What's Cooking (new projects)

Talk about Documentation
1

Being nosy into new development, I noticed several interesting new projects emerged (besides the next major OpenWrt release) - A brief overview:

802.11ah HaLow

900 MHz long range Wi-Fi
*802.11ah Wi-Fi HaLOW

802.11n QAM-256

Increased transfer speeds on 2.4Ghz
*https://github.com/openwrt/openwrt/pull/12904

adblock-lean

New features and optimizations - a luci interface is in the works
*https://github.com/lynxthecat/adblock-lean
*https://github.com/rickparrish/luci-app-adblock-lean

Alpine Package Keeper (APK)

APK will replace OPKG package management in OpenWrt 26.x
*The future is now: opkg vs apk
*https://github.com/openwrt/packages/issues/23706

ApmonD - access point monitor

Centralized access point data monitor/collector (release tbd)

Access Point Micro Peering (APUP)

A "simpler [..] successor to Ad Hoc, WDS, 802.11s mesh mode, Multi-AP and EasyMesh"
*https://github.com/openwrt/openwrt/pull/15442
*APuP - an alternative for WDS and Mesh
*https://blog.freifunk.net/2024/08/24/a-new-way-to-mesh-apup/

Dusk

Decentralized management and monitoring solution
*What kinds of features would you want from a OpenWRT management system? (Dusk)

eBPF performance optimizations for Firewall

Firewall software offloading variant using eBPF with 50% more throughput
*https://blog.freifunk.net/2024/08/26/gsoc-2024-ebpf-performance-optimizations-for-a-new-openwrt-firewall-final-report

geoip-shell

Block inbound and outbound connections based on geographical location.
*Geoip-shell: user-friendly geoblocker for Linux
*https://github.com/friendly-bits/geoip-shell

Geomate

Control connections to game servers based on their geographic location. By drawing regions on a map, you can specify where you want to allow or block server connections.
*https://github.com/hudra0/geomate
*Geomate - Geographic Game Server Filter for OpenWrt

LibreMesh Pirania (captive portal)

Added support for nftables
*https://blog.freifunk.net/2024/09/10/gsoc-2024-new-release-for-project-libremesh-pirania-part-iii/

Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP)

Network layer 2 protocol (802.1AB) which advertises hostname, description and ports to network neighbors. LLPD can show the devices which are connected to your switch
*https://github.com/openwrt/luci/pull/6456

luci-app-filemanager

File Manager for LuCI
*https://github.com/openwrt/luci/pull/7300

Mesh11sd - v5

Dynamic configuration daemon for 802.11s mesh network parameters which enables easy and automated mesh network operation with multiple mesh nodes. v5 supports iot/guest type networks on the mesh using vxlan tunnels and does this automatically with no configuration requirements. Multi-point to portal tunneling is fully supported. In addition, v5 supports built in access point monitoring. The portal mesh node collects mesh hosted access point data, such as client id, data usage etc centrally in its database. Cabled access points (aka dump access points) can also be supported using the soon to be released ApmonD package.
*https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/mesh/mesh11sd
*https://github.com/openNDS/mesh11sd

Modular Assistant

GUI wizard to simplify initial OpenWrt configuration (unsure about current state)
*https://blog.freifunk.net/2024/08/29/gsoc-2024-development-of-a-modular-assistant-for-openwrt-final-report/

OpenWrt Upgrade Tool (owut)

Command line upgrade tool that creates and installs custom builds containing all your currently installed packages and retaining your configuration.
*https://github.com/efahl/owut/
*Owut: OpenWrt Upgrade Tool
*https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/installation/sysupgrade.owut

QoSmate

Quality of Service solution that aims to optimize network performance while allowing for controlled prioritization of specific traffic types.
*https://github.com/hudra0/qosmate
*QoSmate: (Yet Another) Quality of Service Tool for OpenWrt

Table of Hardware

Improved Table of Hardware
see https://toh.openwrt.org/

Ubus Device fingerprinting (UFP)

Identify device types like iPhone model based on device fingerprinting
*https://github.com/openwrt/openwrt/pull/16568
*Ufp: add a device fingerprinting daemon

Uspot (captive portal)

Promising replacement for CoovaChilli which is no longer actively developed
*OpenWISP GSoC 2025: Improving Uspot A Modern Captive Portal for OpenWrt

VHT80P80 / HE80P80 htmode support

For ath10k, ath11k and ath12k devices
*https://github.com/openwrt/openwrt/pull/18313
*Support 80+80 MHz channels for 802.11ac and 802.11ax

Wi-Fi Easy Connect

Considered as a successor of WPS
*There are plans to support Wi-Fi DPP?


ps: let me know in case you have better links / descriptions or additional projects to keep this topic up-to-date

23 Likes
2

perhaps the topic should be made clearer ?

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3

Anyone know if this will outperform WDS for say three fixed location APs distributed over a home?

4

You mean to change the Topic title?
If so, should I chance this to something like What’s Cooking (new projects) ?

1 Like
5

Something like that, but the thread got moved, perhaps it's not as needed as it was before (imho).

Initially, I thought your post was some kind of food or kitchenware spam :slight_smile:

1 Like
6

hi, i could not find related thread on the eBPF improvement, can someone point to if exists?

7

for context: I am an elderly Dutchman and not very good at native English - I thought that What's Cooking was a regularly expression for in progress development...

2 Likes
8

I'd say it's more like "What's up ?"
I'm also not a native speaker :wink:

10

Title adjusted - thanks for the feedback

1 Like
11

Besides https://blog.freifunk.net/2024/08/26/gsoc-2024-ebpf-performance-optimizations-for-a-new-openwrt-firewall-final-report/,
I only found https://github.com/tk154/GSoC2024_eBPF-Firewall
And https://blog.freifunk.net/2024/08/26/gsoc-2024-ebpf-performance-optimizations-for-a-new-openwrt-firewall-final-report/

12

appreciate!
(unfortunately it is not clear to me from those links how this eBPF improvement work together with queue management and with hardware offloading. hence if there is any other source of information would glad to hear about it.)

thank you!

13

This is interesting, particularly the upgrade tool. I love the auto-upgrade feature in GL.iNet routers, and would like to see a similar feature integrated with the standard distributions.

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14

"no more unnecessary complications, like hardcoded bridging or routing algorithm in WiFi stack"

Somewhat reminds me of Reticulum...

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15

Unsurprisingly, me too. :thinking:

16

That’s a kind of WW3 protocol?

17

There is my pet project - geoip-shell. It's even in the official repositories already (albeit an earlier version because I'm a bit slow with submitting PRs). The wiki doesn't mention it, which I'd like to correct BTW.

4 Likes
18

I dont think this will be ready for the release
24.x.x

1 Like
19

Thanks for mentioning - I have added it to the list
(is the short description that I used ok?)

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20

Currently it works the other way: it restricts access from the internet, based on the geographical location. This is a useful security tool for people who do self-hosting or enable port forwarding from WAN to a LAN host for any other reason. Outside OpenWrt, people use it to restrict access to their VPS.

I am working on a new feature which will optionally restrict access either way (or both) but it's not ready yet.

1 Like
21

Thanks - I adjusted the description

1 Like