Hi!
As a side issue, i'm not sure batman-adv is the right name for mainline. In the context of the batman project, it makes sense, but from the perspective of mainline, this is the first version of batman, and maybe we cannot justify the advanced.
One problem of the B.A.T.M.A.N. project is the confusion we created by having too many versions. Renaming batman-advanced to batman would be the worst we could probably do with this regard.
To the wiki stuff. The policy was long time correct if I remember it correct (send my first stuff without being subscribed). Maybe it was accidentally changed when the administrator upgraded the mailing list/mail stuff.
In principle a open-posting list would be nice, but I don't see this implemented anywhere with reason. My guess would be that no one is willing to go through literally thousands of SPAM mails every day to find the one legitimate e-mail coming in once a week that is waiting for approval by the list admins. Whenever I tried posting as a non-subscriber to a mailing list my email never went through.
What make me a little curious is what that change would mean for the development model. Ok, they would have to work with a git clone and have to send merge requests/patches to upstream - but what about internal packet versions. The current version is 7 and have it to support older version in the (very probably) situation that the packet format is changed again?
This is a good and important question. Even more so because Marek and I were having a initial discussion via VOIP about ideas and changes to the algorithm for the next generation mark 5 of the protocol algorithm. Our aim is (again) reduced computational and data overhead, faster convergence speed, a simplification of the protocol and added support for IPv6. This step will again call for a higher packet version number, naturally. I guess the kernel developers won't be amused to include something in the main line which is still under heavy development?
We should discuss the changes to mark 5 with all the people which are deeper involved. It would be awesome to meet you all physically somewhere for a "B.A.T.M.A.N. developer meeting/conference" to set the agenda and gather ideas... I could organize a venue if you want to come to Berlin...
And as my position as random guy I want to thank you for contacting Greg G-K
I want to say big THANKS to all people - testers, developers - that are contributing to the project. Marek, Andrew, Sven, Axel, Yang, Antoine, Simon... - it is a great joy for me to see your contributions!
Cheers, Elektra