I am trying to install LEDE for the first time.
The WIKI => Downloads page and the Projects Download page both take the user to the 'traditional' Targets page.
As these are nightly builds, I used wget for the packages in the "packages" subdir. I noticed that it took very little time to download and then that these are mostly KMODs.
After about 10 minutes of frustration I tripped across the Packages folder one level up in the FTP hierarchy.
https://downloads.lede-project.org/snapshots/packages/ I was unable to find a reference to this anywhere.
Now I have a new issue. What is the correct instruction set for the Target? I had to go to the TOH to look this up. Even then the instruction set in the TOH is not exactly the same as in the folders. I realize this is a work in progress, not pointing a finger here.
For my GLi.MIFI (AR71XX) there is "Instruction Set MIPS32 and Sub Instruction Set: MIPS32 24K/E series". I do not know what I want here: mipsel_mips32, mipsel_mips32r2, mipssel_24kc, mips_24kc or mips_mips32.
I think this process could be very problematic for new users. There is too much opportunity for error as currently written, and could lead to users with missing or incorrect repositories. Both of these may lead to avoidable forum posts.
I would like to suggest the following resolves.
1 - add to the first section " Get the Current LEDE Snapshot Firmware" a link to the packages
2 - add to the same section a link to a new document with a cross ref chart for these elements and links from there to the appropriate packages folder.
3 - add a link to the FTP page for each target that is a short cut to the Packages folder appropriate to the target
I expect the driver to this reorg is a large savings in disk space, but if there are other reasons I would appreciate understanding this.