[Olsr-dev] New OLSRd Plugin (derivative of olsrd_secure)

[Will Hawkins]

Hello everyone!

The Open Technology Institute has created a new plugin for OLSRd known
as olsrd_mdp (Mesh Datagram Protocol [MDP] Secure OLSR). The plugin
integrates OLSRd with Serval to create a mechanism for signing OLSR
packets with a shared private key stored in a Serval keyring. This
plugin is a derivative of the olsrd_secure plugin.

Serval is a mesh networking project out of Australia
(http://www.servalproject.org). One of their main products, serval-dna,
includes a keyring that stores (and optionally locks) a set of
public/private keypairs. olsrd_mdp takes a private key from Serval's key
ring and uses it to sign OLSR packets.

It differs from olsrd_secure in a few ways:

1. olsrd_mdp is configured with a key identifier. The key identifier
allows the user to specify which keypair from the Serval keyring will
sign packets.

2. olsrd_mdp allows for variable-length keys.

3. olsrd_mdp salts AND signs OLSR packets with a private key.

We would really like to share this plugin with the OLSRd community. We
developed the plugin in a branch off of master but the plugin requires
Serval's serval-dna development kit to compile. This brings up two
questions:

1. How do plugin makefiles alert the user that they need configuration
to compile correctly? The necessary parameter is documented in the
olsrd_mdp README file. Is there another better way to document this?

2. What is the best way to submit the plugin for review for possible
inclusion? I did my best to follow OLSRd code standards while
developing, but I'd appreciate your feedback in spotting the places
where I inevitably messed up.

Thanks for reading this rather long message. We are really excited about
the possibility of sharing this plugin with the OLSRd community.

Talk to you soon!
Will