Re: [PATCH 2/3] mac80211: create a STA entry for a WDS interface after receiving a beacon

[Johannes Berg <johannes@sipsolutions.net>]

On Tue, 2011-05-31 at 22:22 +0200, Felix Fietkau wrote:
> On 2011-05-31 10:06 PM, Johannes Berg wrote:
> > On Tue, 2011-05-31 at 21:39 +0200, Felix Fietkau wrote:
> >>  On 2011-05-31 9:32 PM, Johannes Berg wrote:
> >>  >  On Tue, 2011-05-31 at 21:16 +0200, Felix Fietkau wrote:
> >>  >>   When a STA entry is created too early, a lot of essential information
> >>  >>   required for rate control is missing.
> >>  >
> >>  >  I don't understand how you can rely on beacons for WDS.
> >>  You usually set up WDS links between APs on the same channel, each
> >>  running both a normal AP vif and a WDS vif. The remote AP's beacons are
> >>  then used to detect the capabilities of the peer.
> >
> > I don't think we can rely on "usually" unless we also enforce that
> > somehow. Otherwise this link will basically be dead. There's nothing
> > that requires you to add WDS to an AP interface only after all.
> I don't think using WDS without APs makes any sense. Since WDS alone 
> does not use beacons or probe requests, there's nothing else that would 
> ensure that rate information, HT capabilities, etc. get exchanged.

I just don't like the fact that you can create a non-functional WDS
interface by adding it when there's no AP interface.

johannes