[ath9k-devel] [PATCH] ath9k: make driver usable standalone

[Dan Williams <dcbw@redhat.com>]

On Thu, 2011-08-18 at 15:30 -0400, Pavel Ivanov wrote:
> > In the end, you probably want to be using wpa_supplicant instead of
> > trying to configure stuff with iw directly.
> 
> I see Ubuntu already have wpa_supplicant installed and running.
> Although its command line is not what suggested in documentation and I
> don't see configuration file /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf. Does that mean
> it works somehow differently than stated in documentation? And also
> does all this mean that even if I'll be able to make wpa_supplicant
> work as I need I won't be able to control wireless connection using
> the standard Ubuntu's icon and it won't show me its state correctly?

NetworkManager is installed by default, and NM sends configuration to
wpa_supplicant using a different control interface, not the config file.
If you want to take the wifi interface out from NM's control, I think
you can add the interface to /etc/network/interfaces and NM will then
ignore it, and you can run wpa_supplicant manually with the '-i wlan0'
option to point it to the right interface, and when you've got a config
file, use '-c /path/to/config/file' to give it your configuration.

Or, since I'm a NetworkManager developer, is there something that you're
not sure how to make NM do, or are you just looking to experiment?

Dan

> 
> Pavel
> 
> 
> On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 3:20 PM, Dan Williams <dcbw@redhat.com> wrote:
> > On Thu, 2011-08-18 at 00:01 -0400, Pavel Ivanov wrote:
> >> > Iwconfig and iwlist are themselves deprecated. Iw is the new wireless
> >> > configuration tool.
> >>
> >> I've just tried to use iw and it didn't quite work for me. Maybe it's
> >> interfering with something installed in Ubuntu by default but
> >
> > Ubuntu installs NetworkManager by default, so if you want to manually
> > control the wifi card you'll have to tell NM to ignore the wifi device,
> > or turn NM off temporarily.
> >
> >> connect/disconnect commands didn't seem to do anything. And why these
> >> commands can be executed only as root?
> >
> > Because poking and configuring hardware is a privileged operation; tools
> > like NetworkManager selectively poke holes through that wall and often
> > require administrator passwords to do it, but at the end of the day its
> > an operation that can affect security and stability, and that means it
> > needs to be privileged.
> >
> > In the end, you probably want to be using wpa_supplicant instead of
> > trying to configure stuff with iw directly.
> >
> > Dan
> >
> >> Well, maybe in Ubuntu 11.10 it will work better.
> >>
> >>
> >> Pavel
> >>
> >>
> >> 2011/8/17 G?bor Stefanik <netrolller.3d@gmail.com>:
> >> > 2011/8/17 Pavel Ivanov <paivanof@gmail.com>:
> >> >>> WIRELESS_EXT is not required for configuring wireless on recent
> >> >>> kernels - in fact, the WEXT API is deprecated in favor of nl80211 now.
> >> >>
> >> >> Since what version it's deprecated? Do user-space tools know about this new API?
> >> >>
> >> >> Neither iwconfig nor iwlist worked for me without WIRELESS_EXT.
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> Pavel
> >> >>
> >> >
> >> > Iwconfig and iwlist are themselves deprecated. Iw is the new wireless
> >> > configuration tool.
> >> >
> >> >>
> >> >> 2011/8/17 G?bor Stefanik <netrolller.3d@gmail.com>:
> >> >>> On Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 5:28 AM, Pavel Ivanov <paivanof@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> >>>> When ath9k is the only wireless driver included in the build
> >> >>>> WIRELESS_EXT configuration option becomes undefined. Because of that
> >> >>>> driver becomes essentially unusable as you can't actually connect to
> >> >>>> any WiFi network. By including WIRELESS_EXT into Kconfig we ensure
> >> >>>> that build with ath9k and without other drivers (having WIRELESS_EXT
> >> >>>> selected in their Kconfig) is actually usable.
> >> >>>
> >> >>> WIRELESS_EXT is not required for configuring wireless on recent
> >> >>> kernels - in fact, the WEXT API is deprecated in favor of nl80211 now.
> >> >>>
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>> Signed-off-by: Pavel Ivanov <paivanof@gmail.com>
> >> >>>> ---
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>> diff --git a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/Kconfig
> >> >>>> b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/Kconfig
> >> >>>> index d9c08c6..2573f77 100644
> >> >>>> --- a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/Kconfig
> >> >>>> +++ b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/Kconfig
> >> >>>> @@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ config ATH9K
> >> >>>>        select LEDS_CLASS
> >> >>>>        select NEW_LEDS
> >> >>>>        select ATH9K_COMMON
> >> >>>> +       select WIRELESS_EXT
> >> >>>>        ---help---
> >> >>>>          This module adds support for wireless adapters based on
> >> >>>>          Atheros IEEE 802.11n AR5008, AR9001 and AR9002 family
> >> --
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> >
> >
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