[OZAPRS] aprx v2.08*

[owen]

Hi Mark,

On 22/09/2014 12:01, Mark Cheeseman wrote:
> Hi Owen,
>
> Can you elaborate on which problems you have resolved (or attempted to
> resolve)? I'm presently running aprx-2.06.svn507 on the iGate I run in
> the Sydney area for WICEN and have had occasional issues where it
> seems to stop sending my beacons, particularly when it gets a bit of
> activity. I didn't have the same problem when I was running on a PC
> but I forget which version that was. I'm running on a Pi now using the
> kernel ax.25 stack so the deb sounds interesting.
>
> I'm keen to try it out to see if that particular problem goes away but
> would be interested in what other things you have fixed. We have the
> Canoe Classic coming up late next month so now is a good time to try
> our your fork before things get busy again.
>
I first evaluated v2.08r593, and the digi did not work properly... it
essentially performed "directonly".

WB4XO profided some patches to W6KWF that were supposed to fix it, but
if you path became WIDE1*,WIDE2-2, it did not look beyond the exhausted
WIDE1* and discarded the packet.

In testing that, I found defects with KISS/SMACK negotiation which I
made changes to address.

Apart from that, some logging and build changes, so that I could confirm
that the version I was testing was indeed the one I intended.

A digi with the filtering capability in aprx is potentially a solution
for some of the defects in the 'New N paradigm", and a means of
restricting the traffic created by people running high N, and worse,
gating APRS-IS to RF.

It could also provide the means to deal with the "Sydney problem" where
Sydney does not have digis as such, but depends on RAG, RHR, and AMW
which creates duplication of traffic, congestion, and packet loss, all
which inspire high beacon rates to get through... which causes
congestion... and so around the loop.

For example, a test of the following filter proved effective in reducing
traffic markedly here where I am within 20km of two W2 digis that carry
almost identical traffic out of Sydney, Gosford, Newcastle, Tamworth,
Canberra.

        filter          -d/VK2RT*/VK2RA*/       # always block these
        filter          t/ps                    #position, status packets


I don't know what prior versions of aprx did or did not do... but the
fact that the lastest release was stuck in "direct only" mode with no
fixes for many months suggest that it is un-maintained.

I am jack of doing battle with github (especially where I was the only
person originating code changes), so I will not be making pull requests
higher up.

If you want to avoid building, I can put a deb pkg for RPi online.

73
Owen