linux-kernel - Re: Challenges with doing hardware bring up with Linux first

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Message-ID: <20101121130236.GE23423@thunk.org>
Date:	Sun, 21 Nov 2010 08:02:36 -0500
From:	Ted Ts'o <tytso@....edu>
To:	"Luis R. Rodriguez" <lrodriguez@...eros.com>
Cc:	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	linux-wireless <linux-wireless@...r.kernel.org>,
	Greg KH <greg@...ah.com>, David Miller <davem@...emloft.net>,
	"John W. Linville" <linville@...driver.com>,
	Stephen Hemminger <shemminger@...tta.com>,
	"Perez-Gonzalez, Inaky" <inaky.perez-gonzalez@...el.com>,
	Charles Marker <Charles.Marker@...eros.com>,
	Jouni Malinen <Jouni.Malinen@...eros.com>,
	Kevin Hayes <kevin@...eros.com>,
	Zhifeng Cai <zhifeng.cai@...eros.com>,
	Don Breslin <Don.Breslin@...eros.com>,
	Doug Dahlby <Doug.Dahlby@...eros.com>,
	Julia Lawall <julia@...u.dk>
Subject: Re: Challenges with doing hardware bring up with Linux first

On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 08:46:11AM -0800, Luis R. Rodriguez wrote:
> > What this provides for is a wonderful leverage for hardware
> > vendors.   If they provide GPL'ed code for their core hardware
> > drivers that link against the Linux 802.11 layer, at one fell
> > swoop they also get Windows 7 and Mac OS X drivers for free!
> 
> Yes, indeed ! That would be ideal indeed, but we'd need then an 802.11
> stack which is also permissive licensed and then make APIs for that
> 802.11 stack to match mac80211's or cfg80211's or bridges between
> then. Because ultimately you will still need some 802.11 stack for
> some OSes that don't have one.

I wonder how much this is true.  Yes, at the moment we still need to
worry about those OS's that don't have one; but how much longer will
hardware vendors need to support Windows XP?  If Linux, Windows 7, and
Mac OS X all have an 802.11 stack, what other OS's do the hardware
vendors need to support?

						- Ted
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