Re: [PATCH v2 0/1] rtl8xxxu (mac80211) driver for rtl8188[cr]u/rtl8192cu/rtl8723au

[Jes Sorensen <Jes.Sorensen@redhat.com>]

Kalle Valo <kvalo@codeaurora.org> writes:
> Jes Sorensen <Jes.Sorensen@redhat.com> writes:
>
>> Kalle Valo <kvalo@codeaurora.org> writes:
>>> Jes.Sorensen@redhat.com writes:
>>>
>>>> Per default only devices I have actually tested will be enabled. If
>>>> you are interested in trying it out with other 8188cu/8188ru/819[12]cu
>>>> dongles, you need to enable CONFIG_RTL8XXXU_UNTESTED. Please report
>>>> test results back to me.
>>>>
>>>> Note if you enable this driver, it may clash with CONFIG_RTL8192U,
>>>> CONFIG_R8723AU, and CONFIG_RTL8192CU (rtlwifi). Please pay attention
>>>> to which module you load and/or use modprobe blacklists.
>>>
>>> May clash? So how does this work in practise? Is the clash referring
>>> CONFIG_RTL8XXXU_UNTESTED enabled or disabled?
>>>
>>> I think we should only have one driver automatically supporting certain
>>> hardware, and not have a driver randomly chosen and forcing users to use
>>> a blacklist.
>>
>> We already have the clash, if you enable CONFIG_RTL8192U in staging it
>> clashes with rtlwifi's CONFIG_RTL8192CU. Ripping out the above two
>> drivers at this point isn't going to do users any good.
>
> I'm not saying about we should remove drivers, my worry is only that we
> don't have two drivers competing about same devices in a normal distro
> kernel. We should _by default_ not have two drivers claiming support for
> the same device, developer's can of course enable this via experimental
> options etc.
>
>>> Also how do we make sure that distros don't enable
>>> CONFIG_RTL8XXXU_UNTESTED? They are notarious of enabling kconfig options
>>> without thinking.
>>
>> Some distros enable staging whether you ask them or not.
>
> Sure, that's up to them. I don't care what's in staging so I can't
> really comment about that, this is only in context of
> drivers/net/wireless/.

I'm with you, my point is just that we already have multiple drivers
claming this. It is not a new situation :( Right now the distros enable
the rtl drivers in staging because it is the only way to get support for
a number of realtek devices. At least OpenSuSE and Debian seem to be
enabling CONFIG_RTL8192U right now, while Fedora doesn't.

Cheers,
Jes