On the subject of creating OpenWISP derivatives

[Federico Capoano]

Regarding extensibility and swappable models, we have improved a lot since I started with the first OpenWISP modules.

Based on the whole experience accumulated, I tried to sum everything in the firmware-upgrader module so we can use it as a reference.

It's still WIP but you can see it here: https://github.com/openwisp/openwisp-firmware-upgrader/pull/60

The resulting README section that explains how to extend the module now looks more like a tutorial and should also result more helpful to users who are network engineers but have no experience with django, because each sub section links the relevant django documentation section to provide additional information if needed.

I'm asking the Google Summer of Code students to help me replicate this in all the modules.

If you see any error or something does not convince you let me know, we're still in time to discuss before we replicate everything in all the modules.

Doing it afterwards will be harder, because once we close this chapter we'll all want to move on with other things (this is not particularly exciting, I know).

I hope that with this effort creating tailored network solutions based on OpenWISP will be accessible to more people.

Best

Federico