[Patch v3] supplicant: add dbus getter method for nl80211 iftype

[Jouni Malinen]

On Thu, Dec 18, 2014 at 01:59:18PM +0530, Avinash Patil wrote:
> Simultaneous AP/STA operations are expected using wpa_supplicant.
> Since mlan0 is interface with smaller ifindex, connman tries to start AP
> operation
> on mlan0 interface and fails because it cannot change iftype.
> 
> So an approach is expected where current interface type(station/AP) for
> particular ifindex can be known beforehand.
> This information would be used by Connman to decide whether to start AP or
> move to next interface.

I don't understand this logic at all. Shouldn't the known capabilities,
not the current interface type, be used to select which interface is
used? wpas_dbus_getter_capabilities() is already exposing whether an
interface can support AP mode.

> Similar logic can be extended to other interfaces- e.g. start station
> operations only when iftyt)pe is STATION; start
> P2P client operations only when iftype P2P_CLIENT. This is reason why I
> have used  (nl80211_iftype_str() output).
> To ensure output string to dbus application is driver independent, I will
> modify patch so as to send generic strings e.g.-
> AP, STATION, P2P_CLIENT & P2P_GO. All other strings can be moved to
> "UNKNOWN" iftype for now.

I don't really see any point in exposing the current interface type. I
would not have any issues with exposing supported interface type(s).

> Notification handlers were suggested by Dan Williams so that connection
> manager or other applications would come to know when iftype changes.
> I have already ensured notification handlers are introduced at minimal
> places- only for functions where mode change operation happens.
> Please let me know if any of these look redundant to you and I would remove
> them.

What would these be used for? I simply don't see the benefit or use case
for exposing this. Your use case of being able to know whether AP mode
operation can be used has nothing to do with what the current mode at
any point in time happens to be. It has everything to do what the
interface is capable of.. The current mode of an unused interface is
pretty pointless information and if the interface is in use, you can
already determine what its type is based on what kind of connection it
is used for.

-- 
Jouni Malinen                                            PGP id EFC895FA