[PATCH ath12k-ng 00/13] wifi: ath12k: Ath12k modularization changes

[Vasanthakumar Thiagarajan]

On 8/12/2025 10:39 PM, Kiran Venkatappa wrote:
> Current ath drivers have separate implementations for different
> classes of devices. For example, ath11k supports WiFi-6 devices,
> while ath12k supports Wi-Fi 7 devices. However, there is significant
> common functionality across these generations due to shared firmware
> and hardware architecture. In the existing driver code, this leverage
> is achieved through code duplication. As a result, when a new driver
> is introduced, many features are missed, and new additions require
> porting across different generation drivers.
> 
> To improve reuse and maintainability, ath12k should be split into common
> and device-specific modules. Common code can be shared across multiple
> architectures, enabling better leverage for future hardware generations.
> generation drivers.
> 
> Firmware interfaces and core initialization sequences are typically common
> across different device families. In contrast, hardware register offsets, copy
> engine mappings, and HAL configurations are usually hardware-specific.
> 
> Common components include:
>        - mac80211 interface: Control path operations are mostly common across
>          different ATH hardware and will be shared as much as possible.
>        - Firmware interface (WMI, HTT, HTC, QMI): Firmware messaging and
>          sequences are common and maintained with backward/forward compatibility
>          using TLVs.
>        - Datapath: Data path files are also separated similarly. More information
>          will be provided in later patches.
>        - Core initialization, reset, and recovery sequences: These will be part
>          of the shared code.
> 
> Device-specific code includes:
>        - Hardware capabilities, configurations, HAL, and other
>          architecture-specific logic.
> 
> The original ath12k.ko is split into these two modules as depicted below.
> 
>                                        +-----------------+
>                                        |                 |
>                                        |   ath12k.ko     |
>                                        |    (common)     |
>      +---------------+                 |                 |
>      |               |                 +-----------------+
>      |   ath12k.ko   | ===========>
>      |               |                 +------------------+
>      +---------------+                 |                  |
>                                        | ath12k_wifi7.ko  |
>                                        | (wifi7 family)   |
>                                        |                  |
>                                        +------------------+
> 
> The ath12k.ko module will serve as the common component, while ath12k_wifi7.ko
> will be the architecture-specific module for WiFi-7 devices.
> 
> After this modular separation, adding support for a new device will
> primarily involve implementing device-specific code, while reusing the
> majority of the shared common components.
> 
> ---
> Kiran Venkatappa (13):
>        wifi: ath12k: Restructure PCI code to common and Wi-Fi 7 specific logic
>        wifi: ath12k: Move Copy Engine configuration to Wi-Fi 7 specific file
>        wifi: ath12k: Move Wi-Fi 7 WMI configuration to dedicated file
>        wifi: ath12k: Move Wi-Fi 7 MHI configuration to dedicated file
>        wifi: ath12k: Rename hw.c to Wi-Fi 7 specific implementation file
>        wifi: ath12k: Rename ahb_hif_ops to reflect generic usage
>        wifi: ath12k: Restructure ahb.c into common and Wi-Fi 7 specific modules
>        wifi: ath12k: Move Wi-Fi 7 specific init routines to dedicated file
>        wifi: ath12k: Move hw_init invocation to target-specific probe
>        wifi: ath12k: Modularize driver into common and Wi-Fi 7 specific components
>        wifi: ath12k: Rename ath12k_* symbols to ath12k_wifi7_* for clarity
>        wifi: ath12k: Remove HAL defines from shared PCI code
>        wifi: ath12k: Remove HAL define dependencies from shared AHB code
>   
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/Makefile         |   4 +-
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/ahb.c            | 139 ++--
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/ahb.h            |  27 +-
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/ce.c             | 301 -------
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/ce.h             |   5 +-
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/core.c           |  38 +-
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/core.h           |   7 +
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/debug.c          |   4 +
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/dp_rx.c          |   3 +
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/hal.c            |   4 +
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/htc.c            |   2 +
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/hw.h             |   2 -
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/mhi.c            | 130 ---
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/mhi.h            |   4 +-
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/pci.c            | 215 ++---
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/pci.h            |  28 +-
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/peer.c           |   2 +
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/wifi7/Makefile   |  10 +
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/wifi7/ahb.c      |  71 ++
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/wifi7/ahb.h      |  20 +
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/wifi7/ce.c       | 973 +++++++++++++++++++++++
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/wifi7/ce.h       |  22 +
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/wifi7/core.c     |  44 +
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/{ => wifi7}/hw.c | 798 +++----------------
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/wifi7/hw.h       |  13 +
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/wifi7/mhi.c      | 138 ++++
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/wifi7/mhi.h      |  11 +
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/wifi7/pci.c      | 188 +++++
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/wifi7/pci.h      |  12 +
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/wifi7/wmi.c      | 105 +++
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/wifi7/wmi.h      |  15 +
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/wmi.c            |  97 ---
>   drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/wmi.h            |   4 -
>   33 files changed, 1956 insertions(+), 1480 deletions(-)

Reviewed-by: Vasanthakumar Thiagarajan <vasanthakumar.thiagarajan at oss.qualcomm.com>