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authorDavid S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net>2008-09-19 16:17:12 -0700
committerDavid S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net>2008-09-19 16:17:12 -0700
commitd950f264ff7260d8c1e124158d758db13e1ad2d0 (patch)
tree8a8758af70d72b94e51609a5088a5739d00d8793 /Documentation/networking
parent04da2cf9bb133355b7073be25ef3ce88c8edc135 (diff)
parent375da53b8e5e3ff2330b66b377e07a6151a93fe5 (diff)
Merge branch 'master' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/linville/wireless-next-2.6
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+Linux wireless regulatory documentation
+---------------------------------------
+
+This document gives a brief review over how the Linux wireless
+regulatory infrastructure works.
+
+More up to date information can be obtained at the project's web page:
+
+http://wireless.kernel.org/en/developers/Regulatory
+
+Keeping regulatory domains in userspace
+---------------------------------------
+
+Due to the dynamic nature of regulatory domains we keep them
+in userspace and provide a framework for userspace to upload
+to the kernel one regulatory domain to be used as the central
+core regulatory domain all wireless devices should adhere to.
+
+How to get regulatory domains to the kernel
+-------------------------------------------
+
+Userspace gets a regulatory domain in the kernel by having
+a userspace agent build it and send it via nl80211. Only
+expected regulatory domains will be respected by the kernel.
+
+A currently available userspace agent which can accomplish this
+is CRDA - central regulatory domain agent. Its documented here:
+
+http://wireless.kernel.org/en/developers/Regulatory/CRDA
+
+Essentially the kernel will send a udev event when it knows
+it needs a new regulatory domain. A udev rule can be put in place
+to trigger crda to send the respective regulatory domain for a
+specific ISO/IEC 3166 alpha2.
+
+Below is an example udev rule which can be used:
+
+# Example file, should be put in /etc/udev/rules.d/regulatory.rules
+KERNEL=="regulatory*", ACTION=="change", SUBSYSTEM=="platform", RUN+="/sbin/crda"
+
+The alpha2 is passed as an environment variable under the variable COUNTRY.
+
+Who asks for regulatory domains?
+--------------------------------
+
+* Users
+
+Users can use iw:
+
+http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Documentation/iw
+
+An example:
+
+ # set regulatory domain to "Costa Rica"
+ iw reg set CR
+
+This will request the kernel to set the regulatory domain to
+the specificied alpha2. The kernel in turn will then ask userspace
+to provide a regulatory domain for the alpha2 specified by the user
+by sending a uevent.
+
+* Wireless subsystems for Country Information elements
+
+The kernel will send a uevent to inform userspace a new
+regulatory domain is required. More on this to be added
+as its integration is added.
+
+* Drivers
+
+If drivers determine they need a specific regulatory domain
+set they can inform the wireless core using regulatory_hint().
+They have two options -- they either provide an alpha2 so that
+crda can provide back a regulatory domain for that country or
+they can build their own regulatory domain based on internal
+custom knowledge so the wireless core can respect it.
+
+*Most* drivers will rely on the first mechanism of providing a
+regulatory hint with an alpha2. For these drivers there is an additional
+check that can be used to ensure compliance based on custom EEPROM
+regulatory data. This additional check can be used by drivers by
+registering on its struct wiphy a reg_notifier() callback. This notifier
+is called when the core's regulatory domain has been changed. The driver
+can use this to review the changes made and also review who made them
+(driver, user, country IE) and determine what to allow based on its
+internal EEPROM data. Devices drivers wishing to be capable of world
+roaming should use this callback. More on world roaming will be
+added to this document when its support is enabled.
+
+Device drivers who provide their own built regulatory domain
+do not need a callback as the channels registered by them are
+the only ones that will be allowed and therefore *additional*
+cannels cannot be enabled.
+
+Example code - drivers hinting an alpha2:
+------------------------------------------
+
+This example comes from the zd1211rw device driver. You can start
+by having a mapping of your device's EEPROM country/regulatory
+domain value to to a specific alpha2 as follows:
+
+static struct zd_reg_alpha2_map reg_alpha2_map[] = {
+ { ZD_REGDOMAIN_FCC, "US" },
+ { ZD_REGDOMAIN_IC, "CA" },
+ { ZD_REGDOMAIN_ETSI, "DE" }, /* Generic ETSI, use most restrictive */
+ { ZD_REGDOMAIN_JAPAN, "JP" },
+ { ZD_REGDOMAIN_JAPAN_ADD, "JP" },
+ { ZD_REGDOMAIN_SPAIN, "ES" },
+ { ZD_REGDOMAIN_FRANCE, "FR" },
+
+Then you can define a routine to map your read EEPROM value to an alpha2,
+as follows:
+
+static int zd_reg2alpha2(u8 regdomain, char *alpha2)
+{
+ unsigned int i;
+ struct zd_reg_alpha2_map *reg_map;
+ for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(reg_alpha2_map); i++) {
+ reg_map = &reg_alpha2_map[i];
+ if (regdomain == reg_map->reg) {
+ alpha2[0] = reg_map->alpha2[0];
+ alpha2[1] = reg_map->alpha2[1];
+ return 0;
+ }
+ }
+ return 1;
+}
+
+Lastly, you can then hint to the core of your discovered alpha2, if a match
+was found. You need to do this after you have registered your wiphy. You
+are expected to do this during initialization.
+
+ r = zd_reg2alpha2(mac->regdomain, alpha2);
+ if (!r)
+ regulatory_hint(hw->wiphy, alpha2, NULL);
+
+Example code - drivers providing a built in regulatory domain:
+--------------------------------------------------------------
+
+If you have regulatory information you can obtain from your
+driver and you *need* to use this we let you build a regulatory domain
+structure and pass it to the wireless core. To do this you should
+kmalloc() a structure big enough to hold your regulatory domain
+structure and you should then fill it with your data. Finally you simply
+call regulatory_hint() with the regulatory domain structure in it.
+
+Bellow is a simple example, with a regulatory domain cached using the stack.
+Your implementation may vary (read EEPROM cache instead, for example).
+
+Example cache of some regulatory domain
+
+struct ieee80211_regdomain mydriver_jp_regdom = {
+ .n_reg_rules = 3,
+ .alpha2 = "JP",
+ //.alpha2 = "99", /* If I have no alpha2 to map it to */
+ .reg_rules = {
+ /* IEEE 802.11b/g, channels 1..14 */
+ REG_RULE(2412-20, 2484+20, 40, 6, 20, 0),
+ /* IEEE 802.11a, channels 34..48 */
+ REG_RULE(5170-20, 5240+20, 40, 6, 20,
+ NL80211_RRF_PASSIVE_SCAN),
+ /* IEEE 802.11a, channels 52..64 */
+ REG_RULE(5260-20, 5320+20, 40, 6, 20,
+ NL80211_RRF_NO_IBSS |
+ NL80211_RRF_DFS),
+ }
+};
+
+Then in some part of your code after your wiphy has been registered:
+
+ int r;
+ struct ieee80211_regdomain *rd;
+ int size_of_regd;
+ int num_rules = mydriver_jp_regdom.n_reg_rules;
+ unsigned int i;
+
+ size_of_regd = sizeof(struct ieee80211_regdomain) +
+ (num_rules * sizeof(struct ieee80211_reg_rule));
+
+ rd = kzalloc(size_of_regd, GFP_KERNEL);
+ if (!rd)
+ return -ENOMEM;
+
+ memcpy(rd, &mydriver_jp_regdom, sizeof(struct ieee80211_regdomain));
+
+ for (i=0; i < num_rules; i++) {
+ memcpy(&rd->reg_rules[i], &mydriver_jp_regdom.reg_rules[i],
+ sizeof(struct ieee80211_reg_rule));
+ }
+ r = regulatory_hint(hw->wiphy, NULL, rd);
+ if (r) {
+ kfree(rd);
+ return r;
+ }
+