From:   Kalle Valo <kvalo@kernel.org>
To:     Dan Williams <dcbw@redhat.com>
Cc:     linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 2/2] wifi: move raycs, wl3501 and rndis_wlan to legacy directory
References: <20230227121732.8967-1-kvalo@kernel.org>
        <20230227121732.8967-3-kvalo@kernel.org>
        <cc905b745580b0300d10f1f88d714305c7544f67.camel@redhat.com>
        <87ilfmrkil.fsf@kernel.org>
        <c3f831e111e056c32f1822dde602e48eb764ea4f.camel@redhat.com>
Date:   Tue, 28 Feb 2023 08:29:22 +0200
In-Reply-To: <c3f831e111e056c32f1822dde602e48eb764ea4f.camel@redhat.com> (Dan
        Williams's message of "Mon, 27 Feb 2023 15:01:03 -0600")
Message-ID: <87cz5u1ewt.fsf@kernel.org>
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Dan Williams <dcbw@redhat.com> writes:

> On Mon, 2023-02-27 at 21:11 +0200, Kalle Valo wrote:
>> Dan Williams <dcbw@redhat.com> writes:
>> 
>> > On Mon, 2023-02-27 at 14:17 +0200, Kalle Valo wrote:
>> > > To clean up drivers/net/wireless move the old drivers drivers
>> > > left in
>> > > the
>> > > directory to a new "legacy" directory. I did consider adding
>> > > CONFIG_WLAN_VENDOR_LEGACY like other vendors have but then
>> > > dropped
>> > > the idea as
>> > > these are really old drivers and hopefully we get to remove them
>> > > soon.
>> > 
>> > Why is rndis_wlan legacy? It supports devices that are way newer
>> > than
>> > ray_cs or wl3501... like this Linksys WUSB54GSC from late 2007:
>> > 
>> > [1086339.589565] rndis_wlan 1-3:1.0 wlan0: register 'rndis_wlan' at
>> > usb-0000:00:14.0-3, Wireless RNDIS device, BCM4320b based,
>> > 00:1d:7e:9e:2f:bb
>> > [1086339.589961] usbcore: registered new interface driver
>> > rndis_wlan
>> 
>> So you have this device? Does it work? I think I should make a table
>> somewhere for these old drivers with last success reports :)
>
> Yep, I have it, it works. Needless to say, I don't *use* it.

Yeah, I guessed that part :) But thanks for testing, good to know it
works.

>> > Dunno, just seems a completely different class of devices than old
>> > 802.11b-only PCMCIA ones...
>> 
>> I was about to say that all drivers using Wireless Extensions are
>> legacy, but to my surprise rndis_wlan actually uses cfg80211 :)
>> 
>> I put this to "legacy" as I didn't find any better location and
>> adding a
>> new vendor driver just for rndis_wlan felt like overkill. The
>> directory
>> name "legacy" is just a name, it has no real meaning and users won't
>> see
>> it either. It could be "misc", "old" or something else as well.
>
> Is the goal just to get all the .c individual drivers out of
> net/wireless? 

Yes, exactly. The extra files in drivers/net/wireless annoy me everytime
when I'm checking something in the tree.

> Also isn't Greg KH out to kill RNDIS too? I don't recall that being a
> settled question yet, but I lost track.

I haven't heard anything about that recently, I hope we don't have to
remove rndis_wlan from the tree. But wext drivers are another thing, we
really should get rid of them (or convert to cfg80211).

-- 
https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/linux-wireless/list/

https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/developers/documentation/submittingpatches