[Commotion-dev] SPAN Apps Published to Google Play

[stoker]

Hi Teco,

The Manet Manager app has an integrated Manet Service that lets other
apps configure the network through an API call. Another app can create
a ManetConfig object, set all of the parameters, and pass it down to
the service. It's optional. A user can also configure the mesh through
the Manet Manager UI.

I understand your use of scripts. Under the hood both the Manet
Manager and Serval Mesh apps use edify scripts to detect devices and
configure them for ad-hoc mode. The apps execute the edify scripts in
a native process. The edify scripts provide some additional Android
functions versus shell scripts, such as loading/unloading the wifi
module. When the Manet Manager needs to execute other native commands
with elevated privileges (like starting olsrd) it writes those
commands to a script on the fly and executes the script with su.

Creating a set of scripts and limiting their access to the Manet
Manager / Serval Mesh app in a custom ROM is an interesting idea.
We've thought about creating a ROM where the Manet Manager would be a
system app and therefore have advanced privileges and not be randomly
killed off by the performance manager.

I highly encourage updating / branching CyanogenMod. Certain devices
require certain modifications to enable wext support and enable ad-hoc
mode. At this time my team doesn't have a large enough developer base
to make custom modifications to each CyanogenMod kernel, so it's a
task we haven't addressed. Maybe it would be best to select one device
at first and go from there? If that's the case, I support choosing the
Galaxy Nexus or Nexus 7.

- stoker


On Mon, Jan 21, 2013 at 5:09 AM, Teco Boot <teco at inf-net.nl> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I would love a flexible ad hoc / manet management app. And have
> integrated network setting functions in "user apps" as optional,
> or taken out there.
>
> I use scripts myself, where I configure and start/stop what I need.
> I have a wlan nic settings script, a script for olsrd, for openvpn
> and iptables. I expect more to come (e.g.DNS).
> Reasoning behind scripts: in Linux, daemons are managed with scripts,
> this provides custom modifications.
> What about having scripts for each sub-task and an app as interface
> to the scripts?
>
> Another thought for longer term: have a non-rooted custom rom with
> all of this. Scripts have root privilege, needed for for example
> managing routing table.
>
> I use Galaxy Nexus, adjusted CM10. I have ipip enabled (for olsrd
> smartgateway). The bmf plugin is fixed for tuntap (to be included
> in next olsrd version).
> Shall we try to update CM10, with wext and ipip?
>
> Teco
>
>
> Op 20 jan. 2013, om 23:03 heeft Paul Gardner-Stephen het volgende geschreven:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> On Mon, Jan 21, 2013 at 7:36 AM, stoker <mistr.stoker at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Hi Paul,
>>>
>>> We look forward to trying out the Serval Mesh app update. The current
>>> app supports a number of features, including text chat, placing calls,
>>> sharing files, and mapping. Does your team have plans to separate each
>>> of those features out into separate app? I believe that will make
>>> matters simpler from a developer's as well as from a user's
>>> perspective.
>>
>> Maps is already a separate app for this reason.  However, the calling,
>> text messaging and file exchange are all based on the core Serval
>> protocols, and past experience has shown that having (at least the
>> core function of) those in separate apps that require installation is
>> disadvantageous, because they are naturally closely coupled, calls and
>> MeshMS in particular.  The Rhizome protocol that facilitates the file
>> sharing is used under the hood to power MeshMS and software updates as
>> well as regular file exchange.
>>
>>> Thanks for pointing us to your handset detection and support code.
>>> Since both of our projects are using the edify approach, I believe it
>>> won't be difficult to integrate our code. However, I believe that it
>>> would be best for the Commotion team to integrate all of our
>>> mesh-enabling code into their Mesh Tether app.
>>>
>>> As I see it, there are three kinds of devices that the teams are
>>> primarily targeting:
>>> - devices which support wext and can be put into ad-hoc mode without
>>> kernel mods (Serval)
>>> - devices which don't support wext and can be put into ad-hoc mode
>>> without kernel mods (Commotion)
>>> - devices which require kernel mods (SPAN)
>>>
>>> I believe we'd all like to see one app which can support all three. I
>>> believe that the Commotion team is best suited for the task
>>> considering their focus and large developer base. More developers
>>> means a wider array of devices to test on and more long-term support.
>>
>> I totally agree. We would love to see a single app that just provides
>> ad-hoc wifi and the related functions, and has wide support as you
>> envisage.
>>
>> Paul.
>>
>>> - stoker
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, Jan 19, 2013 at 3:44 PM, Paul Gardner-Stephen
>>> <paul at servalproject.org> wrote:
>>>> Hi Stoker,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Sat, Jan 19, 2013 at 8:39 AM, stoker <mistr.stoker at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> Hi All,
>>>>>
>>>>> For those who want to get geeky, I just posted three apps to Google
>>>>> Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=stoker
>>>>>
>>>>> Try 'em out.
>>>>>
>>>>> Both the Manet Visualizer and Manet Voice Chat apps make use of a
>>>>> common API for interacting with the Manet Service that comes bundled
>>>>> with the Manet Manager app. I believe that the idea of a common API
>>>>> for making use of the mesh platform may be one of the aspects that
>>>>> sets SPAN apart from other projects.
>>>>
>>>> This is great.
>>>>
>>>> The Serval Mesh app (which is about to get a HEAVY update) also offers
>>>> some APIs, but probably mostly in complementary areas to your Manet
>>>> Manager.  We will endeavour to take a look at your apps soon.
>>>>
>>>> With regard to handset support, it might be worth taking a look at our
>>>> handset detection and support code
>>>> (https://github.com/servalproject/batphone), as we have already built
>>>> support for a number of other handsets, and an automatic guessing
>>>> engine that can build support scripts for some new handsets it
>>>> encounters.  It's not perfect, but it may be useful to incorporate
>>>> into Manet Manager.
>>>>
>>>> Paul.
>>>>
>>>>> - stoker
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Commotion-dev mailing list
>>>>> Commotion-dev at lists.chambana.net
>>>>> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/commotion-dev
>>>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Commotion-dev mailing list
>> Commotion-dev at lists.chambana.net
>> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/commotion-dev
>>
>