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Firmware for Freifunk Ulm

The firmware turns a common wireless router into a mesh networking device. It connects to similar routers in the area and builds a Wifi-mesh network but also opens an access point for computers to connect over Wifi. Included is Internet connectivity and a web interface.

Precompiled firmware images are available on our server. All other released versions here on github are out-of-date.

Build instructions

To build the firmware yourself there are two possibilities: Use a Dockerfile to create the build environment or do it by hand.

Use Dockerfile

First of all, we need Docker:

  sudo apt install docker.io

To use the Dockerfile, get it from github by cloning this repository or just download it. In the folder which contains the Dockerfile do the following:

  # 1) Create image from Dockerfile. This contains all the tools and sources we need
  docker build -t ffulm .

  # 2) Run image
  mkdir /tmp/ffulm-build
  docker run --rm -it -v /tmp/ffulm-build:/openwrt/bin/targets ffulm


  # 3) Start build process
  make menuconfig
  ## do the changes necessary
  make -j15
  exit

After exit, the docker container started in 2 will be deleted. Steps 2 and 3 can be done multiple times to create more than 1 firmware image.

Do it by hand

You need a Unix console to enter commands into. Install dependencies for the build environment (Debian/Ubuntu):

    sudo apt install g++ zlib1g-dev build-essential git python time
    sudo apt install libncurses5-dev gawk gettext unzip file libssl-dev wget

Build commands for the console:

    git clone https://git.openwrt.org/openwrt/openwrt.git
    cd openwrt
    git reset --hard 6fc02f2a45e151ce16677d6131251af86ab4fc06
    
    git clone -b v2.3.1 https://github.com/ffulm/firmware.git
    cp -rf firmware/files firmware/package firmware/feeds.conf .
    
    ./scripts/feeds update -a
    ./scripts/feeds install -a
    
    git am --whitespace=nowarn firmware/patches/openwrt/*.patch
    
    cd feeds/routing
    git am --whitespace=nowarn ../../firmware/patches/routing/*.patch
    cd ../../

    cd feeds/packages
    git am --whitespace=nowarn ../../firmware/patches/packages/*.patch
    cd ../../
    
    rm -rf firmware tmp
    
    make menuconfig

Now select the right "Target System" and "Target Profile" for your AP model:

For example, for the TL-WR841ND v3, select:

  • Target System => Atheros AR7xxx/AR9xxx
  • Target Profile => <*> TP-LINK TL-WR842N/ND v3

Or in case you have the Ubiquiti UniFi Outdoor, select:

  • Target System => Atheros AR7xxx/AR9xxx
  • Target Profile => <*> Ubiquiti UniFi Outdoor

For other models you can lookup the "Target System" in the LEDE hardware table. Your AP model should now be visible in the "Target Profile" list.

Now start the build process. This takes some time:

    make

You have the opportunity to compile the firmware on more CPU Threads. E.g. for 4 threads type make -j4 .

The firmware image files can now be found under the bin/targets folder. Use the firmware update functionality of your router and upload the factory image file to flash it with the Freifunk firmware. The sysupgrade images are for updates.

  • Use openwrt-[chip]-[model]-squashfs-factory.bin for use with the vendor firmware.
  • Use openwrt-[chip]-[model]-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin for use with OpenWrt based firmware.

Many routers have not been tested yet, but may work. Give it a try! :-)