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Serval DNA on OpenWRT

Serval Project, March 2014

These are instructions for building, developing and releasing Serval DNA for OpenWRT 12.09 “Attitude Adjustment” released in April, 2013.

OpenWRT release 12.09 is the one used to create firmware for the Serval Mesh Extender, so these instructions should be suitable for building a Mesh Extender firmware image.

The OpenWRT build system

The OpenWRT 12.09 Buildroot package itself contains almost no code that ends up as an executable on the target hardware. Instead, it is an elaborate menu-based configuration and build system that downloads and cross-compiles a chosen set of packages from source code and aggregates the compiled binaries into a firmware image.

Buildroot must be configured with a list of package providers called feeds. Each OpenWRT feed contains a directory tree with a structure like $category_name/$package_name/Makefile that contains one OpenWRT Makefile per package (plus optionally some OpenWRT-specific config files and patches).

Each OpenWRT Makefile contains commands for downloading and compiling a single package from source.

Before building OpenWRT, its list of feeds must be configured, and each feed updated by downloading copies of its contents. Once this is done, the OpenWRT build is invoked by running the make command in the OpenWRT source directory, which progresses through the following steps:

  • checks that all software tools and libraries it depends on are present,
  • on the first invocation only, runs a manual component selection and configuration dialog called menuconfig
  • for each selected package, invokes the package's OpenWRT Makefile, which downloads the package's source code and cross-compiles it for the selected target architecture
  • aggregates all compiled components into a firmware image

During the build, continuous Internet access is required to allow downloading of packages.

OpenWRT Dependencies

You will need to install the following development tools and packages before running an OpenWRT build:

  • GNU make -- dependency-driven software build utility
  • getopt -- command-line option parsing utility, available in the util-linux package
  • GNU coreutils -- file manipulation utilities like cp(1), etc.
  • gcc and g++-- GNU C and C++ compilers
  • binutils -- GNU assembler, linker and binary executable utilities
  • C standard library development -- headers and linkage binaries
  • ncurses -- terminal-mode user interface headers and library
  • zlib -- compression library headers and library
  • GNU awk -- programmable text processing utility
  • flex -- fast lexical analyzer generator
  • unzip -- file de-archive and de-compression utility
  • bzip2 -- file compression utility
  • patch -- source code diff-style patch applicator
  • Perl 5 -- scripting language
  • Python -- scripting language
  • GNU wget -- command-line HTTP client utility
  • Git -- distributed source code version control
  • GNU tar -- directory tree archiver utility
  • Subversion -- source code version control
  • GNU findutils -- directory tree traversal and search utility
  • pkg-config -- package installation metadata utility
  • gettext -- GNU language localisation tool

Debian uses eglibc as its C standard library, but other platforms may use GNU libc.

The following command will install and/or upgrade all the necessary packages on Debian and on derivatives like Ubuntu:

$ sudo apt-get install make util-linux coreutils gcc g++ binutils libc6-dev \
                       libncurses5-dev zlib1g-dev gawk flex unzip bzip2 \
                       patch perl python wget git tar subversion \
                       pkg-config gettext
$

Download OpenWRT 12.09

The OpenWRT 12.09 Buildroot package is available as a Git repository, which is the recommended way to download it:

$ mkdir -p 12.09
$ cd 12.09
$ git clone -q git://git.openwrt.org/12.09/openwrt.git
$ cd openwrt
$

If this does not work, see the OpenWRT Buildroot installation HOWTO, which may have changed since this was written.

Update OpenWRT package feeds

Make sure that the feeds you want are configured, by creating a feeds.conf file. If this file is missing, the feeds.conf.default file is used, which, in the OpenWRT 12.09 Buildroot repository is:

src-svn packages svn://svn.openwrt.org/openwrt/branches/packages_12.09
src-svn xwrt http://x-wrt.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/package
src-svn luci http://svn.luci.subsignal.org/luci/branches/luci-0.11/contrib/package
src-git routing git://github.com/openwrt-routing/packages.git;for-12.09.x
#src-svn phone svn://svn.openwrt.org/openwrt/feeds/phone
#src-svn efl svn://svn.openwrt.org/openwrt/feeds/efl
#src-svn xorg svn://svn.openwrt.org/openwrt/feeds/xorg
#src-svn desktop svn://svn.openwrt.org/openwrt/feeds/desktop
#src-svn xfce svn://svn.openwrt.org/openwrt/feeds/xfce
#src-svn lxde svn://svn.openwrt.org/openwrt/feeds/lxde
#src-link custom /usr/src/openwrt/custom-feed

Lines beginning with # are comments. Once the feeds are configured, fetch them all:

$ cd 12.09/openwrt
$ ./scripts/feeds update
Updating feed 'packages' from 'svn://svn.openwrt.org/openwrt/branches/packages_12.09' ...
Updating '.':
At revision 39583.
Create index file './feeds/packages.index' 
Updating feed 'xwrt' from 'http://x-wrt.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/package' ...
Updating '.':
At revision 4987.
Create index file './feeds/xwrt.index' 
Updating feed 'luci' from 'http://svn.luci.subsignal.org/luci/branches/luci-0.11/contrib/package' ...
Updating '.':
At revision 9955.
Create index file './feeds/luci.index' 
Updating feed 'routing' from 'git://github.com/openwrt-routing/packages.git;for-12.09.x' ...
Already up-to-date.
Create index file './feeds/routing.index' 
$

Build OpenWRT without Serval DNA

Before building OpenWRT with a Serval feed, build OpenWRT out of the box, to ensure that all dependencies are met and to resolve any other build issues:

$ cd 12.09/openwrt
$ make
Collecting package info: done
Collecting target info: done
Checking 'working-make'... ok.
Checking 'case-sensitive-fs'... ok.
Checking 'getopt'... ok.
Checking 'fileutils'... ok.
Checking 'working-gcc'... ok.
Checking 'working-g++'... ok.
Checking 'ncurses'... ok.
Checking 'zlib'... ok.
Checking 'gawk'... ok.
Checking 'unzip'... ok.
Checking 'bzip2'... ok.
Checking 'patch'... ok.
Checking 'perl'... ok.
Checking 'python'... ok.
Checking 'wget'... ok.
Checking 'git'... ok.
Checking 'gnutar'... ok.
Checking 'svn'... ok.
Checking 'gnu-find'... ok.
Checking 'getopt-extended'... ok.
Checking 'non-root'... ok.
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/username/12.09/openwrt/scripts/config'
...

If all dependencies are ok, OpenWRT's interactive menuconfig screen will appear. (This only happens the first time that a build has been run. On all subsequent builds, the menuconfig step will be skipped, but can be run manually with the make menuconfig command.)

The following example meniconfig configuration chooses the target system of the Serval Mesh Extender which is based on the TP-LINK TL-MR3020 wireless router, models 1.7 and 1.8 (for more information, see the OpenWRT TP-LINK TL-MR3020 page). The remaining settings are taken from the config.ar71xx.generic file in the pre-build binary supplied by OpenWRT. Alter these settings to suit your needs:

  • Target System: Atheros AR7xxx/AR9xxx
  • Subtarget: Generic
  • Target Profile: TP-LINK LP-MR3020
  • Target Images: (default)
  • Global build settings:
    • Compile with support for patented functionality
    • Enable shadow password support
    • Collect kernel debug information
    • Compile the kernel with SysRq support
    • Enable process core dump support
    • Enable printk timestamps
    • Enable IPv6 support in packages
    • Compile certain packages parallelized
    • Use top-level make jobserver for packages
    • Binary stripping method: sstrip
    • Preferred standard C++ library: uClibc++
  • Advanced configuration options (for developers):
    • Automatic rebuild of packages
    • Enable log files during build process
      • Toolchain options:
        • Binutils version: binutils 2.22
        • GCC compiler Version: gcc 4.6.x with Linaro enhancements
        • Build/install c++ compiler and libstdc++?
        • C Library implementation: Use uClibc
        • uClibc Version: uClibc 0.9.33.2
        • Build gdb
  • Build the OpenWrt Image Builder
  • Build the OpenWrt SDK
  • Build the OpenWrt based Toolchain
  • Image configuration:
    • Preinit configuration options:
      • Suppress stderr messages during preinit
      • Failsafe wait timeout: 2
      • IP address for preinit network messages: 192.168.1.1
      • Netmask for preinit network messages: 255.255.255.0
      • Broadcast address for preinit network messages: 192.168.1.255
    • Init configuration options:
      • PATH for regular boot: /bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin
      • Init command: /sbin/init
      • Suppress stderr messages of init
    • Version configuration options:
  • Base system:
    • base-files: Y
    • block-mount: M
    • bridge: M
    • busybox: Y
    • dnsmasq: Y
    • dnsmasq-dhcpv6: M
    • dropbear: Y
    • ead: M
    • firewall: Y
    • hotplug2: Y
    • libc: ---
    • libgcc: ---
    • libpthread: M
    • librt: M
    • libstdcpp: M
    • mtd: Y
    • netifd: ---
    • nvram: M
    • om: M
    • opkg: Y
    • qos: M
    • resolveip: M
    • swconfig: Y
    • ubus: ---
    • ubusd: ---
    • uci: Y
    • udev: M
    • wireless: Y

Exit autoconfig, saving the OpenWRT configuration file. The download-and-build phase will commence, and can take the better part of an hour, depending on Internet download speeds and CPU/memory performance:

*** End of OpenWrt configuration.
...
 make[1] world
 make[2] tools/install
 make[3] -C tools/m4 compile
 make[3] -C tools/m4 install
 make[3] -C tools/sed compile
...
 make[3] -C target/sdk install
 make[3] -C target/imagebuilder install
 make[3] -C target/toolchain install
 make[2] package/index
$

The built firmware images are in the bin directory:

$ ls -s -h -1 bin
total 182M
5.0M kernel-debug.tar.bz2
4.0K md5sums
1.8M openwrt-ar71xx-generic-rootfs.tar.gz
2.2M openwrt-ar71xx-generic-root.jffs2-128k
2.2M openwrt-ar71xx-generic-root.jffs2-256k
2.2M openwrt-ar71xx-generic-root.jffs2-64k
1.7M openwrt-ar71xx-generic-root.squashfs
1.4M openwrt-ar71xx-generic-root.squashfs-64k
3.8M openwrt-ar71xx-generic-tl-mr3020-v1-jffs2-factory.bin
3.1M openwrt-ar71xx-generic-tl-mr3020-v1-jffs2-sysupgrade.bin
3.8M openwrt-ar71xx-generic-tl-mr3020-v1-squashfs-factory.bin
2.3M openwrt-ar71xx-generic-tl-mr3020-v1-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin
1.3M openwrt-ar71xx-generic-uImage-gzip.bin
916K openwrt-ar71xx-generic-uImage-lzma.bin
2.7M openwrt-ar71xx-generic-vmlinux.bin
2.7M openwrt-ar71xx-generic-vmlinux.elf
1.3M openwrt-ar71xx-generic-vmlinux.gz
964K openwrt-ar71xx-generic-vmlinux.lzma
924K openwrt-ar71xx-generic-vmlinux-lzma.elf
 36M OpenWrt-ImageBuilder-ar71xx_generic-for-linux-i486.tar.bz2
 67M OpenWrt-SDK-ar71xx-for-linux-i486-gcc-4.6-linaro_uClibc-0.9.33.2.tar.bz2
 40M OpenWrt-Toolchain-ar71xx-for-mips_r2-gcc-4.6-linaro_uClibc-0.9.33.2.tar.bz2
4.0K packages
$

Add the Serval feed to OpenWRT

Once an out-of-the-box build has succeeded, add the Serval feed by creating a feeds.conf file that contains a line for downloading the master branch of the Serval OpenWRT feed from GitHub:

$ cp feeds.conf.default feeds.conf
$ cat >>feeds.conf <<EOF
src-git serval git://github.com/servalproject/openwrt-packages.git;master
EOF
$

(Other branches of the Serval OpenWRT feed are available; see the README for more information.)

Download the Serval feed:

$ ./scripts/feeds update serval
Updating feed 'serval' from 'git://github.com/servalproject/openwrt-packages.git;master' ...
Cloning into './feeds/serval'...
remote: Counting objects: 6, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (4/4), done.
remote: Total 6 (delta 0), reused 4 (delta 0)
Receiving objects: 100% (6/6), done.
Checking connectivity... done.
Create index file './feeds/serval.index' 
Collecting package info: done
$

Add all the packages from the Serval feed to the OpenWRT package menu:

$ ./scripts/feeds install -a -p serval
Installing all packages from feed serval.
$

Add the Serval DNA package to the OpenWRT build

Run menuconfig and select the Serval packages for building:

$ make menuconfig
...
  • Network
    • Mesh networking
      • Serval DNA: Y

Exit menuconfig, saving the OpenWRT configuration file, then build:

*** End of OpenWrt configuration.
*** Execute 'make' to build the OpenWrt or try 'make help'.
$ make
 make[1] world
 make[2] target/compile
 make[3] -C target/linux compile
...
 make[3] -C feeds/serval/net/serval-dna compile
...
 make[2] package/install
...
 make[3] -C feeds/serval/net/serval-dna install
...
 make[3] -C target/toolchain install
 make[2] package/index
$

The Serval DNA daemon is now included in the firmware image.

Appendix A - Developing Serval DNA for OpenWRT

The instructions above are not useful for a typical edit-compile-test development cycle, because before every single compile step, the latest edits would have to be committed and pushed to the package's remote repository, then the package's feed edited to put the new Git commit ID into the package's OpenWRT Makefile which must then be pushed to its remote repository. The OpenWRT compile step would then download these changes and recompile from scratch. Cumbersome and inconvenient.

Instead, developers should use the following files while developing, to avoid unnecessary Git commits, pushes and downloads:

  • set up a src-link OpenWRT feed that points to the development OpenWRT feed directory, which will remove the need for any uploading, downloading, or feed updating;

  • this feed contains the development OpenWRT Makefile which uses the Git working copy instead of Git clone or Git fetch, thus avoiding the need for Git commits, uploads and downloads prior to each compile.

See the header comments in the development OpenWRT Makefile for more complete instructions.

Appendix B - Releasing Serval DNA for OpenWRT

The OpenWRT Makefiles in the Serval OpenWRT feed all refer to fixed, specific commits within the Serval DNA repository, either by tag name or by SHA1 identifier. This means that as newer versions of Serval DNA are tested and released into other products (like Batphone), they do not automatically get released to OpenWRT. This must be done manually every single time.

The sp-openwrt-release script in the Serval Tools repository automates the procedure for releasing Serval DNA for OpenWRT package (in fact, it is general enough to update the release of any Serval repository which is available as a package for OpenWRT, not just Serval DNA).

For example, to release the HEAD of the Serval DNA repository (local clone in ~/src/serval-dna) to the OpenWRT development feed, first make sure that Serval Tools are installed, then use the following sp-openwrt-release command, which will print progress messages as it works:

$ sp-openwrt-release --commit --push development ~/src/serval-dna=HEAD
+ cd /home/username/src/serval-dna
+ git clone git@github.com:servalproject/openwrt-packages.git /tmp/sp-openwrt-release/openwrt-packages
Cloning into '/tmp/sp-openwrt-release/openwrt-packages'...
remote: Counting objects: 29, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (17/17), done.
remote: Total 29 (delta 6), reused 9 (delta 1)
Receiving objects: 100% (29/29), 4.06 KiB | 0 bytes/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (6/6), done.
Checking connectivity... done.
+ cd /tmp/sp-openwrt-release/openwrt-packages
+ git checkout development
Branch development set up to track remote branch development from origin.
Switched to a new branch 'development'
+ git merge --ff-only origin/development
Already up-to-date.
+ rm -rf /tmp/sp-openwrt-release/clone-serval-dna
+ git clone --local --shared /home/username/serval-dna /tmp/sp-openwrt-release/clone-serval-dna
Cloning into '/tmp/sp-openwrt-release/clone-serval-dna'...
done.
+ cd /tmp/sp-openwrt-release/clone-serval-dna
+ git checkout --quiet HEAD
+ cd /tmp/sp-openwrt-release/openwrt-packages
update openwrt-packages/net/serval-dna/Makefile:
PKG_VERSION        = START-2951-g7081e70
PKG_SOURCE_VERSION = 7081e7044fd9d5762bc124430d5f9cade0d2d52c
PKG_RELEASE        = 2  (was 1)
+ cd /tmp/sp-openwrt-release/openwrt-packages
+ git add .
+ git commit -m Release serval-dna START-2951-g7081e70
[development 844af68] Release serval-dna START-2951-g7081e70
1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
+ cd /tmp/sp-openwrt-release/openwrt-packages
+ git push origin development
Counting objects: 17, done.
Delta compression using up to 2 threads.
Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done.
Writing objects: 100% (5/5), 487 bytes | 0 bytes/s, done.
Total 5 (delta 1), reused 0 (delta 0)
To git@github.com:servalproject/openwrt-packages.git
9e77219..844af68  development -> development
$

Instead of using HEAD as the commit to release, any commit can be specified using either a tag name or any other Git rev notation for referring to a single commit.

For more instructions, see:

Appendix C - Adding a new package to OpenWRT

To improve understanding of OpenWRT 12.09 Buildroot, it can be helpful to consider the steps necessary to add a new package to OpenWRT. The OpenWRT feed page gives complete instructions. In summary:

  • the package's source code must be accessible in some conventional form such as a directory on the local file system, or a directory tree that can be downloaded, such as a tarball, a Subversion or Git repository, or even a few files on an FTP server;

  • choose a unique name for the package, that is not already used in any of the existing feeds;

  • an OpenWRT Makefile must be created for the package, that contains the package's name and commands for downloading, unpacking and compiling the package's source code;

  • the package's OpenWRT Makefile must be added to an OpenWRT feed; either one which is already configured by default into OpenWRT, or a new one;

  • the URL of the OpenWRT feed must be added to the OpenWRT feeds.conf file, along with a simple name chosen to identify the feed;

  • the package must be installed:

     $ ./scripts/feeds install $package_name
 $

About the examples

The examples in this document are Bourne shell commands, using standard quoting and variable expansion. Commands issued by the user are prefixed with the shell prompt $ to distinguish them from the output of the command. Single and double quotes around arguments are part of the shell syntax, so are not seen by the command. Lines ending in backslash \ continue the command on the next line.

The directory paths used in the examples are for illustrative purposes only, and may need to be changed for your particular circumstances.

Copyright 2014 Serval Project Inc.
CC-BY-4.0 Available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.