Seeking-Sense

                I meant use a command like git checkout -b tmp c665fe00146 to create a local git branch named tmp for the commit c665fe00146, which I found best represents the 2.8.0 kernel source that I could infer. This was so my local checkout was at the right source. You don't technically need to name the branch but it made it easier for me to compare things with other commits. Sorry for the confusing directions.

                S 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • S
                  Seeking Sense @zeroepoch
                  last edited by

                  @zeroepoch said in Package realtek-re-kmod198 for pfSense 2.8.0 (amd64):

                  Sorry for the confusing directions.

                  I'm sure they are not confusing for the non-NOOB. It great that you have provided the information and I am grateful for your effort and time.

                  Please check out my last comment as I made some edits.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • S
                    Seeking Sense @zeroepoch
                    last edited by

                    @zeroepoch Thanks I think I have it worked out.

                    I have the following in work/pkg:

                    102K Jun 13 11:43 realtek-re-kmod198-198.00.1500029.pkg
                    

                    I had skipped your step 10:

                    "To get the correct __FreeBSD_version I had to temporarily replace /usr/include/sys/param.h with FreeBSD-src/sys/sys/param.h"

                    zeroepochZ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • zeroepochZ
                      zeroepoch @Seeking Sense
                      last edited by

                      @Seeking-Sense Awesome! Glad to hear someone was able to reproduce my quickly written steps I did late at night 😁

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • S
                        scoobay @zeroepoch
                        last edited by scoobay

                        @zeroepoch Thank you. That worked like a charm on a 2.5 GBE Realtek adapter. I had to modify the install command as the affected interface was the WAN-side, so I had no internet connection:

                        pkg install --no-repo-update ./realtek-re-kmod198-198.00.150029.pkg

                        Hope that Netgate will include this driver in future releases as it is a pain to get this running on a dedicated server at Hetzner.com when the have a 2.5 GBE as a default LAN adapter.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • First post
                          Last post
                        Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.