ENUM ATH5K_INT(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

💖 NAME 💖

ok so this is enum ath5k_int(9) — the Hardware interrupt masks helpers, bestie. it's giving "let me introduce you to the entire interrupt alphabet" and honestly? iconic.

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

like, here's the whole squad, in order, no cap:

enum ath5k_int {
    AR5K_INT_RXOK ,
    AR5K_INT_RXDESC ,
    AR5K_INT_RXERR ,
    AR5K_INT_RXNOFRM ,
    AR5K_INT_RXEOL ,
    AR5K_INT_RXORN ,
    AR5K_INT_TXOK ,
    AR5K_INT_TXDESC ,
    AR5K_INT_TXERR ,
    AR5K_INT_TXNOFRM ,
    AR5K_INT_TXEOL ,
    AR5K_INT_TXURN ,
    AR5K_INT_MIB ,
    AR5K_INT_SWI ,
    AR5K_INT_RXPHY ,
    AR5K_INT_RXKCM ,
    AR5K_INT_SWBA ,
    AR5K_INT_BRSSI ,
    AR5K_INT_BMISS ,
    AR5K_INT_FATAL ,
    AR5K_INT_BNR ,
    AR5K_INT_TIM ,
    AR5K_INT_DTIM ,
    AR5K_INT_DTIM_SYNC ,
    AR5K_INT_GPIO ,
    AR5K_INT_BCN_TIMEOUT ,
    AR5K_INT_CAB_TIMEOUT ,
    AR5K_INT_QCBRORN ,
    AR5K_INT_QCBRURN ,
    AR5K_INT_QTRIG ,
    AR5K_INT_GLOBAL ,
    AR5K_INT_TX_ALL ,
    AR5K_INT_RX_ALL ,
    AR5K_INT_COMMON ,
    AR5K_INT_NOCARD

};

🎀 Constants 🎀

okay bestie, member-by-member, let's go 🫶

  • AR5K_INT_RXOK — frame received, successfully, slay 💅
  • AR5K_INT_RXDESC — request RX descriptor / read RX descriptor, it's giving "gimme the paperwork"
  • AR5K_INT_RXERR — the frame reception flopped 😭
  • AR5K_INT_RXNOFRM — no frame showed up within a specified time period, ghosted fr fr
  • AR5K_INT_RXEOL — hit "End Of List", which literally means we need more RX descriptors. more. descriptors. now.
  • AR5K_INT_RXORN — we got an RX FIFO overrun. and listen: Rx overrun is not always fatal, on some chips we can keep operating without resetting the card — that's exactly why AR5K_INT_FATAL is not common for all chips. keep that in mind, it matters.
  • AR5K_INT_TXOK — frame transmission success, we love a win ✨
  • AR5K_INT_TXDESC — request TX descriptor / read TX status descriptor
  • AR5K_INT_TXERR — frame transmission failure, tragic, moving on 💀
  • AR5K_INT_TXNOFRM — no frame was transmitted within a specified time period, awkward
  • AR5K_INT_TXEOL — received End Of List for VEOL (Virtual End Of List). the Queue Control Unit (QCU) only signals an EOL interrupt if a descriptor's LinkPtr is NULL. for more details, go read: "http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20030225739.html"
  • AR5K_INT_TXURN — we got a TX FIFO underrun. in that case we should increase the TX trigger threshold. that's the whole mood.
  • AR5K_INT_MIB — this one means either the Management Information Base counters or one of the PHY error counters hit the maximum value and should be read and cleared
  • AR5K_INT_SWI — software triggered interrupt. she's self-made 💅
  • AR5K_INT_RXPHY — RX PHY Error
  • AR5K_INT_RXKCM — RX Key cache miss
  • AR5K_INT_SWBA — SoftWare Beacon Alert — it indicates it's time to send a beacon that must be handled in software. the alternative? if you have VEOL support, you let the hardware deal with things. main character hardware energy.
  • AR5K_INT_BRSSI — beacon received with an RSSI value below our threshold 😬
  • AR5K_INT_BMISS — if you're in STA mode, this means we've stopped seeing beacons from the AP we've associated with, so we should probably try to reassociate. when in IBSS mode, this might mean we haven't received any beacons from any local stations. note that every station in an IBSS schedules to send beacons at the Target Beacon Transmission Time (TBTT) with a random backoff. okay that's a lot but it's important 🫶
  • AR5K_INT_FATAL — fatal errors were encountered, typically caused by bus/DMA errors, and it indicates we need to reset the card. yes, full reset. not a vibe.
  • AR5K_INT_BNR — beacon queue got triggered (DMA beacon alert) while empty
  • AR5K_INT_TIM — beacon with local station's TIM bit set
  • AR5K_INT_DTIM — beacon with DTIM bit and zero DTIM count received
  • AR5K_INT_DTIM_SYNC — DTIM sync lost 🙈
  • AR5K_INT_GPIO — GPIO interrupt is used for RF Kill switches connected to our GPIO pins
  • AR5K_INT_BCN_TIMEOUT — beacon timeout, we waited after TBTT but got noting (that's the original's typo, keeping it 💖)
  • AR5K_INT_CAB_TIMEOUT — we waited for CAB traffic after the beacon but got nothing, or an incomplete CAB frame sequence. ghosted, again.
  • AR5K_INT_QCBRORN — a queue got it's CBR counter expired
  • AR5K_INT_QCBRURN — a queue got triggered wile empty
  • AR5K_INT_QTRIG — a queue got triggered
  • AR5K_INT_GLOBAL — used to clear and set the IER
  • AR5K_INT_TX_ALL — mask to identify all TX related interrupts
  • AR5K_INT_RX_ALL — mask to identify all RX related interrupts
  • AR5K_INT_COMMON — common interrupts shared among MACs with the same bit value
  • AR5K_INT_NOCARD — signals the card has been removed 💀 yes, gone. bye.

🌸 Description 🌸

so, the lore: these are mapped to take advantage of some common bits between the MACs, so we can set intr properties easier. some of them are not used yet inside hw.c. most map to the respective hw interrupt value as they are common among different MACs. that's the tea 👑

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

kernel file ./drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath5k/ath5k.h enum

ath5k_version(9), enum ath5k_radio(9), Atheros XR(9), Atheros SuperAG(9), enum ath5k_driver_mode(9), enum ath5k_ant_mode(9), enum ath5k_bw_mode(9), struct ath5k_tx_status(9), enum ath5k_tx_queue(9), enum ath5k_tx_queue_subtype(9), enum ath5k_tx_queue_id(9), struct ath5k_txq(9), struct ath5k_txq_info(9), enum ath5k_pkt_type(9), struct ath5k_rx_status(9), enum ath5k_rfgain(9), struct ath5k_gain(9), struct ath5k_athchan_2ghz(9), enum ath5k_dmasize(9), Rate codes(9), enum ath5k_calibration_mask(9), enum ath5k_power_mode(9)

that's the whole page bestie, go read the source, it's all in ./drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath5k 🫶

anyway that's it, ily, page from October 2026, straight out of ./drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath5k — enum ath5k_int(9), periodt 💜

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