Table of Contents

Infoboxes

Below is a collection of information boxes for inclusion in other wiki pages.

Migration Required

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Migration Required!
An updated equivalent of this page needs to be created in the new Wiki.

Work in Progress

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Work in Progress!
This page is a continuous work in progress. You can edit this page to contribute information.

Locked

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Locked Page!
This page is read-only and cannot be edited. You should use it to retrieve content for new pages.

Under Construction

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Under Construction!
This page is currently under construction. You can edit the article to help completing it.

Important Information

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Important Information!
This section covers actions that might affect the security or performance of your device. Follow carefully.

Unverified Information

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Unverified Information!
This page or section contains unverified information. Remove this notice if you can ensure its correctness.

Outdated Information

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Outdated Information!
This article contains information that is outdated or no longer valid. You can edit this page to update it.

Historic Information

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Historic information!
This page contains archived information that is only kept for research purposes. The contents are most likely outdated.

Cleanup Required

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Cleanup Required!
This page or section needs cleanup. You can edit this page to fix wiki markup, redundant content or outdated information.

Dangerous

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Warning!
This section describes actions that might damage your device or firmware. Proceed with care!

Attention: Trunk!

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The development branch can contain experimental code that is under active development and should not be used for production environments. Snapshot images may support additional hardware; however, it is experimental, considered unstable, and sometimes won't compile.

Prebuilt snapshot images do not come with any web interface or GUI. You will need to be comfortable using a command line and remote shell to install one yourself → How to install LuCI

Attention: work-in-progress release!

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Work-in-progress release!
This version has not been released yet. Information on this page is subject to change before the actual release.

Outdated release

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Outdated release!
This OpenWrt release is no longer receiving updates. You should switch to a newer release.

Self-registration disabled

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Self-registration in the wiki has been disabled
If you want to contribute to the OpenWrt wiki, please ask HERE in the forum or on IRC for access.

432 Warning

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This device is NOT RECOMMENDED for future use with OpenWrt due to low flash/ram.
DO NOT BUY DEVICES WITH 4MB FLASH / 32MB RAM if you intend to flash an up-to-date and secure OpenWrt version onto it! See 4/32 warning for details.

1) This device does not have sufficient resources (flash and/or RAM) to provide secure and reliable operation.
This means that even setting a password or changing simple network settings might not be possible any more, rendering the device effectively useless. See OpenWrt on 4/32 devices what you can do now.

2) OpenWrt support for this device has ended in 2022.
19.07.10 was the last official build for 4/32 devices.

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DO NOT BUY DEVICES WITH 4MB FLASH / 32MB RAM if you intend to flash an up-to-date and secure OpenWrt version onto it! See 4/32 warning for details.

1) 4/32 devices do not have sufficient resources (flash and/or RAM) to provide secure and reliable operation. See OpenWrt on 4/32 devices what you can do now.

2) OpenWrt support for 4/32 devices has ended in 2022. 19.07.10 was the last official build for 4/32 devices.

864 Warning

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This device is NOT RECOMMENDED for future use with OpenWrt due to low flash/ram.
DO NOT BUY DEVICES WITH 8MB FLASH / 64MB RAM if you intend to flash an up-to-date and secure OpenWrt version onto it! See 8/64 warning for details.

This device does not have sufficient resources (flash and/or RAM) to provide secure and reliable operation.
This means that you will not be able to install many packages, and that you might experience crashes due to OOM situations more or less often. See OpenWrt on 8/64 devices what you can do now.

For ToHs: Include with {{section>meta:infobox:864_warning#infobox_for_tohs&noheader&nofooter&noeditbutton}}

DO NOT BUY DEVICES WITH 8MB FLASH / 64MB RAM if you intend to flash an up-to-date and secure OpenWrt version onto it! See 8/64 warning for details.

8/64 devices do not have sufficient resources (flash and/or RAM) to provide secure and reliable operation. See OpenWrt on 8/64 devices what you can do now.

Broadcom Wireless

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Devices with Broadcom WiFi chipsets have limited OpenWrt supportability (due to limited FLOSS driver availability for Broadcom chips). Consider this when choosing a device to buy, or when deciding to flash OpenWrt on your device because it is listed as supported. See Broadcom WiFi for details.

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Devices with Broadcom WiFi chipsets have limited OpenWrt supportability (due to limited FLOSS driver availability for Broadcom chips). Consider this when choosing a device to buy, or when deciding to flash OpenWrt on your device because it is listed as supported. See Broadcom WiFi for details.

Broadcom DSL

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DSL will not work at all on devices with BCM63xx DSL chipset (due to unavailability of FLOSS driver for Broadcom chips). Consider this when choosing a device to buy, or when deciding to flash OpenWrt on your device because it is listed as supported.
See Broadcom DSL, Unsupported: DSL modem and Broadcom BCM63xx for details.

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DSL will not work at all on devices with BCM63xx DSL chipset (due to unavailability of FLOSS driver for Broadcom chips). Consider this when choosing a device to buy, or when deciding to flash OpenWrt on your device because it is listed as supported. See Broadcom DSL, Unsupported: DSL modem and Broadcom BCM63xx for details.

Upgrade packages

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Blindly upgrading packages (manually or via script) can lead you into all sorts of trouble.

Just because there is an updated version of a given package does not mean it should be installed or that it will function properly. Ensure yourself before doing upgrade that it would be safe. Almost for sure avoid upgrading core packages.

There are two ways to manage and install packages in OpenWrt: with the LuCI web interface (System > Software), and via the command line interface (CLI). Both methods invoke the same opkg command. As of OpenWrt 19.07.0, the LuCI interface now has an 'Updates' tab with a listing of packages that have available upgrades. The LuCI Upgrade... button performs the same opkg upgrade command that is discussed in this article. The same warnings apply to upgrading packages using LuCI and the CLI.

Generally speaking, the use of opkg upgrade is very highly discouraged. It should be avoided in almost all circumstances. In particular, bulk upgrading is very likely to result in major problems, but even upgrading individual packages may cause issues. It is also important to stress that this is distinctly different from the sysupgrade path for upgrading OpenWrt releases (major versions as well as maintenance upgrades). opkg upgrade will not update the OpenWrt version. Only sysupgrade can do that. The two are not equivalent.

Unlike the “big distros” of Linux, OpenWrt is optimized to run on systems with limited resources. This includes the opkg package manager, which does not have built-in ABI (Application Binary Interface) compatibility and kernel version dependencies verification. Although sometimes there may be no issues, there is no guarantee and the upgrade can result in various types of incompatibilities that can range from minor to severe, and it may be very difficult to troubleshoot. In addition, the opkg upgrade process will consume flash storage space. Since it does not (and cannot) overwrite the original (stored in ROM), it must store the upgraded packages in the r/w overlay.

In the vast majority of cases, any security patches of significant importance/risk will be rapidly released in an official stable maintenance release to be upgraded using the sysupgrade system. This is the recommended method for keeping up-to-date.

Those looking to be on the bleeding edge can consider using the snapshot releases, but should be mindful of the differences between stable and snapshot. Or, alternatively, build a custom image with the desired updated packages included in that image. The remaining users who still want to use opkg upgrade should only do so with selected individual packages (do not bulk update, and do not blindly update) and they should be aware that problems may occur that could necessitate a complete reset-to-defaults to resolve.

If you're already having issues, or wish to “undo” the upgraded packages: create a backup (optional; can be restored after the reset is complete) and then perform a reset to defaults (firstboot).

If you do choose to upgrade packages, especially with a script, you have been warned. Don't complain on the forum, and be ready to deal with the consequences, troubleshooting, and resolution yourself.

See also

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Basic skills

This article relies on the following:

config-network-device

This article may contain network configuration that depends on migration to DSA in OpenWrt 21.02

fw3-fw4

The firewall backend has been changed from iptables (fw3) to nftables (fw4) in OpenWrt 22.03

  • Native UCI configuration works exactly in the same way and requires no adaptation
  • However, any custom firewall configuration using iptables will need to be replaced by an equivalent nft mechanism

High voltage warning mains

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DANGER: HIGH VOLTAGE inside!
Opening this device exposes
parts under high voltage (110/230 VAC)!

  • Risk of deadly electrical shock
  • Risk of irreversable damage to other components attached, e.g. your PC connected via serial

Make sure to keep your fingers, conductive tools and serial cables away from the high voltage at all times!

Capacitors can still retain dangerous voltages
after disconnection from mains!

Continue at your own risk!

High voltage warning DSL

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DANGER: HIGH VOLTAGE inside!
Opening this device exposes
parts under high voltage (up to 90 Volt)!

  • Risk of deadly electrical shock
  • Risk of irreversable damage to other components attached, e.g. your PC connected via serial

Make sure to keep your fingers, conductive tools and serial cables away from the high voltage at all times!

TFTP security warning

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Important Information!
TFTP server & client tools (based on the TFTP protocol) employ no access controls while allowing light-weight file transfer between networked devices.
Do not leave TFTP services running longer than needed and use a firewall to restrict access to the local subnet.