OpenWrt 24.10.0 – First Stable Release
38 comments
·February 6, 2025choobacker
wryun
On most openwrt devices you can compare /rom/etc/config to /etc/config (though this will get you a bunch of automatic changes as well).
choobacker
Tracking config via VCS is great, but the automatic changes is what then makes it tricky to understand what you've actually configured.
RGamma
GP missed this basic fact and then moved to NixOS for a router target? What!?
p3t3
Are there well maintained nixos based router project?
choobacker
Not that I'm aware of.
systemd-networkd + kea + corerad is the software I use.
eptcyka
Will have to look at kea and corerad. What hardware do you use for the wireless links? Intel has been very hit or miss in my experience. And the misses suuuck, like after enough hosts connect, you get kernel panic on every new client connection, or all but the one device I needed a separate wlan for are compatible with the host. So, NixOS on a router that doesn’t have to be a wifi ap is extremely nice in my experience.
stas2k
Why not both? I also use NixOS as the main router/fw/nat, and OpenWRT in bridge mode as dumb APs.
All updates except semi-recent DSA changes were seamless.
choobacker
Me too. My TP Link EAP605 is an AP running OpenWRT. Works well.
xrisk
While this sounds good, you could just dump the contents of /etc into git and it would work about the same.
arjvik
What hardware do you use for your router?
choobacker
I use a https://www.pcengines.ch/apu2.htm with a separate wifi access point.
That's EOL now, so nowadays I'd look to ARM e.g. https://radxa.com/products/network-computer/e52c
yjftsjthsd-h
Yeah, it's awkward that the usecase where I really want to be able to see (or really, commit) all my configuration like that is the place where I can't fit NixOS:( There was nixwrt, but that got discontinued. Actually it looks like Liminix is a thing now; I'll have to look at that.
choobacker
There's hardware that has the form factor of a router, but is powerful enough to run an ordinary Linux machine. PC Engines, various ARM64 SBCs.
kalleboo
OpenWrt is great. I recently got 10 Gbit internet at home and had to replace my Ubiquiti USG3, and running OpenWrt on a Lenovo Tiny PC is easy and efficient.
OpenWrt 24 adds support for configuring the ISP's IPIP6 tunnel I need to access IPv4 on my IPv6-native connection - for now I've been manually installing the newer package straight out of the 24 RCs into my OpenWrt 23 install but now I guess I can upgrade the whole install!
I also tried pfSense/opnSense but it seems like the FreeBSD kernel struggles with 10 Gbit network connections without picking very specific hardware, but Linux works perfectly (had a similar experience with TrueNAS CORE vs SCALE)
newsre4der
All routers should use OpenWRT as a base
AlgebraFox
Just upgraded. All customization were automatically applied with no issues so far. Amazing work OpenWrt team.
jabl
I've generally had success with openwrt upgrades, however when reading the release notes it seems my target has now converted from swconfig to DSA which means all configuration has to be done from scratch. Oh well, I didn't have that extensive configuration anyway.
pm2222
APK will have to wait till 25.
saidinesh5
For those who didn't immediately get it, it looks like openwrt is trying to move to the package manager from Alpine Linux: https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/additional-software/opkg...
Btw what's the go-to device / vendor for OpenWrt these days? Seems like tplink is lagging behind with my last Archer C7..
jabl
For Wifi, things with the ath9k was the gold standard for a while, though then Qualcomm bought Atheros, but supposedly the followup ath10k/11k/12k drivers are decent too.
Mediatek MT76xx/79xx (mt76 driver) are also considered very good.
See https://github.com/morrownr/USB-WiFi/blob/main/home/USB_WiFi... (yes this is specifically about USB adapters, but usually the same driver is used for built-in WIFI in access points as well)
https://wireless.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/en/users/drivers....
bubblethink
For routing, x86 is going to have the best perf for CPU intensive tasks like QoS. For wireless, mediatek is well supported upstream. WiFi is wifi 6 only though. Wifi 6E and 7 are in the works but will take a while to stabilize. My set up is an old lenovo thinkcentre nano IoT box as the router and netgear wax220 as AP, both running openwrt.
ronnier
I just get a small x86 box and then buy stand alone POE access points for wifi.
anotherhue
Same. NixOS with some cheap 2.5G ethernet cards and a ubiquiti AP.
Power draw is pretty low and I don't have to deal with yet another ecosystem.
Don't misunderstand me, I've used OpenWRT on many things including an original WRTgl, but I'd rather something boring these days.
dvdbloc
There is also the router made in partnership with OpenWRT, the OpenWRT One. I’m using one right now and it has been very stable just on the RC builds for this release for a few weeks now. This is the first actual release supporting this device. The device itself is pretty nice with a JTAG header on the board so it's pretty clear that it is a hacker-friendly device. Haven’t needed to use that yet though…
shmerl
Asus RT-AX89X works pretty well with OpenWRT now (make sure it's revision B, avoid any A revisions).
But if you want 10 Gbps for wired connection with upstream support, you need something else (like DEC750 which has no wifi).
fnordahl
As others have mentioned, the OpenWrt One is great. 2.5Gbps WAN port makes it future proof, currently using it as the gateway for the residential 1Gbps fiber.
Next hurdle is to make ISP upgrade their ONU to have a 2.5Gbps port so I can get ACTUAL 1Gbps out of it, but it will likely also mean they need to upgrade the entire string of GPON equipment, so likely have to wait for a bit.
Also have success with OpenWRT on the ultra low cost Mi AX3600, while hardware acceleration is not supported, it is nice to not have to run out of date Chinese firmware.
xyse53
I replaced my Archers with glinet Flint 2 devices.
kirenida
GL-Inet Flint2, maybe?
blackeyeblitzar
Is there a recommended hardware and step by step guide for those new to this? Can you do mesh networks?
hkwerf
> Is there a recommended hardware and step by step guide for those new to this?
What exactly are you planning to do? OpenWrt is quite flexible. There's this https://openwrt.org/toh/buyerguide.
> Can you do mesh networks?
Yes. Note also https://openwisp.org/ if you want to do a whole fleet of OpenWrt routers.
rubenbe
I've always found openwisp to be tailored to massive fleets of OpenWrt routers (100+). Not really for a home setup where you have a handful of devices (5-10). Alternatives are welcome since I haven't found anything yet.
Piraty
this non-official version (uses upstream TOH data though) is much more responsive and has better filters: https://soif.github.io/OpenWrtTOH/
Wiki has you covered for beginners guide
TMWNN
I use the Merlin firmware for my Asus router. I've long heard of OpenWRT but do not know how they compare.
toast0
I used Merlin on my TM-AC1900 APs for some time. It's more or less a slightly customized build of the AsusWrt firmware, with a bit easier time for fiddling, like adding packages and shell access. The webui is the Asus ui, with some tweaks. Merlin only runs on asus devices.
OpenWrt is distribution that works more or less the same on all of the supported hardware. IMHO, the Asus firmware is reasonable, so it's not a bad place to start, but some manufacturers have pretty minimalistic firmware and IMHO, something like OpenWRT that provides fairly consistent capabilities across a range of hardware is really handy (when OpenWRT supports your hardware anyway).
I run OpenWRT on an LTE gateway, and on my new APs, although I'm running off a fork right now because the ath11k drivers in 24.10 didn't work well for me in the rc builds; hopefully after this release settles down, snapshot builds will move to the newer linux kernel and I can switch to that.
OpenWRT is pretty great at offering features and security for consumer devices. Glad to see a release!
I used it for a while, but after I've had it for a few months, and want to improve/diagnose something, I can't easily tell which config I've changed from defaults, and so can't easily diagnose how I might have screwed it up, or predict how changes will impact the rest of the system.
I moved my router to NixOS, where I can now see the ~250 config that covers the custom setup needed for my ISP/LAN.
If asked, I'd still recommend OpenWRT for most techies, since it's easier to get started.