[Olsr-users] olsrd on Android

[Henning Rogge]

On Tue, May 26, 2015 at 11:44 AM, Dan O'Keeffe <(spam-protected)> wrote:
> Hey Henning,
>
> On 26/05/15 10:05, Henning Rogge wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I would suggest looking into the
>>
>> /android/README file, it contains newer instructions.
>
> OK, thanks. By the way, regarding the Commotion Mesh Tether app
> described in those instructions, the link supplied just takes me to a
> Drupal installation page (i.e. it's a dead link).

Hmm... bad links go to an installation page?? Aaron, do you know
anything about this?

>> Main "gotcha" for android is the lack of Wifi Adhoc-Mode on most
>> android phones. https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=82
>
>
> So by default it requires root access and/or some kind of kernel
> configuration/hacking to get it to work?

Definitely root.. most likely a changed kernel and wpa_supplicant.

Maybe even a changed Wifi firmware... or it might not work at all.

> The instructions in
> /android/README don't contain any information about this. If further
> modifications are required to the android device, can you by any chance
> point me to some resources describing the modifications needed?

Unfortunately no... this is one of the mysteries of Android.

> For
> example, would the instructions on the olsrd android page involving
> wpa-supplicant still work? Or is it very much device dependent?

Yes. Might be both device/kernel/android-version dependent. We don't know.

> Also, when you say "on most Android phones", are you aware of a list of
> phones on which it is available? For example, since Android 14 there is
> a p2p wifi api for Android
> (http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/connectivity/wifip2p.html).

P2P is "wifi direct"... which means its "group of node choose a leader
which opens an access point".

Its not useful for multihop communication.

> If this works on a phone is it likely that olsrd would too? Also, is
> there any way olsrd could somehow use this
> API directly (if not now, perhaps in the future)?

No and yes.

Olsrd can run on any kind of interface... ethernet, wifi (adhoc. or
ap/station), anything that transports IP is good for olsrd.

Its just a matter of the supported layer-2 topology.

>> If an android app has access to network, it should be able to connect
>> to the txtinfo port... of course using the jsoninfo plugin might be
>> easier for automatic parsing.
>
> Great. Apologies for bombarding you with questions!

no problem.

Henning