wf-cappy

convert a device into a captive portal server!

The name stands for... 'Wi-Fi CaPtive Portal... Yes.' (i'm so good at naming!)

With it, you can make something that looks a little bit like this (my post that started this guide)

my post

My personal captive portal! It... doesn't have to look like this lol.

All of this is a work-in-progress as I feel like it deserves an iwdguide alongside a standardised network setup. Maybe I can make the script less permanent and put it up on AUR or something. I'd love advice/(to collaborate) with others on making a more beginner-friendly approach for this, bc it would be kinda cool to get it packaged for other distros!

Preliminary Notes (to protect yourself):

Before we get started, I need to make sure you understand what you're getting into. Following this advice is the best way to keep yourself safe from trouble of all kinds.

Physical security

Opening a captive portal on your own hardware paints a big target on yourself. Both because others can connect and try to exploit it, and also because they can follow you from your network (although the same is arguable with BT.)

Make sure your device has a properly configured (and enabled!) firewall and to always keep your system up-to-date when using this. If leaving a place alone please disable this portal.

Legality

While running a captive portal is perfectly legal, impersonating others is illegal.

When making an access point to prank people, be creative with the name instead of copying the SSID of another network. Naming it 'Free Wifi' is technically not a lie, and is more likely to make people laugh at your prank than get pissed at you.

Remember that this is publically accessible, and random people will click on this. In fact, children on their IPads are much more likely to click on these sites. Because of this, please make sure the content hosted is something you could legally have up on a sign (this is an EXTREMELY low bar to clear).

Speaking of public use, remember that you cannot just leave this device in a store and expect to get away with it. It's probably okay if you as a person are running this, but do not abandon a portal on property you do not own, unless you'd like it to be confiscated and destroyed.

How others may react

You don't really know how everyone in the radius around you will react to being trolled like this, or react to the contents of your website. People will look for the person responsible, so keep that in mind if you share anything about yourself as a person.

Cool and funny people can see your website, alongside pretty crappy people. These 'pranks' are often enough to make them create an excuse to be racist (suprisingly, even as an asian in a pretty asian area), but could also make some people become aggressive from your dumb little site.

While very unlikely, this is something you have to weigh up, and know how to deal with if it arises. I'd advise keeping your portal down in areas where this could be a problem.

So, you've read all that and know what precautions to take? Great! Please choose one of the following guides:

• NetworkManager
• I was a little too lazy to write an iwd guide... but it's basically the exact same thing once you start configuring dnsmasq.