I am working on writing various components for user-space control of
nl80211 devices. I have had some difficulty understanding the
terminology that is taken for granted in source files for and
documentation about nl80211/cfg80211. So, in the interest of learning
the terms used I am volunteering to edit the glossary page
<http://wireless.kernel.org/en/developers/Documentation/Glossary> on
the Linux wireless wiki, for at least a brief time (1-2 months). As I
learn a new definition for an appropriate term, I will add it the the
Glossary.
If you have encountered a word or phrase about the Linux wireless
system for which you need(ed) a definition. Please let me know and I
will add it to the list of terms to define.
Can anyone answer (or point me to more resources for) the following
questions that I can use to update the Glossary? What is a station?
How does a station relate to an AP? What are the delineations between
mac80211/cfg80211/nl80211?
Thank you for your help.
--
Sean Robinson
WiFi Radar - http://wifi-radar.berlios.de
Python WiFi - http://pythonwifi.wikispot.org
pymnl - http://pymnl.wikispot.org
On Mon, Mar 21, 2011 at 4:23 AM, Kalle Valo <[email protected]> wrote:
> Sean Robinson <[email protected]> writes:
>
>> What is a station?
>
> You got an answer already. But in principle all devices supporting
> IEEE 802.11 are stations (or STAs) in the standard.
>
>> How does a station relate to an AP?
>
> AP is a station as are all clients.
>
>> What are the delineations between mac80211/cfg80211/nl80211?
>
> mac80211 is an IEEE 802.11 stack for softmac devices.
>
> cfg80211 is a new (relatively speaking) component for managing
> configuration of IEEE 802.11 devices (used by both mac80211 and
> fullmac device drivers).
>
> nl80211 is a new (again relatively speaking) netlink based user space
> interface (protocol?) for managing IEEE 802.11 devices. cfg80211
> implements the kernel side of this interface. From user space at least
> wpasupplicant and iw use this interface, but in principle any
> application can use it.
>
Thank you, Kalle. I have updated the Glossary page with my
interpretation of your answers.
And, thank you, Daniel. I downloaded the IEEE doc. While the
definitions are useful, the chapter 5 overview of how everything is
related was really helpful.
And I repeat my intent to curate the Glossary for a while. So, if
anyone else has terms to add or that need a fuller explanation, please
let me know.
--
Sean Robinson
WiFi Radar - http://wifi-radar.berlios.de
Python WiFi - http://pythonwifi.wikispot.org
pymnl - http://pymnl.wikispot.org
On Sat, Mar 19, 2011 at 9:18 AM, Sean Robinson <[email protected]> wrote:
> ?I am working on writing various components for user-space control of
> nl80211 devices. ?I have had some difficulty understanding the
> terminology that is taken for granted in source files for and
> documentation about nl80211/cfg80211. ?So, in the interest of learning
> the terms used I am volunteering to edit the glossary page
> <http://wireless.kernel.org/en/developers/Documentation/Glossary> on
> the Linux wireless wiki, for at least a brief time (1-2 months). ?As I
> learn a new definition for an appropriate term, I will add it the the
> Glossary.
>
> ?If you have encountered a word or phrase about the Linux wireless
> system for which you need(ed) a definition. ?Please let me know and I
> will add it to the list of terms to define.
>
> ?Can anyone answer (or point me to more resources for) the following
> questions that I can use to update the Glossary? ?What is a station?
> How does a station relate to an AP? ?What are the delineations between
> mac80211/cfg80211/nl80211?
>
You might want to start with the IEEE 802.11-2007 standards document
(free for download at
http://standards.ieee.org/about/get/802/802.11.html). That has many
of the definitions you will want, e.g., station is defined as 3.136 in
their Definitions section.
Dan
Sean Robinson <[email protected]> writes:
> What is a station?
You got an answer already. But in principle all devices supporting
IEEE 802.11 are stations (or STAs) in the standard.
> How does a station relate to an AP?
AP is a station as are all clients.
> What are the delineations between mac80211/cfg80211/nl80211?
mac80211 is an IEEE 802.11 stack for softmac devices.
cfg80211 is a new (relatively speaking) component for managing
configuration of IEEE 802.11 devices (used by both mac80211 and
fullmac device drivers).
nl80211 is a new (again relatively speaking) netlink based user space
interface (protocol?) for managing IEEE 802.11 devices. cfg80211
implements the kernel side of this interface. From user space at least
wpasupplicant and iw use this interface, but in principle any
application can use it.
--
Kalle Valo