Update intel wifi_drv

[Stefan Kalkowski]

Hi Pirmin,

On Tue, Sep 07, 2021 at 02:14:24PM +0200, Pirmin Duss wrote:
> Hello Genodians
> 
> We have an ARM platform with a Intel AX200NGW WIFI module. This isn't
> supported by the current `wifi_drv`. Support for this module type was
> recently added to the Linux kernel.
> 
> If no one has already started upgrading `wifi_drv` I would volunteer to
> update the driver to the new Linux-device-driver environment.

Well that is commendable! AFAIK nobody works on updating the WiFi
Linux-device-driver yet.

> 
> I would at first create the version for x86_64 which can be tested more
> easily. If this works I would then create the version for ARM64.

Yes that makes sense to first update the x86 version.

However, you have to be aware that there are still some obstacles in
the way. Therefore, you should be prepared that it will take you
rather months than just days.
First the new Linux device-driver environment approach and tooling -
introduced in release 21.08 - was not yet used with other
architectures than ARM64. Especially, the emulation environment
currently works for device-tree drivers only, not PCI devices.
Moreover, the emulation environment uses the new Platform driver API
as backend, which currently is available for ARM only. That means you
will have to invest some time to re-work the new Linux emulation
approach with the legacy platform driver API for x86.

Moreover, you need to know that the WiFi driver is a hybrid component
that consists not only of the Linux device driver part. The
libc-based wpa_supplicant port is co-located with the Linux device
driver, and probably its implementation is kernel version dependent
too. I'm no expert in this area, but you probably have to update the
wpa_supplicant port concurrently.

Having said this, of course it would be absolutely great if you update
the driver to a more recent version.

Best regards
Stefan

> 
> Best regards,
> Pirmin
> 
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-- 
Stefan Kalkowski
Genode labs

https://github.com/skalk | https://genode.org