Quick Mesh Project

qMp 3.2 Clearance stable release has been published. This release comes after the previous 3rd release candidate from which a number of bugs have been fixed and support for new devices has been added. It is recommended to use this version to deploy new Mesh networks and to upgrade nodes running previous releases that might be outdated.

Before upgrading to this release from older versions, make a backup of all your configuration files in the /etc directory. You can use the command line tool "qmpcontrol upgrade" to automate the upgrade process.

Changes since the previous release (3.2-rc3):

• Based on OpenWrt 15.05 Chaos Calmer
• Using latest BMX6 stable version
• Added support for Microduino MicroWrt devices
• A few bugs solved (see below)

Changes since the previous release (3.2-rc2):

• Based on OpenWrt 15.05-rc3 Chaos Calmer
• Using latest BMX6 stable version
• Proper declaration of VLANs for BMX6 in /etc/network/interfaces (backported from Kalimotxo/QinQ)
• Coherent naming scheme for precompiled binary images
• A few bugs solved (see below)

Changes since the previous release (3.2-rc1):

• Based on OpenWrt 15.05-rc2 Chaos Calmer
• Improved support for Ubiquiti XW devices
• Using latest BMX6 stable version
• Improved sysupgrade hash calculation method based on the device name
• 802.11s mesh support
• ...

Changes since the latest stable release (3.1):

• Based on OpenWrt 15.05-rc1 Chaos Calmer RC1
• Support for new devices (Ubiquiti XW devices, TP-Link and Ralink/Mediatek-based devices)
• 802.11s mesh support
• ...

Fixed bugs since the latest stable release (3.1):

• #374 Fixed missing Mesh DNS menu
• #378 Fixed initial configuration of minisnmpd
• #377 Use appropriate VLANs declaration in /etc/config/nework
• #376 Fixed typo in qmpcontrol configure_wifi
• #375 Fixed VLAN12 issue in Nexx WT1520 devices
• #373 Use coherent naming scheme
• #371 Fix typo in NSM5-XW no_vlan_devices
• #369 Nexx WT3020-4M images have the appropriate size
• #368 Added netperf back
• #367 Added mini-snmpd back
• #365 Added missing mini-snmpd package
• #362 Added kmod-ipt-nat package to provide iptables to the qmp-tiny-node target
• #361 Added a hook for TP-Link TL-WR842N[D]-v2 devices to set the default Ethernet devices LAN/WAN roles
• #358 Added new sysupgrade hash for the TP-Link TL-WR2543ND devices. Also fixed the default Ethernet devices' LAN/WAN roles
• #357 Fixed a bug in mDNS that made the system run out of resources and crash
• #356 Submitted a pull request to update LibreMap's deprecated luci.fs dependency
• #355 Updated image creation for Alix boards
• #351 Updated feeds.conf file
• #345 Improved wireless interfaces autodetection
• #342 Removed web interface's luci.fs dependency
• #341 Updated qmp-guifi package
• #340 Updated qmp-guifi package
• #337 Corrected 40 MHz channels allocation on the 5 GHz band (HT40+/-)
• #336 Selected a valid default channel in the 5 GHz band
• #332 Changed the enabling DHCP default value
• #331 Added new sysupgrade hash for TP-Link TL-WDR4900
• #329 Removed HTML tags around Network testing results
• #314 Updated default DNS servers

Known issues

• #366 Devices based on the Atheros ar71xx (Atheros) platform containing a switch (e.g. NanoStation M5 XW) can not combine untagged+tagged VLANs on the same port. Therefore, switched cable interfaces can't be used for BMX6 meshing

The qMp 3.2-rc3 firmware binaries can be found at http://fw.qmp.cat/Releases/3.2. Otherwise, you can compile your own images with your preferred options:

git clone git://qmp.cat/qmpfw.git qmpfw-3.2
cd qmpfw-3.2
git fetch --tags
git checkout tags/v3.2
git checkout -b v3.2
QMP_GIT_BRANCH=v3.2 make checkout
cd build/qmp && git checkout -b v3.2 && cd ../..
make J=n T=target

where n is the number of parallel threads to use in the compilation (1, 2, ..., 8...) and targets is the name of the device target to build the image (list them by issuing the command make list_targets).

Since the beginning of the development of qMp, 802.1q VLANs have been used to encapsulate the BMX6 routing protocol traffic. While this was very convenient back then (e.g. to isolate it from users' traffic), it started to become a problem as new devices using a switch to drive several Ethernet ports were introduced to the market.

Some of the most popular devices used in qMp-based Community Mesh Networks, like Ubiquiti's NanoStation M5, come with a switch that under qMp/OpenWrt can not handle VLAN-tagged and untagged traffic on the same port. This means, as discussed on qMp's developers mailing list, that Ethernet ports on these devices can not be used for meshing (something which was possible with older devices).

After carefully thinking about all the possible solutions, the development team has considered switching to 802.1ad VLANs (also called QinQ) to encapsulate the routing protocol in cabled interfaces. By using this protocol, all the devices -whether they have an Ethernet switch or not- can correctly manage BMX6's VLANs and communicate between them properly. This approach was also chosen by Libre-mesh developers about one year ago.

Using 802.1ad VLANs is a must to take full advantage of qMp's capabilities on many new devices, but it's also a cause for backwards-incompatibility with older versions of qMp still using 802.1q VLANs. Therefore, a compromise decision has been taken: cabled (i.e. Ethernet) interfaces will use 802.1ad VLANs encapsulation, while wireless interfaces will keep using 802.1q VLANs. This means that new nodes joining  a pre-existing Community Mesh Network via radio will work, but joinig via cable will require upgrading previous nodes to the latest qMp version.

A Git branch called QinQ has been set up to develop the new 802.1ad VLANs' features. This branch will be used to generate the Kalimotxo-trunk precompiled images of qMp, which can be downloaded here. When using them, please remember that they contain experimental code and that they are backwards-incompatible (via cable) with older versions of qMp.

Known issues

• Wireless devices configured with two functions (e.g. AP (LAN) + Ad-Hoc (Mesh)) are not yet properly managed

qMp 3.2 Clearance release candidate 2 (RC2) has been published. This release candidate is aimed at adventurous users willing to test it and provide feedback before the final 3.2 release.

Before upgrading to this release from older versions, make a backup of all your configuration files in the /etc directory. You can use the command line tool "qmpcontrol upgrade" to automate the upgrade process.

Changes since the previous release (3.2-rc1):

• Based on OpenWrt 15.05-rc2 Chaos Calmer
• Improved support for Ubiquiti XW devices
• Using latest BMX6 stable version
• Improved sysupgrade hash calculation method based on the device name
• 802.11s mesh support
• ...

Changes since the latest stable release (3.1):

• Based on OpenWrt 15.05-rc1 Chaos Calmer RC1
• Support for new devices (Ubiquiti XW devices, TP-Link and Ralink/Mediatek-based devices)
• 802.11s mesh support
• ...

Fixed bugs since the latest stable release (3.1):

• #365 Added missing mini-snmpd package
• #362 Added kmod-ipt-nat package to provide iptables to the qmp-tiny-node target
• #361 Added a hook for TP-Link TL-WR842N[D]-v2 devices to set the default Ethernet devices LAN/WAN roles
• #358 Added new sysupgrade hash for the TP-Link TL-WR2543ND devices. Also fixed the default Ethernet devices' LAN/WAN roles
• #357 Fixed a bug in mDNS that made the system run out of resources and crash
• #356 Submitted a pull request to update LibreMap's deprecated luci.fs dependency
• #355 Updated image creation for Alix boards
• #351 Updated feeds.conf file
• #345 Improved wireless interfaces autodetection
• #342 Removed web interface's luci.fs dependency
• #341 Updated qmp-guifi package
• #340 Updated qmp-guifi package
• #337 Corrected 40 MHz channels allocation on the 5 GHz band (HT40+/-)
• #336 Selected a valid default channel in the 5 GHz band
• #332 Changed the enabling DHCP default value
• #331 Added new sysupgrade hash for TP-Link TL-WDR4900
• #329 Removed HTML tags around Network testing results
• #314 Updated default DNS servers

Known issues

• #366 Devices based on the Atheros ar71xx (Atheros) platform containing a switch (e.g. NanoStation M5 XW) can not combine untagged+tagged VLANs on the same port. Therefore, switched cable interfaces can't be used for BMX6 meshing

• #364 Netperf package is not included with the binary firmware images

• #371 Rocket M5 XW images cause a kernel panic and fail to boot

The qMp 3.2-rc2 firmware binaries can be found at http://fw.qmp.cat/Releases/archive/3.2-Clearance-RC2. Otherwise, you can compile your own images with your preferred options:

git clone git://qmp.cat/qmpfw.git qmp-3.2-rc2
cd qmp-3.2-rc2
git fetch --tags
git checkout tags/v3.2-rc2
QMP_GIT_BRANCH=v3.2-rc2 make checkout
cd build/qmp && git checkout -b v3.2-rc2 && cd ../..
make J=n T=target

where n is the number of parallel threads to use in the compilation (1, 2, ..., 8...) and targets is the name of the device target to build the image (list them by issuing the command make list_targets).