Removing Wireless drivers from the linux kernel for OpenWrt build

For Developers
1

Hi there, I want to remove the Wireless LAN support from the OpenWRT build for an imx target.

What im looking for is something similar to how we do in the linux source as shown in the below config setting.

Linux Kernel Configuration -> Device Drivers ---> Network device support --->
[ ] Wireless LAN ---> *** Enable WiMAX (Networking options) to see the WiMAX drivers ***

I know we can disable wireless once it is booted, but i want to disable at the kernel level - can someone give suggestion for this please.

2

So that you get the right answer... it might help if you tell us a little about why you want to do this and your intended result in terms of device operation.

3

Thanks wulfy23 for your response.

As per the instruction from Laird Connectivity for using their drivers in the Linux kernel i need to remove the conflicting kernel modules and disable wireless and load their modules by manually building it.

Conguring the Kernel

Before you build your own drivers for use with the LWB, you must determine whether any conflicting drivers are built into your kernel.
Exclude those module from the kernel
Exclude wireless LAN drivers from the kernel: navigate the menu to Device Drivers > Network device support, highlight Wireless LAN
Rebuild the kernel

Building and Installing the Wi-Fi Drivers
Downloading and Extracting the Driver Backport Package
Build and install the Wi-Fi drivers
Copy these kernel modules to the target’s root file system

I get this error when i try to bring up wlan0 interface

root@OpenWrt:/# ifconfig wlan0 up
ifconfig: SIOCGIFFLAGS: No such device

NXP Integration Guide for Sterling LWB
Hence I'm trying out these instruction to enable Sterling LWB wifi module support in OpenWRT

4

On OpenWrt we do not use the in-kernel wireless drivers but an external out-of-tree mac80211 package created from wireless backports.

To not have wireless, exclude the kmod-cfg80211, kmod-mac80211 and dependent packages from your build.

3 Likes
5

Thanks Jow, let me try this and update you.

6

Thanks @jow , that worked and i got a build without standard wireless drivers.

10

You’re potentially going to have to create a DTS that defines your hardware. If the driver doesn’t create its own device nodes, you probably have to dig into procd. Device nodes aren’t “files”.

1 Like
11

@jeff - i request you to remove the answer since i want to keep the other thread more relevant to the copy question i have. I have removed the additional question i had made, since it can confuse future searches by community. dedicated link to this question

12

Hello jow,

How can I determine the dependent packages?

Thanks,