[PATCH] wifi: ath12k: enable WIPHY_FLAG_DISABLE_WEXT

[Jeff Johnson]

On 4/11/2024 12:41 PM, Jeff Johnson wrote:
> On 4/11/2024 9:56 AM, Kalle Valo wrote:
>> From: Kalle Valo <quic_kvalo at quicinc.com>
>>
>> ath12k will support Multi-Link Operation (MLO) in the future but not yet. A
>> major change with MLO is that cfg80211 will disable Wireless Extension (WEXT)
>> user space interface. To avoid having inconsistent user experience, first
>> supporting WEXT and later not, disable WEXT already now.
>>
>> Now ath12k claims that WEXT is not supported:
>>
>> $ iwconfig wlan0
>> wlan0     no wireless extensions.
>>
>> Tested-on: WCN7850 hw2.0 PCI WLAN.HMT.1.0.c5-00481-QCAHMTSWPL_V1.0_V2.0_SILICONZ-3
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Kalle Valo <quic_kvalo at quicinc.com>
>> ---
>>  drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/mac.c | 6 ++++++
>>  1 file changed, 6 insertions(+)
>>
>> diff --git a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/mac.c b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/mac.c
>> index f15dcd75157d..e989628d7d72 100644
>> --- a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/mac.c
>> +++ b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/mac.c
>> @@ -8556,6 +8556,12 @@ static int ath12k_mac_hw_register(struct ath12k_hw *ah)
>>  	wiphy->features |= NL80211_FEATURE_AP_MODE_CHAN_WIDTH_CHANGE |
>>  				   NL80211_FEATURE_AP_SCAN;
>>  
>> +	/* MLO is not yet supported so disable Wireless Extensions for now
>> +	 * to make sure ath12k users don't use it. This flag can be removed
>> +	 * once WIPHY_FLAG_SUPPORTS_MLO is enabled.
>> +	 */
>> +	wiphy->flags |= WIPHY_FLAG_DISABLE_WEXT;
>> +
>>  	hw->queues = ATH12K_HW_MAX_QUEUES;
>>  	wiphy->tx_queue_len = ATH12K_QUEUE_LEN;
>>  	hw->offchannel_tx_hw_queue = ATH12K_HW_MAX_QUEUES - 1;
>>
>> base-commit: 363e7193eaf258fe7f04e8db560bd8a282a12cd9
> 
> Currently on my version of Ubuntu when I switch to Hotspot mode I'm seeing:
> [   55.189623] warning: `iwconfig' uses wireless extensions which will stop
> working for Wi-Fi 7 hardware; use nl80211
> 
> So are userspace folks aware of the need to move away from iwconfig?
> Is there a Ubuntu / Network Manager fix fir this?

And I've confirmed that with this patch in place I cannot start the Hotspot.
So suggest you sit on that until userspace is ready.

/jeff