[B.A.T.M.A.N.] A case for batman-11s

Hi batman developers, Clara Gnos suggested that I write to the list to make a case for batman + 802.11s integration. As you probably know, 802.11s is the upcoming wireless mesh standard from IEEE. The current version of the draft was approved by the IEEE 802 Executive Committee in July and will be ratified next month. open80211s (http://o11s.org) is an open implementation of 802.11s that's in the kernel mainline since 2.6.26. 802.11s uses HWMP as its default routing (path selection, in 11s-speak) protocol. All 11s implementations must support this default, and this is what's implemented in open80211s. The 11s spec also defines an extensible framework to support other path selection protocols and custom metrics. open80211s supports these by providing userspace hooks for custom path selection daemons. Which brings me to the main point of my e-mail: is anyone out there interested in porting batman's path selection algorithm into open80211s? The benefits: 1. By being based on a standard, you'll know you won't be colliding with other layer 2 technologies (for instance, no need to define your own ethertype) 2. You can leverage most of open80211s, from test tools to wireshark patches. 3. By being integrated in the kernel's 802.11 stack, you can take advantage of the development that's taking place there, from encrypted management frames to HT support. 4. You can reach out to a larger development community and raise awareness about batman. 5. A big problem in mesh adoption on Linux is not the mesh protocol itself but the absence of simple to use configuration tools (e.g. no mesh support in ConnMan, NetworkManager, etc.). By providing a unified wireless mesh framework we increase the likelihood of having some support at the distro level. and last, but not least... 6. You'll be able to say authoritatively that batman is X times more efficient than HWMP (pick any X greater than 1 :) Anyway, that was just a thought. If anyone is interested let me know. Cheers, Javier -- Javier Cardona cozybit Inc. http://www.cozybit.com