Re: Broadcom 43xx first results

[Jeff Garzik]

Jiri Benc wrote:
> On Mon, 05 Dec 2005 13:38:37 -0500, Joseph Jezak wrote:
>
> > We're not writing an entire stack.  We're writing a layer that sits in 
> > between the current ieee80211 stack that's already present in the kernel 
> > and drivers that do not have a hardware MAC.  Since ieee80211 is already 
> > in use in the kernel today, this seemed like a natural and useful 
> > extension to the existing code.  I agree that it's somewhat wasteful to 
> > keep rewriting 802.11 stacks and we considered other options, but it 
> > seemed like a more logical choice to work with what was available and 
> > recommended than to use an external stack.
>
>
> Unfortunately, the only long-term solution is to rewrite completely the
> current in-kernel ieee80211 code (I would not call it a "stack") or
> replace it with something another. The current code was written for
> Intel devices and it doesn't support anything else - so every developer

Patently false.

ieee80211 is used by Intel.  Some bits used by HostAP, which also 
duplicates a lot of ieee80211 code.  And bcm43xx.  And another couple 
drivers found in -mm or out-of-tree.


> of a wifi driver tries to implement his own "softmac" now. I cannot see
> how this can move as forward and I think we can agree this is not the
> way to go.

You're agreeing with only yourself, then?


> Rewriting (or, if you like, enhancing) the current 802.11 code seems to
> be wasting of time now, when nearly complete Linux stack was opensourced
> by Devicescape. We can try to merge it, but I'm not convinced it is
> possible, the Devicescape's stack is far more advanced.

This invalid logic is why we have a ton of wireless stacks, all 
duplicating each other.

	Jeff


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