RE: [PATCH v3 3/4] nl80211: vendor-cmd: add Intel vendor commands for iwlmei usage

["Grumbach, Emmanuel" <emmanuel.grumbach@intel.com>]

> 
> > On Thu, Jun 24, 2021 at 8:09 PM Kalle Valo <kvalo@codeaurora.org> wrote:
> >>
> >> Emmanuel Grumbach <emmanuel.grumbach@intel.com> writes:
> >>
> >> > iwlmei allows to integrate with the CSME firmware. There are flows
> >> > that are prioprietary for this purpose:
> >> >
> >> > * Get the information the AP, the CSME firmware is connected
> >> >   to. This is useful when we need to speed up the connection
> >> >   process in case the CSME firmware has an TCP connection
> >> >   that must be kept alive across the ownership transition.
> >> > * Forbid roaming, which will happen when the CSME firmware
> >> >   wants to tell the user space not disrupt the connection.
> >> > * Request ownership, upon driver boot when the CSME firmware
> >> >   owns the device.
> >>
> >> Vendor command requirements are documented here:
> >>
> >> https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/developers/documentation/nl80211#
> >> vendor-specific_api
> >>
> >> The commit log is not really answering to those. For example, how a
> >> user would use this? Or is there a user space tool?
> >
> > We intend to send those command from the NetworkManager.
> 
> I'm not really fond of the idea that NetworkManager uses nl80211 vendor
> commands, sounds quite hacky to me. I would prefer that NetworkManager
> uses generic nl80211 interface so that it works with every driver. But I need
> to look at v4 to understand more how this all works.
> 

You'd need to look at v5 which I already sent.
Nothing of this can be generic, because it is really Intel proprietary. CSME can only use Intel devices by design.
It uses a proprietary bus implemented only in Intel devices (and not even all of them, only the ones in systems
with the vPRO sticker).
I already touched base with the NetworkManager's maintainers about this. They asked the vendor commands
to be upstream in the kernel, so this is what I am doing.