[patch] wireless patch, take 2

[Nick Penwarden]

Kristian Høgsberg wrote:

> Why should you be able to set the ESSID through HAL?  I thought the 
> primary purpose of HAL was discovery, device specific control happens 
> through direct access to the device file or similar out-of-band 
> mechanism.

The ESSID should be able to be set through HAL because HAL is a Hardware 
Abstraction Layer.  The purpose of a HAL is to allow applications to use 
a generic type of device without regard to the specifics of how the card 
operates or how the underlying operating system works.  Allowing the 
ESSID to be set through HAL makes sense to me; it enables me to write an 
application to set the ESSID disregarding the target operating system.

However (unless this has been thoroughly discussed before) perhaps the 
scope of HAL should be more clearly defined. If we allow the ESSID of a 
wireless card to be set through HAL, do we also allow the IP address of 
an ethernet card to be set through HAL (maybe it already does this, I 
honestly don't know)?  What other settings?

 From the HAL 0.2 spec (emphasis mine):

"This is a specification of a hardware abstraction layer (HAL) that 
allows applications to enumerate and *use* devices present in a typical 
desktop system, in an operating system independent way."

"Furthermore, hooks for non-generic operations (such as retrieve 
pictures from a camera) is also provided."

So, what is the intended scope of HAL? What should it be?

-Nick Penwarden

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