Custom firmware build for R7800 v. 1.0.2.54SF

[Deleted member 22229]

Sorry i got your user name wrong my bad. So apparently there is a v6 firewall. Thanks for the reply Voxel !

 

[SwampKracker]

NG uses own firewall net-wall. No source codes of this tool, it is called from various binaries and scripts. But according to the help of this utility it supports IPv6:

Firewall configuration util v2.0 (Delta Networks Inc.)
Usage: net-wall [OPTIONS] [ start | restart | stop | rule ]
Options:
        -w  --wan-interface     WAN interface name
        -l  --lan-interface     LAN interface name
        -6  --ipv6     no_argument

P.S.

Vortex->Voxel.

Voxel.

net-wall? Delta Networks? Not what I was expecting.

Thanks for the feedback, Voxel.

 

[Voxel]

net-wall? Delta Networks? Not what I was expecting.

As far as I know Delta Network (DNI) is outsource company (company which releases the stock firmware for NG routers).

Voxel.

 

[blunderdome]

Hi there - been reading loads of great stuff about this firmware and had two quick questions before I dive in.

1. The readme mentions firewall config needing to be done via the netwall.conf file. Does this mean that port forwarding through the WebGUI does not work? Or is this just for connections directly to the router from the WAN?
2. Does this firmware include any means of checking CPU temps on the router? Been crazy hot here and I'd love to get an idea of how the router is doing.

Thanks for all your hard work, Voxel! Looking forward to trying this out.

 

[Voxel]

Does this mean that port forwarding through the WebGUI does not work? Or is this just for connections directly to the router from the WAN?

Port forwarding does work w/o any additional manipulations, only set up from WebGUI. You are right, netwall.conf is needed to access the router from the WAN.

Does this firmware include any means of checking CPU temps on the router? Been crazy hot here and I'd love to get an idea of how the router is doing.

kamoj should release his add-on for my firmware soon (I hope today). So you will be able to check CPU/Wi-Fi temps.

Voxel.

 

[kamoj]

Does this firmware include any means of checking CPU temps on the router? Been crazy hot here and I'd love to get an idea of how the router is doing.

You can try this:
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/k...tgear-r7800-x4s-running-voxel-firmware.48139/

 

[blunderdome]

You can try this:
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/k...tgear-r7800-x4s-running-voxel-firmware.48139/

Wow - looks like that adds quite a bit of useful info! I'll give that a go. If, for some reason, I need to uninstall back to the default debug page what's that process? Just re-flash whatever firmware image I'm using?

 

[Deleted member 22229]

Whats the chances Voxel could just add this to his regular firmware ? Then no need for two installs, maybe even add a separate tab in the UI to access the information similar to Merlins builds for Asus. Thanks Voxel and Kamoj for your work.

 

[kamoj]

Wow - looks like that adds quite a bit of useful info! I'll give that a go. If, for some reason, I need to uninstall back to the default debug page what's that process? Just re-flash whatever firmware image I'm using?

Was in a rush releasing it while the heat is on ;-)
But better keep the add-on discussion in the add-on topic.

 

[SwampKracker]

Whats the chances Voxel could just add this to his regular firmware ? Then no need for two installs, maybe even add a separate tab in the UI to access the information similar to Merlins builds for Asus. Thanks Voxel and Kamoj for your work.

I approve of this message.

The factory layout of debug.htm is very simplistic with almost no formatting. Would it be possible to add some basic html that puts things into columns/tables and maybe with some labels? Nothing too fancy. I have been thinking about doing it myself since learning about the hidden debug.htm (still new to Netgear) and installing the enhanced version by Kamoj.

Edit: I actually looked at the source and found it to be far messier than I thought it was going to be for a seemingly simple web page. Maybe it is best to leave it as is...

Thanks for your efforts, Kamoj.

 

[xBryan]

How would one go about installing the dnscrypt2? I see it in the other repo but since dnscrypt already exist in your base fw wasn't sure if it would cause issues. Also wanted to try the newer version and the repo one is behind

Thanks!

 

[Supersaiyan_IV]

Well, SF is rather for my own classification. For example I use HF for R9000. It depends on options I can use for compilation of firmware.

From the GCC (compiler) manual:

-mfloat-abi=name

Specifies which floating-point ABI to use. Permissible values are: ‘soft’, ‘softfp’ and ‘hard’.

Specifying ‘soft’ causes GCC to generate output containing library calls for floating-point operations. ‘softfp’ allows the generation of code using hardware floating-point instructions, but still uses the soft-float calling conventions. ‘hard’ allows generation of floating-point instructions and uses FPU-specific calling conventions.

The default depends on the specific target configuration. Note that the hard-float and soft-float ABIs are not link-compatible; you must compile your entire program with the same ABI, and link with a compatible set of libraries.​

I have to use –mfloat-abi=softfp option for R7800 (so it is why SF). IPQ806x processor has FPU so it would be optimal to set float as a “hard” but unfortunately the GPL sources from NG contain a set of pre-built programs and some of them are compiled with a “soft” options. So I just cannot use “hard”(FYI softfp uses FPU anyway). But as I said hard would be most optimal for IPQ806x (e.g. hard is used for R9000). soft and hard are not compatible. softfp is compatible with both. Currently I cannot create HF version for R7800. Maybe NG at the end of all will pay their attention to what I reported to them long time ago (optimal compilation options for R9000/R7800/R7500)… After this you will see HF version for R7800.

Voxel.

Hello Voxel, do you use any of the options:

-fgraphite-identity
-ftree-loop-distribution
-floop-nest-optimize
-fdevirtualize-at-ltrans​

In my (limited) testing, above allows for CPU usage reduction by 10-15%, while maintaining packets-per-second performance. Characteristics for small CPU-spikes have slightly higher peaks by 4-8% however - small impact. Might require a GCC built with graphite enabled. These CPU improvements were observed on GCC 6.x, 7.x and 8.x - didn't test GCC <=5.x.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

Been running this firmware 1.0.2.54SF for a week and it's been rock solid. All devices working excellent with no issues. All i can say is Thanks again, looking forward to future releases. I was always a Asus guy but this 7800 just flat out works and it's fast.

 

[SwampKracker]

Been running this firmware 1.0.2.54SF for a week and it's been rock solid. All devices working excellent with no issues. All i can say is Thanks again, looking forward to future releases. I was always a Asus guy but this 7800 just flat out works and it's fast.

It is surprisingly good. No complaints here. Plus, we have people like Voxel and Kamoj who make it even better.

 

[Voxel]

How would one go about installing the dnscrypt2? I see it in the other repo but since dnscrypt already exist in your base fw wasn't sure if it would cause issues. Also wanted to try the newer version and the repo one is behind

Thanks!

There are some technical problems, e.g. size of dnscrypt-proxy2. For example Entware version: dnscrypt-proxy package size is 89KB, dnscrypt-proxy2 package size is 2.6MB. And they are very different software, not just new version of dnscrypt-proxy.

Maybe first it will be released as an add-on.

Voxel.

 

[Voxel]

Hello Voxel, do you use any of the options:

-fgraphite-identity
-ftree-loop-distribution
-floop-nest-optimize
-fdevirtualize-at-ltrans​

In my (limited) testing, above allows for CPU usage reduction by 10-15%, while maintaining packets-per-second performance. Characteristics for small CPU-spikes have slightly higher peaks by 4-8% however - small impact. Might require a GCC built with graphite enabled. These CPU improvements were observed on GCC 6.x, 7.x and 8.x - didn't test GCC <=5.x.

I'm still playing with compiler options. Thanks for your suggestion,

Regarding version of compiler, there are significant problems with newer versions of GCC. I've checked a lot of versions. First, I have to provide compatible codes with pre-built modules from NG (4.6-linaro). Second, 3.4.x kernel is not compatible with GCC > 4.x. Compilation bugs. But BTW 4.8.5 I use is producing very good codes.

Voxel.

 

[SwampKracker]

I'm still playing with compiler options. Thanks for your suggestion,

Regarding version of compiler, there are significant problems with newer versions of GCC. I've checked a lot of versions. First, I have to provide compatible codes with pre-built modules from NG (4.6-linaro). Second, 3.4.x kernel is not compatible with GCC > 4.x. Compilation bugs. But BTW 4.8.5 I use is producing very good codes.

Voxel.

Excellent news, Voxel.

 

[kamoj]

There are some technical problems, e.g. size of dnscrypt-proxy2. For example Entware version: dnscrypt-proxy package size is 89KB, dnscrypt-proxy2 package size is 2.6MB. And they are very different software, not just new version of dnscrypt-proxy.
Maybe first it will be released as an add-on.
Voxel.

I just added a check of all available/working dsnscrypt servers in my add-on.

It shows that 50% of the servers in the csv-list are NOT working:
(Date of: dnscrypt-resolvers.csv: 2018-01-11 16:49:20. Servers:106, Ok:53, Expired:4, No Certificate:49)

So sooner or later we will need a replacement for todays dsnscrypt implementation.

 

[xBryan]

There are some technical problems, e.g. size of dnscrypt-proxy2. For example Entware version: dnscrypt-proxy package size is 89KB, dnscrypt-proxy2 package size is 2.6MB. And they are very different software, not just new version of dnscrypt-proxy.

Maybe first it will be released as an add-on.

Voxel.

I think as an add-on is acceptable. I'm just worried messing with it now given you have one integrated somewhat and not sure how/what all ties into it where and don't have the time to play with it too much.

The new ones adds a ton of different stuff and a lot of the providers are switching how they do it to require the new one so definitely looking forward to it! It's basically the only thing I'm missing to make this thing perfect!

 

[OllieNZ]

Installed on my new R7800 yesterday, @Voxel Thanks for the hard work, I'm only a basic user without a vpn or any other advanced stuff but firmware that brings all the software components up to date and fixes bugs is something that is of benefit to all users regardless of end use. So thanks again