RTL8189FTV driver audit

Date: 2026-09-22. This is a host-side source and configuration audit. It does not claim that the physical board has bound a driver or that its radio works.

Observed board function and current kernel closure

wifi-preflight.txt records one SDIO function at mmc0:0001:1, with vendor 0x024c, device 0xf179, and modalias sdio:c07v024CdF179. Its driver symlink is empty, /sys/class/ieee80211 is empty, and the deployed 6.6.36 closure’s Realtek directory contains only rtw88. The same capture establishes that iw, wpa_supplicant, wpa_cli, and regulatory.db were absent. It is the source for the enumeration and loaded-module conclusions here.

The credential-free boot log in shell-features/desktop-launcher/image-boot.txt records Linux version 6.6.36, the SDIO enumeration, and cfg80211 loading before it reports that regulatory.db is absent. That establishes generic wireless support in the running kernel, without substituting for a driver binding.

The exact kernel is the Xuantie source pin in nix/kernel-src.nix: ruyisdk/linux-xuantie-kernel commit 7d4e1f444f461dbe3833bd99a4640e7b6c2cd529, built by nix/kernel.nix as version 6.6.36-xuantie with module directory 6.6.36. Its built configuration has CONFIG_MMC=y, CONFIG_MMC_SDHCI=y, CONFIG_MMC_SDHCI_OF_DWCMSHC_KENDRYTE=y, CONFIG_CFG80211=y, CONFIG_MAC80211=y, and CONFIG_FW_LOADER=y; it has only the unrelated RTW88 Realtek module family and no RTL8189 SDIO module. The supplied board DTS enables the SDIO controller but names no Wi-Fi regulator or GPIO power control (nix/dts/k230-tdisplay.dts). Since the function already enumerates, no device-tree GPIO change is justified by this host audit; task 1.2 remains a board-and-boot-log decision.

Selected source and compatible ID

The selected source is jwrdegoede/rtl8189ES_linux commit 94cc959d56c1425fbca4f6e49e949cf58ec5dc8d, pinned in nix/k230-wifi-driver.nix with a fixed SHA-256. Its SDIO table has SDIO_DEVICE(0x024c, 0xF179), conditionally selected by CONFIG_RTL8188F, and exports the table with MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE(sdio, sdio_ids). The source’s SDIO configuration selects that chipset and calls the output module 8189fs. Therefore the installed module is 8189fs.ko; the marketing name RTL8189FTV and the source’s RTL8188F chipset label are not interchangeable evidence of a bound board driver.

Source files carry GPL version 2 notices, including sdio_intf.c, and the Nix derivation declares GPL-2.0-only.

Kernel API and firmware conclusions

The selected revision includes compatibility branches through Linux 6.13; notably its cfg80211 code has a branch for the 6.3—6.8 API interval and later branches. The authoritative compatibility result is the derivation’s narrow build against the exact 6.6.36 kernel headers, rather than a version-range claim. On 2026-09-22, nix build .#k230-wifi-driver --max-jobs 1 --cores 8 succeeded. The produced 8189fs.ko reports vermagic: 6.6.36 SMP mod_unload riscv, license: GPL, and alias: sdio:c*v024CdF179*. This proves its build-time ABI and modalias metadata only; a board bind remains unverified.

No separate firmware package is loaded from the filesystem for this driver. The selected RTL8188F configuration defines LOAD_FW_HEADER_FROM_DRIVER in include/autoconf.h, and the firmware array is compiled from hal/rtl8188f/hal8188f_fw.c. That is an embedded prebuilt Realtek firmware payload, not source-built radio firmware. The source-file GPL notices do not establish a license or redistributability conclusion for the payload; it is recorded under Realtek ownership in blob-inventory.md. regulatory.db remains a separate regulatory-data requirement for userspace and cfg80211, not RTL8189 firmware.