iwevent

iwevent [-r] [-s] [-t]

-r
    Displays raw event messages as received from the kernel, without parsing them into a human-readable format. This is useful for debugging or scripting purposes.

-s
    Prints a short description of the wireless event. This option provides a more concise output compared to the default verbose description.

-t
    Prepends a timestamp to each event message, indicating when the event occurred. This is useful for analyzing event sequences over time.

iwevent is a command-line utility from the wireless-tools package that monitors and displays wireless events generated by the kernel. These events provide real-time notifications about various occurrences on a wireless interface, such as changes in the associated access point, link quality fluctuations, roaming events, or disconnections.

It operates by reading from the kernel's wireless event stream, providing valuable diagnostic information for network administrators and users troubleshooting wireless connectivity issues. It can be particularly useful for observing how a wireless client behaves during network transitions or signal degradation.

- Requires root privileges to run, as it interacts directly with kernel event streams.
- Part of the wireless-tools package, which is older and largely deprecated in favor of the iw command for modern wireless configuration and monitoring.
- Its output format can vary slightly between kernel versions or distributions.
- May not work with all modern wireless drivers or hardware, especially those that rely exclusively on the Netlink API.

iwevent runs continuously until interrupted, making it suitable for real-time observation of wireless network behavior, especially during troubleshooting connectivity issues or observing roaming patterns.

Due to its command-line nature, iwevent's output can be piped or redirected, allowing it to be integrated into scripts for automated monitoring or logging of wireless events.

iwevent is a component of the wireless-tools suite, which was developed to configure and monitor wireless network interfaces on Linux using the Wireless Extensions API. This API and the associated tools became the standard for wireless management before the advent of cfg80211 and nl80211 (Netlink-based 802.11) in the Linux kernel.

While still available on many systems for backward compatibility, wireless-tools and iwevent have largely been superseded by the more modern iw command and direct Netlink interaction, which offer more robust and feature-rich management capabilities for contemporary wireless hardware and standards.

iw(8), iwconfig(8), ifconfig(8), dmesg(1), journalctl(1)