I read somewhere that updating packages could break the running OpenWrt system? Is that true? Thanks
On snapshot, I don’t recommend it. There can be kernel module mismatches. Better to just flash a new snapshot.
3 Likes
Upgrading packages (via the CLI opkg upgrade command or the LuCI Upgrade... button) can result in major problems. It is generally highly discouraged, unless you know what you are doing or if there is specific instruction to do so.
4 Likes
You can upgrade existing packages along with kernel using auc or luci-app-attendedsysupgrade
It has been discussed several times. Normally you MUST be able to upgrade packages without any problem. But many developers are protecting BAD development habits by pushing narrative of "breaking things is normal".
It isn’t just that… in fact, that may only be partially to blame in many circumstances. Many devices, specifically embedded routers, that contain limited flash memory may actually fill up their non volatile storage and cause an incomplete upgrade with broken dependencies.
1 Like
I believe people should account for that before upgrading...
Many people don’t realize that space is a constraint. For example, they may think that the packages are replaced, but on a squashfs device, they reside in rom so the files get written to the r/w partition and quickly consume all available space.
3 Likes