Re: [RFC PATCH v2 0/8] Adding NO_STA flag and reworking RX link resolution

Hi,

On Tue, 2026-05-05 at 23:09 +0530, Ramasamy Kaliappan wrote:
> On 4/27/2026 4:43 PM, Benjamin Berg wrote:
> > I believe that hostapd will need a bit of refactoring, including
> > improved tracking to know whether a STA has been inserted into the
> > driver and whether to TX the AUTH frames using the link address and
> > NO_STA flag or using the MLD Address.
> I agree with this design. Refactoring hostapd to handle all STA 
> consistently both in the driver and in hostapd in scenarios where a STA 
> roams with MLD and link address swaps occurs, in both legacy and MLO cases.
> 
> Additionally, the design should help accommodate upcoming requirements 
> such as Wi‑Fi 8 (802.11bi). In particular, it can address scenarios 
> where a non‑AP ML STA link address needs to be translated to a DS 
> address in the STA mode, while on the AP mode the link address 
> translated to the MLD address. I believe these aspects can be handled as 
> part of this design.

While posting the patch again I noticed that I never replied to this.

I am not exactly sure what you wanted to say here. My thought right now
is that the issue of the DS address is a separate one. The DS address
will affect some related code paths, but only affects data frames at a
later point. The translation will happen eventually but only after all
the MLD/link address translations have already been dealt with (or in
HW with RX_FLAG_8023).

So, my current view is that the DS MAC configuration affects related
code, but it is not relevant to mac80211 in this case.

Benjamin