Peace pays dividend for OpenWRT as 'baseline' release lands on servers

The OpenWRT project has emitted version 18.06, and in doing so, puts to rest the damage done by the March 2016 fork that created the competing project LEDE (Linux Embedded Development Environment). When the two groups completed their merger earlier this year, they said their aim for the future was for OpenWRT to focus on …

[jake]

Thank you, folks.

I've been following along (without moving my lips, even!), and I like what I see. Other projects would do well to note that playing well with others is usually a good idea. This round's on me.

[Degenerate Scumbag]

No Damage

It's not really accurate to talk about the "damage done" by the fork. It's not like there were ever really two projects running in parallel.

The reality was there was an active team of developers who were being hampered by the original OpenWRT project infrastructure still being under the control of founders who had little involvement any more, and apparently little time. The active developers forked LEDE through frustration to enable progress. OpenWRT development immediately stalled.

The re-merge was basically a case of the inactive founders finally getting the message and handing over control of the domain to the active, ongoing project.

[Will Godfrey]

This was a warning

Any long-term project can easily get stale, especially when there is no turn-around of developers bringing in fresh ideas and enthusiasm.

[Mage]

Good news.

I first used the OpenWRT about 12 years ago.

Excellent project.

[Loud Speaker]

Re: Good news.

> I first used the OpenWRT about 12 years ago.

So did I, but I was also using LEDE for the last couple of years.

Now I have just downloaded 18.06.0 and installed it on my Lantiq based router, and I am a happy bunny. (Obviously not the same router as 12 years ago!)

[Len]

OpenWrt is the only thing I run

Agreed on the excellent work. All network devices in my house run OpenWRT, similar for the more complex setups at my parents. I only buy routers and access points if I know I can flash OpenWrt on them as soon as I unpack them.

It makes the purchasing process a lot easier. Check the 'Ideal for OpenWrt' table (https://openwrt.org/toh/views/toh_available_864) and then you can purchase any brand on that list solely based on the hardware specs. Whether that brand is known for their support, providing updates, good UI, stable software etc. is all irrelevant as you rely on OpenWrt and not on some manufacturer's code that may have been written by a drunk intern under time pressure on a Friday afternoon.

[Degenerate Scumbag]

Re: OpenWrt is the only thing I run

Yep, I'm the same, I wouldn't consider running anything else on a home router.

You only have to looks at things like the WPA2 bug last year to see the benefit. How many router manufacturers released patched firmware for their old routers? How many unsupported routers are still out there, permanently vulnerable? Mine were secured within a day of hearing about it.

[thomas k]

No love for Netgear WNDR4500v3

openWRT stops at the 4300 and dd-WRT stops at 4500v2 :( I was running gargoyle on the netgear 3700 and it really helped with buffer bloat on TWC. Should've checked the compatibility lists before purchasing it's replacement.

[BanburyBill]

IPv6? Hang fire for now...

OpenWRT is Very Excellent. But this is a .0, and yes, 18.06.0 has fallen foul of a kernel bug on some platforms - https://bugs.openwrt.org/index.php?do=details&task_id=1541. For me this is screwing up IPv6 between wired and wireless hosts in my network. I'm an ar71xx, so on 4.9.111. Many other targets are on 4.14.52, and so are unaffected.