wiphy_new(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

🌸 wiphy_new(9) — Kernel API Manual 🌸

okay so bestie, welcome to wiphy_new — it's giving "let there be wifi" energy, and it's from the kernel API manual, so you know it's gonna be a little iconic. 💅

✨ NAME ✨

wiphy_new — create a new wiphy for use with cfg80211 🌈

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

struct wiphy * wiphy_new (const struct cfg80211_ops *ops , int
sizeof_priv );

like, that's the whole vibe. one function, two args, infinite possibilities. 🦋

✨ ARGUMENTS ✨

  • ops — the configuration operations for this device. yup, this is where you pass in all the behaviour your device is gonna have. it's literally the personality of your wiphy. 🎀
  • sizeof_priv — the size of the private area to allocate. so you're telling it "hey, give me this many bytes to keep my own stuff in." no cap, it does exactly that. 💖

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so what does it actually do? it creates a brand new wiphy and associates the given operations with it — like, it makes the wiphy and immediately pairs it up with ops so they're basically besties from birth. 🫶

on top of that, sizeof_priv bytes are allocated for private use, so you've got your own lil corner of memory to do whatever with. it's giving "here's your room, decorate it however." ✨

✨ RETURN ✨

it returns a pointer to the new wiphy. 🔥

⚠️ but listen — this pointer must be assigned to each netdev's ieee80211_ptr for proper operation. like, not optional, not a suggestion. if you skip that step, things are NOT gonna slay. 😭

and yeah, that's part one, bestie — there's more coming so don't go anywhere 💜

🎀 the header itself

  • Kernel file ./include/net/cfg80211.h — literally the source file every single thing on this page lives in. this is the address, bestie 🏠
  • Introduction(9) — the start-here energy ✨
  • Device registration(9) — the whole register-your-stuff saga 👑

🌸 the band / channel / rate lore

if you wanna know what a channel is before you go making one:

  • enum ieee80211_channel_flags(9)
  • struct ieee80211_channel(9)
  • enum ieee80211_rate_flags(9)
  • enum ieee80211_bss_type(9)
  • enum ieee80211_privacy(9)
  • struct ieee80211_rate(9)

🦋 caps, caps, and more caps

ht, vht, he, eht, uhr — the alphabet soup of "yes my card can do that":

💅 actions and configuration — the big one

fair warning: this section is a whole thing. it's giving "everything you can actually make the hardware do":

🍓 scanning and BSS list handling

the "who's out there and what did we hear" cluster 📡:

  • Scanning and BSS list handling(9) — the section itself, iconic
  • struct cfg80211_ssid(9)
  • struct cfg80211_scan_info(9)
  • struct cfg80211_scan_6ghz_params(9)
  • struct cfg80211_scan_request(9)
  • struct cfg80211_match_set(9)
  • struct cfg80211_sched_scan_plan(9)
  • struct cfg80211_bss_select_adjust(9)
  • struct cfg80211_sched_scan_request(9)
  • enum cfg80211_signal_type(9)
  • struct cfg80211_inform_bss(9)
  • struct cfg80211_bss_ies(9)
  • struct cfg80211_bss(9)
  • ieee80211_bss_get_elem(9)
  • ieee80211_bss_get_ie(9)
  • struct cfg80211_auth_request(9)
  • struct cfg80211_assoc_link(9)
  • struct cfg80211_ml_reconf_req(9)
  • enum cfg80211_assoc_req_flags(9)
  • struct cfg80211_assoc_request(9)
  • struct cfg80211_deauth_request(9)
  • struct cfg80211_disassoc_request(9)
  • struct cfg80211_ibss_params(9)
  • struct cfg80211_bss_selection(9)
  • struct cfg80211_connect_params(9)
  • enum cfg80211_connect_params_changed(9)
  • enum wiphy_params_flags(9)
  • struct cfg80211_pmksa(9)
  • struct cfg80211_pkt_pattern(9)
  • struct cfg80211_wowlan_tcp(9)
  • struct cfg80211_wowlan(9)
  • struct cfg80211_coalesce_rules(9)
  • struct cfg80211_coalesce(9)
  • struct cfg80211_wowlan_nd_match(9)
  • struct cfg80211_wowlan_nd_info(9)
  • struct cfg80211_wowlan_wakeup(9)
  • struct cfg80211_gtk_rekey_data(9)
  • struct cfg80211_update_ft_ies_params(9)
  • struct cfg80211_mgmt_tx_params(9)
  • struct cfg80211_dscp_exception(9)
  • struct cfg80211_dscp_range(9)
  • struct cfg80211_qos_map(9)

🧚 NAN, PMKSA, PMSR and friends

neighbor awareness, peer measurement, all the fancy stuff 🎀:

  • Neighbor Awareness Networking (NAN)(9)
  • struct cfg80211_nan_band_config(9)
  • struct cfg80211_nan_conf(9)
  • struct cfg80211_nan_channel(9)
  • struct cfg80211_nan_local_sched(9)
  • struct cfg80211_nan_peer_map(9)
  • struct cfg80211_nan_peer_sched(9)
  • enum cfg80211_nan_conf_changes(9)
  • struct cfg80211_nan_func_filter(9)
  • struct cfg80211_nan_func(9)
  • struct cfg80211_pmk_conf(9)
  • struct cfg80211_external_auth_params(9)
  • struct cfg80211_ftm_responder_stats(9)
  • struct cfg80211_pmsr_ftm_result(9)
  • struct cfg80211_pmsr_result(9)
  • struct cfg80211_pmsr_ftm_request_peer(9)
  • struct cfg80211_pmsr_request_peer(9)
  • struct cfg80211_pmsr_request(9)
  • struct cfg80211_update_owe_info(9)
  • struct mgmt_frame_regs(9)

👑 the wiphy struct itself (and everything you do to it)

this is the main character of the whole page, no cap:

🌈 utility functions

little helpers that are lowkey the most-used stuff in the whole subsystem:

💜 data path helpers

frames going in, frames coming out, and element-finding like a treasure hunt 🔎:

🚨 regulatory enforcement infrastructure

"is this freq even allowed where you are" — the vibes check of the wireless world 🗺️:

and the inside-the-house db stuff:

⭐ notifications, MLME, and all the telling-people-things

stuff you call to be like "hey, this happened" 📣:

🎀 rfkill integration

when the hardware says "no wifi for you, babes" 🛑:

🛍️ vendor commands

for the driver-specific extra credit stuff 🧢:

🧪 test mode

testing, testing, one two 🎤:

🫶 the connect / roam / station / cqm mega-cluster

the rest of the "tell userspace what just went down" family, all together:

okay that is literally every single one of them, no skipping, no cap 💀 (and yes, we're still going — the page keeps going, so keep reading 🫶)

…and the rest of the crew, because this list is long and every single one of them deserves their moment, bestie 💅:

Like, go read 'em, they're all right there in their own pages and they're all lowkey doing the most 💖

🎀 and that's the whole page, bestie 🎀 We got there, no cap. This lil masterpiece lives over in ./include/net and it's dated October 2026 — the <hotpink>wiphy_new(9)</hotpink> era, iconic, periodt ✨🦋

📦 where this page comes from