[lug] WAP support in latest kernel

[Nate Duehr]

Michael J. Hammel wrote:
> I was talking with Jon Corbet last week and he mentioned that the
> upcoming 2.6.14 was supposed to include support for making a Linux box a
> wireless access point.  I might have misunderstood what that meant, but
> does anyone have any background on that?  Does that mean I'll be able to
> hook a wireless client directly into the Linux server without buying a
> Linksys box to go between them?  If so, that offers some cool
> possibilities.
> 
> What was missing in the kernel that kept it from acting as a WAP prior
> to 2.6.14?

I wonder if maybe there's been work to move the AP stuff up higher into 
the kernel so any card can be used???

Previously, you had to run daemons like hostapd 
(http://hostap.epitest.fi/hostapd/) for the authentication portion of 
"life as an AP", and have a chipset that could be used by such a daemon 
like the Prism, Prism54, madwifi, etc.

Maybe they're figuring out how to move the AP daemon code into the 
kernel permanently as a feature and also teach all the kernel-supported 
card drivers to have an interface where the kernel can control raw 
over-the-air responses so they can emulate an AP in software?

I'm not sure actually if that's the "correct" way to go when it comes to 
Unix.  The kernel+driver+daemon seems more "Unixy" to me.  The kernel's 
generally getting massively bloated with features that really belong in 
userspace.

Nate