RE: [EXT] Re: [PATCH v3 00/22] wifi: nxpwifi: create nxpwifi to support iw61x

[David Lin]

Hi Reto,

> From: Reto Schneider <rs@xxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 2, 2024 11:26 PM
> To: David Lin <yu-hao.lin@xxxxxxx>
> Cc: linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; briannorris@xxxxxxxxxxxx;
> kvalo@xxxxxxxxxx; francesco@xxxxxxxxxx; Pete Hsieh
> <tsung-hsien.hsieh@xxxxxxx>; s.hauer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx;
> linux-wireless@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [EXT] Re: [PATCH v3 00/22] wifi: nxpwifi: create nxpwifi to
> support iw61x 
> 
> Hi David,
> 
> On 02.10.24 03:29, David Lin wrote:
> > Mwifiex has been put in “Odds Fixes” state for quite some time.
> 
> What I read: NXP (who has taken over the Marvell BLE/Wi-Fi business) is not
> willing to maintain products once they have sold it.
> 
> > Now we have planned to add series of new chips and features.
> > Although some of the codes are from Mwifiex, we do spend much effort
> > to enhance the FW/driver interfaces and a few other areas Our proposal is,
> mwifiex continues support only existing devices.
> 
> mwifiex does not continue to do anything on its own, it requires continuous
> maintenance. And NXP is not doing that:
> 
> $ git log --no-merges --oneline drivers/net/wireless/marvell/mwifiex/ | wc -l
> 643
> $ git log --no-merges drivers/net/wireless/marvell/mwifiex/ | grep
> ^Author:.*nxp.com | wc -l
> 7
> 
> > New NXP connectivity chips and features will be added to nxpwifi only.
> > We are also committed to regular QA and maintenance for nxpwifi.
> 
> What I read: NXP is eager to support new hardware, but does not take
> adequate support of hardware they sold in the past.

I can understand the concern. 
Indeed mwifiex was left unattended for some time due to internal reasons.
NXP maintainers were removed due to this also driver is put in "Odds fixes" state. 
We resumed on maintaining since last year and you may have seen we continue
fixing issues and add features for example, WPA3, which is a mandatory security requirement for WFA.

Below are some fixes PR for your reference, 
Accepted:
https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/linux-wireless/patch/20231208234029.2197-1-yu-hao.lin@xxxxxxx/
https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/linux-wireless/patch/20231215005118.17031-1-yu-hao.lin@xxxxxxx/
https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/linux-wireless/patch/20231221015511.1032128-1-yu-hao.lin@xxxxxxx/
https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/linux-wireless/patch/20240704033001.603419-2-yu-hao.lin@xxxxxxx/
Pending approval:
https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/linux-wireless/patch/20240902084311.2607-1-yu-hao.lin@xxxxxxx/
https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/linux-wireless/patch/20240830080719.826142-1-yu-hao.lin@xxxxxxx/

> 
> > May I know what is your concern on upstream this driver so we can better
> address it?
> 
>  From my PoV as a potential customer: NXP cleaning up the mwifiex driver
> would give me confidence that whatever comes next from NXP will be taken
> care of adequately too. Also in the long term, which is a must when
> choosing components for products that need to be supported for many
> years to come.
> 
> Kind regards,
> Reto

I can understand.  We have completed the clean-up on nxpwifi. 
We could have done this on mwifiex. But given mwifiex “Odds fixes”, and new chips based on new FW interface,
adding new device on mwifiex would carry a lot of burdens and make the code even bigger and harder to maintain. 
Therefore, we propose continue supporting existing chips in mwifiex. Do real issue fixes, not code clean up 
In summary, we have done code clean up on nxpwifi plus improvements in few other areas. We would like to
propose nxpwifi as a base for new chip and feature support. It doesn’t conflict with our mwifiex maintenance 

With this I hope you would support nxpwifi upstream. Please let me know if you have any further concerns.

David