Return-path: Received: from main.gmane.org ([80.91.229.2]:52942 "EHLO ciao.gmane.org" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751126AbXLJAXc (ORCPT ); Sun, 9 Dec 2007 19:23:32 -0500 Received: from public by ciao.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.43) id 1J1WQT-0003da-IV for linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org; Mon, 10 Dec 2007 00:23:13 +0000 Subject: Re: [PATCH] introduce WEXT scan capabilities From: Dan Williams To: Dave Cc: Dan Williams , David Miller , public-linville-2XuSBdqkA4R54TAoqtyWWQ@ciao.gmane.org, public-linux-wireless-u79uwXL29TY76Z2rM5mHXA@ciao.gmane.org, public-jt-sDzT885Ts8HQT0dZR+AlfA@ciao.gmane.org In-Reply-To: <475C3538.1070501@gmail.com> References: <1197073366.4563.15.camel@localhost.localdomain> <20071207.181221.09900510.davem@davemloft.net> <1197221467.9149.31.camel@localhost.localdomain> <475C3538.1070501@gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain Date: Sun, 09 Dec 2007 13:35:00 -0500 Message-Id: <1197225300.9149.74.camel@localhost.localdomain> (sfid-20071210_002335_513389_B559D9A5) Mime-Version: 1.0 Sender: linux-wireless-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: On Sun, 2007-12-09 at 18:34 +0000, Dave wrote: > > Dan Williams wrote: > > On Fri, 2007-12-07 at 18:12 -0800, David Miller wrote: > >> From: Dan Williams > >> Date: Fri, 07 Dec 2007 19:22:46 -0500 > >> > >>> @@ -1040,6 +1049,16 @@ struct iw_range > >>> * because each entry contain its channel index */ > >>> > >>> __u32 enc_capa; /* IW_ENC_CAPA_* bit field */ > >>> + > >>> + /* Do *NOT* use those fields, they are just used as padding to get > >>> + * proper alignement with user space */ > >>> + __s32 reserved1; > >>> + __s32 reserved2; > >>> + __u16 reserved3; > >>> + __s32 reserved4; > >>> + __u32 reserved5; > >>> + > >>> + __u32 scan_capa; /* IW_SCAN_CAPA_* bit field */ > >>> }; > >>> > >>> /* > >> Major NACK. These datastructure usages are complete wrong, and > >> we have to stop spreading this problem instead of continuing on > >> with it as if it's OK. > > > > There's not too much we can do here. We need a better way to support > > driver/card capabilities in WEXT right _now_, in parallel with > > cfg80211/nl80211. The other alternative here is to have a 64-bit > > generic capabilities field-to-end-all-fields and add more bitfield > > position constants to that without extending the structure any more. > > > > Is there a better way you'd propose to do this _in_WEXT_? > > Since iw_range is not packed, there are a few locations where there is some padding. You could quite easily shoehorn an 8 bit bitmask into the existing structure without impacting backward compatibility (unless userspace is using the padding for something). For example: > > --- a/include/linux/wireless.h > +++ b/include/linux/wireless.h > @@ -1035,6 +1035,7 @@ struct iw_range > /* Frequency */ > __u16 num_channels; /* Number of channels [0; num - 1] */ > __u8 num_frequency; /* Number of entry in the list */ > + __u8 scan_capa; /* scan capabilities */ > struct iw_freq freq[IW_MAX_FREQUENCIES]; /* list */ > /* Note : this frequency list doesn't need to fit channel numbers, > * because each entry contain its channel index */ > > Other candidate blocks are Old Frequency, Rates, Encoder stuff, Transmit power. Hmm; this could work as long as that part of the structure is guaranteed to be 0 if it wasn't touched by the driver. If it could be filled with garbage bits at any point, then it's not going to work. Interesting thought. Dan