On 09/07/2015 04:06 AM, Kalle Valo wrote:
Larry Finger <Larry.Finger@xxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
On 09/06/2015 09:43 AM, Kalle Valo wrote:
Jes.Sorensen@xxxxxxxxxx writes:
Per default only devices I have actually tested will be enabled. If
you are interested in trying it out with other 8188cu/8188ru/819[12]cu
dongles, you need to enable CONFIG_RTL8XXXU_UNTESTED. Please report
test results back to me.
Note if you enable this driver, it may clash with CONFIG_RTL8192U,
CONFIG_R8723AU, and CONFIG_RTL8192CU (rtlwifi). Please pay attention
to which module you load and/or use modprobe blacklists.
May clash? So how does this work in practise? Is the clash referring
CONFIG_RTL8XXXU_UNTESTED enabled or disabled?
I think we should only have one driver automatically supporting certain
hardware, and not have a driver randomly chosen and forcing users to use
a blacklist.
I agree, in principle, but there will be difficulties in the
implementation, at least in the short term.
At the moment, the only driver that has a conflict with rtl8xxxu is
rtl8192cu. Although rtl8xxxu is surprisingly more stable that
rtl8192cu, the latter has more features, which is may be the reason
for better stability. Driver rtl8xxxu does not handle any 40 MHz
channels, nor can it become an AP either with hostapd or with
NetworkManager. For those reasons, rtl819cu has to remain the standard
driver for RTL81{88,92}CU devices until rtl8xxxu is improved. Anyone
that wants to try the new driver will need to use blacklists.
But how do we make sure that for normal users rtl8192cu is always loaded
and not rtl8xxxu (until we decide to make the switch)? What I'm worried
is that normal distro users would use rtl8xxxu before it's ready for
their device.
We can make changes in the Kconfig help texts that clarify the
situation, but that will not help the user of kernels built by the
distros.
Exactly. We should not create any regressions to existing setups,
everything should work as they did before. Kconfig options or blacklist
tweaking is not an acceptable way to handle that, it should be
automatic.
Also how do we make sure that distros don't enable
CONFIG_RTL8XXXU_UNTESTED? They are notarious of enabling kconfig options
without thinking.
It will not necessarily depend on whether CONFIG_RTL8XXXU_UNTESTED is
enabled or not. Some of the affected devices are in the tested
category.
Ok. Can't we start just rtl8xxxu having just devices NOT supported by
rtlwifi drivers? All other devices would be under
CONFIG_RTL8XXXU_UNTESTED until we think the support is ready and we can
make the switch by moving from untested to tested category. And at the
same time disable/remove those devices from rtlwifi.
Yes, that will work as long as we make CONFIG_RTL8XXXU_UNTESTED be EXPERIMENTAL
to keep the distros from enabling it. In addition, a separate GitHub repo for
rtl8xxxu should be made available with conditional code added to enable builds
for kernels 3.10 or later. Then users that complain about some problem with
rtl8192cu can be directed to that driver.
Larry
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