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Linux wireless regulatory documentation
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---------------------------------------
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This document gives a brief review over how the Linux wireless
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regulatory infrastructure works.
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More up to date information can be obtained at the project's web page:
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http://wireless.kernel.org/en/developers/Regulatory
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Keeping regulatory domains in userspace
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---------------------------------------
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Due to the dynamic nature of regulatory domains we keep them
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in userspace and provide a framework for userspace to upload
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to the kernel one regulatory domain to be used as the central
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core regulatory domain all wireless devices should adhere to.
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How to get regulatory domains to the kernel
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-------------------------------------------
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Userspace gets a regulatory domain in the kernel by having
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a userspace agent build it and send it via nl80211. Only
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expected regulatory domains will be respected by the kernel.
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A currently available userspace agent which can accomplish this
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is CRDA - central regulatory domain agent. Its documented here:
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http://wireless.kernel.org/en/developers/Regulatory/CRDA
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Essentially the kernel will send a udev event when it knows
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it needs a new regulatory domain. A udev rule can be put in place
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to trigger crda to send the respective regulatory domain for a
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specific ISO/IEC 3166 alpha2.
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Below is an example udev rule which can be used:
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# Example file, should be put in /etc/udev/rules.d/regulatory.rules
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KERNEL=="regulatory*", ACTION=="change", SUBSYSTEM=="platform", RUN+="/sbin/crda"
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The alpha2 is passed as an environment variable under the variable COUNTRY.
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Who asks for regulatory domains?
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--------------------------------
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http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Documentation/iw
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# set regulatory domain to "Costa Rica"
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This will request the kernel to set the regulatory domain to
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the specificied alpha2. The kernel in turn will then ask userspace
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to provide a regulatory domain for the alpha2 specified by the user
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* Wireless subsystems for Country Information elements
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The kernel will send a uevent to inform userspace a new
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regulatory domain is required. More on this to be added
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as its integration is added.
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If drivers determine they need a specific regulatory domain
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set they can inform the wireless core using regulatory_hint().
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They have two options -- they either provide an alpha2 so that
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crda can provide back a regulatory domain for that country or
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they can build their own regulatory domain based on internal
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custom knowledge so the wireless core can respect it.
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*Most* drivers will rely on the first mechanism of providing a
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regulatory hint with an alpha2. For these drivers there is an additional
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check that can be used to ensure compliance based on custom EEPROM
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regulatory data. This additional check can be used by drivers by
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registering on its struct wiphy a reg_notifier() callback. This notifier
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is called when the core's regulatory domain has been changed. The driver
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can use this to review the changes made and also review who made them
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(driver, user, country IE) and determine what to allow based on its
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internal EEPROM data. Devices drivers wishing to be capable of world
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roaming should use this callback. More on world roaming will be
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added to this document when its support is enabled.
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Device drivers who provide their own built regulatory domain
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do not need a callback as the channels registered by them are
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the only ones that will be allowed and therefore *additional*
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channels cannot be enabled.
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Example code - drivers hinting an alpha2:
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------------------------------------------
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This example comes from the zd1211rw device driver. You can start
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by having a mapping of your device's EEPROM country/regulatory
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domain value to a specific alpha2 as follows:
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static struct zd_reg_alpha2_map reg_alpha2_map[] = {
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{ ZD_REGDOMAIN_FCC, "US" },
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{ ZD_REGDOMAIN_IC, "CA" },
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{ ZD_REGDOMAIN_ETSI, "DE" }, /* Generic ETSI, use most restrictive */
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{ ZD_REGDOMAIN_JAPAN, "JP" },
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{ ZD_REGDOMAIN_JAPAN_ADD, "JP" },
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{ ZD_REGDOMAIN_SPAIN, "ES" },
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{ ZD_REGDOMAIN_FRANCE, "FR" },
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Then you can define a routine to map your read EEPROM value to an alpha2,
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static int zd_reg2alpha2(u8 regdomain, char *alpha2)
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struct zd_reg_alpha2_map *reg_map;
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for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(reg_alpha2_map); i++) {
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reg_map = ®_alpha2_map[i];
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if (regdomain == reg_map->reg) {
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alpha2[0] = reg_map->alpha2[0];
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alpha2[1] = reg_map->alpha2[1];
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Lastly, you can then hint to the core of your discovered alpha2, if a match
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was found. You need to do this after you have registered your wiphy. You
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are expected to do this during initialization.
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r = zd_reg2alpha2(mac->regdomain, alpha2);
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regulatory_hint(hw->wiphy, alpha2);
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Example code - drivers providing a built in regulatory domain:
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--------------------------------------------------------------
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[NOTE: This API is not currently available, it can be added when required]
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If you have regulatory information you can obtain from your
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driver and you *need* to use this we let you build a regulatory domain
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structure and pass it to the wireless core. To do this you should
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kmalloc() a structure big enough to hold your regulatory domain
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structure and you should then fill it with your data. Finally you simply
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call regulatory_hint() with the regulatory domain structure in it.
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Bellow is a simple example, with a regulatory domain cached using the stack.
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Your implementation may vary (read EEPROM cache instead, for example).
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Example cache of some regulatory domain
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struct ieee80211_regdomain mydriver_jp_regdom = {
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//.alpha2 = "99", /* If I have no alpha2 to map it to */
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/* IEEE 802.11b/g, channels 1..14 */
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REG_RULE(2412-20, 2484+20, 40, 6, 20, 0),
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/* IEEE 802.11a, channels 34..48 */
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REG_RULE(5170-20, 5240+20, 40, 6, 20,
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NL80211_RRF_PASSIVE_SCAN),
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/* IEEE 802.11a, channels 52..64 */
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REG_RULE(5260-20, 5320+20, 40, 6, 20,
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NL80211_RRF_NO_IBSS |
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Then in some part of your code after your wiphy has been registered:
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struct ieee80211_regdomain *rd;
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int num_rules = mydriver_jp_regdom.n_reg_rules;
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size_of_regd = sizeof(struct ieee80211_regdomain) +
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(num_rules * sizeof(struct ieee80211_reg_rule));
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rd = kzalloc(size_of_regd, GFP_KERNEL);
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memcpy(rd, &mydriver_jp_regdom, sizeof(struct ieee80211_regdomain));
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for (i=0; i < num_rules; i++)
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memcpy(&rd->reg_rules[i],
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&mydriver_jp_regdom.reg_rules[i],
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sizeof(struct ieee80211_reg_rule));
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regulatory_struct_hint(rd);
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Statically compiled regulatory database
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---------------------------------------
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In most situations the userland solution using CRDA as described
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above is the preferred solution. However in some cases a set of
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rules built into the kernel itself may be desirable. To account
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for this situation, a configuration option has been provided
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(i.e. CONFIG_CFG80211_INTERNAL_REGDB). With this option enabled,
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the wireless database information contained in net/wireless/db.txt is
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used to generate a data structure encoded in net/wireless/regdb.c.
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That option also enables code in net/wireless/reg.c which queries
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the data in regdb.c as an alternative to using CRDA.
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The file net/wireless/db.txt should be kept up-to-date with the db.txt
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file available in the git repository here:
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git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/linville/wireless-regdb.git
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Again, most users in most situations should be using the CRDA package
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provided with their distribution, and in most other situations users
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should be building and using CRDA on their own rather than using
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this option. If you are not absolutely sure that you should be using
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CONFIG_CFG80211_INTERNAL_REGDB then _DO_NOT_USE_IT_.