[PATCHv2 1/2] nl80211: vendor-cmd: qca: add command for ap power save

[Johannes Berg]

On Mon, 2020-11-02 at 21:44 +0200, Kalle Valo wrote:
> vnaralas at codeaurora.org writes:
> 
> > On 2020-10-22 13:30, Arend Van Spriel wrote:
> > > On 10/21/2020 7:19 PM, Kalle Valo wrote:
> > > > vnaralas at codeaurora.org writes:
> > > > 
> > > > > On 2020-09-29 13:10, Kalle Valo wrote:
> > > > > > Johannes Berg <johannes at sipsolutions.net> writes:
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > > On Mon, 2020-08-24 at 13:56 +0530, Venkateswara Naralasetty wrote:
> > > > > > > > AP power save feature is to save power in AP mode, where AP goes
> > > > > > > > to power save mode when no stations associate to it and comes out
> > > > > > > > of power save when any station associate to AP.
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > Why do you think this requires a vendor command? I mean, that seems
> > > > > > > like
> > > > > > > fairly reasonable - even by default - behaviour?
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > I have not studied the details, but doesn't AP power save break
> > > > > > normal
> > > > > > functionality? For example, I would guess probe requests from
> > > > > > clients
> > > > > > would be lost. So there's a major drawback when enabling this,
> > > > > > right?
> > > > > 
> > > > > This AP power save feature will not break any functionality, Since
> > > > > one
> > > > > chain is always active and all other chains will be disabled when
> > > > > this
> > > > > feature is enabled. AP can still be able to beacon and receive probe
> > > > > request from the clients. The only drawback is reduced network range
> > > > > when this feature is enabled. Hence, we don't want to enable it by
> > > > > default.
> > > > 
> > > > Yeah, we really would not want to enable that by default. But what
> > > > should be the path forward, a vendor command or a proper nl80211
> > > > command? Any opinions?
> > > 
> > > I would go for a proper nl80211 command or just add an attribute for
> > > use in NL80211_CMD_START_AP or deal with NL80211_CMD_SET_POWERSAVE
> > > when operating in AP mode.
> > > 
> > Sure, I will go with the existing NL80211_CMD_SET_POWERSAVE and I will
> > send next version.
> 
> Better to wait first so that we have concensus on this. And need to
> check if NL80211_CMD_SET_POWERSAVE is even suitable for AP mode.

I suspect that SET_POWERSAVE might be confusing.

Perhaps just with an attribute used in START_AP (and CHANGE_BEACON if
needed) would be sufficient?

johannes