According to the Wiki, even now most targets in master are not on 5.10 yet, so switching to 5.10 in 21.01.1 means dropping most targets, or involves a lot of work.
No. The target specific patches don't fit on just any kernel.
If you browse the snapshot files, you'll see that only a few targets have moved to 5.10 kernel. It is not ready yet for general purpose, a lot of work is still needed. I'm not even sure that every targets can be ported to 5.10 kernel, so some may be deprecated in future.
Let's assume that the port to 5.10 will be a goal for the next major release. Hence next 21.02 service releases will likely still use the 5.4 kernel.
Ho ? that was the document I was looking for !
21.02 has been branched off from master in February 2021. It reflects mainly that status. There have been later backports of some features & packages into 21.02, but the major kernel version will not be upgraded into the stable release branch. 21.02.1 is simply the head of that Feb 2021 branch, not the current master.
All 21.02.x maintenance releases will still use the current 5.4 kernel.
Master has roughly half of the targets upgraded to 5.10, so likely the next release 22.0x will have 5.10 as the default. (And the targets with no working 5.10 will be dropped. This is a community effort... Somebody needs to author and test the kernel bumps with the necessary modifications to the target-specific 50-100 patches for each target.)
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But 5.10 works so smooth on my mediatek and x86 devices.. i didn't felt such a improvement even with transit from 4.14 to 5.4!
Then just use master snapshots and be done with it. openwrt-21.02 will remain on the 5.4 lts kernels for the remainders of its life cycle.
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But, does it work as smoothly for everybody's else devices...? A new kernel requires extensive testing on all platforms.
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Anyone know why 21.02.1 disappeared from the main page?
AFAIK, the release hasn't officially landed yet. It's almost there, but the build-bots may still be working to compile all the images and packages. If you look, you'll see that the downloads are available, but the link from the main page has not yet been added.
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And 21.02 was a very delayed release because of DSA from 2020 that never came, but in 2020 5.4 was “fresh” so we will have to live with that.
21.02 if I remember right was little bit of fly or burn with DSA because sometime it had to be tested IRL.
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21.02rc1 was indeed a wondrous thing that begat a flurry of bug squashing and "finishing work" on the then current state of snapshot and adding DSA support to LuCI. Network configuration file syntax of all things even changed during the journey from rc1 to 21.02.0! Kudos to the development team for a big leap forward, but I'll wager they're ready for a bit of a break!
Things go in cycles. It's apparent from the developer mail list traffic that 22.xx release goals have been steered toward a "SMARTer" project plan (Specific, Manageable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely) and are well on their way to completion. I'm looking forward to seeing software flow offloading and ipv6 play well together again.
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Well maybe so? I have said it before and I still believe that 21.02 will live fast and die young.
It never was a “perfect” release and it will never be that but it was an unavoidable field test of the DSA that had to be done sooner or later.
Current snapshot is stable and work good, but due to some, sorry for that "admins-old beliefers" we still sitting on 5.4, i told already if 21.02.02 would not be current (10/29/2021) snapshot, it will be the last release for openwrt, yes, that means drop 1/3 targets, but what targets it is? Old trash ISP routers from 2010? For me sitting 5.4 even a month more - openwrt suicide. A lot of linux distros dies wanted to be stable, while unstable kernel based monjaro/ubuntu/arch now the most popular OS's
Hard times requires hard decisions. Please, drop 5.4 now. Or at least start a massive open vote YES or NO.
21.02.x being based on kernel v5.4.x is a fact, not a belief and not up for a vote either.
You've been given the alternatives already, take them or leave them - but don't continue this pointless crusade.
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A release will never change kernel, it will only update the kernel it is based on. A kernel change is so big that it will be a new branch release.
I can’t remember any instability at all with 21.02 from the beginning on ER4 or wrt3200acm.
But I don’t use wifi on the 3200. And I don’t really use LuCi for setup any longer. But last weekend I have run the ER4 47days straight without reboot (with 21.02-snapshot built a couple of days before 21.02.0 was released).
If you are not happy with the development/support system for OpenWrt, you are free to use anything else.
I, for one, am perfectly happy with the current system, if only wishing for quicker release cycle, like major release twice a year.
Very many thanks to Dev Team and this community for this wonderful tool !
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21.02 is the current stable branch and should never have any major changes. I run master snapshot on my WRT32X and it's fantastic, fast and stable, I use a ton of packages, no issues whatsoever. There's just a few minor bugs in LuCI with the new dark theme (a few places it's still white, like when you click OpenWrt on upper left it'll go white before back to dark).
21.02 is an odd release since the target a lot of devs seem to be using right now doesn't even run the latest kernel or have DSA (we all know which one), meanwhile my favorite target, mvebu, does. It makes me wonder how well it was tested. There are some odd wifi problems in 21.02 on WRT routers too which pushed me over to master. Anyway, I highly recommend just running master snapshot if you have those concerns, it's in a phenomenal state.
I was running master until recent snapshot made the WiFi chip disappear with my D-Link DIR-860L b1.
Now after downgrading to stable release and re-configuration, it's back to live.
I have "old trash routers" from 2010 doing valuable work. I appreciate that 21.02 keeps them running with a current distribution that addresses recent security advisories. I really appreciate not having to spend hard cash replacing them.
If you are so desperate for a new release with a 5.10 kernel, pitch in and help update as many of those "old trash routers" as quickly as possible.
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This 21.02 in general I see it more fluid than the 19. Still a few problems but nothing unmanageable. Thanks!.