From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Jeff Garzik Subject: Re: [RFC] Wireless extensions rethink Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2004 17:36:27 -0400 Sender: netdev-bounce@oss.sgi.com Message-ID: <40D0BD5B.201@pobox.com> References: <40CF263E.70009@home.nl> <1087377197.25912.54.camel@sfeldma-mobl2.dsl-verizon.net> <40D08769.3070106@home.nl> <20040616204248.GA23617@bougret.hpl.hp.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: Gertjan van Wingerde , sfeldma@pobox.com, netdev@oss.sgi.com, jkmaline@cc.hut.fi Return-path: To: jt@hpl.hp.com In-Reply-To: <20040616204248.GA23617@bougret.hpl.hp.com> Errors-to: netdev-bounce@oss.sgi.com List-Id: netdev.vger.kernel.org Jean Tourrilhes wrote: > Seriously, these are my thoughts : > o Backward/forward compatibility has always be my number one > priority since 1996. There is many wireless drivers *NOT* in the > kernel (see my web page) and many utilities using the current API. For > example, both the Red-Hat configurator and the Debian installer link > with libiw. So, it's not just about rewritting iwconfig. This is something on which we'll have to agree to disagree. In Linux we are free to improve the APIs :) > I also asked Jeff why he want to redesign the API, and in the > end there was only two issues : > 1) type-safe handler versus generic handler. I personally > disagree with Jeff on that one. But, you can easilly fix it by > offering wrapper to the current API : > http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-netdev&m=107896289630224&w=2 I think I explained myself better, in the recent post in this thread. Such a wrapper does nothing to move the locking, ioctl marshalling, and security checks out of the drivers. ethtool_ops and net/core/ethtool.c were quantum-leap improvements over the ethtool handling code that existed to that point. Wireless needs to make the same quantum leap. > 2) The use of ioctls. I've created a patch to add RtNetlink > support to the Wireless Extension API, and so far nobody has commented > on this : > http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-netdev&m=107846135617655&w=2 > A more recent/functional version of this patch is on my web > page. I'm not going to waste time on this if nobody cares. Well, I liked the patch at least :) Take your patch, add new 'struct wireless_ops', convert existing wireless handlers, and we're good to go :) Jeff