Re: [PATCH RFC] remove custom Michael MIC implementation

From: Greg Kroah-Hartman
Date: Mon Apr 03 2017 - 08:14:10 EST


On Mon, Apr 03, 2017 at 07:03:59PM +1000, Tobin C. Harding wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 03, 2017 at 08:19:40AM +0300, Kalle Valo wrote:
> > + linux-wireless
> >
> > "Tobin C. Harding" <me@xxxxxxxx> writes:
> >
> > > On Fri, Mar 31, 2017 at 09:58:51AM +0200, Wolfram Sang wrote:
> > >>
> > >> > The code is untested, I have hardware in the mail.
> > >>
> > >> Cool!
> > >
> > > The card I have is a Spectec FCC ID: S2Y-WLAN-11B-G which I believe is
> > > a SDW-823 and should use the ks7010 driver. I am going to attempt to
> > > get it running on a Raspberry Pi B+. I ordered the wrong size break
> > > out board originally so waiting on the new one now.
> > >
> > >>
> > >> > If any one is interested and has any comments I would really like to
> > >> > hear them. I am open to all suggestions (even down to trivial coding
> > >> > style issues).
> > >>
> > >> I'll just repeat that the key move to get this driver out of staging is
> > >> to get away from the WEXT interface to CFG80211. Otherwise no chance
> > >> that wireless maintainers will even look at it. This is a huge change
> > >> but once it is done, features like Michael MIC come with it for free
> > >> (from what I recall, I am not a wireless expert myself).
> > >
> > > That would explain why I could not find more than the Orinoco driver
> > > using the Michael MIC module directly.
> >
> > I think cfg80211 and mac80211 got mixed up. mac80211 (the full IEEE
> > 802.11 stack for "softmac" devices) provides Michael MIC implementation,
> > but cfg80211 (for "hardmac" devices) does not.
>
> Cool, thanks for clarifying. Hilariously I was just sitting down
> trying to figure out what was up after a day spent trying to merge
> ideas from ath6kl (fullmac) and ks7010. I finally spent some time
> reading the cw1200 driver (softmac) for further inspiration.

As an example of a driver that has been moved from an internal wireless
stack to using the kernel stack is the vt6655 driver. I think it's the
only driver that has done this type of transition, so look at the patch
history of it for an example of what to do.

good luck!

greg k-h