How is the metric (?/255) calculated?
Puh, please read the section 3.1 of "Inter-Flow Network Coding for Wireless Mesh Networks" to get the basic concept. Details about the TQ calculations can be found in the source code [2].
Concerning the output of "batctl o" below, how can I interpret the following? -What is the meaning when the originator is the same as the next hop (Line 1)?
The best next hop to the originator was detected to be the originator itself. So this noed doesn't have to transmit packets to this originator via a different direct neighbor.
-Is that correct that the originator car 29 will send all packets to car20 directly without a node in-between (Line 2)?
[...]
car29 0.864s (175) car20 [ wlan0]: car23 ( 0) car36 ( 0) car31 ( 0) car35 ( 0) car21 ( 0) car24 ( 0) car20 (175) car29 ( 0)
No, this node only knows its own view of the network (next hop to destinations). It knows nearly nothing about what car29 learned about the network.
But this node knows that the "best way" to reach car29 from his position is to send packets via its neighbor car20.
-How can the potential nexthops be interpreted?
These are just ways to reach this originator + the calculated TQ when sending over this originator/neighbor.
This was a little bit simplified but should give you a starting point.
Kind regarding, Sven
[1] https://downloads.open-mesh.org/batman/papers/batman-adv_network_coding.pdf [2] https://git.open-mesh.org/batman-adv.git/blob/789b846af6a9471982b181687a1cba...