Glossary
Terms we use throughout the wiki with which you should become familiar.
===== BSS =====
//BSS// stands for //Basic Service Set//. The coverage of an access point is called a //BSS//.
===== cfg80211 =====
Kernel side of configuration management for wireless devices. [[en/developers/Documentation/Glossary#nl80211|nl80211]] is the User-space side of configuration management for wireless devices.
Works together with [[en/developers/Documentation/Glossary#FullMAC|FullMAC]]-drivers and also with [[en/developers/Documentation/Glossary#mac80211|mac80211]]-based drivers.
===== CLI =====
//CLI// stands for //[[wp>Command-line_interface|Command-line interface]]//. These are utilities you can run in the console or terminal emulator.
===== FullMAC =====
//FullMAC// is a term used to describe a type of wireless card where the [[en/developers/Documentation/Glossary#MLME|MLME]] is managed in hardware. You would **not** use [[en/developers/Documentation/Glossary#mac80211|mac80211]] to write a //FullMAC// wireless driver.
===== git-describe =====
git-describe is a git command. It outputs something like this:
//v3.12-11297-g6579946//
The first part is the //tag// for the current release. The second part is the number of patches which have been applied since the tag was applied. The last part, after the first //g// is the SHA1 commit ID of the last commit applied.
===== IBSS =====
//IBSS// stands for //Independent Basic Service Set//. Its basically Ad-Hoc mode. See [[wp>Independent_Basic_Service_Set|Independent Basic Service Set]]
===== Information Element =====
An Information Element (IE) is a part of management frames in the IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN protocol. IEs are a device's way to transfer descriptive information about itself inside management frames. There are usually several IEs inside each such frame, and each is built of [[wp>Type-length-value|Type-length-value]] (TLVs).
The common structure of an IE is as follows:
| 1 | 1 | 1-255 |
+-------+--------+-----------------+
| Type | Length | Data |
+-------+--------+-----------------+
Whereas the vendor specific IE looks like this:
| 1 | 1 | 4 | 1-251 |
+-------+--------+-------------------+------------+
| 221 | Length | OUI | Data |
+-------+--------+-------------------+------------+
===== iw =====
[[en/users/Documentation/iw|iw]] is a new [[en/developers/Documentation/nl80211|nl80211]] based [[en/developers/Documentation/Glossary#CLI|CLI]] configuration utility for wireless devices.
===== nl80211 =====
User-space side of configuration management for wireless devices. It is a Netlink-based user-space protocol. [[en/developers/Documentation/Glossary|cfg80211]] is Kernel side of configuration management for wireless devices.
[[en/users/Documentation|Several user-space applications]] are available which utilize //nl80211//. See [[en/developers/Documentation/nl80211|Developer Docs for nl80211]].
===== mac80211 =====
A driver API for SoftMAC wireless cards. See [[en/developers/Documentation/mac80211|Developer Docs for mac80211]].
See also [[en/developers/Documentation/Glossary#SoftMac|SoftMAC]].
===== MLME =====
//MLME// Stands for //Media Access Control (MAC) Sublayer Management Entity//. MLME is the management entity where the Physical layer (PHY) MAC state machines reside. Examples of states a MLME may assist in reaching:
* Authenticate
* Deauthenticate
* Associate
* Disassociate
* Reassociate
* Beacon
* Probe [[en/developers/Documentation/Glossary#mac80211|mac80211]]'s MLME management implementation is currently handled by ''net/mac80211/mlme.c''. This handles only the client-side MLME.
===== PHY =====
physical-layer controller
===== SME =====
Station Management Entity, often prepended with //AP// (Access Point)
===== SoftMAC =====
//SoftMAC// is a term used to describe a type of WNIC where the [[en/developers/Documentation/Glossary|MLME]] is expected to be managed in software. [[en/developers/Documentation/Glossary#mac80211|mac80211]] is a driver API for SoftMAC WNIC, for example.
===== SSID =====
//SSID// stands for //Service Set IDentifier//. The SSID is a code attached to all packets on a wireless network to identify each packet as part of that network. The code consists of a string of 1-32 octets (usually represented as case sensitive alphanumeric characters).
See also [[wp>Service_set_(802.11_network)|SSID]]
===== Station (STA) =====
//Station// (or //STA//) is the generic term for a device with a radio that can communicate with other //stations// in a wireless network. Common forms of a //station// are access points (AP), computers, or phones.
See also [[wp>Station_(networking)|Station_(networking)]] or [[wp>Wireless_access_point|Wireless access point]].
===== WE =====
//WE// stands for [[en/developers/Documentation/Wireless-Extensions|Wireless-Extensions]] - the old driver API and user <--> kernel communication transport. Obsoleted by [[en/developers/Documentation/Glossary#cfg80211|cfg80211]]
===== WEXT =====
//WEXT// stands for [[en/developers/Documentation/Wireless-Extensions|Wireless-Extensions]] - the old driver API and user <--> kernel communication transport. Obsoleted by [[en/developers/Documentation/Glossary#cfg80211|cfg80211]]
===== WIPHY =====
Wireless [[en/developers/Documentation/Glossary#phy|PHY]].