Re: [PATCH 00/10] staging: wfx: introduce nl80211 vendor extensions

From: Jérôme Pouiller
Date: Wed May 27 2020 - 09:05:21 EST


On Wednesday 27 May 2020 14:34:37 CEST Kalle Valo wrote:
> Jerome Pouiller <Jerome.Pouiller@xxxxxxxxxx> writes:
>
> > This series introduces some nl80211 vendor extensions to the wfx driver.
> >
> > This series may lead to some discussions:
> >
> > 1. Patch 7 allows to change the dynamic PS timeout. I have found
> > an API in wext (cfg80211_wext_siwpower()) that do more or less the
> > same thing. However, I have not found any equivalent in nl80211. Is it
> > expected or this API should be ported to nl80211?
>
> struct wireless_dev::ps_timeout doesn't work for you?

Indeed, cfg80211_wext_siwpower() modify wireless_dev::ps_timeout, but
there is no equivalent in nl80211, no?

Else, I choose to not directly change wireless_dev::ps_timeout because I
worried about interactions with other parts of cfg80211/mac80211.


> >
> > 2. The device The device allows to do Packet Traffic Arbitration (PTA or
> > also Coex). This feature allows the device to communicate with another
> > RF device in order to share the access to the RF. The patch 9 provides
> > a way to configure that. However, I think that this chip is not the
> > only one to provide this feature. Maybe a standard way to change
> > these parameters should be provided?
> >
> > 3. For these vendor extensions, I have used the new policy introduced by
> > the commit 901bb989185516 ("nl80211: require and validate vendor
> > command policy"). However, it seems that my version of 'iw' is not
> > able to follow this new policy (it does not pack the netlink
> > attributes into a NLA_NESTED). I could develop a tool specifically for
> > that API, but it is not very handy. So, in patch 10, I have also
> > introduced an API for compatibility with iw. Any comments about this?
>
> If you want the driver out of staging I recommend not adding any vendor
> commands until the driver is moved to drivers/net/wireless. Also do note
> that we have special rules for nl80211 vendor commands:
>
> https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/developers/documentation/nl80211#vendor-specific_api

I hoped to suggest the move of this driver outside of staging in some
weeks (the last items in TODO list are either non-essential or easy to
fix). So, you suggest me to resend these patches after that change?

--
Jérôme Pouiller