On Wed, Jun 05, 2013 at 11:06:33AM +0300, Kalle Valo wrote: > > I'll try to robustify this rather ugly interface as much as possible. > > We have nl80211 testmode interface for just stuff like this. I recommend > using that instead of debugfs. When in the so-called etf_mode, the driver doesn't create a netdev. It doesn't probe the hardware; it doesn't even (automatically) load firmware because it doesn't know what firmware to load. The driver becomes a (mostly very dumb) conduit for messages to/from userspace. That userspace in turn is a thin daemon that listens on a TCP socket and relays everything to/from a windows-only highly proprietary vendor tool. Everything needed to initialize the hardware (even the dpll value), is obtained via these messages. There's no inherent reason why this daemon couldn't use nl80211 instead, but IMO it's not worth the effort to rewrite the driver so it can bring up a netdev that (cleanly) fails everything other than nl80211 testcmds. After all, it'll still be an opaque binary interface whether it uses nl80211, custom ioctls, or the existing debugfs interface. If the existing debugfs interface is too ugly to stomach in the mainline, we're better off just stripping it out and maintaining it as an out-of-tree patch for the handful of users that need to use the vendor tools -- In other words, folks bringing up new hardware designs or obtaining FCC(etc) certification. - Solomon -- Solomon Peachy pizza at shaftnet dot org Delray Beach, FL ^^ (email/xmpp) ^^ Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
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