Does that mean the Official build doesn't have all the kernel modules for a full OpenWRT experience (what's that mean?)? I don't really care if it doesn't have all the software because I can download and install that. But if it doesn't have all the kernel modules that would require me to rebuild the firmware with the needed kernel modules, which I would rather not have to do every time I need a specific feature.
Does Kong have a forum thread talking about his build? There seems to be a discussion thread about it. Why should I trust the Kong build?
To give some perspective:
This is my journey so far -
I was buying a wifi router, I see that there is open source options for software that runs on a wifi router.
I look up what's the best wifi router to get that is compatible with the opensource firmware.
I buy that wifi router, knowing I will need more flexibility in the future.
I haven't needed features more advanced than what the stock firmware provided so I don't upgrade the firmware.
I now need more advanced features like VLAN's and LAG.
I flash the Official firmware. I see I can do VLAN's but LAG I will have to do using linux ip routing commands.
I go look and see if there are any other builds with LAG packages.
I see this one and ask what exactly is the difference between this one and the Official.
Maybe I need to spend more time in the docs to get a more holistic view of the landscape before I go and ask questions...
No it doesn't, the official build has all the kernel modules. On community builds like these from hnyman and KONG for instance it depends on what the volunteer in question has available in time and resources to provide and maintain all kernel modules for a specific build, or just the build itself.
Exactly, if you're in the experimenting phase to find out what you exactly need, an official build might be easier get started with experimenting. However community builds like the ones from @hnyman, @KONG or @ACwifidude for instance are more tailored to the specific device, but there are slight differences which they all explain clearly in their first post in their topic, and during the topic as well.
Yes there is: KONG pro. You have to decide for yourself what you trust. Most volunteers/contributors for community builds in open source software have a reputation. They built that over the years. The ones I mentioned are very active and seem very knowledgeable. I have no reason to distrust them, but is that the same as that I trust them? A general rule I mostly use; is the source provided with a description or some sort of explanation how I can use the source and make my own modifications as I see fit? Then I see no reason for distrust. You could turn that around and say: "that means you trust the builds" but that's for everyone to decide by themselves.
This looks like the journey of 95% of the alternative firmware users I guess.
OpenWRT does VLAN's out of the box. Link aggregation is something different. I consider link aggregation for OpenWRT a niche. It's possible, because Linux has support for it, but it's not a standard functionality. One might wonder how setting up a LAG would actually be of any benefit for a device like the R7800. You would need at least 2 ports of the integrated switch of the R7800 to set up a link aggregation to another device. This means you only have 2 other ports left, besides WiFi. WiFi will not ever saturate this aggregation. You haven't mentioned what you want to achieve with a link aggregation so I'm assuming you want to create one for speed with a NAS?
Time in the docs means gathering knowledge but it may get overwhelming sometimes. Bonding has been done before on OpenWRT, but I don't know it's current state.
You could create a topic in Installing and using OpenWRT with a clear description of what you want to achieve with VLAN's and link aggregation. People will likely respond and give you an idea what's a start. Link aggregation is usually used for 3 reason's:
Increased throughput
redundancy
both
Now I'd like to add that I'm getting off topic here, this thread is about hnymans build, you asked questions, I gave some answers. I'd advise to create a topic in Installing and using OpenWRT with a clear description of what you want to achieve.
Glad to see new packages being added. Thank you for all your effort maintaining this build. Would you consider adding Stubby to your build? DNS Privacy is becoming more popular with web browsers and I think this feature would align well with the other privacy and security features you have included. It's simple to configure once the package is installed so maybe it could be included but not enabled by default: [OpenWrt Wiki] DoT with Dnsmasq and Stubby
Hi, I am not considering to add stubby at the moment.
I try to avoid adding extra user-space packages that can be installed separately, like stubby. DNS privacy has not been high on my own priority list, so I have not looked into stubby.
qosify is more deeply entangled in the kmod/bpf installation chain, and is more likely to be a core package in intermediate future, so I included it. Installing kmods (like kmod-sched-bpf for qosify) is more difficult, so those need to be included by me.
(In general, I see the new "official" QoS tools as more important part of OpenWrt than the vanilla user-space packages. For example, I originally imported SQM from cerowrt to OpenWrt in 2014 with https://github.com/openwrt/packages/pull/433 . SQM then quickly bypassed the old qos-scripts)
Sure, one can add stubby separately but one big downside is that it breaks DNS after a sysupgrade since stubby isn't available. So to get it working again you need to set another DNS in OpenWrt then download the package again and start it manually, then point the DNS back to stubby.
So it's a nice package to have available from scratch for those who want it to avoid the trouble.
On the other hand, for one way of configuring stubby you need dnsmsaq-full, it's not needed tho'.
@hnyman is basically sharing his private build of OpenWrt with buildscripts and everyrhing so people can create their own build using his base. It's very nice of him and makes life easier for people.
With that being said, the more stuff being added, the more dependencies there are, the bigger the image. He can't add everything people ask for, why would he if doesn't use the stuff himself.
I guess he could make a repository but it's very time consuming and people would expect even more support.
If you need more packages, use the official repors and buildbots. instead.
Or compile your own build.
He explains this pretty clear, I used his guide to compile my own builds to add in a few items. It's as close to an official build you can get for a R7800.
Anyone having WiFi dropping issues during Facetime calls and FaceTime freezes/stutters?
It started with master Nov 25 version and it continued on stable Dec 08 version.
iPhone Xs, iOS 15.1
Didn’t change any settings, just did a normal sysupgrade flash via LuCi.
edit: Facetime works normally via LTE so it's definitely related to WiFI/router.
Not sure if it's related but I've had disconnects when streaming over WiFi on a laptop and iPhone.
But I also noticed that the router restarted this morning... so it could be related to router reboots too.
This seems fixed in R7800-master-r18371-5a4685cfa2-20211218-1027.
Been running it since the 18th, on ath10k-ct, no dropouts on Facetime.
So whatever it was it's gone now it seems.
¯_(ツ)_/¯
@hnyman Thank you for this build! Is there a reason you upload to Dropbox instead of let's say GitHub or GitLab? In terms of transparency I'd appreciate to be able to look at all the separate commits and changes, also you can publish releases on GH and download from there...
Dropbox originally fit my workflow better, so I have stick to it.
Additionally, as I do not use git commits for the changes, github would not show much in addition to dropbox. My build scripts are tailored to show uncommitted changes and generate patches out of those. I have contemplated about switching to using git commits, but so far I have stick to my original scripts that date from the times when OpenWrt was still SVN based.
All source changes etc. are visible in the patch files available with each build.
I'm working on my first custom build using hnyman's instructions in this post (since I've been using his build since I got my R7800). I was wondering, where do I put a custom ipk so that I can make it part of the build? I assume i add a line of CONFIG_PACKAGE_<name>=y to the .config file... but where do I put the package itself?
I was guessing in the packages directory... but it didn't look that simple...
