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Validation

Dry-Run Validation (--validate)

wlanstart.sh --validate (aliases: -t, --test) checks the configuration without touching the system:

docker run --rm \
  -e INTERFACE=wlan0 -e SSID=myap -e WPA_PASSPHRASE=supersecret -e COUNTRY_CODE=US \
  sdelrio/rpi-hostap:latest --validate

It applies the same environment defaults as a normal start, runs every validator (channel/regulatory, passphrase, MAC filter, DHCP range, IPv4 addresses) and, on success, prints the generated hostapd.conf and dnsmasq.conf to stdout. It performs no system mutations: no interface changes, sysctls, iptables rules or daemons.

On invalid configuration it exits non-zero and lists all validation errors (not just the first). This is covered in CI by the bats suite (tests/validate_mode.bats).

Dry-run validation is also the recommended first step when troubleshooting a container that exits immediately.

Runtime State Audit (--check)

wlanstart.sh --check (alias: -c) is a read-only audit of the live system against the resolved configuration. It reports each item individually as [OK] or [FAIL] and exits non-zero listing failures:

  • iptables POSTROUTING MASQUERADE rule for ${SUBNET}/${DHCP_PREFIX} (per OUTGOINGS interface when set)
  • iptables FORWARD rules for ${INTERFACE}
  • ip6tables FORWARD rules (when IPV6=1)
  • sysctls ip_forward/ip_dynaddr = 1
  • ${AP_ADDR}/${DHCP_PREFIX} assigned to ${INTERFACE} with link UP

It never mutates state: only rule existence checks (iptables -C), sysctl reads and ip addr/link show queries are performed.

docker exec rpi-hostap /app/wlanstart.sh --check

See also: dry-run validation for checking the configuration itself before startup.

See also: regional channel validation (checked by the channel/regulatory validator), MAC filtering (file presence validated at start) and the HT/VHT tuning notes for values passed through unvalidated.

Last updated: 2026-08-26