NOTE: this page is for archival only, see the note at the end of the page.

New project change

This project compat-wireless has been renamed compat-drivers and new documentation information will be based on the following page as of the v3.7 releases:

https://backports.wiki.kernel.org

This page will only host information for the old stable releases up to the v3.6 releases.

Stable compat-wireless releases

This page is dedicated to the stable kernel compat-wireless releases. These releases are based on stable kernel versions. Our goal is to support stable releases on kernels at least as old as the oldest supported kernel listed on kernel.org, today that is 2.6.27 but we have done work to support even older kernels and each driver may also have additional work to support even older kernelsl

As of today every stable version should be compatible with every kernel >= 2.6.26, like the bleeding edge releases. This started with the announcement of work for 2.6.30-rc series and will continue for all stable kernels releases. These stable releases are intended for users looking for more stability than what bleeding edge daily compat-wireless releases provide.

Case for support

Wireless vendors are encouraged to use these releases for support purposes as no extra tree needs to be created and supported. Stable fixes must always be sent upstream as well. This ensures wireless vendors are testing with stable kernels and helping stabilize the kernels further.

Legend

Extra flag meanings:

  • -s - get and apply pending-stable/ from linux-next.git
  • -n - apply the patches linux-next-cherry-picks directory
  • -p - apply the patches on the linux-next-pending directory
  • -c - apply the patches on the crap directory

Release with no extra flags are simply vanilla releases of the kernel. Users are encouraged to use the -spn releases as these releases will have extra fixes not yet propagated. The -s flag for example indicates that the release has patches marked as stable which will be released by the next 2.6.x.y release of the kernel so you might as well get them now. Linux distributions are encouraged to use the extra flagged releases as well. We provide the vanilla releases for those Linux distributions which just want vanilla for whatever reason.

For more on this please see below.

compat-wireless stable releases

Here are the list of stable releases of compat-wireless.

NOTE: Please be aware that the releases below contain code from the given version of the Linux kernel. Therefore to add functionality, you should select a version that is later than your kernel version.

compat-wireless 3.6 stable releases

This will be the last release under the name of compat-wireless and hosted here, for future releases, as of v3.7 releases, visit:

https://backports.wiki.kernel.org

Kernel release

sha1sum

size

ChangeLog-wireless

ckmake.log.bz2

compat-wireless-3.6.8-1.tar.bz2

adcffddf931e26f7e7fdd42e37d1a5cab91fcde3

4.3 MB

ChangeLog-3.6.8

coming

compat-wireless-3.6.8-1-s.tar.bz2

90aac28a180af471e7022c0b6be142eaae42ad2d

4.3 MB

ChangeLog-3.6.8

coming

compat-wireless-3.6.8-1-sn.tar.bz2

7b1e71b97e793d10206b29dfd6feb2e2e050e344

4.3 MB

ChangeLog-3.6.8

coming

compat-wireless-3.6.8-1-snp.tar.bz2

541dc43fb39aad03d09e763cbacc22ccab56211c

4.3 MB

ChangeLog-3.6.8

coming

compat-wireless-3.6.8-1-snpc.tar.bz2

391db33989fb9ce7d4156a0d39417397a8ecf40c

4.3 MB

ChangeLog-3.6.8

coming

compat-wireless 3.5 stable releases

Kernel release

sha1sum

size

ChangeLog-wireless

ckmake.log.bz2

compat-wireless-3.5.4-1.tar.bz2

b271a9b9ee541e87a860e1b43344eaa4a452993b

4.3 MB

ChangeLog-3.5.4

ckmake-3.5.4-1.log.bz2

compat-wireless-3.5.4-1-s.tar.bz2

0c02ebc53aa5d0da483cc2efda61800cfe3757b2

4.3 MB

ChangeLog-3.5.4

ckmake-3.5.4-1-s.log.bz2

compat-wireless-3.5.4-1-sn.tar.bz2

c2a5df1a9bfc69299dd9d0311cdb496400f69929

4.3 MB

ChangeLog-3.5.4

ckmake-3.5.4-1-sn.log.bz2

compat-wireless-3.5.4-1-snp.tar.bz2

5872173b1023dc0ade53df41b0885817afed993e

4.3 MB

ChangeLog-3.5.4

ckmake-3.5.4-1-snp.log.bz2

compat-wireless-3.5.4-1-snpc.tar.bz2

8a37bbc987486a22f0d1ceb564dd0e4f025e9981

4.3 MB

ChangeLog-3.5.4

ckmake-3.5.4-1-snpc.log.bz2

compat-wireless 3.4 stable releases

Kernel release

sha1sum

size

ChangeLog-wireless

ckmake.log.bz2

compat-wireless-3.4-rc3-1.tar.bz2

0e2137bccce41cfb485e2554400d344413283f11

4.1 MB

ChangeLog-3.4-rc3

ckmake-3.4-rc3-1.log.bz2

compat-wireless 3.3 stable releases

Kernel release

sha1sum

size

ChangeLog-wireless

compat-wireless-3.3-1.tar.bz2

e100832be6d157043cb927ba184380dbddb40387

4.0 MB

ChangeLog-3.3-wireless

compat-wireless-3.3-2-n.tar.bz2

dd18cfabbe705a75440fd7fbe50a09d5fe34bb70

4.0 MB

ChangeLog-3.3-wireless

compat-wireless 3.2 stable releases

Kernel release

sha1sum

size

ChangeLog-wireless

compat-wireless-3.2.5-1.tar.bz2

e7bcdc038b9f85e74308b175b41560b6d5a31c50

4.0 MB

ChangeLog-3.2-wireless

compat-wireless 3.1 stable releases

Kernel release

sha1sum

size

ChangeLog-wireless

compat-wireless-3.1.1-1.tar.bz2

d0bb37b9643e21873a0edbe3f8a99f48a826c6e8

4.1 MB

ChangeLog-3.1-wireless

compat-wireless 3.0 stable releases

Kernel release

sha1sum

size

ChangeLog-wireless

compat-wireless-3.0.9-1.tar.bz2

388d2a76d70b0671d65383e121e0078c3aa9cc69

4.1 MB

ChangeLog-3.0-wireless

compat-wireless 2.6.39 stable releases

Kernel release

sha1sum

size

ChangeLog-wireless

compat-wireless-2.6.39-1.tar.bz2

0a97215617be62cebe8cacd2228bc624716c9434

4.2 MB

ChangeLog-2.6.39-wireless

compat-wireless-2.6.39-1-sn.tar.bz2

0c0a9d02a23153e31e3db84a84c1eb62a7615982

4.2 MB

ChangeLog-2.6.39-wireless

compat-wireless 2.6.38 stable releases

Kernel release

sha1sum

size

ChangeLog-wireless

compat-wireless-2.6.38.2-2.tar.bz2

07d1c99c5f9db3413c8ae8a58b8e9d57db78c576

3.9 MB

ChangeLog-2.6.38-wireless

compat-wireless-2.6.38.2-2-ns.tar.bz2

c0470b3cbb3d9b31a1d9a98ea82f4fe344c8ea59

3.9 MB

ChangeLog-2.6.38-wireless

compat-wireless 2.6.37 stable releases

Kernel release

sha1sum

size

ChangeLog-wireless

compat-wireless-2.6.37-4.tar.bz2

e1b6432ce9e6738e320334b26e4adb68d3dd2a80

3.8 MB

ChangeLog-2.6.37-wireless

compat-wireless-2.6.37-4-sn.tar.bz2

54b8d777287fdcc7a716d71cfb21884f1ae07157

3.8 MB

ChangeLog-2.6.37-wireless

compat-wireless 2.6.36 stable releases

Kernel release

sha1sum

size

ChangeLog-wireless

compat-wireless-2.6.36-4.tar.bz2

7b6e4e8314008cef7c6b132fd6925f1c2660f8d2

2.6 MB

ChangeLog-2.6.36-wireless

compat-wireless-2.6.36-5-spn.tar.bz2

e2391cc37d762dab146c2e067534f3f20eb4469f

2.6 MB

ChangeLog-2.6.36-wireless

Older stable releases

Kernel release

sha1sum

size

ChangeLog-wireless

compat-wireless-2.6.32.16.tar.bz2

4e33700b4200eca9c562b18b8f97992ab5edb544

1.9 MB

ChangeLog-2.6.32.16-wireless

compat-wireless-2.6.33.6.tar.bz2

95d3227cb79ac8a706994d6a5a6bff4e1c2c1a5d

2.2 MB

ChangeLog-2.6.33.6-wireless

compat-wireless-2.6.34.1.tar.bz2

8692e5c21d907cebc31f8061171a7174dd89d99f

2.3 MB

ChangeLog-2.6.34.1-wireless

compat-wireless-2.6.35-1.tar.bz2

95a44314284e68ea8902b42bd7a41e0b613efe64

2.5 MB

ChangeLog-2.6.35-wireless

Recommended

We recommend these the following userspace applications to be installed:

Prerequisites

You need kernel headers to compile compat-wireless. Ensure /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build/ exists and points to the location where the kernel headers are installed. If you do not have them, read your distribution's documentation on getting help.

Unpacking source

After downloading, unpack the source by typing (as example: version 2.6.32-rc5):

tar -xf /path/to/compat-wireless-2.6.32-rc5.tar.bz2

Note: Modern tar selects decompressor automatically (otherwise add "–bzip2" or "-j").

Also, please unpack it to a path that does not contain space. The kernel build system is unable to handle spaces in the module tree's directory and will fail if there is any.

Building and installing

cd /path/to/compat-wireless-2.6.32-rc5
./scripts/driver-select <driver-name>
make
sudo make install

Unloading

After build and installation unload modules and drivers:

sudo make unload

Loading

To load the new shiny drivers either reboot or just modprobe the module you want. To test whether or not the new drivers are being picked up you can use modprobe -l on the modules, you should see the wireless modules being picked up using the updates/ directory instead of the kernel/ directory. For example (ath9k driver):

$ modules="cfg80211 mac80211 ath9k"

$ for i in $modules; do sudo modprobe -l $i; done
/lib/modules/2.6.27-11-generic/updates/net/wireless/cfg80211.ko
/lib/modules/2.6.27-11-generic/updates/net/mac80211/mac80211.ko
/lib/modules/2.6.27-11-generic/updates/drivers/net/wireless/ath9k/ath9k.ko

Note that the make install command will output this for you so you can just look at that.

Note #2: If you got no network connection automatically, try to restart your network. For Debian systems do:

sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

Linux distributions packaging compat-wireless

Please refer to the Linux distributions section for more details.


This is a static dump of the wiki, taken after locking it in January 2015. The new wiki is at https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/.
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