xref: /freebsd/usr.sbin/wpa/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.8 (revision 1e413cf93298b5b97441a21d9a50fdcd0ee9945e)
1.\" Copyright (c) 2005 Sam Leffler <sam@errno.com>
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25.\" $FreeBSD$
26.\"
27.Dd June 16, 2005
28.Dt WPA_SUPPLICANT 8
29.Os
30.Sh NAME
31.Nm wpa_supplicant
32.Nd "WPA/802.11i Supplicant for wireless network devices"
33.Sh SYNOPSIS
34.Nm
35.Op Fl BdehLqvw
36.Fl i Ar ifname
37.Fl c Ar config-file
38.Sh DESCRIPTION
39The
40.Nm
41utility
42is an implementation of the WPA Supplicant component,
43i.e., the part that runs in the client stations.
44It implements WPA key negotiation with a WPA Authenticator
45and EAP authentication with an Authentication Server.
46In addition,
47.Nm
48controls the roaming and IEEE 802.11
49authentication/association support of the
50.Xr wlan 4
51module and can be used to configure static WEP keys
52based on identified networks.
53.Pp
54The
55.Nm
56utility
57is designed to be a
58.Dq daemon
59program that runs in the
60background and acts as the backend component controlling
61the wireless connection.
62It supports separate frontend programs such as the
63text-based
64.Xr wpa_cli 8
65program.
66.Pp
67The following arguments must be specified on the command line:
68.Bl -tag -width indent
69.It Fl i Ar ifname
70Use the specified wireless interface.
71.It Fl c Ar config-file
72Use the settings in the specified configuration file when managing
73the wireless interface.
74See
75.Xr wpa_supplicant.conf 5
76for a description of the configuration file syntax and contents.
77.Pp
78Changes to the configuration file can be reloaded by sending a
79.Dv SIGHUP
80to the
81.Nm
82process or with the
83.Xr wpa_cli 8
84utility, using
85.Dq Li "wpa_cli reconfigure" .
86.El
87.Sh OPTIONS
88The following options are available:
89.Bl -tag -width indent
90.It Fl d
91Enable debugging messages.
92If this option is supplied twice, more verbose messages are displayed.
93.It Fl e
94Use an external IEEE 802.1X Supplicant program and disable the
95internal Supplicant.
96This option is not normally used.
97.It Fl h
98Show help text.
99.It Fl q
100Decrease debugging verbosity (i.e., counteract the use of the
101.Fl d
102flag).
103.It Fl v
104Display version information on the terminal and exit.
105.It Fl w
106If the specified interface is not present, wait for it to be
107added; e.g.\& a cardbus device to be inserted.
108This option is not normally used; instead,
109.Xr devd 8
110should be configured to launch
111.Nm
112when a device is created.
113.It Fl B
114Detach from the controlling terminal and run as a daemon process
115in the background.
116.It Fl K
117Include key information in debugging output.
118.It Fl L
119Display the license for this program on the terminal and exit.
120.El
121.Sh SEE ALSO
122.Xr ath 4 ,
123.Xr ipw 4 ,
124.Xr iwi 4 ,
125.Xr ral 4 ,
126.Xr ural 4 ,
127.Xr wi 4 ,
128.Xr wlan 4 ,
129.Xr wpa_supplicant.conf 5 ,
130.Xr devd 8 ,
131.Xr ifconfig 8 ,
132.Xr wpa_cli 8
133.Sh HISTORY
134The
135.Nm
136utility first appeared in
137.Fx 6.0 .
138.Sh AUTHORS
139The
140.Nm
141utility was written by
142.An Jouni Malinen Aq jkmaline@cc.hut.fi .
143This manual page is derived from the
144.Pa README
145file included in the
146.Nm
147distribution.
148