LibreMesh 2022 Meetings

People & list of Topics

pedro, hiure, gio, ilario, cristina, luandro, duy

People & list of Topics

Cri, at 13:15 utc, not other people come at the meeting.
So I took the time to move on the task of the last meeting, assigned to ilario and me: document the network profile in LiMe.
https://github.com/libremesh/lime-web/pull/142

I think we can try to call another meeting giving us before a list of topics to discuss, for december.

People & list of Topics

Cri, Ilario, Sam

we need to write a page on the website guiding the communities to write a network-profile - Cri & Ilario will do that

aggiornare/scrivere lista delle comunità che usano libremesh, chiedere consenso di metterli in home page:

Comunity mesh network using Libremesh:

Organization promoting Libremesh:

we have a big problem with the "distance" parameter, now it is 1 km for 5 GHz and 100 m for 2.4 GHz. There is an "auto" setting for the ath9k???????????????????????? We have to underline this setting everywhere. https://github.com/aredn/aredn_ar71xx/search?q=distance&type=issues we could have a setting like this: if a positive value is provided, just use the value; if a negative distance is provided, check somehow if the "auto" value can be used, otherwise use the absolute value as the distance. In Aredn they check for the existence of /sys/kernel/debug/ieee80211/$phy/ath9k before activating the auto setting.

For Freifunk communities based on Gluon the automatic distance / dynack feature is enabled by default (distance = 0 in UCI). However some communities have experienced issues with using dynack, leading to TX path hangs (stuck transmissions until resetting the wifi chip) especially in croweded areas and went back to a static distance setting.

Freifunk Vogtland went first to 3km distance setting and still / again got TX path hangs and now settled to 1km:

https://github.com/FreifunkVogtland/gluon/commit/86f517054c3ba4f352eee57db29f4d3de3e34f1d
https://github.com/FreifunkVogtland/gluon/commit/a024c9ce6926
https://github.com/FreifunkVogtland/gluon/commit/4f3d4edfe3

People & list of Topics

troian, cri, bruno

1- charla libre - chiacchiere libere- conversa libre
2- prosima reuniao - nextmeeting
vamos a fazer un encuntro durante o Battlemesh con a pessoas que ficam: https://battlemesh.org/BattleMeshV14
Setembro - Battlemesh
Outubro - Online

1- conversa libre sobra o firmwares

Troian está compilando LibreRouter para diferentes hardwares tp-link
http://compila.ax.org.br:5000/

Cri usa o Libremesh e o Librerouter compilado para nos com estos profilo
https://github.com/libremesh/network-profiles/tree/master/valsamoggia.ninux.org
FIzeram esse perfil e nunca mais mudaram (muito poco :)

Bruno: precisamos organizar e publicar essa documentação

troian: o Librerouter já vem com tudo pronto e com muitos pacotes/recursos que os routers baratos não tem (usa memória demais). Ele vem com as últimas versões do LibreApp, PIrania, tá muito mais atualizado.
Porque o LIbreRouter precisa de firmware específico? Por isso:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAfhClVVMMo&t=25s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmPXiS7P01s&t=44s

O Chef faz falta! Gerenciamento de perfis de comunidade, etc. Estava bem porque nos nao compilaram :)

we look together sharing the screen some new features that are missing by Libremesh (new piranha, remote support, wifi hot spot sharing, …​)
Trazer limeapp, pirania, suporte remoto para o Libremesh
Nos em bologna as veces usamos tambem Luci porque esta bem por veder Rotes e ARP table, e tambem usamos ssh da cli. Mas a persona "connectada" usam so a App o telefonano a o contactos.

Chegaram duas domandas: - purque troquamos da bmx a babeld?
- que diferencia esta tra librerouter e libremesh e que relazione entre os dues?

People & list of Topics

luandro,cri, pedro,san, hiure, bruno

1- round about what we are working on..libremesh or mesh topic
2- news? about Altermundi/Gsoc works..
3- new libremesh mailinglist .. comments?
4- o nuovo metodo de revisao de PR, 1 revisao, trabalha?
5- stato libremesh in router que nao sao libre-router
6- prosima reuniao

Bruno:
Hacer una ronda sobre el uso de otros routers com libremesh

1e2- German esta trabalhando sobra o wizard de limeapp, optimizar a performance, .. (una otra que nao intendi)
està acompanhando Irina che principiò da uma semana o GsoC, esta fazendo estudo pareter uma rede virtuales de dispositivos libremesh , esta preparando o desenvolvimento do projecto AMPR.org .

Lime-app wizard/pantalla para conectarse a red ya existente
Tarda mucho para conectar a una red porque descarga informacion sobre todos los nodos antes de unirse
Proyecto AMPR - desarollo libremesh estabilidad de roteo (batman) y mas herramientas de monitorei

Cristina, no update

San:
No hizo trabajo nos ultimos meses, ma fizeste o cambio de lista (obrigado!! :)

Hiure:

Nueva versión de Pirana en la comunidad, instalación de librerouter os 1.5 con el nbuevo piraña

Librerouter, cpe210 e cpe510. Em Monteiro Lobato.

chilombos=sao insediamento de umanos fugidos da esclavitù no seculo pasado.
hanno montato una nuova rete in un chilombo
cambiando el sistema a pirania, porque algunos pagan y otros no.
hay solo una salido de 1mb a internet

bruno:
no update

3- feedback do uso da lista: bueno

4- PR se encerró en la ultima reuniao - solo habrá un review para los PR

5-stato libremesh in router que nao sao libre-router:
coolab quer invertir em dar mais suporte para modelos que não são librerouter

san: ver se hay algun dispositivo que use el mismo chip que librerouter2 (SOC)

https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/ramips/mt7621/

https://www.mediatek.com.es/products/home-networking/mt7621

Antenne que usamos https://antennine.noblogs.org/post/2021/12/15/tipi-di-antenne-che-usiamo/
Versioni firmware: https://bin.campiinrete.org/openwrt19.07.7_lime2020.1/

ger: vai melhorar a confirguração dos poros ethernet cuando são redes que não são libremesh

People & list of Topics

1) round about what we are working on..libremesh or mesh topic
2) News from AlterMundi’s: We got funded by AMPR.org
3) News from GsoC (?)

4) libremesh mailinglist …​ check subscriptions and working (Cri..maybe Ilario?)
5)Analysis of the implementation status of last meeting’s decisions
6) Revisit double review for PRs in libremesh repos.
7) Próxima reunión de proyecto / Next project meeting

Quick Comunications: https://battlemesh.org/

Temas dejados para próximos meetings - Topics left for next meetings:

1) round about what we are working on..libremesh or mesh topic
Ilario: changed cityes, so in the last month has other topics to complete
german: we got funded by AMPR, so I’ll be back working soon. I helped Selankon with the FirstBootWizard as he is improving the interface so that it gives more information.
cri: maintaining the local mesh network, mounted new node, communication inside of the network, focus on contents creation inside the network and on human network between nodes, setting up Grafana found the good dashboard from and customized that is quite ready to share, working with Wireguard. I invited in this meeting Angelichi, who wrote a thesis on a greek mesh network. Battlemesh this year will be in September in Italy/Rome:
https://dudle.inf.tu-dresden.de/battlemesh_v14/
https://ml.ninux.org/mailman/listinfo/battlemesh
txt.file: listening :)

2) News from AlterMundi’s: We got funded by AMPR.org (german)
There’s a roadmap, contributions are welcome and also let us know if you want to participate.
From last meeting, https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-dgUv9LE-VBIE6GDDUDDjVm9h4IrH9uqk8YXi-u3b18/edit#gid=0
Altermundi received the grant, lasts 18 months, to work on it you need to talk with Altermundi members (e.g. German Ferrero), collaborations are possible, check the list of the topics
The grant is for software development and documentation.
Cri can help with the UX (user experience) and frontend, and sharing their usecase
Some help could be needed to understand if Babeld and Batman-adv are correctly working in our setup; and whether there are missing content in lime-app

Ilario: We should collaborate with Babeld and Batman-adv developers for understanding whether our setup is optimal. In my opinion looks messy, it works but does not look correct. Some related discussions here:
https://github.com/libremesh/lime-packages/issues/666

Cri: when using OpenWrt 21.02 seems that L2 is not working, as the mesh works only when using a different subnet (changing ap_name), so seems that level3 works (Babeld). it would be very interesting to understand more on how LibreMesh work internally with Batman-adv and Babeld.

Ilario: it is important to test LibreMesh on OpenWrt release candidates as in the past we managed to spot bugs in OpenWrt that were fixed in the final release, making it working amazingly for us

Cri: are we going to have a specific meeting for this?

Ger: in the AMPR roadmap we have a point on that, we can do the meeting and hackatons at that point

3) News from GsoC (German)
- Irina Argarañás (computer science student) will be working on "Try LibreMesh without router" which is for having virtual nodes and virtual mesh network. The scripts are more or less ready but they are not easy to find and the documentation is not enough. For sure we need a link from the webpage pointing to clear instructions for having virtualization running on one’s laptop. The goal is to have more contributors.
https://projects.freifunk.net/#/projects?project=try_libremesh_without_having_a_router&lang=en

now the mentors have to prioritize the students

4) libremesh mailinglist …​ check subscriptions and working (Cri..maybe Ilario?)

Ilario, Cri: Who are the maintainers?
Ger: Gui & NicoE
Cri: how can we help?
Ger: writing an email to Gui
SAn: Gui already knows that there’s the problem, is related to the reverse DNS that causes the bouncing of emails. But he does not have time to maintain.
Ilario: he has to accept help, because we really need the mailing list. Also Amuza volunteered for that.
Ger: I’ll ask Gui for access on the server.
Cri: Who does manage the DNS?
SAn: Codigosur manages the DNS, so maybe we need to ask Codigosur for editing that. But nobody has time to support that. Codigosur was hosting that but when they stopped, Gui started hosting it. We can ask to other mailing list providers.
Ilario: Ninux server?
Cri: they did not implement DMARC which is a big problem with anybody using gmail. Framasoft? https://framalistes.org/sympa/ Autistici? https://www.autistici.org/services/lists Riseup? Mayfirst? Chatons? https://www.chatons.org/search/other
https://www.chatons.org/search/by-service?service_type_target_id=114&field_alternatives_aux_services_target_id=All&field_software_target_id=All&field_is_shared_value=All&title=
SAn: we could also donate money to the server that will host us.
Ilario: we have money from donations on OpenCollective
https://opencollective.com/libremesh

Ger: los servidores de Altermundi estan caidos
http://lists.libremesh.org/ → 404 Not Found

Ilario: We thank Gui for the great work done with keeping the list running when Codigosur stopped hosting. Should we propose on the list or on the chat asking where to host? SAn, can you take a backup of the subscribers list so that we can re-subscribe them in the new list? Should we do it right now or ask and wait one week?

Cri: I trust Autistici, Riseup and Mayfirst

SAn: maybe we will not be able to keep the domain lists.libremesh.org but the direction will be different

Ilario, Cri: no problem.

Cri: when the situation will be stable and working, we can go back

Ilario: the collective we know more people from are Autistici, let’s use that

Cri: I can ask them. But the management will be done together? They are using Mailman2, thinking of migrating to Mailman3

Ilario: the 4 participants in this moment of the meeting could be the people having access to the mailing list management (SAn, Ger, Ilario, Cri). Maybe we’ll warn the people before mass subscription to the new list.

Draft of mail:
Dear subscriber to the LibreMesh project mailing list,
as you maybe noticed, we’re experiencing issues with the mail server hosted by Altermundi. We thank Altermundi for managing this service, but during this outage we are going to use an additional mailing list, in which we’re going to subscribe all the subscribers.
The new mailing list is going to be on Autistici/Inventati servers and you’ll receive a notification subscription shortly.
Cheers and have a good meshing!
LibreMesh community
Improved draft: https://pad.codigosur.org/kd0TzuZB1RWfYh-DGISH

5) Analysis of the implementation status of last meeting’s decisions
Ger: we didn’t look very much for students for GSoC

6) Revisit double review for PRs in libremesh repos.
Ger: this is keeping back the releases of LibreRouterOS, maybe one review is enough
Ilario: one is enough
SAn: one is enough, I will change that

7) Próxima reunión de proyecto / Next project meeting

next meeting in June

Ger: I will send out the Framadate

People and topics

guifipedro (hasta las 13:40 UTC), cri, hiure, ilario, luandro, ger, nicop, Mark Birss, may

empezamos a las 13:15 UTC

Temas - Topics - Orden del día:

Temas dejados para próximos meetings - Topics left for next meetings:

Acta de reunión / Minutes of the meeting

THE ETHERPAD STOPPED SYNCING HERE, SO FROM HERE ON THE LOG IS RECONSTRUCTED BASED ON THE PARTICIPANTS' MEMORY

Altermundi applied for a big grant from a amateur radio association https://www.ampr.org/ , they found the grant with short notice, maybe the content of the project can be edited also once it has been granted?
Ger wrote a large list of ideas with a planning spanning over one year and a half.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-dgUv9LE-VBIE6GDDUDDjVm9h4IrH9uqk8YXi-u3b18/edit#gid=0
Altermundi is applying for grants as Altermundi is financially supporting some of the LibreRouter & LibreMesh & lime-app developers.
The amount of ideas and work is so huge that if the project is approved it is likely that more developers will be needed!
Specifically, if there’s someone with experience in UX (user experience) it would for sure be needed.

Ger, SAn & Luandro were working on Pirania
Luandro was working also on translations, shared this interesting local app (some not properti work in internet) https://moinho.app/
The others were also doing many amazingly cool stuff I cannot exactly recall.
Cri said that in their network have now 1, and soon 3 antennas working with lime based on openwrt21, because discovered that the CPE512 V.3.2 tplink antennas are supported now starting from that version, so we are building for ourself to use the antennas, that where with airos, but we have some problem…​ seems that level 2 not discovery other nodes, so changing the domain of our IP, mesh works …​.. ^^
shared a presentation with the status of their 57 people for 25nodes network and the included services
https://campiaperti.org/infra/2021-rc3.html
Mark Birss shared an interesting post from Luandro about LoRA+LibreMesh
https://meshtastic.discourse.group/t/meshtastic-to-connect-remote-villages-deep-in-the-amazon/2643

traspasar usuarios de lime-dev a lime-users y dejar de usar lime-dev - move the users from lime-dev to lime-users mailing list and stop using lime-dev mailing list

SAn executed this

red inicialmente geek-free: proponer en la lista de correo [ger ferrero: yo podría iniciar este hilo, luego de que San traspase los usuarios] - defining LibreMesh as a "initially geek-free" project, which means that we want to develop LibreMesh so that non-geek users can start using LibreMesh, but will be encouraged to understand the inner mechanisms if they want

ilario edited a bit the website https://github.com/libremesh/lime-web/commit/97223e8a830ca3e18e05b0b104a499db7d1e3583
but deeper edits are needed, mostly at the homepage
Cri proposes to add guides/interviews/pra for dealing with community management and human problems
Ger proposes to set the flow of the website so that is more human and less technical-topics oriented
A submeeting has to be set for actually discussing the details and implementing them on the website

publicamos el acta en la lista de correo - this meeting log will be published in the lime-users mailing list

Done, but the archive of the mailing list is not working.
SAn will push Gui to fix that

la próxima reunión debería ser en febrero - the next meeting should be on February

The meeting has been in February (thanks to Cri for managing the scheduling) and the participation was of 8-9 people (more than what we expected from the Framadate)

https://developers.google.com/open-source/gsoc/timeline

ilario points out that we should review our communication systems for avoiding that we get to know this the day before the deadline

the existing projects proposals are here https://projects.freifunk.net and all the LibreMesh-related proposals are from the last year.
In order for Freifunk to be accepted in the program, the projects are important.
We should contribute new projects here (and maybe delete some old ones):
https://github.com/freifunk/projects.freifunk.net-contents/tree/main/collections/_projects
the template is here:
https://github.com/freifunk/projects.freifunk.net-contents/blob/main/README.md
All of us will write the projects
SAn will make the pull requests

A brainstorming follows, more or less with the following proposals:

SAn:
the projects have to be centered on coding

ilario:
Quality of Service (Traffic Control) included in Pirania, for having a guests access with low priority and a "node owner" or "person with voucher" with high priority. This should be more or less easy for the gateway node (just creating two interfaces, an open one with low priority and a closed one with high priority), but less so for the others. Amuza and SAn could be mentors.

name: "Implement Smart Queue Management in Pirania captive portal for mesh networks"
desc: "Pirania captive portal is a voucher-based captive portal used in LibreMesh. In order to have guest access, this should have a lower priority, managed via Traffic Control."
requirements:
- "The applicant needs to have understanding of networking in mesh networks."
difficulty: "high"
size: "full-time"
issues:
- "https://github.com/libremesh/lime-packages/issues/261"
- "https://github.com/libremesh/lime-packages/issues/244"
mentors:
- SAn
- ??????????????????Amuza??????????
- Ilario
initiatives:
- GSoC
tags:
- LibreMesg
- Pirania
- TC
- SQM
collaborating_projects:
- "LibreMesh"

Pirania captive portal is already in production in some community networks running LibreMesh on their routers.
The usage of Pirania helps the community to pay the bill from the internet service provider.
But LibreMesh project also tries to open the access to the local and remote digital resources to everyone, and for this reason the availability of a guest access would be reccomended.
This will require that the presence of a connected guest client does not slow down the connection of the owner of the gateway or of who actually paid for having a Pirania voucher.
In order to achieve this, the data packets needs to have different priorities depending on the originating client, diregard the mesh node (access point) this client is connected to.
The problem is absolutely non-trivial, and the technical tools needed will be at least Traffic Control, Smart Queue Management, and iptables.