diff --git a/include/uapi/linux/batman_adv.h b/include/uapi/linux/batman_adv.h
index b05399d8a127248e38189d1c6de17d1ae0cb2e42..bdb317faa1dc1e031cf72473f6b327ac117acbf0 100644
--- a/include/uapi/linux/batman_adv.h
+++ b/include/uapi/linux/batman_adv.h
@@ -685,6 +685,12 @@ enum batadv_ifla_attrs {
 	 */
 	IFLA_BATADV_UNSPEC,
 
+	/**
+	 * @IFLA_BATADV_ALGO_NAME: routing algorithm (name) which should be
+	 *  used by the newly registered batadv net_device.
+	 */
+	IFLA_BATADV_ALGO_NAME,
+
 	/* add attributes above here, update the policy in soft-interface.c */
 
 	/**
diff --git a/net/batman-adv/bat_algo.c b/net/batman-adv/bat_algo.c
index 382fbe51fd3400a85ca7426992bede668210598e..500db94a6b504b8cff420cc0477add1f6410b8b1 100644
--- a/net/batman-adv/bat_algo.c
+++ b/net/batman-adv/bat_algo.c
@@ -34,7 +34,13 @@ void batadv_algo_init(void)
 	INIT_HLIST_HEAD(&batadv_algo_list);
 }
 
-static struct batadv_algo_ops *batadv_algo_get(char *name)
+/**
+ * batadv_algo_get() - Search for algorithm with specific name
+ * @name: algorithm name to find
+ *
+ * Return: Pointer to batadv_algo_ops on success, NULL otherwise
+ */
+struct batadv_algo_ops *batadv_algo_get(const char *name)
 {
 	struct batadv_algo_ops *bat_algo_ops = NULL, *bat_algo_ops_tmp;
 
@@ -97,7 +103,7 @@ int batadv_algo_register(struct batadv_algo_ops *bat_algo_ops)
  *
  * Return: 0 on success or negative error number in case of failure
  */
-int batadv_algo_select(struct batadv_priv *bat_priv, char *name)
+int batadv_algo_select(struct batadv_priv *bat_priv, const char *name)
 {
 	struct batadv_algo_ops *bat_algo_ops;
 
diff --git a/net/batman-adv/bat_algo.h b/net/batman-adv/bat_algo.h
index 686a60bc9492caacf920e477bc437f7cca154475..2ae140eac45d3b4d75cce47d026d1d98f01eb10c 100644
--- a/net/batman-adv/bat_algo.h
+++ b/net/batman-adv/bat_algo.h
@@ -18,8 +18,9 @@ extern char batadv_routing_algo[];
 extern struct list_head batadv_hardif_list;
 
 void batadv_algo_init(void);
+struct batadv_algo_ops *batadv_algo_get(const char *name);
 int batadv_algo_register(struct batadv_algo_ops *bat_algo_ops);
-int batadv_algo_select(struct batadv_priv *bat_priv, char *name);
+int batadv_algo_select(struct batadv_priv *bat_priv, const char *name);
 int batadv_algo_seq_print_text(struct seq_file *seq, void *offset);
 int batadv_algo_dump(struct sk_buff *msg, struct netlink_callback *cb);
 
diff --git a/net/batman-adv/soft-interface.c b/net/batman-adv/soft-interface.c
index 9c7b89689c97d7f646e02d0e5534761f86836b54..8116631c11c5e969359acc422cd0ac7b9304f0a0 100644
--- a/net/batman-adv/soft-interface.c
+++ b/net/batman-adv/soft-interface.c
@@ -846,9 +846,11 @@ static int batadv_softif_init_late(struct net_device *dev)
 
 	batadv_nc_init_bat_priv(bat_priv);
 
-	ret = batadv_algo_select(bat_priv, batadv_routing_algo);
-	if (ret < 0)
-		goto free_bat_counters;
+	if (!bat_priv->algo_ops) {
+		ret = batadv_algo_select(bat_priv, batadv_routing_algo);
+		if (ret < 0)
+			goto free_bat_counters;
+	}
 
 	ret = batadv_debugfs_add_meshif(dev);
 	if (ret < 0)
@@ -1085,6 +1087,17 @@ static void batadv_softif_init_early(struct net_device *dev)
 static int batadv_softif_validate(struct nlattr *tb[], struct nlattr *data[],
 				  struct netlink_ext_ack *extack)
 {
+	struct batadv_algo_ops *algo_ops;
+
+	if (!data)
+		return 0;
+
+	if (data[IFLA_BATADV_ALGO_NAME]) {
+		algo_ops = batadv_algo_get(nla_data(data[IFLA_BATADV_ALGO_NAME]));
+		if (!algo_ops)
+			return -EINVAL;
+	}
+
 	return 0;
 }
 
@@ -1102,6 +1115,17 @@ static int batadv_softif_newlink(struct net *src_net, struct net_device *dev,
 				 struct nlattr *tb[], struct nlattr *data[],
 				 struct netlink_ext_ack *extack)
 {
+	struct batadv_priv *bat_priv = netdev_priv(dev);
+	const char *algo_name;
+	int err;
+
+	if (data && data[IFLA_BATADV_ALGO_NAME]) {
+		algo_name = nla_data(data[IFLA_BATADV_ALGO_NAME]);
+		err = batadv_algo_select(bat_priv, algo_name);
+		if (err)
+			return -EINVAL;
+	}
+
 	return register_netdevice(dev);
 }
 
@@ -1204,6 +1228,7 @@ bool batadv_softif_is_valid(const struct net_device *net_dev)
 }
 
 static const struct nla_policy batadv_ifla_policy[IFLA_BATADV_MAX + 1] = {
+	[IFLA_BATADV_ALGO_NAME]	= { .type = NLA_NUL_STRING },
 };
 
 struct rtnl_link_ops batadv_link_ops __read_mostly = {