RE: [REGRESSION] rtw89: RTL8922AE Wi-Fi broken in Kernel 7.0 (and 6.18+) due to mac80211 API changes

[Ping-Ke Shih <pkshih@realtek.com>]

Gmail <helder.bertoldo@gmail.com> wrote:
> I am reporting a regression regarding the Realtek RTL8922AE Wi-Fi
> adapter (rtw89) on a Gigabyte X870M Aorus Elite Wifi7 motherboard.
> 
> The adapter works perfectly on Kernel 6.17.7, but it fails to initialize
> or is not recognized in newer kernels, specifically 6.18, 6.19, and the
> current 7.0.x series used in the Bazzite (Fedora-based) testing branch.

Please share kernel log of 6.17.7 (work well) and 6.18 (failed to initialize).

I checked the change of the rtw89 driver from 6.17 to 6.18, but I can't
find the obvious change for RTL8922AE though.

> 
> Technical details:
> The issue seems related to recent architectural changes in the mac80211
> subsystem:
> 
> 1. Signature changes in 'struct ieee80211_ops': Several callbacks
> (including .config, .stop, and .set_rts_threshold) now require the
> 'radio_idx' parameter to support multi-radio wiphy/MLO. It appears the
> rtw89 driver in these kernel builds might not have been fully updated to
> match these new signatures, leading to incompatible pointer type errors
> or initialization failures.

Are you sure? The changes of API will be compatible with existing
functionalities.

> 
> 2. Removal of init_dummy_netdev: The driver code seems to still
> reference init_dummy_netdev, which was replaced by alloc_netdev_dummy()
> in the wireless-next/net-next trees.

It has been alloc_netdev_dummy() already.

If you are using out-of-tree driver, please just use in-tree driver. 

> 
> Hardware Info:
> - Chipset: Realtek RTL8922AE
> - PCI ID: [10ec:8922] (Please verify this ID on your system using 'lspci
> -nn')
> - Working Kernel: 6.17.7
> - Broken Kernels: 6.18.x, 6.19.x, 7.0.x
> 
> I am using the OGC Kernel from the Bazzite project, but the issue
> appears to stem from the upstream driver synchronization with the new
> mac80211 API.

Can you use 6.17.7 and then apply patches of the rtw89 driver one by one
from 6.18.x? That can find the cause. 

> 
> Are there any pending patches in the rtw-next tree that address these
> specific ieee80211_ops signature changes for the 8922AE?

The number of rtw89 patches between 6.17 and 6.18 is about 40.
Trying above suggestion will be easier to address problem.