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Linux Kernel - nl80211

Linux Kernel : nl80211

All about nl80211


What is covered in this article - nl80211

  • What is nl80211 and libnl
    1. nl80211 - working flow inside Kernel
    2. libnl-genl - working flow in Userspace
    3. Utilites and Other details


What is nl80211 and libnl

  • nl80211 is the interface between user space software (iw, wpa_supplicant, etc.) and the kernel (cfg80211 and mac80211 kernel modules, and specific drivers)

  • nl80211 is a sub-module of cfg80211 in kernel, which is in charge of:
    1. Register a generic netlink(nl) family “nl80211”
    2. Hande the message for “nl80211” generic nl family from userpace via libnl
    3. Send message to userspace program which is participate in monitoring the generic nl family “nl80211”

  • libnl is a library that provide many APIs for userspace program to communicate with the kernel throught nl
    1. libnl - provide fundamental functions for constructing nl connection, message, ...
    2. libnl-genl - provide functions to communicate with generic nl family in kernel

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