Wifi mesh network on the cheap

Relayd should also be mentioned. (I did not find it mentioned above)
It is supposed to be set up easier than WDS.

https://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/clientmode

Pros & Cons:

relayd is not easier to set up than WDS/ 4addr anf comes with subtile issues like no support for IPv6.

Yes.

I had a WDS set up with one main dual band station operating on 5ghz and two secondary stations each connecting to it to extend my range. It worked fine for a while but would mysteriously just stop working occasionally, requiring reboots. Stability seems to be driver dependent. I replaced it with cat5e going to one location and a powerline modem to the other, and never looked back. If you are trying to extend coverage to 1-3 locations start with a home plug AV powerline modem and save yourself a lot of trouble. The only problem is if you have VDSL internet, apparently they interfere with each other. In that case consider cat5e or try WDS but be aware it might flake out on you.

I would definitely use mesh at a trade show, a fair, an archery competition, an outdoor music festival, to provide networking to a large campus quad, or to interconnect warehouses or stuff like that where you can't run wires or stations need to be mobile.

I second the power line, they're incredibly convenient, when I want to extend my signal outside I just plug in a powerline adapter and connect my OpenWrt dumb ap to it, works great.

ok so far i have relayd, wds, libremesh, qmp, but i need one that support wifi roaming ? which does ?

As I said WDS does

ok im going to try that

All of them (including plain bunch of APs) supports roaming.
For all devices except MacBooks - they have well-known bug about it.

But you can use 802.11r with ANY of them for faster roaming.

NB: Don't forget to uninstall wpad-mini and install full wpad if you plan to use mesh or 802.11r.

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i went ahead and install wpda mesh. now i would like to know what option do i choose from the mode drop down menu. thank you chrome_2018-10-19_21-40-13

You need 2 networks.
One 802.11s (it's without encryption by default, but you can set it via config file later) - it's for mesh.
Other is AP - it's for clients.

i want to create the mesh network using Ethernet cables, what option do i choose

You don't use meshing for that, Dumb AP is all you need (keep it simple, if you can, and ignore the WAN port alltogether (proto=none)).

but i want to have seamless romaing between access point

IEEE 802.11r.

Yes, in this case use 802.11r - it's into "Security" tab.
But first you need to replace wpad_mesh by full wpad version.

ok but what mode do i choose ?

In case of 802.11r you should use Access Point mode. Use the same SSID/Password for all APs involved.

Keep in mind, configure 802.11r is a bit tricky, google for some examples.

while i try with that can you explain me the other modes, please

it is not working, can you help me, please.