From owner-freebsd-wireless@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Apr 26 15:25:34 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-wireless@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D25AB1065670 for ; Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:25:34 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bschmidt@techwires.net) Received: from mail-fx0-f54.google.com (mail-fx0-f54.google.com [209.85.161.54]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6D9458FC14 for ; Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:25:34 +0000 (UTC) Received: by fxm11 with SMTP id 11so713566fxm.13 for ; Tue, 26 Apr 2011 08:25:33 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.204.20.74 with SMTP id e10mr847965bkb.148.1303831533218; Tue, 26 Apr 2011 08:25:33 -0700 (PDT) Received: from jessie.localnet (p5B2ECD44.dip0.t-ipconnect.de [91.46.205.68]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id u15sm1328243bkf.16.2011.04.26.08.25.29 (version=SSLv3 cipher=OTHER); Tue, 26 Apr 2011 08:25:29 -0700 (PDT) Sender: Bernhard Schmidt From: Bernhard Schmidt To: freebsd-wireless@freebsd.org Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2011 17:24:36 +0200 User-Agent: KMail/1.13.5 (Linux/2.6.32-31-generic; KDE/4.4.5; i686; ; ) References: In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: <201104261724.36685.bschmidt@freebsd.org> Cc: Subject: Re: undocumented capabilities/flags in ifconfig(1) and in the handbookj X-BeenThere: freebsd-wireless@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: bschmidt@freebsd.org List-Id: "Discussions of 802.11 stack, tools device driver development." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:25:35 -0000 On Monday, April 25, 2011 17:58:02 Eitan Adler wrote: > In ifconfig(1) under "list scan" and "list sta" a number of letters > are documented. > > 1) The same letters are documented for both of them - even though > there are a different set of flags (list sta) or capabilities (list > scan) > > The letters 'I' 'c' 'C' 'B' 's' 'R' and 'D' are not documented as > capabilities in the man page > > While 'Q' 'N' 'R' 'M' 'M+' 'I' 'S+' 's' 't' and 'r' are the flags > which are not currently documented in the man page > > I have been trying to work my way through the code to understand what > each of these mean: The following list is incomplete and probably > inaccurate. > > c / C - I'm unsure exactly what this means. something here is > pollable. Lowercase c means that it is capable while uppercase means > it is required. It appears to only be used in > usr.sbin/bsnmpd/modules/snmp_wlan/wlan_sys.c > s - documented only in the handbook: Short slot time. Indicates > that the 802.11g network is using a short slot time because there are > no legacy (802.11b) stations present. > I - documented only in the handbook: IBSS/ad-hoc network. Indicates > that the station is part of an ad-hoc network (in contrast to an ESS > network). > B - ????? > R - station is 801.11/i RSN capable > D - ????? > Q - station is using/capable of using QoS > N - ????? > M - ????? > M+ - ????? > S+ - station is using 20Mhz short preamble as well as 40Mhz > t / r - station is transmitting / receiving 802.11 n A - MSDU I assume you've obtained those from getcaps()/getflags() in sbin/ifconfig/ifieee80211.c? If so, that conditions there should give you some clue about the purpose/meaning of the flags. Some hints for caps: - for c/C have a look at chapter 9.3 in IEEE802.11-2007 about PCF. - B, also called PBCC, is a 802.11b add-on which defines 22M and 33M rates, haven't seen those yet. - s: short slottime - S: short preamble - A: this is a frequency hoping features. I doubt that we currently support any FH hardware, so this might just be removed/ignored. - D: Indicates that the ESS/IBSS supports OFDM rates, refer to 19.7. - I: it's an IBSS - E: It's an ESS - P: privacy as in WEP is in use - R: it's an RSN for flags: - A: node is authenticated - Q: QoS/WME capable node - E: indicates that the node supports the ERP rateset (a OFDM rate subset) - P: node is in power save mode - H: node is HT capable - H+: node is HT capable and using htcompat mode (pre-11n-draft-stuff-thingy) - W: node is using WPS (Wireless Protected Setup) - N: quote: Transitional Security Network. Permits clients to associate and use WEP while WPA is configured. - T: transmit AMPDU support - R: receive AMPDU support - M: Spatial Multiplexing Power Save supported/enabled - M+: Spatial Multiplexing Power Save + RTS supported/enabled - I: RIFS - Reduced Inter-Frame Spacing supported - S: short guard interval on 40MHz supported - S+: short guard interval on 20 + 40MHz supported - s: short guard interval on 20MHz supported - t: transmit AMSDU supported - r: receive AMSDU supported HTH > I am hoping to get a better understanding of what these mean so I can > submit a diff against the man page and handbook. Go for it! -- Bernhard