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WPA_SUPPLICANT(8) System Manager's Manual WPA_SUPPLICANT(8)

wpa_supplicant — WPA/802.11i Supplicant for wireless network devices

wpa_supplicant [-BdhKLqstuvW] [-b br_ifname] -c config-file [-C ctrl] [-D driver] [-f debug file] [-g global ctrl] -i ifname [-o override driver] [-O override ctrl] [-P pid file] [-N -i ifname -c config-file [-C ctrl] [-D -driver] [-p driver_param] [-b br_ifname] ...]

The wpa_supplicant utility is an implementation of the WPA Supplicant component, i.e., the part that runs in the client stations. It implements WPA key negotiation with a WPA Authenticator and EAP authentication with an Authentication Server. In addition, wpa_supplicant controls the roaming and IEEE 802.11 authentication/association support of the wlan(4) module and can be used to configure static WEP keys based on identified networks.

The wpa_supplicant utility is designed to be a “daemon” program that runs in the background and acts as the backend component controlling the wireless connection. It supports separate frontend programs such as the text-based wpa_cli(8) program.

The following arguments must be specified on the command line:

ifname
Use the specified wireless interface.
config-file
Use the settings in the specified configuration file when managing the wireless interface. See wpa_supplicant.conf(5) for a description of the configuration file syntax and contents.

Changes to the configuration file can be reloaded by sending a SIGHUP to the wpa_supplicant process or with the wpa_cli(8) utility, using “wpa_cli reconfigure”.

The following options are available:

Optional bridge interface name.
Detach from the controlling terminal and run as a daemon process in the background.
Enable debugging messages. If this option is supplied twice, more verbose messages are displayed.
Driver name (can be multiple drivers: nl80211,wext).
Log output to debug file instead of stdout.
Global ctrl_interface.
Show help text.
Include key information in debugging output.
Display the license for this program on the terminal and exit.
Start describing a new interface.
Overrides driver parameter for new interfaces.
Override ctrl_interface parameter for new interfaces.
Specify driver parameters.
File in which to save the process PID.
Decrease debugging verbosity (i.e., counteract the use of the -d flag).
Send log messages through syslog(3) instead of to the terminal.
Include timestamp in debug messages.
Display version information on the terminal and exit.
Wait for a control interface monitor before starting.

ath(4), ipw(4), iwi(4), ral(4), rum(4), ural(4), wlan(4), wpi(4), zyd(4), wpa_supplicant.conf(5), devd(8), ifconfig(8), wpa_cli(8), wpa_passphrase(8)

The wpa_supplicant utility first appeared in FreeBSD 6.0.

The wpa_supplicant utility was written by Jouni Malinen <j@w1.fi>. This manual page is derived from the README file included in the wpa_supplicant distribution.

July 28, 2018 release-26.07