GL-BE3600 Slate 7 missing kmod-batman-adv

Routers
1

Dear GL.iNet Team,

Many thanks for all the great hardware over the years! Sadly with this particular one I am stuck like @jeffsf reported already 3 years ago: Build missing kmod-batman-adv [testing blocker]

I successfully worked around this very problem before by compiling the package myself with the vendor’s SDK and I found GitHub - gl-inet/sdk: OpenWRT SDK for GL.iNet devices · GitHub but again with this device the SDK is missing:

$ ./download.sh ipq806x-qsdk53
Download ipq806x-qsdk53 SDK
Cloning into 'sdk/qsdk53/ipq806x'...
remote: Repository not found.
fatal: repository 'https://github.com/gl-inet-builder/openwrt-sdk-ipq806x-qsdk53.git/' not found

May I therefore take you up on @alen5193 ‘s offer given in How can I compile software for BE3600? and ask if you can please build this highly-desired package?

Some more info in case it helps:

root@GL-BE3600:~# uname -a
Linux GL-BE3600 5.4.213 #0 SMP PREEMPT Mon Mar 2 03:55:45 2026 aarch64 GNU/Linux
root@GL-BE3600:~# zcat /proc/config.gz | grep BATMAN
# CONFIG_BATMAN_ADV is not set
root@GL-BE3600:~# batctl -v
batctl 2023.1-openwrt-2 [batman-adv: module not loaded]
root@GL-BE3600:~# opkg install luci-proto-batman-adv
 * pkg_hash_check_unresolved: cannot find dependency kmod-batman-adv for luci-proto-batman-adv

Thank you so much in advance!

2

Hi

The wireless driver on the BE3600 currently does not support the Mesh/IBSS modes required for batman-adv to run.
So installing this package may not have any practical benefit.

batman-adv can run on top of a variety of mesh implementations, including 802.11s, ad-hoc (IBSS), and multiple point-to-point links, wired or wireless.

Refer:

root@GL-BE3600:~# iw phy | fgrep mesh
root@GL-BE3600:~# iw phy | fgrep IBSS
root@GL-BE3600:~#

You might consider waiting until we add Mesh support for the BE3600 in a future v4.9.x release (not v4.9.0, but a later version in the 4.9 series), and then check again.

4

Hi!

Thank you for your quick reply but you are mistaken :slightly_smiling_face:

There is no dependency of batman-adv on 802.11s or IBSS at all: I use&need batman-adv with Ethernet and all sorts of non-WiFi links, “installing this package [definitely has] practical benefit”!

Please just enable this tiny package or at least provide us/me with the kernel source code so that we can compile the module ourselves; I am not a lawyer but as far as I know you even have to by law.

5

Then may be an error in the OpenWrt documentation.
We’ll ask the R&D team to check whether it can be compiled and added to the repository.

1 Like
6

Thank you very much for reconsidering, and not to be annoying but in OpenWrt’s defense there is no error in their documentation :slightly_smiling_face:

If you read carefully the line that you quoted: the “batman-adv can run on […] including” beginning means they are just going to list examples (as opposed to saying “has to run on WiFi” for example) and the “wired or wireless” ending makes it very clear that it can work without WiFi :wink:

7

Just did some more research and realized that BATMAN is actually a routing protocol.

I had misunderstood it as a wireless management solution for Mesh. :melting_face:

1 Like
8

Hehe no worries! Thank you very much for helping and researching :slightly_smiling_face:

Hybrid Wireless Mesh Protocol - Wikipedia might be what you were thinking of: 802.11s has a built-in mesh protocol (that you can replace with batman-adv if you want but it’s actually pretty good already)

1 Like
9

That is DAWN right? I mean The wireless mesh management software

10

I know DAWN, but I mistook BATMAN for similar software, haha.

1 Like