Linux Wireless

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===== wpa_supplicant Linux documentation page =====

[[http://w1.fi/wpa_supplicant/|wpa_supplicant]] is a userspace application which works as a WPA supplicant and SME (to handle initiating MLME commands). This page is dedicated only to the documentation relating to the Linux aspects of wpa_supplicant. For further documentation please refer to: 
  * [[http://w1.fi/wpa_supplicant/|wpa_supplicant's home page]] 
  * Latest [[https://w1.fi/cgit/hostap/tree/wpa_supplicant/README|README]] and well-commented [[https://w1.fi/cgit/hostap/tree/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf|configuration file]] 


===== Supported Linux wireless cards/drivers =====
    * Linux drivers that support Linux [[en/developers/documentation/wireless-extensions|Wireless Extensions]] v19 or newer with WPA/WPA2 extensions 
    * All Linux mac80211 drivers 
    * Host AP driver for Prism2/2.5/3 (WPA and WPA2) 
    * Linuxant [[http://www.linuxant.com/driverloader/|DriverLoader]] with Windows NDIS driver supporting WPA/WPA2 
    * Agere Systems Inc. Linux Driver (Hermes-I/Hermes-II chipset) (WPA, but not WPA2) 
    * madwifi (Atheros ar521x) 
    * ATMEL AT76C5XXx 
    * Linux ndiswrapper 
    * Broadcom wl.o driver 
    * Wired Ethernet drivers 
===== Download =====

Please refer to the wpa_supplicant home page for release information 

[[http://w1.fi/wpa_supplicant/|http://w1.fi/wpa_supplicant/]] 


==== Git ====

You can clone this tree: 
<code>git://w1.fi/srv/git/hostap.git</code>
If you have to use http you can also use: 


<code>http://w1.fi/hostap.git</code>
For your convenience we have here a few shortcuts: 
      * [[http://w1.fi/releases.html|Release graph]] 
      * [[http://w1.fi/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?p=hostap.git;a=blob_plain;f=wpa_supplicant/ChangeLog|development branch ChangeLog]] 
      * [[http://w1.fi/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?p=hostap-06.git;a=blob_plain;f=wpa_supplicant/ChangeLog|stable branch ChangeLog]] 


===== Developer's documentation =====
        * [[http://w1.fi/wpa_supplicant/devel/|Developers' documentation for wpa_supplicant 0.6.x]] 


===== Mailing lists =====
          * [[http://lists.shmoo.com/mailman/listinfo/hostap|Mailing list]] 
          * [[http://lists.shmoo.com/pipermail/hostap/|New mailing list archives]] 


===== Bugs / feature requests =====

If you want to make sure your bug report of feature request does not get lost, please report it through the bug tracking system as a new bug/feature request. 

[[http://w1.fi/bugz/enter_bug.cgi|http://w1.fi/bugz/enter_bug.cgi]] 


===== Setting the regulatory domain =====

You can add a line to your wpa_supplicant configuration file which specifies the ISO / IEC 3166 country code. This is available as of wpa_supplicant version 0.6.7. 


<code>country=US</code>

===== Enabling control interface and nl80211 driver =====

New wpa_supplicant (as of commit cd27df100b from git) command line options 


<code>-o<driver> and -O<ctrl></code>
can now be used to override the parameters received in add interface command from dbus or global ctrl_interface. This can be used to enable a control interface when using [[NetworkManager|NetworkManager]] or Connman or change the wpa_supplicant driver used. 

The wpa_supplicant control interface is used by wpa_cli and wpa_gui to control wpa_supplicant. GUI applications use the DBUS service file to run wpa_supplicant with specific parameters. You can edit this file to take advantage of these new changes. 

The wpa_supplicant service file is typically available on systems in the following location: 


<code>/usr/share/dbus-1/system-services/fi.epitest.hostap.WPASupplicant.service</code>
This service file typically looks like this: 


<code>[D-BUS Service]
Name=fi.epitest.hostap.WPASupplicant
Exec=/sbin/wpa_supplicant -u -f /var/log/wpa_supplicant.log
User=root</code>
Change it as follows to enable usage of wpa_cli or wpa_gui and also to use nl80211 when available: 


<code>[D-BUS Service]
Name=fi.epitest.hostap.WPASupplicant
Exec=/sbin/wpa_supplicant -u -onl80211 -O/var/run/wpa_supplicant
User=root</code>
If you are compiling the supplicant you will want CONFIG_CTRL_IFACE_DBUS=y to enable -u, CONFIG_DRIVER_NL80211=y for -onl80211 and CONFIG_CTRL_IFACE=y for the control interface. To enable usage of wpa_cli you will also want CONFIG_READLINE=y. Also enable CONFIG_DEBUG_FILE=y for the debug file. 


===== WPS and WEP =====

The Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS; originally Wi-Fi Simple Config, or WSC) 2.0 specification added explicit requirement that disallows use of WEP. wpa_supplicant complies with that requirement and rejects WEP networks if WPS 2.0 is enabled. It should also be noted that there has been a number of interoperability issues with WEP and WPS 1.0 since this combination has never been tested in WFA certification programs. 


===== WPS and hidden SSIDs =====

Hidden SSIDs are explicitly disallowed with WPS (any version of WPS), the protocol just does not work with hidden SSIDs. 


===== RSN preauthentication =====

Read [[en/users/Documentation/hostapd|hostapd's RSN pre authentication documentation]] for a review on what is expected on the AP configuration side of things. If APs are configured properly with RSN preauthentication wpa_supplicant will by default enable this so long as WPA2 networks are used. 

Based on some events wpa_supplicant update our RSN PMKSA candidate list for preauthentication. The RSN PMKSA candidate list for wpa_supplicant is determined by rsn_preauth_scan_result(). rsn_preauth_scan_result() gets called today after a scan completion. For each BSS found it rsn_preauth_scan_result() will ensure: 
            * It must not be the same AP (BSSID) its already associated to 
            * Same SSID required 
            * The AP must be ensuring it annotates it has preauthentication capability on its IEs otherwise we'll ignore processing RSN preauth for it unless the Opportunistic Key Caching has been enabled for the SSID on wpa_supplicant.conf (okc=1). 
            * Enabling okc=1 will also first treat APs with the same SSID as if they had the same PMK, this behaviour is disabled by default RSN preauthentication is enabled by default on wpa_supplicant for WPA2 networks you can modify okc=1 as documented above however. A full example working [[https://gist.github.com/mcgrof/5515450|wpa_supplicanat RSN preauthentication supplicant.conf]] is available for review.
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