From 5ab569f1501a991235b892f9e820aba92aa88ca7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: ssmithx <atobitcoin@proton.me>
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2026 16:39:11 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] fix(openwrt): use iw phy interface add for scan when no UCI
 wifi-iface exists

wifi up does nothing without a wifi-iface section in UCI (common on fresh
flash). Instead, create a temporary managed interface directly on phy0
via nl80211 (iw phy phy0 interface add scan0 type managed), scan on it,
then delete it. No netifd/UCI involvement needed for scanning.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 core/openwrt/src/wifi_scan.rs | 44 +++++++++++++++++++----------------
 1 file changed, 24 insertions(+), 20 deletions(-)

diff --git a/core/openwrt/src/wifi_scan.rs b/core/openwrt/src/wifi_scan.rs
index 882b9715..683da51b 100644
--- a/core/openwrt/src/wifi_scan.rs
+++ b/core/openwrt/src/wifi_scan.rs
@@ -10,42 +10,46 @@ pub struct ScannedNetwork {
 }
 
 pub fn scan_networks(router: &Router) -> Result<Vec<ScannedNetwork>> {
-    let iface = find_wireless_iface(router)?;
+    let (iface, temp) = find_wireless_iface(router)?;
     let output = router.run_ok(&format!("iwinfo {} scan 2>&1", iface))?;
+    if temp {
+        let _ = router.run(&format!("iw dev {} del 2>/dev/null", iface));
+    }
     if output.contains("No scan results") || output.trim().is_empty() {
         return Ok(vec![]);
     }
     parse_iwinfo_scan(&output)
 }
 
-fn find_wireless_iface(router: &Router) -> Result<String> {
-    // Fast path: interface already up (radio was previously enabled)
+/// Returns `(interface_name, is_temporary)`.
+/// If no interface exists, creates a temporary managed one directly on the PHY
+/// so we can scan without needing any UCI wifi-iface sections.
+fn find_wireless_iface(router: &Router) -> Result<(String, bool)> {
+    // Fast path: an interface already exists (radio was enabled previously)
     let (out, _) = router.run("iw dev 2>/dev/null | awk '/Interface/{print $2}' | head -1")?;
     if !out.trim().is_empty() {
-        return Ok(out.trim().to_string());
+        return Ok((out.trim().to_string(), false));
     }
 
-    // No interface yet — common on a freshly-flashed OpenWrt where radio0 is
-    // disabled by default.  Verify the radio PHY exists at all.
+    // Find the phy — if this is empty the device has no WiFi hardware at all
     let (phy_out, _) = router.run("ls /sys/class/ieee80211/ 2>/dev/null | head -1")?;
-    if phy_out.trim().is_empty() {
+    let phy = phy_out.trim().to_string();
+    if phy.is_empty() {
         anyhow::bail!("No wireless radio found on this router");
     }
 
-    // Enable radio0 and bring wifi up so netifd creates the virtual interface.
-    tracing::info!("[{}] Radio present but no interface — enabling radio0 and running wifi up", router.host);
-    router.run_ok("uci set wireless.radio0.disabled=0 && uci commit wireless && wifi up 2>&1")?;
+    // Create a temporary managed interface directly on the PHY.  This bypasses
+    // netifd entirely so it works even when there are no wifi-iface sections in
+    // UCI (common on a freshly-flashed device).
+    tracing::info!("[{}] Creating temporary scan interface on {}", router.host, phy);
+    // Remove any stale scan0 from a previous attempt, then add fresh
+    let _ = router.run("iw dev scan0 del 2>/dev/null");
+    router.run_ok(&format!(
+        "iw phy {} interface add scan0 type managed 2>&1 && ip link set scan0 up 2>&1",
+        phy
+    ))?;
 
-    // Wait up to 8s for netifd to create the interface (it's asynchronous)
-    for _ in 0..8 {
-        std::thread::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_secs(1));
-        let (out2, _) = router.run("iw dev 2>/dev/null | awk '/Interface/{print $2}' | head -1")?;
-        if !out2.trim().is_empty() {
-            return Ok(out2.trim().to_string());
-        }
-    }
-
-    anyhow::bail!("WiFi radio enabled but no interface appeared — check OpenWrt wireless config")
+    Ok(("scan0".to_string(), true))
 }
 
 fn parse_iwinfo_scan(output: &str) -> Result<Vec<ScannedNetwork>> {