@jow suggested I ask (@tmomas/@bobafetthotmail) here about a number of devices which are supported on 19.07.0 by ar71xx but not yet ath79. It seems that a number of device pages for these devices is still showing current supported release as 18.06.x.
Is there some automation that goes on to fill all of the device pages with supported releases that is not accounting for this ar71xx/ath79 split or does somebody actually go through all of these device pages one by one updating them piecemeal?
Should we (users) update current supported release fields when we see them being inaccurate or will such automation above just come by and wipe those updates out reverting them back to their pre-updated values again?
Yes, the update of the dataentries is done via script.
If target = ar71xx-ath79, then create new release download url out of snapshot download url (ath79).
If release download url (ath79) does not exist -> do not update to new release
Depends on the number of affected devices.
If the number = low (20 something I'd say) -> Yes, please update the dataentries as needed!
If the number is higher, I can possibly adapt the script and run it again, in order to get ar71xx-ath79 devices which have not yet received an update due to missing ath79 download url updated from 18.06.5 -> 19.07.0 (ar71xx download url)
The scripted update will not wipe any information.
I think they (jow) did add that after some pressure from users, afaik the original idea was to not build/provide firmware for that target in 19.07 at all. (it was tagged as "source only")
That's my thinking also. Better a 19.07 ar71xx release than the existing 18.06.x release those devices currently point at.
Oh, that would have been a pity. Would have left a lot of devices out in the cold, unnecessarily. I can completely understand the desire to move to ath79, but if a device is not there (yet), not providing any 19.07 firmware for it all would have been worse than it staying on ar71xx (IMHO) -- at least until it could be ported to ath79.
Yeah, you are so right... I was of the very wrong opinion that all ar71xx-ath79 devices would get a 19.07 image. D'oh!
Even worse: Link to the devicepages got lost during the update. Some more work to do....
Learnings:
Murphy is right.
I had a day where e - ve - ry - thing went wrong. Not during the update, but before. This cost me precious time I would have needed for checking the update more thoroughly.
A bad cold does not make your brain work better.
Don't hurry. Don't put yourself under pressure "...must be ready today!". Take time, be patient.
I will correct the dataentries today / tomorrow.
Sorry for any inconveniences.
ar71xx-ath79 means: The device was once ar71xx only and has already some kind of ath79 support.
ar71xx means: the device has only ar71xx support; nobody made the effort to port it to ath79.
If you want an ar71xx device to become an ar71xx-ath79 device, "just" port it over to ath79.
yeah, that's why I haven't yet dealt with the package table. This isn't a paid job so if I don't feel like ready to do something, people will wait a few weeks and all will still be fine in the end.
So yeah. It's fair enough that some devices might never get an ath79 port. But if those devices exist in 19.07 ar71xx their device pages should reflect that instead of an 18.x.
But I feel like we are all in agreement about this. Devices currently that say 18.x but have 18.07 ar71xx (only) should be updated.
I already updated the GL.iNet GL-AR750* devices yesterday. I probably won't have time to update any more any time soon though. Already so far behind on lots of other stuff.
But if there is no firmware, this does not mean that you can't assemble it yourself by image builder. I put together the firmware for TP-Link TL-WR740N though without LuCI and it works great.
I have a CPE-210 v1 here which is running ath79 snapshot. I even started porting support back to 19.07.0 however as that unit is on my roof there is little room for error so likely I will wait.
TL;DR; Even if 19.07.0 doesn't support a ath79 target, maybe snapshot does!
ar71xx / ar71xx-ath79 support status should now be correct.
Please crosscheck and correct where needed (shouldn't be many devices left, and if, they are 4/32).
Some more work to do....
