NanoPi R5S sysupgrade from FriendlyWRT 22.03 to OpenWRT 23.05

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Hi,

Is it possible to upgrade FriendlyWRT to OpenWrt through Luci, whilst preserving the current configuration? (mainly some VLANs and VDSL)

I have a NanoPi R5S which is currently running FriendlyWRT 22.03 and as there are now snapshots for this device, would like to upgrade it to run OpenWrt 23.05.

Is it as straightforward as an OpenWrt to OpenWrt upgrade, or are there any possible issues I might face?

Thanks

2 Likes
2

How did you get OpenWrt 22.03 on this device?
OpenWrt 23.05 is based on kernel 5.15 lts. Support for R5S in upstream kernel was introduced in 6.4. However OpenWrt snapshots contains kernel 6.1 and provide support for this device. Let's hope we can see R5S as supported device with future 23.05.X releases :slight_smile:

However, kernel upgrade 5.15 -> 6.1 withing 23.05 probably won't happen, so we might get support with next major OpenWrt release.

3

you answered your own question ...

4

Christmas for a few days, let it be my wish :grinning:

5

My FriendlyWRT build says it's OpenWrt firmware 22.03.3

So we're hoping for 23.06? :smiley:
(or I could start from fresh with a snapshot?)

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if FriendlyWRT is openwrt, why do they call it FriendlyWRT ?
FriendlyWRT != OpenWrt, no matter what they say.

last release was 23.05, there's not going to be any additional stable release in 2023.

7

What I mean is, the Status page in FriendlyWRT shows:

Firmware Version OpenWrt 22.03.3 r20028-43d71ad93e / LuCI openwrt-22.03 branch git-23.093.57104-ce20b4a

I take this to mean it's based on OpenWrt 22.03

8

The magic phrase here is "based on".

Since your car's design is "based on" one from Ford, I guess you can call Ford regarding issues with all car brands.

See the parallell?

9

So once this device is officially supported by OpenWrt I can ask again? Until then I must stay silent?

10

We're not providing support for 3rd party builds, if that's what you're asking ....

It seems the support have been added, but you need to reflash it.

https://firmware-selector.openwrt.org/?version=SNAPSHOT&target=rockchip%2Farmv8&id=friendlyarm_nanopi-r5s

11

Indeed, so back to my original question :slight_smile: Can I use sysupgrade to do this and preserve the configuration?

I suspect I may be able to flash that without LuCi and then install LuCI, but can I then restore my configuration from a config backup?

12

Not supported aka You can try but if it fails you cannot open a bug for it so you have been warned :slight_smile:

13

Thanks.

Whilst I am comfortable working at the shell, I don't have any experience building an OpenWrt system from the ground up, perhaps it's time I learned :slight_smile:

As this is my main router, I will practice on another device first.

I imagine installing OpenWrt is fairly straightforward and then adding LuCI afterwards also fairly easy. Are there any gotchas I should look out for or do you have any other advice? I look forward to an official build that has support for this device rolled in, but as mentioned, need to wait for that kernel bump.

1 Like
14

Well i wouldn't do this if r5s would be my only router - plan for the worst case - have a backup device for gateway purpose first before you start

15

Hi Stephen,

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9uWM6QUnpM
hope it helps...

16

Curious to know how it works, so please update if you have installed the snapshot... Is there difference to expect between FriendlyWRT and OpenWRT ?

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