Re: wpa_suuplicant(8) & wlan(4) vs. an(4) et al.

On Wed, Oct 08, 2008 at 04:32:46PM -0700, Sam Leffler wrote:
> ...
> > Hmmm....  "reject, not an 802.11 device" seems a bit harsh, given:
> > 
> > g1-37(8.0-C)[7] ifconfig an0
> > ...
> > but I expect that's merely an artifact of an(4) not having been
> > overhauled to the new(er) wlan(4) framework or some such thing.  (Though
> > I could well be completely wrong about this, as I confess I've not
> > actually looked at the code in a long time.)
> 
> Correct, an does not use net80211 so cannot be used to clone wlan vap's.
>  The "not an 802.11 device" is because the wlan clone routine checks the
> ifnet's type to be sure it's IFT_IEE80211 and not IFT_ETHER.

OK; makes sense.
 
> It's entirely possible to make an use net80211 and/or do wpa but noone's
> made the effort.

Ah....

> ... 
> > I'm not enough of a hacker to overhaul a device driver, but I am willing
> > (as some here might attest) to test patches & report back.
> > 
> > I wouldn't mind being able to delete my script -- while retaining my
> > ability to have network connetivity.  :-}
> 
> I guess you were also asking about using iwi and wi devices.  iwi should
> work; if it does not then please provide info though I'm overloaded and
> may not have time to respond quickly.  Submitting a PR would be useful.

OK; I can certainly do that -- assuming(!) that more careful testing
demonstrate that there's actually an issue.

> wi was rewritten in HEAD and does support WPA but only with a subset of
> the hardware (and firmware) that used to be usable.  I believe the
> manual page calls out what hardware is supported.

Cool; I'll check -- I had dyked the driver out of my kernel config,
intending to use kldload(8) for times I actually planned to use it.

I certainly understand ENOTIME; thank you very much for your response.

I will investigate more carefully & report (via PR if that's
appropriate).

Peace,
david
-- 
David H. Wolfskill				david_at_catwhisker.org
Depriving a girl or boy of an opportunity for education is evil.

See http://www.catwhisker.org/~david/publickey.gpg for my public key.