Run it

Measure the machine before you install the network.

frogbench is the first contact. It tests the RAM contract and characterizes the host so you have a result before changing the machine.

Current implementation: the shared-RAM contract and engineering record

FD&F region and release packages.

cd opt/fdf/src/fdf-source/rinab
bash tools/build.sh
bash tools/build_static_host.sh
bash tools/build_arm64.sh
bash tools/make_deliverables.sh <OUTDIR>

The reviewed build uses C++20, lz4, OpenSSL and jemalloc, plus an ARM64 cross compiler for Pi binaries. make_deliverables checks tag/binary consistency. Consult that checkout’s build scripts for exact dependencies; the cleanup plan identifies additional fresh-box dependency work.

Membership and packet engine.

The Android/Windows member uses the Kotlin code in opt/fdf/src/frognet-android/member. The Go engine in tun/ owns the per-scope WireGuard devices, alias rewriting and packet checksums. Its Linux/Android build script uses vendored dependencies. Windows packaging also needs the Windows runtime and Wintun integration.

The Android app builds in its Android project. A framework type-check is narrower than an APK build or a device run. The original build environment did not supply every Android build dependency; the later recorded device demonstration is a separate operational record.

Communicator.

The desktop C++ application and Linux servers are in opt/frognet_semantic/ribbit/examples/communicator. The build uses Qt 6, FFmpeg codec/scaler libraries, VPX, Opus and PortAudio. Native Windows build instructions are in that tree’s WINDOWS.md and build-windows.sh. Android’s implementation belongs to the membership app, not the superseded standalone directory.

Choose the qualification gate.

Region graph, hub, reach, placement and daemon integration have individual namespace suites. The Communicator has framing, segmentation, bearer, media-rate, audio, room, ringing and interoperability tests. Run the relevant gate against real services, not a stub that silently changes the contract.

The website edit validates pages and references; it does not rerun the distributed experiments. Read the test discipline.

Run frogbench

Exercise distinct state, latest value, blocking reads and remove. Keep qualification separate from performance characterization.

Break the model

Use the simulator to kill links and nodes, split topology and verify discovery convergence and network behavior against explicit oracles.

Specification: §16 Simulator and conformance

Install LilyPad

Only after you know what the host can do. FrogNet targets ordinary Debian/Linux hardware; the current installer is setup_lillypad.bash in the source tree.

Specification: §3 Node, identity and installation · §18 Implementation considerations

Then build a pond.

Download the current tree from GitHub and use the release scripts and documentation there. The older public installation material remains useful background, but the repository is authoritative for the current build.

Run it yourself

Every step of the build, on its own page.

The install, the first discovery walk, the hardware, the broker, the Monitor and the simulator, each with its video where one exists.

Run it yourself

That is the stated goal of the series, in the first minute of the first video, and everything below is arranged to get you there.

Installing a node, step by step

From a clean machine to a running node: what the installer does in each phase and what you answer along the way.

How a FrogNet discovers itself

The discovery walk in phases: probe, prove, measure, and write a routing table with no coordinator anywhere.

Build and test

FrogNet is a full network fabric — a matrix of system and application code, not an app you install.

Hardware and RF

Every architectural claim on this site ends at the same place: a real antenna, in real weather, at real distance.

Hardware drawings

The node, the radio, and the enclosures — dimensioned drawings for the hardware a FrogNet runs on.

Run a broker

A network that needs no server still needs a place for two frogs to find each other across the internet.

The Monitor

It writes nothing, owns nothing, and holds no state that outlives a keystroke.

The simulator

FrogSim does not model FrogNet.

The sandbox

You are not asking your company to adopt FrogNet.

Get the current source.

The public repository is FawcettJohnW/FrogNet-Living-Network. Start there for the current tree, scripts and release material.

Open the repository Download & installation

GPLv2-only.

FrogNet is free software under version 2 of the GNU General Public License, and no other version. There is no developer-license request and no commercial-production license to buy.

FrogNet source on GitHub