> In 802.11 ad hoc mode, one thing that wiconfig can do that ifconfig
> cannot is to let you set a different SSID to join than to create.

I don't think reasonable such specific configuration is reasonable.
We might rather implement some daemon to handle complex configuration
such as, try SSID1, and next try SSID2 if SSID1 is not available even
for infrastructure station mode.

> Also, wiconfig lets you set the MAC. Does ifconfig permit that? I did
> not think it did.

Oops!  The feature is accidentally not implemented in new wi driver.
Anyway, it should be done by SIOCSIFADDR with AF_LINK.

> Wiconfig lets you set the access point density. This affects how bad
> the signal quality can get before a STA will probe for a new AP.

This is not standard, only applicable for Lucent/Intersil firmware
of the wi driver (Symbol firmware looks different way or non-support
of the feature).

> Wiconfig will set the RTS threshold. I do not know if this is an
> 802.11-standard parameter, but if it is, it belongs in ifconfig, also.

Though it is a standard 802.11 parameter, generation of RTS is not
mandatory for Wi-Fi.  The RTS/CTS is defined to adopt hidden-terminal
problem, but it decrease the performance for normal case.  We can
delete it, IMHO.

> The maximum data length is also set by wiconfig. Possibly that is an
> 802.11-standard parameter.

It is also an 802.11 standard parameter.  Again, fragmentation is not
mandatory for Wi-Fi, though reassembly is mandatory.  The fragmentation
may be useful for heavy congested or lossy environment, since it decrease
the unit of retransmission in wireless.  Recent windows driver for orinoco
seems to fragment large datagram automatically.
It may be a candidate to be integrated into ifconfig.

> Wiconfig lets you turn the "firmware roaming function" on and off. I do
> not know precisely what that function is, but I will find out.

It is supported only by Intersil firmware of the wi driver.

> Besides AP scans and statistics, I think all the rest of wiconfig is
> deprecated.

Since all configurable parameters are not suitable for ifconfig,
some driver specific configuration support would be useful.
So even if some of the functions in wiconfig are deprecated, or
reimplemented using normal ioctl as ifconfig, we should keep wiconfig
as a driver specific utility.

Atsushi Onoe