Build for Netgear R7800

BIG LOL ahahahhaha

Absolutely nothing....

Oh yes... That you cannot be able to install many software and any kernel module!

This version is not suitable for any type of advanced use tailored to your needs.

It's a very old story...
I'm here from 2017 and I see that this thing it's still the same.

The answer is that him have no plans to add kmod etc etc that this is him strictly personal build only etc etc because him have no need for it etc etc and for every questions or problems other than his build you are kindly invited to write in another thread etc etc as like if his build has ever had who knows what improvements and changes etc etc instead it is simply like the official build.

I am amazed how this strictly personal thread concerning only his strictly private build is still open.

Fortunately, since 2019 exists the Kong build.

You would be much better off using the Kong build which has a proper software repository support.

I smell random flame from new user.... BAD....

fwiw... I went down that route with the rpi4 ( fortunately does not really have space/ram constraints )...

i'm now at probably over 100 extra kmods... which chew up maybe;

  • 100M or extra ram...
  • 23M extra space

these things cost alot from the person providing these;

  • time (hour+ every build)
  • storage space (think TB over months)
  • hosting space (think many GBs)

putting a dollar factor on it... charging very low labor hours... you are looking at someone spending $700+(AUD) every year to provide such support


so if you want to do or suggest this go ahead... just know and be realistic about what it takes... choice is probably alot less than half of the equation...

and nobody has provided more builds for more time than hnyman... so $700 x 5 years would have cost him over $3500(AUD)~$2500(US) off his own back...

not a nice expectation at all for a 'volunteer' take on...

2 Likes

Well, you might be even more surprised, as this is the second-most read thread in the forum history...
https://forum.openwrt.org/latest?order=views

Measured by the reply count this is "only" the 4th:
https://forum.openwrt.org/latest?order=posts

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here some of the pearls who do not question a single one of my statements:

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Do yourself a favor, it would be much better for you to use Kong build which has an adequate repository and with which you can use all software and kernel modules for a full and complete openwrt experience.

if you didn't know it and you haven't done it yet..you've lost at least three years..don't waste any more time!

I am new to OpenWRT so I am still trying to learn, but after reading the first post I posted my question because I didn't have an answer.
Is what I linked to the "Official" or some other build a user made that got added to the wiki. I am trying to understand why I would use this build over the "Official" build, or some other build.

Ya, it is a bit confusing when I am doing research and I see people say install this build, but it's from 2016 but there is a recent update. Then I have 100 questions about what's the difference between this build, the official build, and now the Kong build. I am probably just going to stick with the Official build and install software I need as I go.

When you say -

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...

If you install the official build then you can simply use opkg to install everything you need until there's a new release

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:

  1. Increased throughput
  2. redundancy
  3. 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.

2 Likes

I removed the DDNS support and I'd like to put it back in. What are the pre installed Hnyman DDNS packages? Thx in advance :+1:t3:

Easiest is to use opkg to install the normal ddns package from the OpenWrt repo. (There is nothing special regarding that package in my build.)

1 Like

master-r18106-0c249ab076-20211116
I have included the kmod-sched-bpf, so that the new qosify package can be installed with opkg

qosify is a new experimental SQM replacement: DSCP marking + cake qdisc
(If you try it, disable sqm)

See

master-r18160-e9610794fd-20211121

I included qosify in the build for testing. It is disabled initially, but the config file is in place.

(Note that qosify is an alternative config tool for the cake qdisc, so if you use it, make sure that you disable sqm, the default tool.)

6 posts were split to a new topic: Ath10k-ct R7800 grumblings

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)

1 Like

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'.

1 Like

@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.

5 Likes