December 23, 2008
The 2.6.28 kernel is released. About 330 patches related to wireless have been merged and once again this release brings a slew of new wireless features to the kernel:
regulatory support – the kernel will now attempt to obey local wireless spectrum regulations
libertas_tf – a thin firmware driver for the XO-1's wireless
ath5k gains mesh networking
the full-mac orinoco driver gains WPA support
p54 gains 5 GHz support
- mac80211 got mesh portal functionality (bridging a mesh mode interface)
the minstrel rate control algorithm was added along with rate control API improvements
- nl80211 userspace API improvements for various things
As usual, some drivers and mac80211 received cleanups and API changes:
- Some mac80211 driver operations are no longer required to be atomic which makes drivers simpler
- mac80211 code was restructured to be easier to read
- more station information is shared with the driver
- the rate control API was rewritten and made available to outside mac80211 (due to be updated again in 2.6.29 for better HT control etc.)