The 802.11 subsystems – for kernel developers

Table of Contents

The cfg80211 subsystem

1. Device registration

enum ieee80211_band — supported frequency bands

enum ieee80211_channel_flags — channel flags

struct ieee80211_channel — channel definition

enum ieee80211_rate_flags — rate flags

struct ieee80211_rate — bitrate definition

struct ieee80211_sta_ht_cap — STA's HT capabilities

struct ieee80211_supported_band — frequency band definition

enum cfg80211_signal_type — signal type

enum wiphy_params_flags — set_wiphy_params bitfield values

enum wiphy_flags — wiphy capability flags

struct wiphy — wireless hardware description

struct wireless_dev — wireless per-netdev state

wiphy_new — create a new wiphy for use with cfg80211

wiphy_register — register a wiphy with cfg80211

wiphy_unregister — deregister a wiphy from cfg80211

wiphy_free — free wiphy

wiphy_name — get wiphy name

wiphy_dev — get wiphy dev pointer

wiphy_priv — return priv from wiphy

priv_to_wiphy — return the wiphy containing the priv

set_wiphy_dev — set device pointer for wiphy

wdev_priv — return wiphy priv from wireless_dev

2. Actions and configuration

struct cfg80211_ops — backend description for wireless configuration

struct vif_params — describes virtual interface parameters

struct key_params — key information

enum survey_info_flags — survey information flags

struct survey_info — channel survey response

struct beacon_parameters — beacon parameters

enum plink_actions — actions to perform in mesh peers

struct station_parameters — station parameters

enum station_info_flags — station information flags

enum rate_info_flags — bitrate info flags

struct rate_info — bitrate information

struct station_info — station information

enum monitor_flags — monitor flags

enum mpath_info_flags — mesh path information flags

struct mpath_info — mesh path information

struct bss_parameters — BSS parameters

struct ieee80211_txq_params — TX queue parameters

struct cfg80211_crypto_settings — Crypto settings

struct cfg80211_auth_request — Authentication request data

struct cfg80211_assoc_request — (Re)Association request data

struct cfg80211_deauth_request — Deauthentication request data

struct cfg80211_disassoc_request — Disassociation request data

struct cfg80211_ibss_params — IBSS parameters

struct cfg80211_connect_params — Connection parameters

struct cfg80211_pmksa — PMK Security Association

cfg80211_send_rx_auth — notification of processed authentication

cfg80211_send_auth_timeout — notification of timed out authentication

__cfg80211_auth_canceled — notify cfg80211 that authentication was canceled

cfg80211_send_rx_assoc — notification of processed association

cfg80211_send_assoc_timeout — notification of timed out association

cfg80211_send_deauth — notification of processed deauthentication

__cfg80211_send_deauth — notification of processed deauthentication

cfg80211_send_disassoc — notification of processed disassociation

__cfg80211_send_disassoc — notification of processed disassociation

cfg80211_ibss_joined — notify cfg80211 that device joined an IBSS

cfg80211_connect_result — notify cfg80211 of connection result

cfg80211_roamed — notify cfg80211 of roaming

cfg80211_disconnected — notify cfg80211 that connection was dropped

cfg80211_ready_on_channel — notification of remain_on_channel start

cfg80211_remain_on_channel_expired — remain_on_channel duration expired

cfg80211_new_sta — notify userspace about station

cfg80211_rx_mgmt — notification of received, unprocessed management frame

cfg80211_mgmt_tx_status — notification of TX status for management frame

cfg80211_cqm_rssi_notify — connection quality monitoring rssi event

cfg80211_cqm_pktloss_notify — notify userspace about packetloss to peer

cfg80211_michael_mic_failure — notification of Michael MIC failure (TKIP)

3. Scanning and BSS list handling

struct cfg80211_ssid — SSID description

struct cfg80211_scan_request — scan request description

cfg80211_scan_done — notify that scan finished

struct cfg80211_bss — BSS description

cfg80211_inform_bss_frame — inform cfg80211 of a received BSS frame

cfg80211_inform_bss — inform cfg80211 of a new BSS

cfg80211_unlink_bss — unlink BSS from internal data structures

cfg80211_find_ie — find information element in data

ieee80211_bss_get_ie — find IE with given ID

4. Utility functions

ieee80211_channel_to_frequency — convert channel number to frequency

ieee80211_frequency_to_channel — convert frequency to channel number

ieee80211_get_channel — get channel struct from wiphy for specified frequency

ieee80211_get_response_rate — get basic rate for a given rate

ieee80211_hdrlen — get header length in bytes from frame control

ieee80211_get_hdrlen_from_skb — get header length from data

struct ieee80211_radiotap_iterator — tracks walk thru present radiotap args

5. Data path helpers

ieee80211_data_to_8023 — convert an 802.11 data frame to 802.3

ieee80211_data_from_8023 — convert an 802.3 frame to 802.11

ieee80211_amsdu_to_8023s — decode an IEEE 802.11n A-MSDU frame

cfg80211_classify8021d — determine the 802.1p/1d tag for a data frame

6. Regulatory enforcement infrastructure

regulatory_hint — driver hint to the wireless core a regulatory domain

wiphy_apply_custom_regulatory — apply a custom driver regulatory domain

freq_reg_info — get regulatory information for the given frequency

7. RFkill integration

wiphy_rfkill_set_hw_state — notify cfg80211 about hw block state

wiphy_rfkill_start_polling — start polling rfkill

wiphy_rfkill_stop_polling — stop polling rfkill

8. Test mode

cfg80211_testmode_alloc_reply_skb — allocate testmode reply

cfg80211_testmode_reply — send the reply skb

cfg80211_testmode_alloc_event_skb — allocate testmode event

cfg80211_testmode_event — send the event

The mac80211 subsystem

I. The basic mac80211 driver interface

1. Basic hardware handling

struct ieee80211_hw — hardware information and state

enum ieee80211_hw_flags — hardware flags

SET_IEEE80211_DEV — set device for 802.11 hardware

SET_IEEE80211_PERM_ADDR — set the permanent MAC address for 802.11 hardware

struct ieee80211_ops — callbacks from mac80211 to the driver

ieee80211_alloc_hw — Allocate a new hardware device

ieee80211_register_hw — Register hardware device

ieee80211_unregister_hw — Unregister a hardware device

ieee80211_free_hw — free hardware descriptor

2. PHY configuration

struct ieee80211_conf — configuration of the device

enum ieee80211_conf_flags — configuration flags

3. Virtual interfaces

struct ieee80211_vif — per-interface data

4. Receive and transmit processing

what should be here

Frame format

Packet alignment

Calling into mac80211 from interrupts

functions/definitions

5. Frame filtering

enum ieee80211_filter_flags — hardware filter flags

6. The mac80211 workqueue

ieee80211_queue_work — add work onto the mac80211 workqueue

ieee80211_queue_delayed_work — add work onto the mac80211 workqueue

II. Advanced driver interface

7. LED support

ieee80211_get_tx_led_name — get name of TX LED

ieee80211_get_rx_led_name — get name of RX LED

ieee80211_get_assoc_led_name — get name of association LED

ieee80211_get_radio_led_name — get name of radio LED

struct ieee80211_tpt_blink — throughput blink description

enum ieee80211_tpt_led_trigger_flags — throughput trigger flags

ieee80211_create_tpt_led_trigger — create throughput LED trigger

8. Hardware crypto acceleration

enum set_key_cmd — key command

struct ieee80211_key_conf — key information

enum ieee80211_key_flags — key flags

enum ieee80211_tkip_key_type — get tkip key

ieee80211_get_tkip_key — get a TKIP rc4 for skb

ieee80211_key_removed — disable hw acceleration for key

9. Powersave support

10. Beacon filter support

ieee80211_beacon_loss — inform hardware does not receive beacons

11. Multiple queues and QoS support

struct ieee80211_tx_queue_params — transmit queue configuration

12. Access point mode support

ieee80211_get_buffered_bc — accessing buffered broadcast and multicast frames

ieee80211_beacon_get — beacon generation function

13. Supporting multiple virtual interfaces

ieee80211_iterate_active_interfaces — iterate active interfaces

ieee80211_iterate_active_interfaces_atomic — iterate active interfaces

14. Station handling

struct ieee80211_sta — station table entry

enum sta_notify_cmd — sta notify command

ieee80211_find_sta — find a station

ieee80211_find_sta_by_ifaddr — find a station on hardware

ieee80211_sta_block_awake — block station from waking up

15. Hardware scan offload

ieee80211_scan_completed — completed hardware scan

16. Aggregation

TX A-MPDU aggregation

RX A-MPDU aggregation

enum ieee80211_ampdu_mlme_action — A-MPDU actions

17. Spatial Multiplexing Powersave (SMPS)

ieee80211_request_smps — request SM PS transition

enum ieee80211_smps_mode — spatial multiplexing power save mode

III. Rate control interface

18. Rate Control API

ieee80211_start_tx_ba_session — Start a tx Block Ack session.

ieee80211_start_tx_ba_cb_irqsafe — low level driver ready to aggregate.

ieee80211_stop_tx_ba_session — Stop a Block Ack session.

ieee80211_stop_tx_ba_cb_irqsafe — low level driver ready to stop aggregate.

enum rate_control_changed — flags to indicate which parameter changed

struct ieee80211_tx_rate_control — rate control information for/from RC algo

rate_control_send_low — helper for drivers for management/no-ack frames

IV. Internals

19. Key handling

Key handling basics

MORE TBD

20. Receive processing

21. Transmit processing

22. Station info handling

Programming information

STA information lifetime rules

23. Aggregation

struct sta_ampdu_mlme — STA aggregation information.

struct tid_ampdu_tx — TID aggregation information (Tx).

struct tid_ampdu_rx — TID aggregation information (Rx).

24. Synchronisation