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git-svn-id: http://madwifi-project.org/svn/madwifi/trunk@3878 0192ed92-7a03-0410-a25b-9323aeb14dbd
212 lines
7.7 KiB
Plaintext
212 lines
7.7 KiB
Plaintext
MADWIFI: Multimode Atheros Driver for WiFi on Linux
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===================================================
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* Copyright (c) 2002-2005 Sam Leffler. All rights reserved.
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Read the file COPYRIGHT for the complete copyright.
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Requirements
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------------
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- Configured kernel sources of the target kernel. Most Linux
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distributions provide a kernel development package - it should
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suffice.
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- Wireless Extensions support - option CONFIG_NET_RADIO or
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CONFIG_WIRELESS_EXT in kernel .config file, whichever is available.
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- Sysctl support - option CONFIG_SYSCTL in kernel .config file.
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- Crypto API support - option CONFIG_CRYPTO in kernel .config file (AES
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support is used if present, otherwise the AES-CCMP cipher module falls
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back to a private implementation).
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- gcc of the same version that was used to compile the kernel. At least
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make sure that the first two version numbers or the compiler are the
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same (e.g. it's OK to use gcc 3.4.6 to compile MadWifi if the kernel
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was compiled by gcc 3.4.2). Ignoring this rule will cause "Invalid
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module format" errors during module load.
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Linux 2.4.x kernels starting with 2.4.22 and 2.6 kernels should work
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without problems. Due to quick pace of Linux development, there is no
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way compatibility with the future 2.6 kernels can be ensured. However,
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the latest 2.6 kernel at the time of the release should be expected to
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work.
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Automatic module loading support (CONFIG_KMOD) is highly recommended;
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otherwise, you'll need to load all required modules manually.
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Building the driver
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-------------------
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The driver is built using the Linux kernel build mechanism. This means
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you must have some part of the kernel source distribution installed on
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the machine where you want to build the driver. In particular, the
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kernel include files, makefiles, build scripts and configuration must be
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available.
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This will be present if you built your kernel from source. Otherwise
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you may need to install an additional kernel development package from
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your distribution that would match your kernel. For example, the
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development package for the default kernel is called linux-headers on
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Debian and kernel-devel on Fedora Core. Installing a package with full
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kernel sources should not be generally necessary.
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Note: in the following examples "$" stands for your system prompt;
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you're not expected to type that as part of the actual command. "#"
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stands for the command prompt when the commands must be executed by
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root.
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Most people can just type:
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$ make
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in the top-level MadWifi source directory to build all the modules for
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the currently running system.
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You MUST do a "make clean" before compiling for a different version of
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Linux, e.g. building for 2.6 after building for 2.4.
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If you want to compile MadWifi for a different kernel, you need to
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specify the location of the kernel build tree, e.g.:
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$ make KERNELPATH=/usr/src/linux-2.6.3
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Note that you can also specify this path by setting an environment
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variable; e.g.
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$ export KERNELPATH=/usr/src/linux-2.6.3
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$ make
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If the kernel was built outside the source directory, KERNELPATH should
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point to the output directory where .config is located, not to the
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sources.
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This distribution includes support for a variety of target platforms.
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Because of the binary nature of the HAL not all platforms are supported
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(the list grows as time permits). The supported target platforms can be
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found with:
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$ ls hal/public/*.inc
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A target specifies the CPU architecture, byte order (unless implied by
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the CPU), and the ABI/file format. For most popular platforms, the
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build system will find the appropriate files. When cross-compiling or
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compiling for less common platforms, the target platform may need to be
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specified using the TARGET variable, e.g:
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$ make TARGET=armv4-le-elf
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Consult the contents of the .inc file to find out what the target
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platform is and what toolchain was used to build the HAL object module.
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Beware of mixing toolchains; some target platforms require that the HAL
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and driver be built with the same toolchain (i.e. compiler, assembler,
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and linker) and the same compiler flags. If you get warnings about
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incompatible compiler flags, chances are that you are compiling for a
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wrong target or using an incompatible compiler.
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Cross-compiling
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---------------
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The build system is designed to support cross-compiling without any
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modification to the distribution files. It should be sufficient to
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specify any parameters on the make command line.
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In most cases, only KERNELPATH and CROSS_COMPILE need to be defined.
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CROSS_COMPILE is the prefix for cross-compiling tools. For instance, if
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the cross compiler is called arm-linux-gcc, set CROSS_COMPILE to
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"arm-linux-":
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$ make KERNELPATH=/usr/src/linux-arm CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-
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The build system determines ARCH and TARGET based on the .config file in
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the Linux build tree. TARGET still may need to be provided on the
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command line some uncommon systems. If ARCH is determined incorrectly,
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please report it.
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If the compiler needs additional flags to compile userspace binaries,
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you can redefine CC to include those flags.
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When installing MadWifi, set DESTDIR to the root of the target
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filesystem, so that the cross-compiled binaries don't overwrite the
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native ones.
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Loading the modules
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-------------------
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Building the software will generate numerous loadable modules:
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ath_pci Atheros driver for PCI/Cardbus devices
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ath_hal Atheros HAL
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wlan 802.11 support layer
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wlan_wep WEP cipher support
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wlan_tkip TKIP cipher support
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wlan_ccmp AES-CCMP cipher support
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wlan_xauth external authenticator
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wlan_acl MAC ACL support for AP operation
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wlan_scan_ap AP scanning support
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wlan_scan_sta station scanning support
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ath_rate_onoe ONOE rate control
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ath_rate_amrr AMRR rate control
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ath_rate_sample SAMPLE rate control
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The ath_pci module must be loaded either manually or by the system, e.g.
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through the hotplug or card manager support. The remaining modules are
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loaded automatically as needed, so after doing a "make install" you only
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need to run following:
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# modprobe ath_pci
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For automatic module loading you may need to modify your system's
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configuration files so the necessary modules are loaded when an Atheros
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device is recognized. The exact procedure varies from system to system.
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There are module parameters available to fit your needs, e.g. you can
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set the countrycode manually if your card's EEPROM does not contain the
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correct one for your location. See
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http://www.unicode.org/onlinedat/countries.html to find your code.
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To activate German frequencies you would specify:
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# modprobe ath_pci countrycode=276
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MadWifi currently provides four different rate control algorithms,
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ONOE, AMRR, SAMPLE and MINSTREL. SAMPLE and MINSTREL are both very
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advanced, but MINSTREL is quite new. Consequently, SAMPLE is used by
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default. In order to make MadWifi use e.g. AMRR instead, you have to
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specify that as the module parameter e.g.
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# modprobe ath_pci ratectl=amrr
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NOTE: Changing the rate control is only required (and recommended) for
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users who want to setup an access point using MadWifi in difficult
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(e.g. lossy) environments and who know what they are doing.
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To see all available module parameters type:
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$ modinfo ath_pci
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Integrating into the kernel sources
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-----------------------------------
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It is also possible to patch Linux kernel sources to integrate MadWifi
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directly into the kernel tree. This allows building MadWifi as part of
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the kernel. This could be useful for embedded systems that don't
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support loadable modules. Please refer to patch-kernel/README for
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details.
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Further information
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-------------------
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Further information on how to work with the driver can be found in the
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file README. In addition, the project's wiki has a lot of valuable
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information:
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http://madwifi.org/
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