Date: Sat, 03 Sep 2005 16:06:34 -0700 From: Sam Leffler <sam@errno.com> To: arch@freebsd.org Subject: 802.11 status and futures Message-ID: <431A2C7A.6080005@errno.com>
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We're getting closer to 6.0 and the next STABLE branch. This will define another ABI freeze which will have significant impact on my importing 802.11 work so I figure it's time to review where we are and describe what's going on in terms of future development. 6.0 will be the first release that has WPA support included in the base system. While the support has been working (for some definition of "working") for >18 months it's only been available to CURRENT users so this is a major milestone. The ath driver is well-tested in this regard; a few other drivers have minimal WPA support (e.g. no h/w crypto is yet supported). I have fixes pending in other depots to address miscellaneous bugs and resolve compliance issues (the linux version of the code has passed many standard compliance suites and some of the changes from that code base have not been back-merged). These changes will be rolled into HEAD as time permits and all will be MFC'd to RELENG_6 if possible. As soon as it's ok to have HEAD diverge I want to bring in an entirely new framework for doing scanning. This supports things like background scanning (scanning for ap's while associated), roaming, and enables station mode power save operation. These changes affect all drivers so committing them won't happen until I get help in updating and testing other drivers. Also these changes cannot be MFC'd because they would break existing API's. Past the scanning-related changes I have an entirely new architecture for the 802.11 layer that I described at BSDCan 2005. Slides are available at: http://www.freebsd.org/~sam/BSDCan2005.pdf These changes enable things like support for multiple ssid and bssid on a single device (e.g. so you can have a virtual ap using WPA operating in parallel with an ap that uses open authentication), WDS repeater operation, and mesh networks (this was designed with 802.11s in mind). The virtual ap (or vap) code has been in development for nearly a year and is about to be released for linux (and has gone through extensive testing). Getting this code in the tree will again require help from folks to update and test drivers. And again this cannot be MFC'd because of API changes. While not directly related to the above work I will soon commit an update to the Atheros hal that will add support for some of their most recent parts that people are encountering in retail products. This will be MFC'd to REELNG_6; I haven't decided yet whether to backport it to other branches (by the time I can consider RELENG_5 it may be irrelevant). The above may change depending on my time and work commitments. Sam
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