FR: Send more suggested defaults

[Sepero]

Let me start by saying I LOVE this project. What you've created is amazing, and I've been needing something like this forever. No tailscale, no middle man. We each have our own personal decentralized network, with no single point of failure. Excellent.

My Situation:
I have a network of 7 devices.

• 4 Linux boxes
• 3 Android phones

As I'm sure you're aware, an issue with Anywherelan is that as the network grows, so does tediousness of adding new devices.

On the Linux boxes, I wrote a script to automate all the processes. Great, done!

But On the Android phones, it's more tricky...

It would be good if a new Node could set it's own suggested defaults for all these:

• Name
• IP Address
• Offer as exit (allowed/disallowed)

Then another client could just hit "accept".

(Which brings another issue- that Android clients don't seem to notify when other clients send connection request?)

Thank you for this amazing development.

[Sepero]

Request ability to set default settings for:

• Name
• IP Address
• Offer as exit to true

Also I Forgot... ability to set default for:

• Allow as exit to true

Many (most?) people are using awl between trusted computers. It would be very convenient to be able to change the default for all proxy settings to true.

[pymq]

@Sepero Hi! I'm glad you like it. Sorry for the late reply!

I completely understand, I've actually run into this same thing before.

I've been thinking about it for a while, and I have two separate features in mind:

1. An invite link in the form of awl://{peer_id}?a=.... What we want here is:

• pre-set name for the receiver
• pre-set configuration for the sender, including exit node status and any new options
• one-time link (for N auto-invites and/or time-bounded)

2. A group of devices (subnet?). As a simplified version, we could have an "admin" device, that could add new devices to a group, and all existing devices in a group will automatically add this new device. We could also have default settings for a group (e.g. exit node status) in the next iteration.

The main obstacle here is that awl is p2p, so we can't enforce an IP address for all devices, but we ~can enforce a name and domain.

(Which brings another issue- that Android clients don't seem to notify when other clients send connection request?)

This was working not so long ago. Could you please provide more details? check the notifications permission, Android version. Was Anywherelan open, in background or fully closed?

[Sepero]

This [Android invite notification] was working not so long ago?

It seems notifications were off, though I don't recall ever being requested to turn them off. If I continue to have problem with it, then I'll open a new gitHub issue. 👍

[Sepero]

1. An invite link in the form of `awl://{peer_id}?a=...`.

I like the idea. It's unique, and completely compatible with my suggestion of setting defaults also.

Setting defaults on a per node basis, might go like this.
awl cli me defaults

• Name? kent
• IP Address? [suggested 10.66.0.1] 10.66.0.8
• Offer as exit by default? [y/N] Y
• Allow using others as exit by default? [y/N] Y

As most people are using this to create small mesh networks, we are likely to allow very liberal permissions by default.

so we can't enforce an IP address for all devices

Yes you're correct, though I think it would still seem to be fine to transmit a recommended a default IP address to new invites, yes?

.
.

2. A group of devices (subnet?). As a simplified version, we could have an "admin" device...

This is a good idea also, though I suspect the first idea may need implementing first.

(Syncthing has a p2p solution for this called "introducer". In which one peer may introduce peers together, automatically initiating connection request between them.)

[PrinceGarth]

so we can't enforce an IP address for all devices

Because in a limited IPv4 space, even if you randomize it, there's a significant chance two devices will end up with the same IP

What if we implement an IPv6 space for awl peers?

[pymq]

What if we implement an IPv6 space for awl peers?

I think with IPv6 we could generate addresses from the peer ID (public key), making them globally unique across all Anywherelan devices. Unfortunately, adding IPv6 support to awl would require a significant amount of work (with relatively small benefit), so it's not on my roadmap yet.

By the way, could you share a few examples of why you use IP addresses in awl? Personally, I use .awl hostnames everywhere. The only exception is Android (see #17), but I'm planning to fix that soon.

[Sepero]

I use IP addresses in .ssh/config, and I share the same config across all my machines for simplicity and consistency. Also I primarily use Termux on Android to remote connect to my computers.

Hostnames do not resolve for me.

Each node a sending a "default" IP should never be an issue, because it's just a suggestion. The receiving side can change it to anything they want.