atk9k cannot setup virtual device on ap + client with wpa_supplicant

Question

I'm trying to use a beagle bone black running ubuntu 14.04 act as an access point and a wireless client at the same time the goal is to use the access point to allow a client to connect, open a page through an httpd server and then configure/connect to a local wireless signal

the wifi uses Atheros AR9271 chipset which uses the ath9k_htc driver I'm wondering if this is specific to this chipset vs a standard ath9k supported chipset or am I missing the elusive obvious?

I can get the access point working using a virtual device

iw phy phy0 interface add wap0 type __ap
ifconfig wap0 hw ether 0a:35:9f:fe:44:01  # or any fake HW address
ifconfig wap0 192.168.8.1 netmask 255.255.255.0
ifconfig wap0 192.168.8.1 up

with /etc/network/interfaces entry

auto wap0
iface wap0 inet static
    hostapd /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
    address 192.168.8.1
    netmask 255.255.255.0

and /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf entry to a minimum

interface=wap0
driver=nl80211
ssid=BeagleBoneBlack
channel=1

and /etc/dnsmasq.conf at a minimum with

interface=lo,wap0
listen-address=127.0.0.1
no-dhcp-interface=lo
dhcp-range=192.168.8.10,192.168.8.50,255.255.255.0,12h
cache-size=0

I can get a client to connect wirelessly, using a variety of tools (nmcli / wicd / iw / ...) I can then connect to another router using wlan0

if encryption is disabled

when I try to connect to another router with wpa1/2 enabled I start getting funny results with any client and multiple kernel/driver versions (compat 3.8.x through backports 3.19.x)

everything from running wpa_supplicant directly

wpa_passphrase "NETWORK_SSID" "WPA_PASS_PHRASE" > /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
wpa_supplicant -i wlan0 -Dwext -Dn180211 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

output (repeated a few dozen times in various order)

Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant
wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-SCAN-STARTED 
wlan0: SME: Trying to authenticate with 04:a1:51:33:f3:64 (SSID='NETWORK_SSID' freq=2462 MHz)
wlan0: SME: Authentication request to the driver failed

when running wpa_supplicant before initializing the virtual device wap0

# wpa_supplicant -i wlan0 -Dwext -Dn180211 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant
wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-SCAN-STARTED 
wlan0: SME: Trying to authenticate with 98:fc:11:b7:48:a0 (SSID='mycomountain' freq=2437 MHz)
wlan0: Trying to associate with 98:fc:11:b7:48:a0 (SSID='NETWORK_SSID' freq=2437 MHz)
wlan0: Associated with 98:fc:11:b7:48:a0
wlan0: WPA: Key negotiation completed with 98:fc:11:b7:48:a0 [PTK=CCMP GTK=TKIP]
wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-CONNECTED - Connection to 98:fc:11:b7:48:a0 completed [id=0 id_str=]

to using /etc/network/interfaces set to

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
    wpa-ssid "NETWORK_SSID"
    wpa-psk "WPA_PASS_PHRASE"

and running

ifdown wlan0; ifup wlan0;

output

Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client 4.2.4
Copyright 2004-2012 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit https://www.isc.org/software/dhcp/

Listening on LPF/wlan0/e8:de:27:1f:6e:60
Sending on   LPF/wlan0/e8:de:27:1f:6e:60
Sending on   Socket/fallback
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client 4.2.4
Copyright 2004-2012 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit https://www.isc.org/software/dhcp/

Listening on LPF/wlan0/e8:de:27:1f:6e:60
Sending on   LPF/wlan0/e8:de:27:1f:6e:60
Sending on   Socket/fallback
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 3 (xid=0x39ec90a3)
# ...
No DHCPOFFERS received.
No working leases in persistent database - sleeping.

the DHCPDISCOVER line then repeats itself with various interval values until it fails

wicd just fails to do anything when hostapd is running on wap0

I'm certainly skipping a couple steps I've tried so far, best reference that suggests what I'm doing should work (I can post a dozen more with pieces that got me this far if helpful for anyone)

Creating WiFi Access point on a single interface in Linux

** EDIT **

I tried changing the hostaptd channel to match the router channel I'm trying to connect to -- still not connecting but starting to get wicd to do something when hostapd is running

wicd control through python w/ dbus (probably irrelevant but hoping this thread helps someone else once a solution is found)

import dbus

bus = dbus.SystemBus()
wireless = dbus.Interface(bus.get_object('org.wicd.daemon', '/org/wicd/daemon/wireless'),
                          'org.wicd.daemon.wireless')
network_id = 0
wireless.ConnectWireless(network_id)

Wicd log Output

2015/04/20 16:47:30 :: Putting interface down
2015/04/20 16:47:30 :: Releasing DHCP leases...
2015/04/20 16:47:30 :: attempting to set hostname with dhclient
2015/04/20 16:47:30 :: using dhcpcd or another supported client may work better
2015/04/20 16:47:31 :: Setting false IP...
2015/04/20 16:47:31 :: Stopping wpa_supplicant
2015/04/20 16:47:31 :: Flushing the routing table...
2015/04/20 16:47:31 :: Putting interface up...
2015/04/20 16:47:33 :: Attempting to authenticate...
2015/04/20 16:48:09 :: wpa_supplicant authentication may have failed.
2015/04/20 16:48:09 :: connect result is 
2015/04/20 16:48:09 :: exiting connection thread
2015/04/20 16:48:10 :: Sending connection attempt result bad_pass
2015/04/20 16:48:10 :: Autoconnecting...
2015/04/20 16:48:10 :: No wired connection present, attempting to autoconnect to wireless network
2015/04/20 16:48:13 :: Unable to autoconnect, you'll have to manually connect
2015/04/20 16:48:13 :: attempting to set hostname with dhclient
2015/04/20 16:48:13 :: using dhcpcd or another supported client may work better
2015/04/20 16:48:13 :: attempting to set hostname with dhclient
2015/04/20 16:48:13 :: using dhcpcd or another supported client may work better

Output wicd -- hostapd stopped

2015/04/20 16:58:58 :: Putting interface down
2015/04/20 16:58:58 :: Releasing DHCP leases...
2015/04/20 16:58:58 :: attempting to set hostname with dhclient
2015/04/20 16:58:58 :: using dhcpcd or another supported client may work better
2015/04/20 16:58:58 :: Setting false IP...
2015/04/20 16:58:58 :: Stopping wpa_supplicant
2015/04/20 16:58:58 :: Flushing the routing table...
2015/04/20 16:58:58 :: Putting interface up...
2015/04/20 16:59:00 :: Attempting to authenticate...
2015/04/20 16:59:02 :: Running DHCP with hostname HOSTNAME
2015/04/20 16:59:02 :: attempting to set hostname with dhclient
2015/04/20 16:59:02 :: using dhcpcd or another supported client may work better
2015/04/20 16:59:02 :: Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client 4.2.4
2015/04/20 16:59:02 :: Copyright 2004-2012 Internet Systems Consortium.
2015/04/20 16:59:02 :: All rights reserved.
2015/04/20 16:59:02 :: For info, please visit https://www.isc.org/software/dhcp/
2015/04/20 16:59:02 :: 
2015/04/20 16:59:02 :: Listening on LPF/wlan0/64:70:02:20:08:35
2015/04/20 16:59:02 :: Sending on   LPF/wlan0/64:70:02:20:08:35
2015/04/20 16:59:02 :: Sending on   Socket/fallback
2015/04/20 16:59:02 :: DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 3 (xid=0x136a5e8e)
2015/04/20 16:59:02 :: DHCPREQUEST of 192.168.0.15 on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 (xid=0x136a5e8e)
2015/04/20 16:59:02 :: DHCPOFFER of 192.168.0.15 from 192.168.0.1
2015/04/20 16:59:02 :: DHCPACK of 192.168.0.15 from 192.168.0.1
2015/04/20 16:59:02 :: bound to 192.168.0.15 -- renewal in 42862 seconds.
2015/04/20 16:59:02 :: DHCP connection successful
2015/04/20 16:59:02 :: not verifying
2015/04/20 16:59:03 :: Connecting thread exiting.
2015/04/20 16:59:03 :: Sending connection attempt result success

Answer 1

Not sure what hardware you have, but if you are using a USB stick for Wifi (Like TP-Links TL-WN722N), you cannot set the AP mode channel without firmware hacking. This is a highly non trivial task which require compiling a bunch of Linux sources etc. In addition the default firmware seem to be for a country where channels 12 and 13 are not available.