Restructures /docs/ by reader purpose (tutorials, how-to, reference, design), adds the new-user-progression and operator-recipe content the prior layout lacked, runs an accuracy pass against current source across the pre-existing design docs, and rewrites the gateway feature-set documentation end-to-end around its actual operational profile (a niche feature designed for systems already serving DHCP/DNS to a LAN, with two independent halves — outbound LAN→mesh, inbound mesh→LAN — sharing one nftables table, one binary, and one control socket). Top-level README and getting-started rewritten around two equally-weighted deployment modes (overlay on existing IP networks; ground-up over non-IP transports). ## Additions - 11 new tutorials in docs/tutorials/: an 8-step new-user progression from single-daemon test-mesh peering through to a ground-up two-device mesh, an IPv6-adapter side-trip walkthrough, an Advanced Tutorials index, and a hand-held OpenWrt walk-through for fips-gateway deployment that exercises both halves of the feature. - 12 new how-tos in docs/how-to/: firewall activation, Nostr discovery (resolve / advertise / open across five scenarios), Tor onion (directory + control_port modes), UDP buffer tuning, unprivileged-user setup, persistent identity, host aliases, Bluetooth LE peering, MTU diagnostics, manual Linux-host gateway deployment (covers both halves), gateway troubleshooting (organised by half), and a section index. - 9 new reference docs in docs/reference/: configuration, wire formats, control-socket protocol, four CLI references (fips, fipsctl, fipstop, fips-gateway), security posture matrix, and Nostr events catalog. Configuration and wire-formats are renamed-and-extended from prior design/ versions; the other seven are net-new. - 6 new design docs: fips-concepts, fips-architecture, and fips-prior-work split out of the deleted fips-intro.md; consolidated fips-mmp and fips-mtu aggregations; and a new generic port-advertisement-and-nat-traversal doc (Nostr-signaled port advertisement plus UDP NAT-traversal protocol, FIPS as an example implementation, suitable for eventual NIP submission). - Top-level docs/getting-started.md walking through the binary-installer-only Install story. - packaging/common/hosts pre-populated with the eight public test-mesh nodes so shortnames resolve out of the box on every fresh install. ## Changes - 23 wire-format diagrams relocated to reference/diagrams/ alongside the wire-formats move. - 4 design diagrams corrected against source code (fips-protocol-stack, fips-identity-derivation, fips-coordinate-discovery, fips-routing-decision). - 10 pre-existing design docs reconciled with current source. Numeric corrections: stale link-MMP report bounds (now [1s, 5s] with 200 ms cold-start floor); UDP default MTU (now 1280, IPv6 minimum); node_addr formula (SHA-256(pubkey)[..16]); Noise patterns (IK at link, XK at session); peer-ACL semantics (strict allowlist requires ALL in peers.deny); daemon DNS upstream ([::1]:5354); on-the-wire bloom-filter size (1,071 bytes); obsolete Cargo-feature references (PR #79 dropped them) removed. - Transport framing tightened across the docs: TCP is for UDP-filtered networks (not NAT traversal); Tor is a deployment mode (not failover); WebSocket dropped (not a shipped FIPS transport); WiFi promoted to Implemented via Ethernet in infrastructure mode; classic-Bluetooth row removed (BLE is the only Bluetooth-mode transport). - docs/design/fips-gateway.md rewritten end-to-end to lead with the niche-feature framing and the two-halves structure. Title moved from "FIPS Outbound LAN Gateway" to "FIPS Gateway"; architecture section describes the common machinery (the fips-gateway service, the nftables table, the control socket) before splitting into separate "Outbound Half" and "Inbound Half" sections of equal weight; security considerations split per-half; no Future Work section (speculative directions live in the project tracker, not in protocol design docs). Inbound port forwarding is a first-class half rather than a buried "Implemented Extensions" subsection. - Gateway terminology unified across all gateway docs as a separate Linux service running alongside the fips daemon (its own systemd unit / OpenWrt init script). Container- pattern terms (sidecar) are reserved for the Docker/Kubernetes sidecar deployment examples — the testing/sidecar/ tree, examples/k8s-sidecar/, examples/sidecar-nostr-relay/, examples/wireguard-sidecar-macos/, and the related CHANGELOG / top-level README entries — where the term carries its standard container meaning. - Net-new design body content: rekey section in fips-mesh-layer (Noise IK msg1/msg2 over the established link, K-bit cutover, drain window, smaller-NodeAddr-wins tie-breaker on dual-init); Mesh Size Estimation and Antipoison FPR Cap sections in fips-bloom-filters; Mesh-Interface Query Filter subsection in fips-ipv6-adapter; failure-suppression knobs and clock- skew tolerance in fips-nostr-discovery; loop-rejection and mid-chain ancestor swap added to spanning-tree propagation / stability rules; Priority Chain in fips-mesh-operation renumbered to match the routing-decision diagram. - Top-level README: dropped the stale nostr-discovery cargo-feature parenthetical. docs/README.md and the four section READMEs (tutorials, how-to, reference, design) refreshed for the new structure; index rows reflect both halves of the gateway feature and the new fips-gateway CLI reference. - Cargo.toml [package.metadata.deb] assets path updated for the fips-security.md move; .gitignore /reference/ rule anchored to repo root so docs/reference/ is trackable. - packaging/openwrt-ipk/files/etc/fips/fips.yaml configuration-doc URL updated to the new docs/reference/configuration.md location. ## Deletions - docs/design/fips-intro.md (split into the three new intro design docs). - docs/design/document-relationships.svg (orphan, no longer referenced). - docs/proposals/ tree removed; the only proposal it contained (the Nostr UDP hole-punch protocol) was rewritten as the new generic design/port-advertisement-and-nat-traversal.md.
FIPS OpenWrt Package
This directory is an OpenWrt feed package that builds and installs FIPS on any
OpenWrt 22.03+ router via the standard opkg package system.
For ad-hoc deployment without the build system, see
deploy/native/ instead.
Package contents
| Installed path | Purpose |
|---|---|
/usr/bin/fips |
Mesh daemon |
/usr/bin/fipsctl |
CLI control tool (fipsctl peers, fipsctl links, …) |
/usr/bin/fipstop |
Live TUI dashboard |
/etc/init.d/fips |
procd service (auto-start, crash respawn) |
/etc/fips/fips.yaml |
Node configuration (edit before first start) |
/etc/fips/firewall.sh |
Firewall helper — accepts traffic on fips0 |
/etc/dnsmasq.d/fips.conf |
Forwards .fips DNS queries to the daemon |
/etc/sysctl.d/fips-bridge.conf |
br_netfilter settings for Ethernet transport |
/etc/hotplug.d/net/99-fips |
Applies firewall rules when fips0 comes up |
/etc/uci-defaults/90-fips-setup |
First-boot kernel module and firewall setup |
/lib/upgrade/keep.d/fips |
Preserves /etc/fips/ across sysupgrade |
Requirements
Build host
| Requirement | Notes |
|---|---|
| OpenWrt SDK 22.03+ | Older versions lack fw4 / nftables support |
| Rust host toolchain | Enable in make menuconfig → Advanced → Rust, or install rustup |
| Rust target for your router | Added automatically by the Makefile via rustup target add |
Router
| Requirement | Notes |
|---|---|
kmod-tun |
Required for fips0 TUN interface |
kmod-br-netfilter |
Required for Ethernet transport on bridge member ports |
Both kernel modules are listed as package dependencies (DEPENDS) and will be
installed automatically by opkg.
Target architectures
The Makefile maps the OpenWrt ARCH variable to the correct Rust musl target:
OpenWrt ARCH |
Rust target |
|---|---|
aarch64 |
aarch64-unknown-linux-musl |
x86_64 |
x86_64-unknown-linux-musl |
mipsel |
mipsel-unknown-linux-musl |
mips |
mips-unknown-linux-musl |
arm |
arm-unknown-linux-musleabihf |
To add a missing architecture, add an ifeq block in Makefile mapping the
OpenWrt ARCH value to the Rust target triple.
Building with the OpenWrt SDK
1. Obtain the SDK
Download the SDK for your router's target from downloads.openwrt.org and extract it.
2. Add this package
Copy or symlink this directory into the SDK's package/ tree:
# From inside the SDK root:
ln -s /path/to/fips/packaging/openwrt package/fips
Or add the FIPS repository as a feed in feeds.conf:
src-git-full fips https://github.com/jmcorgan/fips.git
Then update and install feeds:
./scripts/feeds update fips
./scripts/feeds install -a -p fips
3. Build
make package/fips/compile V=s
The resulting .ipk is placed in bin/packages/<arch>/.
4. Pin the source version
For reproducible production builds, replace PKG_SOURCE_VERSION:=master in
Makefile with a specific commit SHA and set PKG_MIRROR_HASH to the correct
hash (or keep skip for development):
PKG_SOURCE_VERSION:=bf117dfabc123... # full 40-char SHA
PKG_MIRROR_HASH:=skip
Installing on the router
scp bin/packages/<arch>/fips_0.1.0-1_<arch>.ipk root@192.168.1.1:/tmp/
ssh root@192.168.1.1 opkg install /tmp/fips_0.1.0-1_<arch>.ipk
First-time configuration
Edit /etc/fips/fips.yaml on the router before starting the daemon:
ssh root@192.168.1.1
vi /etc/fips/fips.yaml
The default config enables:
- Persistent identity (key generated on first start, saved to
/etc/fips/fips.key) - TUN interface
fips0 - DNS responder on
127.0.0.1:5354 - UDP transport on
0.0.0.0:2121
For Ethernet transport, uncomment the ethernet: section and set the correct
physical interface names for your router. Always use physical port names
(eth0, eth1), never bridge names (br-lan). See
deploy/native/README.md for details.
Service management
/etc/init.d/fips start
/etc/init.d/fips stop
/etc/init.d/fips restart
/etc/init.d/fips enable # start at boot (already enabled by opkg postinstall)
/etc/init.d/fips disable
Inspection and logs
# Peer table
fipsctl peers
# Active sessions
fipsctl sessions
# Transport links
fipsctl links
# Live TUI dashboard
fipstop
# Daemon logs (OpenWrt syslog)
logread | grep fips
Upgrading
Install the new .ipk over the existing one:
opkg install --force-reinstall fips_<new-version>_<arch>.ipk
The config in /etc/fips/fips.yaml and the identity key /etc/fips/fips.key
are preserved by opkg (the yaml is installed as a conffile; the key is not a
package file). Both survive sysupgrade via /lib/upgrade/keep.d/fips.