Installation

Catsplash works exclusively on Linux. It requires root access and standard Linux networking tools.

System requirements

• Linux with a modern kernel (Debian/Ubuntu recommended).
• Root access.
• Two network interfaces: one for the WiFi hotspot and one for Internet access.
• Dependencies: hostapd, dnsmasq, iptables, gcc, make, sqlite3, Go 1.26+.

Quick install (recommended)

git clone https://github.com/xeland314/catsplash.git
cd catsplash
make build
sudo ./setup.sh

make build compiles the catsplash and catsctl binaries into the bin/ directory. Then setup.sh guides the installation step by step.

Manual installation

1. Build the binaries:

   make build

2. Create the install directory and copy files:

   sudo mkdir -p /opt/catsplash
   sudo install -m 0755 bin/catsplash /opt/catsplash/
   sudo install -m 0755 bin/catsctl /opt/catsplash/
   sudo ln -sf /opt/catsplash/catsctl /usr/local/bin/catsctl

3. Create the config file /opt/catsplash/config.toml.

4. Configure hostapd and dnsmasq manually, or run setup.sh to do it automatically.

Cross-compilation for other architectures

Catsplash supports cross-compilation via Go. Use make release to generate static binaries:

Architecture	Command
linux/amd64 (v1)	GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 GOAMD64=v1
linux/amd64 (v2)	GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 GOAMD64=v2
linux/386	GOOS=linux GOARCH=386
linux/arm64	GOOS=linux GOARCH=arm64
linux/arm/v7	GOOS=linux GOARCH=arm GOARM=7

make release

This generates .tar.gz files in bin/ named like catsplash-linux-amd64-v1.tar.gz.

Verification

sudo ./bin/catsplash
# Expected output: "Catsplash is running. Press Ctrl+C to stop."