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NFD nightly APT repository

Junxiao Shi

This article contains instructions of NFD nightly APT repository, which provides automated builds of NDN Forwarding Daemon (NFD) and related software.

This article was latest updated on 2021-10-30 to reflect latest changes.

Instructions

To install NDN software from NFD nightly APT repository:

  1. If you have previously installed NDN software from named-data PPA or source code, you need to delete them to avoid conflict. See switch between installation methods section below.

  2. Visit https://nfd-nightly.ndn.today webpage, choose your operating system and CPU architecture, and you'll get a setup command.

    Run this setup command in the terminal, which adds NFD-nightly as a package source.

  3. Update package lists:

    sudo apt update

  4. Install desired packages, such as:

    sudo apt install nfd ndnping ndnpeek infoedit

    You can see available packages on https://nfd-nightly.ndn.today webpage.

Switch between installation methods

There are several methods to install NFD and related programs, including:

Packages created with different methods are possibly incompatible with each other. Therefore, if you want to switch between installation methods, it's recommended to delete the previous installation.

# delete packages from NFD nightly APT repository
sudo apt purge libndn-cxx
sudo rm -f /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nfd-nightly.list

# delete packages from named-data PPA
sudo apt purge libndn-cxx
sudo rm -f /etc/apt/sources.list.d/named-data-ubuntu-ppa-*.list

# delete source code installation
# (run in each source code directory)
sudo ./waf uninstall

Q&A

Why should I use deb packages instead of building from source code?

What are the differences between ppa:named-data/ppa and NFD-nightly?

  • Update frequency:
    • PPA: after each NFD release, which occurs a few times per year.
    • NFD-nightly: weekly.
  • Supported platforms:
    • PPA: recent Ubuntu versions.
    • NFD-nightly: Debian and Ubuntu (LTS only).
  • Quality:
    • PPA: production.
    • NFD-nightly: experimental.
  • Docker friendly:
  • Dependencies:
    • PPA: outdated and excessive (Python 2 and libboost-all-dev).
    • NFD-nightly: lean (Python 3 and specific Boost libraries).
  • ndn-cxx dependency:
    • PPA: depends on >= ndn-cxx version, which may cause runtime errors due to ABI breakage.
    • NFD-nightly: depends on == ndn-cxx version, which ensures ABI compatibility.

How are these packages built?

  • They are built on GitHub Actions using Docker containers.
  • Non-amd64 architectures are compiled in Balena images.

A package isn't working?

  • Download errors (404 not found, connection timeout, SSL handshake error, etc):
    • Wait a few minutes, run sudo apt update again.
    • This is likely a temporary server issue. Alert me on Twitter, mention @yoursunny.
  • Installation error (dpkg fails to configure package):
    • This is possibly a bug in installation script, which originates from ppa-packaging but some are patched in NFD-nightly.
    • Report via GitHub Issues, and be sure to include information about your platform.
  • "Illegal Instruction" while running a program:
    • This is most likely a bug in NFD-nightly build process.
    • Report via GitHub Issues, and be sure to include information about your platform.
  • Other runtime errors (packet drop, prefix registration rejected, etc):

How to request a new platform?

  • I can add newer Debian or Ubuntu releases.
    • NFD needs to be compatible with the default compiler and Boost versions installed from APT.
  • I cannot create packages for Linux distributions that do not use APT.
    • I'm a geocacher and I cannot stand the word dnf DNF.
  • I can add more CPU architecture, if Balena has an image for that.
  • Open an issue to discuss.

How to request a new package?

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