IWPRIV(8)

💖 IWPRIV 💖

okay bestie, so this is iwpriv — the optional-parameters girlie of the wireless world, straight outta the Linux Programmer's Manual. she's the sidekick to iwconfig(8) and she's here to handle all the driver-specific stuff that generic tools just can't touch. periodt. ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

iwpriv — configure optionals (private) parameters of a wireless network interface 🦋

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

iwpriv [interface]
iwpriv interface private-command [private-parameters]
iwpriv interface private-command [I] [private-parameters]
iwpriv interface --all

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

so basically, iwpriv is the companion tool to iwconfig(8), and here's the tea ☕ — she deals with parameters and settings that are specific to each driver, as opposed to iwconfig which is out here handling the generic ones. like, iwconfig is the main character and iwpriv is the driver-specific bestie who knows all the niche lore. iykyk. 💜

if you run her with no arguments at all? she'll list the available private commands on each interface, plus the parameters those commands require. no cap. once you've got that info, you can go ahead and apply those interface-specific commands on whichever interface you want. slay. 🔥

in theory, the documentation for each device driver should tell you how to use those interface-specific commands and what effect they have. in theory. 😭 the manpage said it, not me.

🎀 PARAMETERS 🎀

• private-command [private-parameters] — this runs the specified private-command on the interface, bestie. the command might optionally take arguments, or straight up require them, and it might show you info back. so like… the command line parameters might be needed, might not be — they just gotta match what the command expects. the list of commands that iwpriv shows you (when you call her with no argument, remember?) should give you some hints about those parameters. but you should really go check the device driver documentation for how to properly use the command and what it actually does. don't skip that part, fr fr. 🙈
• private-command [I] [private-parameters] — same vibe as above, except that I (an integer, bestie, a whole number) gets passed to the command as a Token Index. only some commands will use the Token Index (most of them just ignore it like it's not even there 💀), and the driver documentation should tell you when it's actually needed. 👑
• -a, --all — runs and displays all the private commands that don't take any arguments at all (i.e. the read-only ones). no arguments, no drama, just vibes. 🌈

🦋 DISPLAY 🦋

for every device that supports private commands, iwpriv will show you the list of private commands available. she's giving ✨ transparency ✨.

this includes:

• the name of the private command
• the number of arguments that may be set, and their type
• the number of arguments that may be displayed, and their type

for example, you might get a display like this:

eth0      Available private ioctl :
          setqualthr (89F0) : set   1 byte & get   0
          gethisto (89F7) : set   0      & get  16 int

what this is telling you, bestie, is that you can set the quality threshold and display a histogram of up to 16 values with these commands right here:

iwpriv eth0 setqualthr 20
iwpriv eth0 gethisto

iconic behavior, honestly. 💅✨

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Jean Tourrilhes — jt@hpl.hp.com

(shoutout to the legend, no cap 🫶)

🍓 FILES 🍓

• /proc/net/wireless

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• iwconfig(8)
• iwlist(8)
• iwevent(8)
• iwspy(8)
• wireless(7)

💀 reminder bestie: if a command's behaviour looks undefined, dangerous, or deprecated in the driver docs, that's on the driver — go read them. iwpriv is just the messenger. 🧚

okay that's the whole thing, my love 💖 this page came from net-tools, dated 31 October 1996 — yes she's a vintage icon, an OG, main character energy since the 90s 🎀✨ go forth and configure those private parameters, you absolute legend. mwah. 💜🦋🌸