Re: Connection problem/kernel oops with orinoco-usb

[Dan Williams <dcbw redhat com>]

On Sun, 2007-10-28 at 19:35 -0700, Sourav K. Mandal wrote:
> On Sun, 2007-10-28 at 22:28 -0400, Darren Albers wrote:
> 
> > > wpa_supplicant connects just fine w/o specifying -Dwext.  The only
> > > effect -Dwext has on wpa_supplicant is that it doesn't run
> > > "SIOCGIWSCAN".  (logs attached)
> > >
> > > wpa_supplicant seems to call "SIOCSIWAUTH" whether launched manually or
> > > by NM.  However, it's only in the case with NM that association
> > > ultimately fails and the driver gets into a flaky state.  This may be
> > > due to the "AP_SCAN 2" step.  (see previous email with NM log)
> > >
> > > I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to make this work, or whether
> > > NM or the driver need modification.
> 
> > That explains the problem then; when you don't pass a driver to
> > wpa_supplicant it uses the hostap driver by default.   NetworkManager
> > only works with drivers that support the use of wireless extensions
> > (WEXT) so in order for this card to work with NetworkManager it must
> > support WEXT which it evidently does not, or at least the version you
> > have does not.
> 
> When I run wpa_supplicant manually with the -Dwext switch, it still
> works.
> 
> However, NM not only runs wpa_supplicant with -Dwext switch, it then
> also tries to actually use the wireless extensions, which I don't do
> when running manually.  Since the driver doesn't properly support these
> wireless extensions, NM can't connect and the driver oopses the kernel.
> 
> Is this correct?

NM never touches the AUTH extensions itself.  Only wpa_supplicant does
this.  NM will get info from the card, like BSSID and ESSID while the
card is associated, but that's it.

The only reason NM should be using AP_SCAN=2 is if your network is
hidden.  Is that the case here?  Hidden networks are more trouble than
they are worth, and if you can unhide it (and use appropriate security
of course) that's the best thing to do.

AP_SCAN=2 is what wpa_supplicant specifies to use when the AP is hidden,
and therefore that's what NM uses.  If there's a bug with ap_scan=2
support with hidden SSIDs, then that bug needs to get fixed in the
driver or wpa_supplicant.

Dan