'opkg update' fail, Packages.gz is 404

Installing and Using OpenWrt
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# opkg update
Downloading https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/mediatek/filogic/packages/Packages.gz
*** Failed to download the package list from ...

And other six similar files missing too. Pasting URL into browser or wget shows the directory exists on teh server, but not the Packages.gz file. Is this a fault with the repository, or my configuration?
I'm using Xiaomi AX3000T, have not touched since initial setup some months ago. Trying to add Dynamic DNS as new ISP is changing my IP address on every reconnect. Am somewhat familiar with Linux and tcp/ip, but new to OpenWRT. Thanks.

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Maybe this is related:

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Is it?
Can you point me it the direction of a solution please? I am lost reading that thread.
Why does Linux need to have 27 different package managers??

OK, I tried restoring a backup, no luck. Did a firmware reset, ssh in, # opkg update

Downloading https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/mediatek/filogic/packages/Packages.gz
*** Failed to download the package list from https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/mediatek/filogic/packages/Packages.gz

Downloading https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/packages/aarch64_cortex-a53/base/Packages.gz
*** Failed to download the package list from https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/packages/aarch64_cortex-a53/base/Packages.gz

Downloading https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/mediatek/filogic/kmods/6.6.35-1-31063009fff0ce4f8b57ac1536cf2b86/Packages.gz
*** Failed to download the package list from https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/mediatek/filogic/kmods/6.6.35-1-3

So now I cannot even re-install luci. Is this router abandoned?

4

Silly me, posting in the user support section of the forum :slight_smile:
I should have been looking in the developers section, though I be not worthy.

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Glad you find the answer.

  • Installing packages on SNAPSHOTS only work for ~24 hours after installation, as it's updated almost daily (this seems to be the problem you were actually experiencing)
  • Since the date it appears you installed your snapshot, okpg changed to apk, so some users were confused on how to help you
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Thanks, but I don't have a working router, and am still trying to figure out what i should do.
I originally followed the directions at https://openwrt.org/inbox/toh/xiaomi/ax3000t , but it does not explain anything, leaving me guessing.
So I ubiformat openwrt-mediatek-filogic-xiaomi_mi-router-ax3000t-initramfs-factory.ubi
and now OpenWRT seems to be running. But then I have to run sysupgrade with a similar sized (8MB) .bin file. Is that a whole new version of OpenWRT over-writing the first??

So please, what must I do now? Get a newer -sysupgrade.bin file, ssh in and run sysupgrade? Or do I need to go back to the ubiformat stage?

Should I not be using snapshots, i.e. is there a working release somewhere please?

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Initramfs is a firmware of OpenWrt that runs in RAM only, so if you reboot the device you would then lose the firmware and return to stock firmware (or whatever was running previously on the system if not stock).

You're correct in that you should run the sysupgrade file from inside the running initramfs, since that one will actually write OpenWrt to the flash memory; this is step 5 in the installation instructions on the wiki. This is not an uncommon procedure for devices which stock firmware won't allow direct installation of OpenWrt.

AX3000T is supported in 23.05.5, just download the files from https://firmware-selector.openwrt.org/?version=23.05.5&target=mediatek%2Ffilogic&id=xiaomi_mi-router-ax3000t. Unless you really need to run SNAPSHOT to get bleeding-edge features, I don't recommend running SNAPSHOT for regular users. 23.05.5 is still on opkg so doesn't suffer from the current growing pains with the switch to APK.

EDIT: of course, if you're already on SNAPSHOT, downgrading to 23.05.5 could pose some problems due to incompatible configuration as development has gone further on SNAPSHOT, so I would recommend to reset to factory defaults when flashing it.

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Thankyou for your patience! Am getting clearer. I was not aware of the firmware selector.
I just downloaded and installed 23.05.5 , pleased to find it even came with Luci pre-installed.

EDIT: it works! I thought I was seeing the same missing Packages.gz errors, but must have just been a network problem. Thankyou!!

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I did the sysupgrade from within the normal non-RAM system. Is that a problem, overwriting itself while running?

I will reconfigure the router by hand, rather than risk trying to restore the backup settings from the snapshot install.

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No problem, glad it works!

No, that is fine as well, that's the standard procedure of upgrading to a newer version when the system is already running OpenWrt, either SNAPSHOT to a newer SNAPSHOT or for example 23.05.4 to 23.05.5.

Reconfiguring it sounds like a good idea, if you have backups you can always have them as a reference (they're just compressed text files) as long as you don't restore them directly from inside LuCI.

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Thanks. The main thing was a very long list of static DHCP leases, easily appended to the /etc/config/dhcp. Though that was originally generated by a script from a previous OPNsense router.

So as a summary I learned:

  • I should not have used a SNAPSHOT firmwar. Was following instructions written before the official release supported my router.
  • OpenWRT is changing package managers
  • Use https://firmware-selector.openwrt.org to get a new firmware. Just the sysupgrade file is needed, and installed with the sysupgrade command on the router.

thanks again!

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