How do you build an UBI build

For Developers
1

I can't find an entry in Menuconfig to build an UBI build.

When trying to upload the build I have made I'm getting:

Image check failed:

Tue Aug 30 20:46:59 upgrade: Device linksys,e8450-ubi not supported by this image
Tue Aug 30 20:46:59 upgrade: Supported > devices: linksys,e8450 Image check failed.

2

kevpatts,

Did you read the info on: https://openwrt.org/toh/linksys/e8450
And on: https://github.com/dangowrt/owrt-ubi-installer ?

The second link is how to make a ubi version for your router.
It tells also the following:

Upstream firmware version 1.1.x rejects the installer image. The recommended work-around is to downgrade to version 1.0 before running the installer.

Are you running version 1.1? Then you first have to downgrade your firmware version. also described on second link. The 'normally' build .bin files can be run on the device, but only ones. After a reboot stock-firmware will be active again.

Furthermore only snapshot version are working for this device, so I presume there is a lot more to find on the forum, like Wifi: Belkin RT3200/Linksys E8450 WiFi AX discussion for this device (2704 replies?)

DG.

3

Thanks for getting back to me!

Some relevant points on this:

  • I can't see anywhere on the second link where it actually runs through how to BUILD the firmware. It lists the pre-reqs for the script but I tried that and got an error, so I just used the linked pre-build 0.6.5 version.
  • I've already successfully installed version 0.6.5. Up and running. But this only uses Kernel 5.10. The master branch uses kernel 5.15 and according to this the Mediatek target can support kernel 5.15. I have some plug-ins I'm looking to use that require a newer kernel than in 0.6.5.
  • According to the forum post you linked also some bugs are fixed recently regarding resuming from sleep on Intel AX200 cards which I use.
  • I will do some further digging about issues with the master branch before applying a self built upgrade, but the purpose of this question was to determine how to specifically build a UBI version of the image SHOULD I want to update, or even make manual tweaks to a snapshot and recompile.

I guess I'll have to do some debugging on why the script isn't working for me.

4

It sounds like you already have Daniels installer on your rt3200 and want to make your own build from master, if so, first install the prerequisites for your distro, then follow these instructions, these steps will get your first build and you can look into it more later if you'd like -

git clone https ://git.openwrt.org/openwrt/openwrt.git
cd openwrt
./scripts/feeds update -a
./scripts/feeds install -a
make menuconfig
make -j $(nproc) defconfig download clean world

In menuconfig choose Mediatek Ralink Arm for your target system and Belkin RT3200 UBI for your Target Profile, everything else you can choose for your own specs.

5

Note that the "0.6.5" refers mainly to the initial UBI installer, which modifies the u-boot bootloader and installs the initramfs recovery instance.

You can later freely sysupgrade the normal run-time OpenWrt image to the current versions. But you should have no need to reinstall the 0.6.5 installer itself.

Regarding the build process:

Like Mike already said, the E8450/RT3200 UBI build is selectable in the menuconfig. See by yourself:

.config - OpenWrt Configuration
 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  ┌───────────────────────── OpenWrt Configuration ─────────────────────────┐
  │  Arrow keys navigate the menu.  <Enter> selects submenus ---> (or empty │  
  │  submenus ----).  Highlighted letters are hotkeys.  Pressing <Y>        │  
  │  includes, <N> excludes, <M> modularizes features.  Press <Esc><Esc> to │  
  │  exit, <?> for Help, </> for Search.  Legend: [*] built-in  [ ]         │  
  │ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │  
  │ │        Target System (MediaTek Ralink ARM)  --->                    │ │  
  │ │        Subtarget (MT7622)  --->                                     │ │  
  │ │        Target Profile (Linksys E8450 UBI)  --->                     │ │  
  │ │        Target Images  --->                                          │ │  
  │ │    [ ] Enable experimental features by default                      │ │  
  │ │        Global build settings  --->                                  │ │  
  │ │    [*] Advanced configuration options (for developers)  --->        │ │  
  │ │    [ ] Build the OpenWrt Image Builder                              │ │  
  │ │    [ ] Build the OpenWrt SDK                                        │ │  
  │ │    [ ] Package the OpenWrt-based Toolchain                          │ │  
  │ └────v(+)─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │  
  ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤  
  │        <Select>    < Exit >    < Help >    < Save >    < Load >         │  
  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Router "target profile" selection item shown. There are the non-UBI versions plus the UBI versions:

       ┌─────────────────────── Target Profile ────────────────────────┐
       │  Use the arrow keys to navigate this window or press the      │  
       │  hotkey of the item you wish to select followed by the <SPACE │  
       │  BAR>. Press <?> for additional information about this        │  
       │ ┌────────^(-)───────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │  
       │ │    ( ) ELECOM WRC-X3200GST3                               │ │  
       │ │    ( ) Belkin RT3200 (Linksys E8450)                      │ │  
       │ │    ( ) Linksys E8450                                      │ │  
       │ │    (X) Belkin RT3200 UBI (Linksys E8450 UBI)              │ │  
       │ │    (X) Linksys E8450 UBI                                  │ │  
       │ │    ( ) MediaTek MTK7622 rfb1 AP                           │ │  
       │ └────────v(+)───────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │  
       ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤  
       │                    <Select>      < Help >                     │