GITHUB_RELEASE_v1.8.6 - Alteriom/painlessMesh GitHub Wiki

🐛 Bug Fixes

Bridge Failover Auto-Election (Issue #117)

Fixed critical issue where mesh networks would remain bridgeless indefinitely when all nodes started without a designated initial bridge.

Before: No initial bridge → no election → mesh stays bridgeless forever
After: No initial bridge → 60s startup → monitoring detects absence → election triggered → best RSSI node becomes bridge

Implementation Details

Added periodic monitoring task (30s interval) that detects absence of healthy bridge
Activates after 60s startup grace period to allow network stabilization
Randomized election delay (1-3s) prevents thundering herd problem
Respects existing safeguards: election state, 60s cooldown, router visibility

Fully backward compatible - pre-designated bridge mode continues to work as before.

Core fix: src/arduino/wifi.hpp

📝 Documentation

Bridge Failover Example

Enhanced documentation to clarify two deployment modes:

Auto-Election Mode: All nodes regular (INITIAL_BRIDGE=false), RSSI-based election after 60s
Pre-Designated Mode: Traditional single initial bridge setup

Updated:

examples/bridge_failover/bridge_failover.ino - Enhanced header comments
examples/bridge_failover/README.md - Comprehensive auto-election documentation

🔧 Housekeeping

Synchronized package-lock.json version to 1.8.5

📦 Installation

PlatformIO

lib_deps = alteriom/AlteriomPainlessMesh@^1.8.6

NPM

npm install @alteriom/[email protected]

Arduino Library Manager

Search for "AlteriomPainlessMesh" and update through the IDE

🎯 Use Cases

This release is valuable for:

Dynamic mesh networks with changing node positions
Fault-tolerant deployments requiring automatic bridge recovery
IoT systems with minimal human oversight
Development environments without pre-configured bridges

🙏 Credits

Special thanks to @woodlist for reporting the issue and providing detailed logs.

📚 Resources

Full Changelog: https://github.com/Alteriom/painlessMesh/compare/v1.8.5...v1.8.6