kalua - build mesh-networks without pain

• community: http://wireless.subsignal.org
• monitoring: http://intercity-vpn.de/networks/dhfleesensee/
• documentation: API

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Important!

Don't forget to set the variables $REPONAME and $REPOURL as global variables (export VARIABLE=VALUE) before you start playing here. REPONAME is the directory where you checked out REPOURL. E.g. REPONAME could be set to weimarnetz and REPOURL to git://github.com/weimarnetz/weimarnetz.git

how to get a release for a specific hardware

To build weimarnetz images on your own, you need some preparation steps and one line together with some options for hardware, features and packages. The commands are shown below.

All config options reside in openwrt-config/ and consist of fragments of openwrt config files or patch scripts you need to modify some files. You can add your own config file,hardware files must be named config_HARDWARE.NAME.txt, features names are config_NAME.txt. Patch files must be saved in openwrt-patches/ and their name should descripe what they do.

You need to choose exactly one hardware and use it as the first argument prefixed with HARDWARE. (see example).

hardware bundles:

hardware	comment
ar71xx	build all ar71xx based hardware (recommanded)
TP-LINK TLWR841ND	build TP-Link WR841N/ND images
Ubiquiti Bullet M	build Ubiquity images, mostly suitable for Bullets and Nanostations

Sometimes we need to patch some errors, because the won't be fixed that fast in openwrt or our requirements differ from the default approach. A patch in a commandline starts with patch: followed by the file name.

patches:

patch	comment
luci-remove-freifunk-firewall.patch	removes the firewall package from dependencies as we use our own tools
901-minstrel-try-all-rates-patch	changes minstrel behaviour to try all Wifi rates, without this patch wifi will fall back very often to 1MBit/s
openwrt-remove-ppp-firewall-from-deps.patch	removes pppoe and firewall from standard build, helps to reduce size
openwrt-remove-wpad-mini-from-deps.patch	removes wpad-mini from standard build, helps to reduce size

There some features you can add to your image and to the build process. They're simply added to the commandline by name.

feature packs:

feature	explanation
busybox	configures busybox standard features
busybox_swap	use swap tools from busybox instead of heavy original tools
ffweimar_standard	contains packages suitable and required for all weimarnetz installations
ffweimar_luci_standard	adds luci as standard web interface
hostapd	installs hostapd-mini to enable wireless AP (note: WPA isn't included)
https	enables https feature for uhhtpd
i18n_german	adds german translations
imagesbuilder	creates the imagebuilder file that is used for meshkit installations
options	creates a lot of modules that won't be included to the image by default. you can find these packages in bin/arch/packages
owm	installs openwifimap client to support http://map.weimarnetz.de
shrink	removes debug symbols to save space
tc	adds traffic control, i.e. to optimize olsr links
vtunnoZlibnoSSL	vpn client configured to connect to our vpn servers
use_trunk	build latest openwrt trunk instead of revisions written in openwrt-config/git_revs. add this option at the end of your line.
use_bb1407	build from trunk ofbarrier breaker 14.07 final repo instead of revisions written in openwrt-config/git_revs from dev repos. add this option at the end of your line.

In the following box you'll find an example that builds our default image for weimarnetz routers based on ar71xx hardware. Simply call it step by step. Sometimes the build process will be interrupted. Mostly it's not an error, but some packages or dependencies of openwrt could not be downloaded. Try the last line again, if that happens. You could also debug that error by changing the directory to release/openwrt and call make V=s.

# login as non-root user
export REPONAME="weimarnetz" && export REPOURL="git://github.com/weimarnetz/weimarnetz.git"
git clone $REPOURL
mkdir myrelease; cd myrelease
DO="../$REPONAME/openwrt-build/build_release.sh"

# choose your router-model and build, for example:
#build all ar71xx based hardware images with barrier breaker 14.07 final
$DO "HARDWARE.ar71xx" ffweimar_standard patch:901-minstrel-try-all-rates.patch patch:luci-remove-freifunk-firewall.patch patch:openwrt-remove-ppp-firewall-from-deps.patch patch:openwrt-remove-wpad-mini-from-deps.patch ffweimar_luci_standard hostapd vtunnoZlibnoSSL i18n_german https owm shrink tc use_bb1407

how to build this from scratch on a debian server

# be root user
apt-get update
LIST="build-essential libncurses5-dev m4 flex git git-core zlib1g-dev unzip subversion gawk python libssl-dev quilt screen"
for PACKAGE in $LIST; do apt-get -y install $PACKAGE; done

# now login as non-root user, use 'git clone --depth 1 ...' if history doesnt matter (faster download)
git clone git://nbd.name/openwrt.git
git clone git://nbd.name/packages.git
cd openwrt
export REPONAME="weimarnetz" && export REPOURL="git://github.com/weimarnetz/weimarnetz.git"
git clone $REPOURL

# for working with a specific openwrt-revision, do this:
# REV=33867	// current testing
# REV=33726	// current beta
# REV=33726	// current stable
# git checkout "$( git log -z | tr '\n\0' ' \n' | grep "@$REV " | cut -d' ' -f2 )" -b r$REV

# now copy your own 'apply_profile.code.definitions' to . or the provided one will be used

make menuconfig				# select your "Target System" / "Target Profile" and exit
make package/symlinks

# now configure your image, see next
# section "configure the builtin-packages"

# last 3 arguments enforce a specific configuration (profile: ffweimar, wifmode: adhoc, node: 42)
$REPONAME/openwrt-build/mybuild.sh applymystuff "ffweimar" "adhoc" "42"	# omit arguments for a generic image
$REPONAME/openwrt-build/mybuild.sh make 					# needs some hours + 5gig of space

# flash your image via TFTP
FW="/path/to/your/baked/firmware_file"
IP="your.own.router.ip"
while :; do atftp --trace --option "timeout 1" --option "mode octet" --put --local-file $FW $IP && break; sleep 1; done

configure the builtin-packages

# the fast and easy automatic way:
$REPONAME/openwrt-build/mybuild.sh set_build standard
make defconfig

# the way to understand what you are doing here:
make kernel_menuconfig		# will safe in 'build_dir/linux-${platform}/linux-${kernelversion}/.config'

	General setup ---> [*] Support for paging of anonymous memory (swap)
	Device Drivers ---> Staging drivers ---> [*] Compressed RAM block device support

make menuconfig 		# will safe in '.config'

	Global build settings ---> [*] Compile the kernel with symbol table information

	Base system ---> busybox ---> Linux System Utilities ---> [*] mkswap
								  [*] swaponoff
	Base system ---> [ ] firewall

	Network ---> Firewall ---> [*] iptables ---> [*] iptables-mod-ipopt
						     [*] iptables-mod-nat-extra

	Network ---> Routing and Redirection ---> [*] ip
	Network ---> Routing and Redirection ---> [*] olsrd ---> [*] olsrd-mod-arprefresh
								 [*] olsrd-mod-jsoninfo
								 [*] olsrd-mod-nameservice
								 [*] olsrd-mod-txtinfo
								 [*] olsrd-mod-watchdog
	Network ---> Web Servers/Proxies ---> [*] uhttpd
					      [*] uhttpd-mod-tls
					      [*] Build with debug messages

	Network ---> [*] ethtool	# if needed, e.g. 'Dell Truemobile 2300'
	Network ---> [*] mii-tool	# if needed, e.g. 'Ubiquiti Bullet M5'
	Network ---> [*] netperf
	Network ---> [*] ulogd ---> [*] ulogd-mod-extra		# if data retention needed

	Utilities ---> [*] px5g
		       [*] rbcfg	# if needed, e.g. 'Linksys WRT54G/GS/GL'

how to development directly on a router

opkg update
opkg install git

echo  >/tmp/gitssh.sh '#!/bin/sh'
echo >>/tmp/gitssh.sh 'logger -s "$0: $*"'
echo >>/tmp/gitssh.sh 'ssh -i /etc/dropbear/dropbear_dss_host_key $*'

chmod +x /tmp/gitssh.sh
export GIT_SSH="/tmp/gitssh.sh"		# dropbear needs this for public key authentication

git config --global user.name >/dev/null || {
	git config --global user.name "Firstname Lastname"
	git config --global user.email "[email protected]"
	git config --edit --global
}

mkdir -p /tmp/dev; cd /tmp/dev
git clone $REPOURL
$REPONAME/openwrt-build/mybuild.sh build_kalua_update_tarball
cd /; tar xvzf /tmp/tarball.tgz; rm /tmp/tarball.tgz

cd /tmp/dev/weimarnetz
git add <changed_files>
git commit -m "decribe changes"
git push ...

piggyback kalua on a new router model without building from scratch

# for new devices, which are flashed with a plain openwrt
# from http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ do this:

# plugin ethernet on WAN, to get IP via DHCP, wait
# some seconds, connect via LAN with 'telnet 192.168.1.1' and

# look with which IP was given on WAN, then do:
ifconfig $(uci -q get network.wan.ifname) | fgrep "inet addr:"
/etc/init.d/firewall stop
/etc/init.d/firewall disable
exit

# plugin ethernet on WAN and connect to the router
# via 'telnet <routers_wan_ip>', then do:
opkg update
opkg install ip bmon netperf
opkg install olsrd olsrd-mod-arprefresh olsrd-mod-watchdog olsrd-mod-txtinfo olsrd-mod-nameservice
opkg install uhttpd uhttpd-mod-tls px5g
opkg install kmod-ipt-compat-xtables iptables-mod-conntrack iptables-mod-conntrack-extra iptables-mod-extra
opkg install iptables-mod-filter iptables-mod-ipp2p iptables-mod-ipopt iptables-mod-nat iptables-mod-nat-extra
opkg install iptables-mod-ulog ulogd ulogd-mod-extra

# build full ffweimar-tarball on server
$REPONAME/openwrt-build/mybuild.sh build_kalua_update_tarball full

# copy from server to your router
scp user@yourserver:/tmp/tarball.tgz /tmp/tarball.tgz
# OR take this prebuilt one:
wget -O /tmp/tarball.tgz http://46.252.25.48/tarball_full.tgz
# decompress:
cd /; tar xvzf /tmp/tarball.tgz; rm /tmp/tarball.tgz

# execute config-writer
/etc/init.d/apply_profile.code

Cherry Picking Git commits from forked repositories

• git fetch [repository url]
• git cherry-pick -x [hash]
• resolve conflicts, if any
  • git commit -ac [hash]
• git push