How to read iw allowed interface lists?

Question

I wanted to set up promiscuous Wi-Fi monitoring into Wireshark. Tried to do it like I used to with iwconfig, but this system sets me back to managed as soon as I bring the interface back up. I see online posts saying iw can add a monitor interface alongside the managed connection, so you can keep your internet alive while monitoring. Would be great, but:

[loren@Gazp9 ~]$ iw dev wlp3s0 interface add mon0 type monitor
command failed: Operation not permitted (-1)
[loren@Gazp9 ~]$ iw phy wlp3s0 interface add mon0 type monitor
command failed: No such file or directory (-2)
[loren@Gazp9 ~]$ iw phy
Wiphy phy0
[loren@Gazp9 ~]$ iw phy phy0 interface add mon0 type monitor
command failed: Operation not permitted (-1)

(That's Antergos 4.19.8-arch1-1-ARCH, if it matters.)

So I dug deeper, including Deciphering the output of iw list valid interface combinations here. But I'm still not sure if this means there is no hope of adding the monitor interface. Here are excerpts from my "iw phy" command response:

phy0    Supported interface modes:
             * IBSS
             * managed
             * AP
             * AP/VLAN
             * monitor
             * P2P-client
             * P2P-GO
             * P2P-device

    Supported commands:
             * new_interface
    (nothing about add interface)

    software interface modes (can always be added):
             * AP/VLAN
             * monitor
    valid interface combinations:
             * #{ managed } <= 1, #{ AP, P2P-client, P2P-GO } <= 1, #{ P2P-device } <= 1,
               total <= 3, #channels <= 2

Looks like I can have one monitor for sure. [And after the suggestion here to add sudo to my interface add command, I actually added the monitor interface successfully alongside my managed interface.]

But I'm still curious about:

Why isn't "add interface" listed as a supported command? I've seen it work...

What is the "software interface" monitor that can "always" be added? Isn't my "interface add" connection just software?

Maybe those two questions answer each other? If so, what is a "non-software interface"? Can I magically add actual hardware to my system by typing commands?

Why doesn't "valid interface combinations" list "monitor" at all? I have it working combined with "managed".

Maybe the response to "iw phy" is created by the people who made my Chinese hardware?

And, why in the wiki at https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/documentation/iw do only

sudo iw dev wlan1 station get

and

sudo iw dev wlan0 set power_save on

show the use of sudo? None of the "add" commands show it:

iw dev wlan0 interface add fish0 type monitor flags none

But this is intellectual curiosity. I'm happy to have a working monitor and get on with the real project.

Answer 1

(As the asker didn't write his own answer:)

Add the monitor interface as root, i.e setup sudo and use it.

Judging from the comment, this seems to have worked:

sudo iw dev wlp3s0 interface add mon0 type monitor 

worked immediately - mon0 existed, but Wireshark said it wasn't up.

sudo ifconfig mon0 up 

made it connectable, and I see a torrent of WLAN packets now in Wireshark.