Hi Larry, Sorry for the delay. > I created the rtw89 GitHub repo, and rtw88 (wifi 5) repo before that to backport > the wireless-next version of the drivers into something that will build and run > on kernels 5.4 or newer. With a 'git clone' and 'make', a novice user can get > working wifi. Right. That's pretty much the same as Brian was saying :) > Keep in mind that most of our users are not very sophisticated. They frequently > do not install the kernel headers even though the README tells them explicitly > what the error means, and what they need to do for several of the popular > distros. In addition, they struggle with the concept that out-of-kernel drivers > must be built for the running kernel. Most can handle 'git pull', 'make', and > sudo make (sign) install', but not anything more complicated. :) > As Brian said, I have done the maintenance by copying the patches from > wireless-next into the GitHub repo, and handling the API changes in a manual > fashion with '#ifdef LINUX_VERSION_CODE ...' blocks. This works for me, but > unlike me, Brian is a programmer, and he wants to create a script whenever he > sees anything repetitive. Which is basically what backports already did. > As it is unlikely that I will be doing this much longer, And you've been doing it for basically forever, and probably get thanked for it much less than you should, so: big thank you from me for making all this more accessible to "regular" users, and for helping out with wireless in what's probably about two decades now. Much appreciated! > I support whatever he > needs to make him comfortable. Although the kernels found in newer releases of > various distros will eventually support the drivers, Realtek is adding wifi 7 > features to the drivers. Once they release the new hardware, it will be a short > time until it is part of new models of laptops. Right. > I do not see where backports has any part of the solution to this problem. Why not? It solves the exact same problem, no? > As I > had difficulty in getting it configured the first time I used that project, I do > not see that as part of the solution for rtw88/89, other than it could be used > to suggest solutions for the API changes. Well that's looking at it from the view of the user of backports, but I think Brian is suggesting that he could be the user of backports, and then the "regular end user" is just consuming the _output_ of backports that Brian has vetted, so it ends up being similarly "make && sudo make install" (or so.) > My experience allows me to look at the > wireless-next and mainline kernels and determine what changes are needed. I am > not sure I could explain that well enough to teach Brian. Right. Keep in mind also though that you're doing it differently from what backports does - backports comes with cfg80211 and mac80211, so it's easier to do than adjusting to older versions of mac80211. > Finally, I applaud Brian's initiative toward this project and I am content in > knowing that the code is in good hands. :) johannes
