Request to backport NetworkManager Wi-Fi 7 MLO background scan fix to Fedora 44

Ask Fedora
1

Environment:

Fedora 44
Kernel 7.2.5-200.fc44.x86_64
NetworkManager 1.56.1-2.fc44
wpa_supplicant 2.11-9.fc44
Realtek RTL8922AE
driver rtw89_8922ae
firmware 0.35.80.3
Wi-Fi 7 / 802.11be with MLO active on 2.4 GHz + 5 GHz

I was seeing network stutters during multiplayer gaming approximately every 5 minutes. Tracing showed that they occurred exactly when NetworkManager triggered a background Wi-Fi scan. During the scan, rtw89 stopped TX queues and the ping to the local gateway stalled.

NetworkManager upstream already contains the fix:

“Keep the long background scan interval for a single Wi-Fi 7 AP-MLD.”

The workaround is to lock the connection to a specific BSSID, which disables the periodic background scan. After applying it, MLO remains active and the stutters disappear completely.

Could this AP-MLD/background-scan fix be backported to the NetworkManager package shipped with Fedora 44?

2

You could raise a fedora bug asking for this backport, but I suspect that the maintainer requires a new release of NetworkManager that contains the change.

3

If you feel slightly adventurous, you could update to Fedora 45 beta. The beta has been released a few days ago, so it should mostly work. I recommend to take a backup (preferably full disk image) so you can roll back if necessary. Since you mention gaming: If you rely on proprietary drivers or anything else from rpmfusion, they may not be available yet, I recommend to check before the update.

4

Does it contain the WiFi change to NetworkManager? If not it not a good idea to try f45 until it’s released.

5

You could use F45-beta with a “Live USB” to check the network manager version, including versions of available updates.

6

F45 is currently running 1.58.1, it looks like that commit is in 1.59.1 dev, Making sure you're not a bot!

7

Yes.

I have it already.