regulatory.bin(5)

🌸 regulatory.bin — the Linux wireless regulatory database (manual page regulatory.bin(5), Linux) 🌸

okay bestie, gather round, because this one is short but it's important 💖

✨ NAME ✨

regulatory.bin, regulatory.db — the Linux wireless regulatory database, aka the two little files that tell your Wi-Fi what it's allowed to do in which country 👑

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So regulatory.bin and regulatory.db are the files the Linux wireless subsystem uses to keep its regulatory database information. That's the whole vibe. Two files, one job, no cap 💅

• regulatory.bin gets read by crda — but only when the Linux kernel asks for regulatory information for a specific ISO / IEC 3166 alpha2 country code. So like, kernel says "hey what are the rules in DE?" and crda goes and looks it up. iconic behavior tbh 🌍
• regulatory.db is the newer, extensible database format, and — since Linux 4.15 — it's read by the kernel directly as a firmware file. no middleman, main character energy fr fr ✨

The regulatory database is kept in a small binary format, and that's on purpose: for size and code efficiency 🎀 It is a binary, bestie, so you can't just open it and read it like a text file — but you can parse and read regulatory.bin in human format by using the regdbdump command 🫶

and yes, the regulatory database files should be updated whenever there are regulatory changes or corrections. don't be the person running year-old country rules, i'm begging 😭

💜 UPKEEPING 💜

The regulatory database is maintained by the community, which means you can help, and honestly? you're encouraged to 🥹 If you've got corrections or updates, send them to the linux-wireless and wireless-regdb mailing lists:

• linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org
• wireless-regdb@lists.infradead.org

that's it, that's the contribution pipeline, go off bestie 📬

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• regdbdump(8)
• crda(8)
• iw(8)
• https://wireless.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/en/developers/regulatory.html

and that's the whole page, bestie 💖 this one came from regulatory.bin in the Linux manual, dated 21 December 2017 — kiss it goodnight, it's been serving regulatory truth since 2017 and it's still eating 👑✨