Re: [PATCH 00/61] staging: rtl8723bs: monolithic HAL cleanup and tx power limit fix

[Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>]

On Wed, Jul 15, 2026 at 07:47:28PM +0700, Arsenii Pashchenko wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> This patch series performs a massive, systematic cleanup of the legacy 
> vendor HAL layer and redundant abstraction wrappers in the rtl8723bs 
> driver, concluding with a functional fix for the TX power limit lookup.
> 
> The primary goal of this refactoring is to drastically improve the 
> readability and maintainability of the codebase, transforming the 
> highly tangled, Windows-legacy Realtek abstractions into a cleaner, 
> more idiomatic Linux driver structure.
> 
> KEY CHANGES IN THIS SERIES:
> 
> 1. Dead Code & Stub Removal: Eliminated several unimplemented functions, 
>    empty stubs (like OnAtim, DoReserved), duplicate prototypes, and 
>    completely unused helpers (NULL_hdl, set_csa_hdl, tdls_hdl).
> 2. Wrapper Collapse & Inlining: Removed multiple layers of superficial 
>    wrappers around core operations (e.g., rtw_ap_set_group_key, 
>    issue_deauth, issue_probereq, rtw_free_mlme_priv, etc.). High-frequency 
>    or single-use HAL entry points (like SetHwReg8723BS, GetHwReg8723BS, 
>    and xmit helpers) have been carefully inlined directly into their 
>    respective dispatchers to enhance readability.
> 3. Scope & Warning Fixes: Restructured local functions (like 
>    lps_ctrl_wk_hdl) by marking them static and aligning headers, which 
>    resolves missing-prototypes compiler warnings.
> 4. Logical Fixes: In the final patch, a critical copy-paste bug in 
>    phy_get_tx_pwr_lmt() was resolved. The computed channel index from 
>    phy_GetChannelIndexOfTxPowerLimit() was mistakenly assigned back to 
>    the 'channel' parameter and discarded, leaving 'idx_channel' at -1. 
>    This caused the function to always fail validation and return 
>    MAX_POWER_INDEX. Correcting this restores the intended hardware tx 
>    power limit logic and resolves a compiler warning.
> 5. Refined Abstractions: In places where removing a wrapper would 
>    decrease overall elegance or require awkward type workarounds, the 
>    cleanest architectural approach was intentionally preserved.
> 
> TESTING & VERIFICATION:
> 
> - Hardware: I do not possess the physical rtl8723bs hardware, so 
>   real-world runtime wireless testing was not performed.
> - Compilation: The entire series compiles flawlessly against the 
>   latest tree.
> - Code Style: All 61 patches have been fully validated with 
>   `scripts/checkpatch.pl` and return 0 errors / 0 warnings per patch. 
>   (Note: A few pre-existing vendor style warnings remain in the modified 
>   files, but no new ones were introduced).
> 
> This cleanup significantly reduces the boilerplate footprint, making 
> future maintenance and eventual mac80211 migration tasks much more 
> approachable.

How did you do all of these?  Without testing I am loath to take such
large changes, right?  Did you use a llm?

thanks,

greg k-h