xref: /freebsd/usr.sbin/wpa/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.8 (revision 6d0d11ef25a57b7bd9e5a7d7bebccabb7e42fe14)

.\" Copyright (c) 2005 Sam Leffler <sam@errno.com>
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.Dd June 16, 2005
.Dt WPA_SUPPLICANT 8
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm wpa_supplicant
.Nd "WPA/802.11i Supplicant for wireless network devices"
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm
.Op Fl BddehLqqvw
.Fl i Ar ifname
.Fl c Ar config-file
.Op Fl N i Ar ifname Fl c Ar config-file ....
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm
is an implementation of the WPA Supplicant component,
i.e., the part that runs in the client stations.
.Nm
implements WPA key negotiation with a WPA Authenticator
and EAP authentication with an Authentication Server.
In addition,
.Nm
controls the roaming and IEEE 802.11
authentication/association support of the
.Xr wlan 4
module and can be used to configure static WEP keys
based on identified networks.
.Pp
.Nm
is designed to be a "daemon" program that runs in the
background and acts as the backend component controlling
the wireless connection.
.Nm
supports separate frontend programs such as the
text-based
.Xr wpa_cli 8
program.
.Pp
The following arguments must be specified on the command line:
.Bl -tag -width indent
.It Fl i Ar ifname
Use the specified wireless interface.
.It Fl c Ar config-file
Use the settings in the specified configuration file when managing
the wireless interface.
See
.Xr wpa_supplicant.conf 5
for a description of the configuration file syntax and contents.
.Pp
Changes to the configuration file can be reloaded by sending a
.Nm SIGHUP
to the
.Nm
process or with the
.Nm wpa_cli
utility, using ``wpa_cli reconfigure''.
.El
.Sh OPTIONS
The following options are available:
.Bl -tag -width indent
.It Fl d
Enable debugging messages.
If this option is supplied twice more verbose messages are displayed.
.It Fl e
Use an external IEEE 802.1X Supplicant program and disable the
internal Supplicant.
This option is not normally used.
.It Fl h
Show help text.
.It Fl q
Decrease debugging verbosity (i.e. counteract the use of the
.Fl d
flag.
.It Fl v
Display version information on the terminal and exit.
.It Fl w
If the specified interface is not present, wait for it to be
added; e.g. a cardbus device to be inserted.
This option is not normally used; instead
.Xr devd 8
should be configured to launch
.Nm
when a device is created.
.It Fl B
Detach from the controlling terminal and run as a daemon process
in the background.
.It Fl K
Include key information in debugging output.
.It Fl L
Display the license for this program on the terminal and exit.
.It Fl N Fl i Ar iface Fl Ar config-file
Specify an additional interface and configuration file.
If multiple interfaces are specified then
.Nm
will manage them all with a single process.
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr ath 4 ,
.Xr iwi 4 ,
.Xr ipw 4 ,
.Xr ral 4 ,
.Xr ural 4 ,
.Xr wi 4 ,
.Xr wlan 4 ,
.Xr wpa_supplicant.conf 5 ,
.Xr devd 8 ,
.Xr wpa_cli 8 ,
.Xr ifconfig 8 .
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm
utility first appeared in
.Fx 6.0 .
.Sh AUTHORS
The
.Nm
utility was written by
.An Jouni Malinen Aq jkmaline@cc.hut.fi .
This manual page is derived from the README file included in the
.Nm
distribution.
.Sh BUGS