OpenWrt

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OpenWrt
OpenWrt Logo.svg
OpenWrt Screenshot 18.06.1.svg
OpenWrt 18.06.1 login screen
Developer OpenWrt Project
OS family Linux (Unix-like)
Working stateCurrent
Source model Open source
Initial releaseJanuary 2004;20 years ago (2004-01)
Latest release 23.05.5 [1]   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg / 25 September 2024;54 days ago (25 September 2024)
Repository
Available in English, Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Spanish, Welsh + 25 partially translated languages [2]
Update method opkg (up to 24.10 release) apk (snapshot builds)
Package manager Alpine Package Manager (APK) opkg (up to 24.10 release)
Platforms50 different platforms using the following Instruction sets: ARC, ARM, m68k, MIPS, PowerPC, SPARC, SuperH, x86, x86-64 [3]
Kernel type Monolithic (Linux)
Userland BusyBox
Default
user interface 		CLI, WebUIs (LuCI)
License Free software (GPL and other licenses)
Official website openwrt.org

OpenWrt (from open wireless router) is an open-source project for embedded operating systems based on Linux, primarily used on embedded devices to route network traffic. The main components are Linux, util-linux, musl, [4] and BusyBox. All components have been optimized to be small enough to fit into the limited storage and memory available in home routers.

Contents

OpenWrt is configured using a command-line interface (ash shell) or a web interface (LuCI). There are about 8000 optional software packages available for installation via the opkg package management system.

OpenWrt can run on various types of devices, including CPE routers, residential gateways, smartphones, pocket computers (e.g., Ben NanoNote). It is also possible to run OpenWrt on personal computers and laptops.

History

The OpenWrt project was started in 2004 after Linksys had built the firmware for their WRT54G series of wireless routers with code licensed under the GNU General Public License. [5] Under the terms of that license, Linksys was required to make the source code of its modified version available under the same license, [6] [7] which enabled independent developers to create derivative versions. Support was originally limited to the WRT54G series, but has since been expanded to include many other routers and devices from many different manufacturers.

Using this code as a base and later as a reference, developers created a Linux distribution that offers many features not previously found in consumer-level routers. Early on some features required proprietary software. For example, prior to OpenWrt 8.09 (based on Linux 2.6.25 and the b43 kernel module) WLAN for many Broadcom-based routers could only be had via the proprietary wl.o module (and which required Linux 2.4.x).

OpenWrt releases were historically named after cocktails, such as White Russian, Kamikaze, Backfire, Attitude Adjustment, Barrier Breaker and Chaos Calmer, and their recipes were included in the message of the day (motd) displayed after logging in using the command-line interface.

In May 2016, OpenWrt was forked by a group of core OpenWrt contributors due to disagreements on internal process. [8] The fork was dubbed Linux Embedded Development Environment (LEDE). The schism was reconciled a year later. [9] Following the remerger, announced in January 2018, [10] the OpenWrt branding is preserved, with many of the LEDE processes and rules used. The LEDE project name was used for v17.01, with development versions of 18.01 branded OpenWrt, dropping the original cocktail based naming scheme. [11]

Releases

LEDE

LEDE
LEDE Logo.svg
LEDE-Screenshot.svg
Login banner
Developer LEDE Project
OS family Unix-like
Working stateMerged with OpenWrt
Source model Open source
Initial releaseMay 2016;8 years ago (2016-05)
Repository
Available in 26 languages [44]
Update method opkg
Package manager opkg
Platforms23 platforms using the following Instruction sets: AVR32, ARM, CRIS, m68k, MIPS, PowerPC, SPARC, SuperH, Ubicom32, x86, x86-64 [45]
Kernel type Monolithic (Linux)
Userland BusyBox, GNU
Default
user interface 		CLI, WebUIs
License Free software (GPL and other licenses)
Official website lede-project.org

The Linux Embedded Development Environment (LEDE) project was a fork of the OpenWrt project and shared many of the same goals. [46] [47] [48] [49] [50] It was created in May 2016 by a group of core OpenWrt contributors due to disagreements on OpenWrt internal processes. [47] The schism was nominally reconciled a year later in May 2017 pending approval of the LEDE developers. [51] The remerger preserves the OpenWrt branding, but uses many of the LEDE processes and rules. The remerge proposal vote was passed by LEDE developers in June 2017, [52] and formally announced in January 2018. [53] The merging process was completed before the OpenWrt 18.06 release. [54]

Version [12] Release DateKernelNotes
17.01.02017-02-224.4.50first stable release [55]
17.01.12017-04-194.4.61bug fixes and enhancements [56]
17.01.22017-06-124.4.71security fixes [57]
17.01.32017-10-034.4.89security fixes [58]
17.01.42017-10-184.4.92security fixes (KRACK, as far as addressable by server side fixes) [59]
17.01.52018-07-184.4.140security fixes [60]
17.01.62018-09-034.4.153security fixes [61]

Features

OpenWrt features a writeable root file system, enabling users to modify any file and easily install additional software. This is in contrast with other firmware based on read-only file systems which don't allow modifying installed software without rebuilding and flashing a complete firmware image. This is accomplished by overlaying a read-only compressed SquashFS file system with a writeable JFFS2 file system using overlayfs. [62] [63] Additional software can be installed with the opkg package manager and the package repository contains approximately 8000 packages (by 2022).

LuCI Openwrt-luci-firewall.png
LuCI

OpenWrt can be configured through either a command-line interface or a web interface called LuCI. OpenWrt provides set of scripts called UCI (unified configuration interface) to unify and simplify configuration through the command-line interface. [64] Additional web interfaces, such as Gargoyle, are also available.

OpenWrt provides regular bug fixes and security updates even for devices that are no longer supported by their manufacturers.

OpenWrt provides exhaustive possibilities to configure common network-related features, like IPv4, IPv6, DNS, DHCP, routing, firewall, NAT, port forwarding and WPA.

Other features include:

Development

OpenWrt's development environment and build system, known together as OpenWrt Buildroot, are based on a heavily modified Buildroot system. OpenWrt Buildroot is a set of Makefiles and patches that automates the process of building a complete Linux-based OpenWrt system for an embedded device, by building and using an appropriate cross-compilation toolchain. [67] [68]

Embedded devices usually use a different processor than the one found in host computers used for building their OpenWrt system images, requiring a cross-compilation toolchain. Such a compilation toolchain runs on a host system but generates code for a targeted embedded device and its processor's instruction set architecture (ISA). For example, if a host system uses x86 and a target system uses MIPS32, the regular compilation toolchain of the host runs on x86 and generates code for x86 architecture, while the cross-compilation toolchain runs on x86 and generates code for the MIPS32 architecture. OpenWrt Buildroot automates this whole process to work on the instruction set architectures of most embedded devices and host systems. [67] [69]

OpenWrt Buildroot provides the following features: [67] [69]

Besides building system images, OpenWrt development environment also provides a mechanism for simplified cross-platform building of OpenWrt software packages. Source code for each software package is required to provide a Makefile-like set of building instructions, and an optional set of patches for bug fixes or footprint optimizations. [70]

Hardware compatibility

OpenWrt runs many different routers and includes a table of compatible hardware on its website. [71] In its buyer's guide, [72] it notes that users recommend devices equipped with wireless chips from either Qualcomm's Atheros, Ralink (now MediaTek) or any vendor with open source drivers and specifications. It specifically avoids Broadcom chipsets as the feature set is very limited due to having no open drivers. OpenWrt also recommends choosing a device with a minimum of 16 MB of flash and 128 MB of RAM, preferably higher amounts. [73]

Adoption

OpenWrt, especially its Buildroot build system, has been adopted as the structure for other efforts. For example

Derivative projects

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. ↑ "OpenWrt 23.05.5 - Service Release - 25. September 2024". September 25, 2024.
  2. ↑ "LuCI Translation Portal on Weblate". January 22, 2021. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
  3. ↑ "git.openwrt.org Git - openwrt/openwrt.git/blob - target/Config.in". git.openwrt.org. October 24, 2017. Archived from the original on November 4, 2019. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  4. ↑ Fietkau, Felix (June 16, 2015). "OpenWrt switches to musl by default". Archived from the original on June 17, 2015. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  5. ↑ Miklas, Andrew (June 7, 2003). "Linksys WRT54G and the GPL". Linux kernel mailing list (Mailing list). Retrieved July 5, 2018.
  6. ↑ Weiss, Aaron (November 8, 2005). "The Open Source WRT54G Story". Wi-Fi Planet. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
  7. ↑ "Linksys Releases GPLed Code for WRT54G". Slashdot. July 6, 2003. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
  8. ↑ Willis, Nathan (May 11, 2016). "LEDE and OpenWrt". LWN.net . Retrieved August 31, 2017.
  9. ↑ Sharwood, Simon (May 10, 2017). "OpenWRT and LEDE agree on Linux-for-routers peace plan". theregister.co.uk. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
  10. ↑ Wich, Jo-Philipp (January 2, 2018). "Announcing the OpenWrt/LEDE merge". LEDE Project Forum. Retrieved January 10, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Welcome to the OpenWrt Project (OpenWrt Project)". OpenWrt. January 2018. Retrieved February 16, 2018. As of January 2018, the current Stable OpenWrt release [17.01.4] was built from the LEDE 17.01 source code, and branded with the LEDE project name. Development versions of OpenWrt are currently branded with the OpenWrt name, and have a version number of 18.01 "
  12. 1 2 "OpenWrt version history". October 16, 2023.
  13. ↑ "Release Builds". October 19, 2023.
  14. ↑ "Security - Support status". December 28, 2015. Retrieved January 9, 2024.
  15. ↑ "Whiterussian 0.9 / Kamikaze snapshots". February 5, 2007.
  16. ↑ "WHITE RUSSIAN 0.9". February 5, 2007.
  17. ↑ "Kamikaze 7.06". June 2, 2007.
  18. ↑ "Kamikaze 7.07". July 26, 2007.
  19. ↑ "Kamikaze 7.09". September 30, 2007.
  20. ↑ "Kamikaze 8.09". February 19, 2009.
  21. ↑ "Kamikaze 8.09.1". June 3, 2009.
  22. ↑ "Kamikaze 8.09.2". January 10, 2010.
  23. ↑ "Backfire 10.03". April 7, 2010.
  24. ↑ "Backfire 10.03.1". December 21, 2011.
  25. ↑ "Attitude Adjustment". April 25, 2013.
  26. ↑ "Barrier Breaker". October 2, 2014.
  27. ↑ "OpenWrt Project: Freescale i.MX". openwrt.org. July 16, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
  28. ↑ "Chaos Calmer". September 11, 2015.
  29. ↑ "OpenWrt 15.05.1 "Chaos Calmer"". March 16, 2016.
  30. ↑ "LEDE 17.01 "Reboot"". June 29, 2019.
  31. ↑ "[OpenWrt-Devel] OpenWrt switches to musl by default". June 16, 2015. Retrieved June 27, 2015.
  32. ↑ "OpenWrt/LEDE 17.01.7 - Seventh Service Release - June 2019". June 20, 2019.
  33. ↑ "OpenWrt 17.01.7 - date of release?". July 20, 2019. Retrieved January 11, 2024.
  34. ↑ "OpenWrt 18.06". July 31, 2018.
  35. ↑ "OpenWrt 19.07". January 6, 2020.
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  37. ↑ Man, Low Kah (February 1, 2020). "Speedtest OpenWRT with flow offloading". Leow Kah Man - Tech Blog.
  38. ↑ "OpenWrt 21.02". September 4, 2021.
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  40. ↑ "OpenWrt 22.03". September 6, 2022.
  41. ↑ "OpenWrt 21.03.0 - First Stable Release - 6 September 2022". OpenWrt Wiki. September 15, 2022.
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  44. ↑ "Lua Configuration Interface: /modules/luci-base/po". May 10, 2017. Archived from the original on September 26, 2017. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  45. ↑ "LEDE Source Repository: /target/Config.in". March 30, 2017. Archived from the original on September 26, 2017. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  46. ↑ Larabel, Michael (May 14, 2017). "OpenWRT Gets Forked By Some Of Its Own Developers As LEDE Project". Phoronix . Retrieved May 3, 2016.
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  48. ↑ Chirgwin, Richard (May 5, 2016). "Router hackers reach for the fork: LEDE splits from OpenWRT". The Register . Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  49. ↑ Grüner, Sebastian (May 5, 2016). "OpenWRT-Kernentwickler starten eigenen Fork". golem.de (in German). Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  50. ↑ Ahlers, Ernst (May 4, 2016). "Router-Firmware: LEDE als offenere OpenWRT-Alternative" (in German). Heise Online . Retrieved May 14, 2017.
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  52. ↑ Mehrtens, Hauke (June 26, 2017). "LEDE call for vote on remerge proposal V3". LEDE-DEV mailing list. Archived from the original on September 1, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
  53. ↑ Wich, Jo-Philipp (January 2, 2018). "Announcing the OpenWrt/LEDE merge". LEDE Project Forum. Retrieved January 10, 2018.
  54. ↑ "OpenWrt Project: OpenWrt 18.06". openwrt.org. May 18, 2018. Retrieved November 2, 2018.
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  57. ↑ "LEDE Project: LEDE 17.01.2 - Second Service Release - June 2017". Lede-project.org. June 12, 2017. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  58. ↑ "LEDE Project: LEDE 17.01.3 - Third Service Release - October 2017". Lede-project.org. October 3, 2017. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  59. ↑ "LEDE Project: LEDE 17.01.4 - Fourth Service Release - October 2017". Lede-project.org. October 18, 2017. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  60. ↑ "OpenWrt/LEDE 17.01.5 - Fifth Service Release - July 2018". Lede-project.org. July 15, 2018. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  61. ↑ "OpenWrt/LEDE 17.01.6 - Sixth Service Release - September 2018". Lede-project.org. September 2, 2018. Retrieved November 2, 2018.
  62. ↑ "The OpenWrt Flash Layout". OpenWrt Project. January 18, 2010. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  63. ↑ Corbet, Jonathan (June 15, 2011). "Debating overlayfs". LWN.net. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  64. ↑ "The UCI System". OpenWrt Project. September 16, 2009. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  65. ↑ "29C3: ISP's black box". events.ccc.de. January 19, 2013.
  66. ↑ "kernel: add codel and fq_codel to generic 3.3 patch set". dev.archive.openwrt.org. May 16, 2012. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  67. 1 2 3 "OpenWrt Buildroot – About". openwrt.org. Retrieved October 21, 2013.
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  77. ↑ "Free Software Foundation adds libreCMC to its list of endorsed distributions". FSF.org. September 4, 2014. Retrieved December 21, 2014.
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