Some compilation errors with current CVS and SuSE 80

[Pavel Roskin]

On Mon, 15 Dec 2003, mrcool at stupidgamerz.com wrote:

> Sorry to bother everybody some more...  12/15/03 CVS trying to compile
> drivers... SuSE 8.0 First thing after a fresh install.  Stock kernel, etc.
> (2.4.18-4GB, kernel pcmcia).  I did turn on all "prism2_download" items and
> pci busmastering in drivers/modules/hostap_config.h .  Im sure this will be
> easy for you C++ programmers...

Actually, hostap and the kernel are written in C, not in C++.

> driver/modules/hostap_hw.c:2388: `IWEVTXDROP' undeclared (first use in this
> function)

IWEVTXDROP is defined in wireless extensions 14 and above.  The head
branch of hostap supports only recent 2.4 and 2.6 kernels,  2.4.18 kernel
is by no means recent.  Get a newer kernel or use hostap 0.1.2.

> This is a test machine i built just for the purpose of testing the DWL
> 520 Rev. E1 that aparently does not have the firmware on the card, but
> needs to be loaded with the driver.  Am I correct in the presumption
> that the 0.1.2 driver doesnt have the code to load the driver without
> the firmware present?

You are correct.  If you read the Jouni's reply, no version of hostap has
complete support for cards without flash, but we are close to getting
there.

Unfortunately, it seems that some progress was done only on the head
branch.  From ChangeLog:

        * added no_primary module option for allowing initialization to
          continue even if card reset times out (e.g., to recover from
          corrupted primary firmware image)

I suggest that you get a newer kernel and work with the CVS version.
It's easier than to backport the CVS version to your kernel.  You can try
backporting if you want, but you should learn to tell C from C++ first :-)

> Anyway... what have i done wrong to create this error?

I think it's a wrong way to ask questions.  You are inviting others to
criticize you before you even know that you are wrong.  You may want to
read this document:  http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Sometimes it's just easier to drop support for old software.  2.4 kernels
have mostly stable API, but wireless extensions have been changing lately.
Supporting all versions of wireless extensions has become a burden.  Old
software may be adequate for some tasks, but not for development of
drivers for a relatively new class of hardware.

-- 
Regards,
Pavel Roskin