OpenWRT 24.10

[ZerBea]

OpenWRT 24.10 is available now:

$ git branch -a
  master
  openwrt-23.05
* openwrt-24.10
  remotes/origin/HEAD -> origin/master
  remotes/origin/dgs-1210-28p-luizluca
  remotes/origin/lede-17.01
  remotes/origin/main
  remotes/origin/master
  remotes/origin/openwrt-18.06
  remotes/origin/openwrt-19.07
  remotes/origin/openwrt-21.02
  remotes/origin/openwrt-22.03
  remotes/origin/openwrt-23.05
  remotes/origin/openwrt-24.10

Initial tests have shown that 24.10 is working as fine.

Some notes:
The init process of some devices is slow.
Add "sleep 10" to an init.d script to make sure the device has been initialized before hcxdumptool/hcxlabtool starts.

Running a minimalist OpenWRT, it could be possible that a WiFi USB adapter has not been assigned during boot.
Add "sudo iw phy phyx interface add wlan0 type managed" to an init.d script to make sure the interface has been assigned (hcxdumptool/hcxlabtool does not hijack unassigned interfaces).

[ZerBea]

Update:
Build failed on latest git head (as of today):
openwrt/openwrt#16905

[strasharo]

Damn, I was literally just about to start building it. 😆 What are your general impressions, is it stable enough or it's better to stick with openwrt-23.05 for now?

[ZerBea]

I'm still testing 24.10 (compile last week). It is working fine and stable.

But there are some negative aspects:
OpenWRT Linux kernel 6.6.58 is running fine, but it looks like the rtl8xxxu (kmod-rtl8xxxu) is not the same as the Linux stock kernel driver.
While monitor mode on the Linux stock kernel driver is working fine, it doesn't work on the OpenWRT driver.

[ZerBea]

I switched to the master branch and it (mac80211) compiles fine:

 make[3] -C package/network/config/wifi-scripts compile
 make[3] -C package/kernel/mac80211 compile
 make[3] -C package/libs/ncurses compile

[ZerBea]

Looks like the newly compiled image (from master branch) is working as expected. Now show stopper yet.

[ZerBea]

After some initial hinds, OpenWRT 24.10 performs well (as of today).
Initial tests, running a cheap Realtek device TL-WN722N v2/3
are impressive.

[ZerBea]

To disable the green ACT LED of a Raspberry Pi Zero 1 add this 2 lines to an init.d script:

echo none > /sys/class/leds/default-on/trigger
echo 0 > /sys/class/leds/ACT/brightness

Estimated power savings about 5 mA.

[strasharo]

Hey @ZerBea, just noticed the following line in lessons_learned.txt:
"sharing the interface (e.g. iw phy phy1 interface add mon0 type monitor) is counterproductive"

By default in Openwrt I just get phy0 without an interface name assigned to it. What would be the best way to use it in this case?

[ZerBea]

OpenWRT does not assign interfaces and hcxdumptool/hcxlabtool does not hijack unassigned interfaces. A solution could be to assign the interface during boot.
A simple script, placed in /etc/init.d should do the trick:

#!/bin/sh /etc/rc.common
START=99

boot()
	{
	/bin/sleep 10
	/usr/sbin/iw phy phy0 interface add wlan0 type managed
	}

Now hcxdumptool/hcxlabtool sees an assigned managed interface and can set monitor mode.
sleep 10 is useful to make sure OpenWRT got a list of all phy interfaces before we assign it.
#478 (comment)

[strasharo]

Thank you.