When can I expect a stable build for my device? (bloatbuffer problem)

Last year I acquired a Netgear A1200 (R6120) because it was cheap and seemed like a good option to test-drive OpenWrt. I have got it running, and even fixed a bloatbuffer problem without SQM scripts (I have since forgotten how).

I recently updated the device with a snapshot build, as there are no stable builds yet for this device. However, I am unable to install luci-app-sqm to resolve the bloatbuffer problem on the newly installed device because of a kernel version conflict. I am guessing that there will be an update of the kernel version in the future, but I can't find any logging of updates to the snapshot for an indication of how often this is done. Of course, a stable version would probably allow me to install luci-app-sqm, but again, I have no indication of when that would be released.

If anyone has a solution for my bloatbuffer problem without the need of installing luci-app-sqm, or knows when a stable release for my netgear device will be released, I would love to know.

You could try to install the most recent snap-shot and immediately after installing and booting that snapshot, run opkg update ; opkg install luci-app-sqm, I believe only the most recent snapshot will be in sync with the packages in regards to the kernel version, after the next snap-shot and the packages are rebuild any package requesting a specific kernel module will fail. Luci-app-sqm does not really have a kernel dependency as far as I know, but iy will drag in a few required kernel-modules as dependencies that do.

[Sorry, my first reply was plain stupid.]

Well, you should only need to install the sqm-scripts package and edit /etc/config/sqm according to your connection. LuCI isn't required at all.

Trying to install sqm-scripts seems to give the same kernel version mismatch.

Well, luci-app-sqm will drag in sqm-scripts as dependency and sqm-scripts will drag in:

define Package/sqm-scripts
  SECTION:=net
  CATEGORY:=Base system
  DEPENDS:=+tc +kmod-sched-core +kmod-sched-cake +kmod-ifb +iptables \
	+iptables-mod-ipopt +iptables-mod-conntrack-extra
  TITLE:=SQM Scripts (QoS)
  PKGARCH:=all
  MAINTAINER:=Toke Høiland-Jørgensen <toke@toke.dk>
endef

see https://github.com/openwrt/packages/blob/master/net/sqm-scripts/Makefile, At least the 3 kmod-* packages will require a matching kernel version between running OpenWrt instance and the version used when of the kmod packages were compiled.

I have basic knowledge of compiling. Would it be wise and possible to compile the kmod-* packages on my device by hand and install them from there? Or is this only possible when compiling all of OpenWrt from source (as I am guessing it is)?

Yes, the latter, then you can just add the desired kmod-packages to the initial firmware image.

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When for a stable (release) build?

First [19.07-]RC1, targeting stable release in July

http://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/openwrt-devel/2019-September/018711.html and following

It is now been over two and half months since the 19.07 branching in early
June. So far there has neither been any official -rc builds nor an initial .0
release.

"crickets..."

Don't hold your breath for https://openwrt.org/meetings/hamburg2019/start#decisions

Decisions

  • 6 month release cycle (+ 6 months from date of creating release branch) - “no matter what” approach
    • This implies that not every major OpenWrt release will be based on a new LTS kernel version
  • Point release cycle:
    • Every 2 months automatic if there are any new commits within release branch
    • CVE and/or other security fixes ASAP
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Thanks all for replying. I have done a build from source configured using 'make menuconfig', and a number of images have been created for my Ramips based board. I had expected one single 'default' *-squashfs-factory.img file (or something similar, since I chose 'Default profile' as Target profile), but in the bin directory I am greeted with a number of specifically named files for specific devices, primarily *-squashfs-sysupgrade.img files. Should I pick one of, these, have I done something wrong, or should I work with files in the 'packages' directory?

Researching 'Adding new device support' (where I think I should be headed) I see a lot needs to be done to set up a specific device (I don't know what to change in the images/Makefile file even if that is where I should start).

Any help would be appreciated.

Select your specific board, not "generic"

It is not listed. The closest one I can find is openwrt-ramips-mt76x8-mt7628-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin, but the device is a Netgear R6120 with a MediaTek MT7628A cpu. I don't think this is correct. Also, it is an *-sysupgrade.bin file. Shouldn't I need a *-factory.bin file?

If your device isn't listed, then you (or someone motivated) will likely need to port OpenWrt to it. Unfortunately, it isn't like an x86_64 computer where one version of the OS runs on virtually all "PC" hardware.

I am going to look into it.

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