Hi again Marcelo,
Sorry to insist, but I need to get this patch in 2.4.X. I'm
now blocked on two wireless driver (orinoco.c and airo.c) because
their maintainers can't/won't use 2.5.X. And I hate to see all those
patches bitroting.
The deal : new driver API for Wireless Extensions (first
part). More details below.
Patch *attached*. I re-diffed against 2.4.19-pre4, and tested
with both 2.4.19-pre4 and 2.4.19-pre4-ac2 (for ac2, the patch applies
with fuzz).
Why would you accept the patch :
o More than 2 month already in 2.5.X
o Jeff says it's 2.4.X material :
http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-kernel&m=101607595127684&w=2
o Alan says "sounds good" :
http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-kernel&m=101607595327690&w=2
Tell me if there is any complications...
Have fun...
Jean
On Wed, Mar 13, 2002 at 06:59:15PM -0800, jt wrote:
> Hi Marcelo,
>
> Some Wireless LAN driver authors have requested me to backport
> the new Wireless Extension API to 2.4.X so that they can hack their
> drivers without having to deal with 2.5.X. This patch just do that, so
> could you please add that to your tree ?
>
> This patch is *very* safe, especially compared to other stuff
> that made it's way in your kernel :
> o was integrated in 2.5.3-pre2, straight backport (same patch)
> o tested with various drivers in 2.5.X
> o reviewed by Jeff Garzik ;-)
> o doesn't change anything for driver still using the old API
> (so current kernel/pcmcia drivers won't get broken).
> o no part of the kernel using the new API, only outside drivers
>
> For stability reason, I won't change any of the current driver
> in the kernel, and those will continue to use the old API (unless you
> or Jeff request me to update them).
> Also, I may send you in the future the second part of the new
> API (that got just integrated in 2.5.7-pre1), but I'm not in a
> hurry... So, for now, first part only ;-)
> Below, you will find the original blurb I sent to Linus...
>
> Thanks in advance...
>
> Jean
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> Hi Linus,
>
> I feel the first part my new driver API for Wireless
> Extensions is ready to go in the kernel.
>
> I don't want to bore you too much with details, but for
> Wireless Extensions it replace the call to the device driver ioctl
> function with individual call to handlers functions.
> The advantage of the new API are :
> o Handling of Extensions in driver broken in small contained functions
> o Tighter checks of ioctl before calling the driver
> o Flexible commit strategy (at least, the start of it)
> o Backward compatibility (can be mixed with old API)
> o Remove all ioctl assumptions in the driver
> o Driver doesn't have to worry about memory and user-space issues
> (copy_to/from_user handled by the API, not the driver)
> The last point is important for the following reasons :
> o You are now able to call the new driver API from any API you
> want (including from within other parts of the kernel).
> o Common mistakes are avoided (buffer overflow, user space copy
> with irq disabled and so on).
> More details available at :
> http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux/Tools.html#newapi
>
> Compare to my earlier patch (sent to the list in December), I
> made the following changes :
> o cleanup comments
> o use "return X;" instead of "return(X);" (pointed out to me
> by Jeff - thanks).
>
> This has been tested on 2.5.3-pre2. Would you mind adding that
> to your kernel ?
> Regards,
>
> Jean
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