Building MESHdesk firmware using the LEDE Project

The LEDE project is founded as a spin-off of the OpenWrt project and shares many of the same goals. We are building an embedded Linux distribution that makes it easy for developers, system administrators or other Linux enthusiasts to build and customize software for embedded devices, especially wireless routers. The name LEDE stands for Linux Embedded Development Environment.

• The LEDE project is endorsed by communities that share common interests to MESHdesk (eg Mesh networks)
• The LEDE project is active and dynamic.

• We assume you have a standard install of the Ubuntu 16.04 operating system.
• You need to install certain required packages which the LEDE build environment needs to function correct.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential subversion git-core libncurses5-dev zlib1g-dev gawk flex quilt libssl-dev xsltproc libxml-parser-perl unzip mercurial

• We will use the 17.0.1 release of LEDE which is the first stable release of the LEDE Project.

cd ~
mkdir lede
cd lede
git clone https://git.lede-project.org/source.git
#To see the tags (releases)
git fetch --tags
git tag -l
#Checkout the 17.0.1 release
git checkout v17.01.0

• This will create a folder called source where the build environment resides.

• Update the feeds:

./scripts/feeds update

• Install the following MESHdesk specific packages:

./scripts/feeds install coova-chilli
./scripts/feeds install luasocket
./scripts/feeds install libuci-lua
./scripts/feeds install curl
./scripts/feeds install -a -p routing 
./scripts/feeds install iwinfo
./scripts/feeds install alfred

• You might get some warnings when you install thse packages.
  • They are non-critical except if you might want to include ssl support with CoovaChilli.
  • The other warning is if you might want to include GPS support with Alfred

Installing package 'coova-chilli' from packages
WARNING: No feed for package 'libmatrixssl' found, maybe it's already part of the standard packages?
 
Installing package 'alfred' from routing
WARNING: No feed for package 'libgps' found, maybe it's already part of the standard packages?

• MESHdesk is now very easy to add since it is simply an LEDE package which can be selected.
• Check out the current development MESHdesk code from SVN

svn checkout svn://dvdwalt@svn.code.sf.net/p/radiusdesk/code/trunk/meshdesk/MESHdesk ./MESHdesk

• Make a tar file of the code:

tar -czvf MESHdesk.tar.gz ./MESHdesk

• Change directory to the LEDE source code:

cd ./source

• Create a directory called zzz-MESHdesk with a sub directory called files under the package directory.

mkdir -p ./package/zzz-MESHdesk/files

• Copy the MESHdesk.tar.gz file to the ./package/zzz-MESHdesk/files directory.

cp [where ever you file is]/MESHdesk.tar.gz ./package/zzz-MESHdesk/files

• Change directory to the ./package/zzz-MESHdesk/files directory and extract the file.

cd ./package/zzz-MESHdesk/files
tar -xzvf MESHdesk.tar.gz

• Move the Makefile to be under the zzz-MESHdesk directory.

mv ./MESHdesk/Makefile ../

• The MESHdesk code also include a password and shadow file with a user root and password admin.
• To include that in the firmware you need to do the following:
  • Create a files directory under the source directory.
  • Create a directory structure similar to what you want on the firmware
  • Add the files in these directories
• Change directory to the LEDE source code:

cd ./source
mkdir -p files/etc
cp ./package/zzz-MESHdesk/files/MESHdesk/files/common/passwd ./files/etc
cp ./package/zzz-MESHdesk/files/MESHdesk/files/common/shadow ./files/etc

cd ./source
cd ./package/zzz-MESHdesk/files/MESHdesk
svn update
#It will mention that it restored the Makefile
#Restored 'Makefile'
cd ../
mv ./MESHdesk/Makefile ../

• We now support both MediaTek and Atheros based devices.
• This enables MESHdesk firmware to run on a whole lot of additional devices.
• The MediaTek devices are typically cheaper when compared to the Atheros based devices.
• We even got the MediaTek devices to mesh on 802.11AC!

• When you compile for MediaTek, replace the dhcp_network_one_eth with dhcp_network_one_eth_mediatek and the frmwr_network_one_eth with frmwr_network_one_eth_mediatek.
• When you compile for Atheros, replace the dhcp_network_one_eth with dhcp_network_one_eth_atheros and the frmwr_network_one_eth with frmwr_network_one_eth_atheros.

#Compiling MediaTek
cd ./source
cp ./package/zzz-MESHdesk/files/MESHdesk/configs/dhcp_network_one_eth_mediatek ./package/zzz-MESHdesk/files/MESHdesk/configs/dhcp_network_one_eth
cp ./package/zzz-MESHdesk/files/MESHdesk/configs/frmwr_network_one_eth_mediatek ./package/zzz-MESHdesk/files/MESHdesk/configs/frmwr_network_one_eth
 
#Compiling Atheros
cd ./source
cp ./package/zzz-MESHdesk/files/MESHdesk/configs/dhcp_network_one_eth_atheros ./package/zzz-MESHdesk/files/MESHdesk/configs/dhcp_network_one_eth
cp ./package/zzz-MESHdesk/files/MESHdesk/configs/frmwr_network_one_eth_atheros ./package/zzz-MESHdesk/files/MESHdesk/configs/frmwr_network_one_eth

• We also support both HTTPS and HTTP when the device fetch and report its settings to the back-end.
• To use HTTPS instead of the default HTTP edit the meshdesk config file

 vi ./package/zzz-MESHdesk/files/MESHdesk/meshdesk

• Change the protocol to https.

config internet 'internet1'
        option dns 'rd01.wificity.asia'
        option url 'cake2/rd_cake/nodes/get_config_for_node.json'
        option status_url 'cake2/rd_cake/mesh_reports/submit_report.json'
        option actions_url 'cake2/rd_cake/node_actions/get_actions_for.json'
        option ap_url 'cake2/rd_cake/aps/get_config_for_ap.json'
        option ap_status_url 'cake2/rd_cake/ap_reports/submit_report.json'
        option ap_actions_url 'cake2/rd_cake/ap_actions/get_actions_for.json'
        option protocol 'https'
        option ip '192.168.99.1'

• The following step is only required on some TP Link devices. Notably those who has Gigabit Ethernet ports.
• On these devices the LAN is connected to eth1 instead of the usual eth0.
• We know of the TP-Link WR1043ND and also the Archer models that have this issue.

 vi ./package/zzz-MESHdesk/files/MESHdesk/meshdesk

• Edit the following and change:

option id_if 'eth0'

• To

option id_if 'eth1'

• The MESHdesk firmware currently supports three modes.
• They are:
  • off → The MESHdesk package is not active
  • mesh → The device will contact the MESHdesk applet and are managed as a mesh node.
  • ap → The device will contact the APdesk applet and are managed as a member of one of the AP Profiles.

 vi ./package/zzz-MESHdesk/files/MESHdesk/meshdesk

• These are specified as an option under the settings section.

option gw_auto_reboot_time '600'
option mode 'mesh'
option id_if 'eth0'

• Should you wish to already have the firmware setup when you flash it (As needed for Over The Air OTA upgrades) check the following additional items.
• Specify the server it is pointing to

 vi ./package/zzz-MESHdesk/files/MESHdesk/meshdesk

• Under internet1 the value of ip
• Under settings the value of hardware should specify the correct value of the model you use. Available options are in the same file.
• Then you need to specify a system config file to define the LED we will use to indicate the mesh traffic

 vi ./files/etc/config/system

• Use this as a reference.

config system
        option ttylogin '0'
        option log_size '64'
        option urandom_seed '0'
        option timezone 'SAST-2'
        option hostname '505'
 
config timeserver 'ntp'
        option enabled '1'
        option enable_server '0'
        list server '0.lede.pool.ntp.org'
        list server '1.lede.pool.ntp.org'
        list server '2.lede.pool.ntp.org'
        list server '3.lede.pool.ntp.org'
 
config led 'wifi_led'
        option name 'wifi'
        option trigger 'netdev'
        option dev 'bat0'
        option mode 'link tx rx'
        option sysfs 'zbt-wa05:blue:air'

• Now the tweaks are completed we can select the packages to include.

• Enter the following command in the directory which you checked the code out:

make menuconfig

• This will open a cursors interface which allows you to specify certain selections to include with the firmware build.
• Along with this you also need to select the architecture and or board combination of the firmware you are planning to build.
• It seems the package selection get lost if you switch between architectures.
• Make sure that when you build for another architecture the packages are still selected.
• Some packages are actually optional, depending on how you user MESHdesk and APdesk. We recommend though that you include all of the packages in the list where possible. The optional packages which can be left out are the the following:
  • Coova Chilli - Not having this package will remove the captive portal functionality.
  • OpenVPN - Not having this package will remove the ability to set up OpenVPN tunnel exit points.
  • wpad - By using the default wpad-mini you will not have WPA2 Enterprise security available on the SSIDs.
• Select the following packages as build-in when preparing the firmware:

• If you want to add support for 3G/4G dongles as an alternative to Ethernet based Internet be sure to include the following packages.

• If you build firmware for hardware that includes the ATH10K driver, be sure to also include the binary blob firmware package.
• The following table can be uses as a reference

• If you want to add support for WiFi Client Internet connection as an alternative to Ethernet based Internet be sure to include the following package.

• Some devices that we flash the MESHdesk firmware on have limited space on the flash chip. These devices typically have only 4M flash.
• We then need to remove as much of the packages we do not need in order for our firmware to fit on the chip.

• You should now be able to build the firmware using the following command inside the build directory

make V=99

• The build process can take long especially if you have a slow machine with a slow Internet connection so put at least 12 hours aside for this.

• After the firmware has been build you can now flash it onto the device. Please see the specific pages related to the specific hardware.