[pkg-wpa-devel] Bug#630681: /usr/sbin/wpa_gui: When Using nl80211 wpa-driver, Signal Strength is Displayed as Zero

[Leo L. Schwab]

Package: wpagui
Version: 0.7.3-3
Severity: normal
File: /usr/sbin/wpa_gui

	When using wpa_gui to perform a scan for local WAPs, the signal
strengths in the list of results will be diferent depending on what
wpa-driver you've configured for that interface.

	In my case, wpa_supplicant can talk to the iwl3945 driver using
wpa-driver 'wext' or the newer 'nl80211'.  If you configure wext, then the
results displayed by wpa_gui will have meaningful signal strengths
displayed.  If, however, you configure nl80211, then wpa_gui will display
all signal strengths as zero.

	I did a little experiment using wpa_cli to look at the scan results.
Here's a sample list of results using wpa-driver wext:

----
bssid / frequency / signal level / flags / ssid
94:44:52:5a:11:4c	2412	173	[WPA-PSK-CCMP][WPA2-PSK-CCMP][WPS][ESS]	Belkin.314C
00:1b:2f:c4:c9:11	2462	219	[WEP][ESS]	ewhac-water
00:14:95:3e:f2:42	2437	190	[WEP][ESS]	2WIRE303
00:1b:2f:c4:c9:10	2462	219	[ESS]	ewhac-air
00:1f:27:74:74:00	2462	172	[ESS]	local-wifi
00:1d:7e:57:49:e9	2437	177	[WEP][ESS]	linksys_SES_42522
00:16:b6:ce:b1:9f	2437	175	[WEP][ESS]	jvelez
----

	And here's a list of results using wpa-driver nl80211:

----
bssid / frequency / signal level / flags / ssid
00:1b:2f:c4:c9:10	2462	-32	[ESS]	ewhac-air
00:16:01:92:e1:89	2417	-83	[WPA-PSK-TKIP][ESS]	BERLOGA-101
94:44:52:5a:11:4c	2412	-83	[WPA-PSK-CCMP][WPA2-PSK-CCMP][WPS][ESS]	Belkin.314C
00:1b:2f:c4:c9:11	2462	-33	[WEP][ESS]	ewhac-water
00:14:95:3e:f2:42	2437	-62	[WEP][ESS]	2WIRE303
00:16:b6:ce:b1:9f	2437	-78	[WEP][ESS]	jvelez
----

	It seems evident that different signal strength units are returned
from the two wpa-drivers, which is confusing wpa_gui.  Please investigate
this matter.

					Schwab


-- System Information:
Debian Release: wheezy/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'testing'), (500, 'stable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.39-rc7 (SMP w/2 CPU cores; PREEMPT)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

Versions of packages wpagui depends on:
ii  libc6                         2.13-7     Embedded GNU C Library: Shared lib
ii  libgcc1                       1:4.6.0-13 GCC support library
ii  libqt4-svg                    4:4.7.3-1  Qt 4 SVG module
ii  libqtcore4                    4:4.7.3-1  Qt 4 core module
ii  libqtgui4                     4:4.7.3-1  Qt 4 GUI module
ii  libstdc++6                    4.6.0-13   GNU Standard C++ Library v3
ii  wpasupplicant                 0.7.3-3    client support for WPA and WPA2 (I

Versions of packages wpagui recommends:
ii  menu                          2.1.45     generates programs menu for all me

wpagui suggests no packages.

-- no debconf information