kalua - build mesh-networks without pain

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

needing support? join the club or ask for consulting

how to get a release for a specific hardware

# login as non-root user
git clone git://github.com/bittorf/kalua.git
mkdir x; cd x

REV="r34381"                    # leave empty for trunk / latest
HW="TP-LINK TL-WR1043ND"        # possible values: ls -1 ../kalua/openwrt-config/config_HARDWARE.* | cut -d'.' -f4
DO="../kalua/openwrt-build/build_release.sh"

# choose your router-model and build, for example:
$DO "HARDWARE.$HW" $REV standard dataretention trafficshaping vtunZlibLZOnoSSL kcmdlinetweak
$DO "HARDWARE.$HW" $REV standard patch:901-minstrel-try-all-rates.patch dataretention nopppoe b43minimal olsrsimple nohttps nonetperf kcmdlinetweak

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
git clone git://github.com/bittorf/kalua.git

# 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)
kalua/openwrt-build/mybuild.sh applymystuff "ffweimar" "adhoc" "42"	# omit arguments for a generic image
kalua/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:
kalua/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'

• usage
  • login via ssh
  • prepare the router by calling _firmware_wget_prepare_for_lowmem_devices
  • fetch/copy firmware image to /tmp/fw
  • call _firmware_burn

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 "your_email@youremail.com"
	git config --edit --global
}

mkdir -p /tmp/dev; cd /tmp/dev
git clone <this_repo>
kalua/openwrt-build/mybuild.sh build_kalua_update_tarball
cd /; tar xvzf /tmp/tarball.tgz; rm /tmp/tarball.tgz

cd /tmp/dev/kalua
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 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 kalua-tarball on server
kalua/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