[change] When adding a Wireless config, should it add an interface?

[thiagohflima]

Scenario

Consider the following network configuration:

• Two VLANs: 10 and 20
• Bridges named vlan10 using eth0.10 and vlan20 using eth0.20

The goal is to create two SSIDs for each VLAN:

• Wifi_VLAN10
• Wifi_VLAN20

NetJSON Configuration

[
  {
    "wireless": {
      "network": ["vlan10"],
      "mode": "access_point",
      "radio": "radio0",
      "ssid": "WifiVLAN10"
    },
    "type": "wireless",
    "name": "wlan0"
  },
  {
    "wireless": {
      "network": ["vlan20"],
      "mode": "access_point",
      "radio": "radio0",
      "ssid": "WifiVLAN20"
    },
    "type": "wireless",
    "name": "wlan1"
  }
]

This configuration generates the following (showing only wireless-related settings):

Package Network

config device 'device_wlan0'
    option name 'wlan0'

config interface 'wlan0'
    option device 'wlan0'
    option proto 'none'

config device 'device_wlan1'
    option name 'wlan1'

config interface 'wlan1'
    option device 'wlan1'
    option proto 'none'

Package Wireless

config wifi-iface 'wifi_wlan0'
    option device 'radio0'
    option ifname 'wlan0'
    option mode 'ap'
    option network 'vlan10'
    option ssid 'WifiVLAN10'

config wifi-iface 'wifi_wlan1'
    option device 'radio0'
    option ifname 'wlan1'
    option mode 'ap'
    option network 'vlan20'
    option ssid 'WifiVLAN20'

---

When manually configuring in OpenWRT, it is simplified as follows:

Package Network

There's no config added in network

Package Wireless

config wifi-iface 'wifi_wlan0'
    option device 'radio0'
    option mode 'ap'
    option network 'vlan10'
    option ssid 'WifiVLAN10'

config wifi-iface 'wifi_wlan1'
    option device 'radio0'
    option mode 'ap'
    option network 'vlan20'
    option ssid 'WifiVLAN20'

---

As observed, the manual configuration lacks the ifname attribute in the wireless package, and no interfaces are created in the network package. While the current configuration works, there's a consideration about simplifying the OpenWisp-generated config. Does this simplification make sense?

[nemesifier]

I ran into a situation in which the additional configuration in /etc/config/network caused issues. I am investigating the possibility of removing that.

[nemesifier]

I don't think we can remove ifname from the wireless configuration for different reasons, it doens't hurt having it defined explicitly. So I am focusing on removing the unnecessary definitions in the /etc/config/network.

[nemesifier]

https://github.com/openwisp/netjsonconfig/pull/298 should fix this. I am testing it.