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55

answers:

1

I've just installed pfSense (a FreeBSD distro) and I'm having problems with my Ethernet adapters - I seem to be able to get it into a state where I cannot ping any machine despite the ARP tables etc... all being correct (On the machine I'm pinging I can see the packets arrive and the response sent in Wireshark, but the remote machine gets nothing)

Having an interest and limited knowedge in OS development I kind of want to have a go at debugging this, but in many ways I'm not really sure where to start:

  • How do I go about getting the source code for the drivers I'm using? Will they be part of the FreeBSD source code, or is there going to be some external project? (or are the drivers I'm using likely to be the proprietry ones released by Realtek, and therefor not have source code)
  • For that matter, how do I identify what drivers I'm currently using?
  • Finally, are there any good resources on how to debug Kernel-level / device drivers?

(I appologise if I'm asking silly questions or if I seem overly optimistic about what I'm hoping to achieve by debugging this, but although I lack experience in this area I consider myself to be a smart guy and I've gotta start somewhere!)

A: 

I really doubt your problem is in the device drivers or other kernel code. Check the PF rules - you most probably just dropping all ICMP packets out right.

Nikolai N Fetissov
Well I updated to the latest release candidate (based on a later version of FreeBSD) and its fine at the moment so I kind of dont want to play with it.If it breaks again I'll check and see, but I dont understand why it would suddenly add PF rules by itself?
Kragen