Introduction to Wireless Tools
The Wireless Extension (WE) is a generic API in the Linux kernel
allowing a driver to expose configuration and statistics specific
to common Wireless LANs to userspace. A single set of tools can
support all the variations of Wireless LANs, regardless of their
type, as long as the driver supports Wireless Extensions. WE
parameters may also be changed on the fly without restarting the
driver (or Linux).
The Wireless Tools (WT) package is
a set of tools allowing manipulation of the Wireless Extensions.
They use a textual interface to support the full Wireless
Extension.
This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS 12.2
platform.
Package Information
Additional Downloads
Wireless Tools Dependencies
Required (Runtime)
Configuring the Linux
Kernel for Wireless
Kernel Configuration
To use Wireless Tools, the kernel
must have the appropriate drivers and other support available.
Besides the configurations mentioned by Configuring the Linux
Kernel for Wireless, it's also needed to enable the following
options in the kernel configuration:
[*] Networking support ---> [NET]
[*] Wireless ---> [WIRELESS]
<*/M> cfg80211 - wireless configuration API [CFG80211]
[*] cfg80211 wireless extensions compatibility [CFG80211_WEXT]
Installation of Wireless Tools
First, apply a patch that fixes a problem when numerous networks
are available:
patch -Np1 -i ../wireless_tools-29-fix_iwlist_scanning-1.patch
To install Wireless Tools, use the
following commands:
make
This package does not come with a test suite.
Now, as the root user:
make PREFIX=/usr INSTALL_MAN=/usr/share/man install
Command Explanations
INSTALL_MAN=/usr/share/man:
Install manual pages in /usr/share/man instead of /usr/man.
Contents
Installed Programs:
ifrename, iwconfig, iwevent, iwgetid,
iwlist, iwpriv, and iwspy
Installed Library:
libiw.so
Installed Directories:
None
Short Descriptions
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ifrename
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renames network interfaces based on various static
criteria
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iwconfig
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configures a wireless network interface
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iwevent
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displays wireless events generated by drivers and setting
changes
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iwgetid
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reports ESSID, NWID or AP/Cell Address of wireless
networks
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iwlist
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gets detailed wireless information from a wireless
interface
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iwpriv
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configures optional (private) parameters of a wireless
network interface
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iwspy
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gets wireless statistics from specific node
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libiw.so
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contains functions required by the wireless programs and
provides an API for other programs
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