Build for WNDR3700v1/v2 / WNDR3800 (discontinued)

Well I've bought a 8MB unit for 1€ recently. Just to try to cut out things. I already made a build (-O2,gcc10,binutils2.34,libstdc,PIE/StackSmasing enabled). Ended up with 6.9 MiB / 7.275.286 (cutting compared to your settings 6x protocols, ppp, ccrypt, nano, htop, debug=off). With another build I will try to cut out the monitoring things (nlbwmon, luci-statistic, collectd, rrdtool) to see the diff in terms of free space. But I don't know if there are sideeffects for LuCI.

I will try to make a build without statistics during this week to see if the usage savings is worth to drop it.

Statistics (luci stats, collectd, rrdtool1) would naturally free space, but I see that as a rather necessary part of the build. Otherwise one could just install the relase build :wink:

My goal is to keep the v1 build with some resemblance to v2 & 3800 builds. Dropping all packages, and e.g. changin from openssl to mbedtls or wolfssl would free lots of space, but that would then make the v1 build quite different (hostaod/wpad etc.)

I understand that. Dropping ppp stuff was just for my unit running as a dumb switch.

Well there isn't really much left.
Would dropping nano, ccrypt, htop, debug=off, sqm-scripts, remove buildconfig within firmware be an option?
Are there options for squashfs or is it already optimized (for this unit) or just "general" optimized? Blocksize, Dictionary size.

I think -Os would save more than throwing everything else out. Not sure why you'd want to sacrifice all your space to gain a smidgeon of performance.

I think removing collectd/rrdtool can save you a bit of space, nlbwmon is supposed to be lightweight by design.

This just for fun ... I bought this 8MB unit just to compare a bit and to see what can be dropped to use this unit as a dumb AP/Repeater. I'm also interested to compare Os vs. O2. Even gcc Version should have an impact in size. Personally I use this device as a plain switch. Stripped almost everything. :smiley: ... But I know 3 ppl. in my environment running this unit still as AP and I want help to keep it running a bit longer.

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A post was split to a new topic: OpenWrt installation on WNDR3800

Looks like ar71xx-master-r14035-3d167ed805-20200805 might be the last ar71xx build.

The latest "performance improvements" have broken the mac80211 wifi driver compilation on ar71xx due to the old kernel version 4.14, and it is unsure if the problem will be fixed at all (as ar71xx is deprecated in any case).

Discussion on:

The problem does not affect ath79, as it already used a modern kernel version.

EDIT:
Looks like the compatibility problem was fixed by

So I was able to make ar71xx-master-r14190-e329e71c69-20200817

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Why is the folder ath79-master-r14220-734a8c46e7-20200821 empty? Some failure with the build or the upload only?

error in copying :frowning:

Now the files are there.

ok, thanks!

Tried to utilize this docker image, since I would like to tether my android phone (seems I can't install the required packages, not many kb).

Tossed in the main patch file (have no idea if it would pan out):

+
+#USBTethering
+CONFIG_PACKAGE_kmod-usb-core=y
+CONFIG_PACKAGE_kmod-usb-net=y
+CONFIG_PACKAGE_kmod-usb-net-cdc-ether=y
+CONFIG_PACKAGE_kmod-usb-net-rndis=y
+CONFIG_PACKAGE_kmod-usb2=y
+

Alas, it all went well and started to build, but then I got tossed out of the environment. But, the build seems to go fabulous as it's hogging all system resources! :wink:

if anybody is wondering, why opkg update does not work anymore:
The repositories switched from http:// to https://, but /etc/opkg/distfeeds.conf still points to the http:// repositories.

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jow committed today a fix to uhttpd (the default web server in LuCI), which should hopefully remove the missing menu or the XHR request timed out errors that have plagued LuCI the past few weeks. (LuCI has often typically required a forcible browser refresh after a flash (or some times also after a login))

so, hopefully master-r14639-2a90d308c7-20201005 does not cause that symptom any more.

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Hello!

I am using your firmware and am very pleased!
I need to install Wireguard but I don't have enough free space. I've already done "Reset to defaults", but still not enough. What can be removed without sacrificing basic functionality to recover approximately 320 KB?

Thanks!

You can't free space by deleting stuff that is included in the flashed firmware.

If you are using wndr3700v1, you are pretty much out of luck. The 8 MB flash size gets crowded with openssl that I use.

You might survive with the 19.07 build, as the kernel is smaller.

Your best option would be to build a personal firmware with just the packages that you need.

Yes, my model is wndr3700v1. Installed 19.07 build. Wireguard has been installed and there is still free space). Thanks!!
wndr3700v1-memory2

my current configuration
|Netgear WNDR3800|
Atheros AR7161 rev 2|
OpenWrt 19.07.4 r11208-ce6496d796
LuCI openwrt-19.07 branch git-20.287.57033-3d52019|
My router is rebooting at intermittent intervals.. sometimes a couple of time during the same day, sometimes it is stable for days. someone recommended to try this version.
Question: can I do a sysupgrade? or should I started from scratch? if so, do I need to re-install the stock version? and start from there?

You can just install via sysupgrade.

But if you have stability problems, it might wise to scrap settings and start with defaults.

great! I'll do that... thanks! I'll let you know how the installation goes and I'll start from defaults as you suggested.

Smooth transition, connection is up an running. I followed your suggestions. I deleted old configuration and I started from defaults.