Quick Mesh Project

qMp 3.2 Clearance release candidate 1 (RC1) 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 from previous stable release (3.1):

• Based on OpenWrt 15.01-rc1 Chaos Calmer
• Support for new devices (Ubiquiti XW devices, TP-Link and Ralink/Mediatek-based devices)
• 802.11s mesh support
• ...

The qMp 3.2-rc1 firmware binaries can be found at http://fw.qmp.cat/Releases/archive/3.2-Clearance-RC1. Otherwise, you can compile your own images with your preferred options:

git clone git://qmp.cat/qmpfw.git qmp-3.2-rc1
cd qmp-3.2-rc1
git fetch --tags
git checkout tags/v3.2-rc1
QMP_GIT_BRANCH=v3.2-rc1 make checkout
cd build/qmp && git checkout -b v3.2-rc1 && 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).

The team at qMp has been working hard in the past months to release a new version of the firmware very soon. We have written this post to clarify some questions that have been raised regarding the development plan.

After publishing qMp 3.0.2 Clearance on the 26th November 2014 qMp, we expect to release qMp 3.1 Clearance in early December 2014. The main changes in this release will be:

• Switch to OpenWrt 14.07 Barrier Breaker
• New theme for the user interface (based on Bootstrap)
• BMX6 update (backwards compatible with version compat. 0.16-alpha)
• Support for new devices (a few new Ubiquiti, TP-Link and Ralink/Mediatek-based devices)
• Better control on wireless card modes

Except for eventual bugfixing releases, there will be no more qMp 3.X versions.

Starting on early December, efforts will be targeted towards publishing a new major release, qMp 4.0. This new version will have a lot of changes and interesting features, provided by the still to-be-announced OpenWrt Chaos Calmer released (now in trunk):

• Support for 802.11s mesh wireless mode, which will replace ad hoc mode (legacy)
• Full support for new Ubiquity XW devices and many Ralink/Mediatek low-cost devices
• Initial support for Atheros/MediaTek 802.11ac devices (depending on OpenWrt support)
• Better control on switched Ethernet interfaces
• More intuitive web interface
• ...

We are very excited with the new features that will be added to the following releases, hoping that they will be useful for both quick mesh deployments and Community Networks. At the same time, we encourage everybody to provide feedback and suggestions for the next major release qMp 4.0 and contribute with code. The qMp team is willing to welcome more contributors to the project.

Stay tuned for more news!