naxalnet

Naxalnet is an experiment to create an intranet and use it for communicating during an internet shutdown. It tries to use existing software and tech as much as possible. Currently you can only communicate with other peers running the same software.

The name naxal comes from Naxalbari, a village in Darjeeling, West Bengal.

Requirements

• systemd v248 or more (for batman support)
• Linux kernel with batman-adv module (if modinfo batman-adv shows no error then you already have it)
• iwd (for starting ad-hoc network)
• wifi adapter with ad-hoc support
• two or more computers with wifi adapter

Installing

Manually

Run sudo make install to install naxalnet. This will install naxalnet in /usr/{bin/naxalnet,share/naxalnet/,lib/systemd/system/naxalnet@.service}.

To install in /usr/local instead, use sudo make install PREFIX=/usr/local.

After installing, reload systemd so that you can enable naxalnet@.service without rebooting:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Running the program

Any network managers such as NetworkManager and wifi daemons like wpa_supplicant should be disabled:

sudo systemctl disable --now NetworkManager wpa_supplicant

Enable the naxalnet service on the device wlan0 (iwd replaces interface names like wlp1s0 with wlan0):

sudo systemctl enable --now naxalnet@wlan0.service

Now naxalnet will configure a batman interface on every boot.

Uninstalling

Currently there is now way to uninstall naxalnet than to manually removing the files:

sudo rm /usr/{bin/naxalnet,share/naxalnet/,lib/systemd/system/naxalnet@.service}

Or if you installed naxalnet in /usr/local:

sudo rm /usr/local/{bin/naxalnet,share/naxalnet/,lib/systemd/system/naxalnet@.service}

TODO

• add support for wireless ap (WiFi hotspot)

Add list of things here.

This project is in pre-alpha stage. Documentation is incomplete.