Entware-3x for new HND platform (GT-AC5300 and RT-AC86U) with asuswrt-merlin firmware

[zyxmon]

I have fixed and updated asuswrt-opt package, for new installs the symlinks will be OK.
For those who have incorrect symlinks - run

ln -s /sbin/ifconfig /opt/sbin/ifconfig
ln -s /sbin/route /opt/sbin/route
rm /opt/bin/ifconfig
rm /opt/bin/route

 

[RMerlin]

This is a bug. Where are ifconfog and route in asuswrt? May be ip and netstat are such links?
Can you tell me what binaries are in firmware and in what folder for asuswrt?
I'll correct it here (ip, route, ifconfig, netstat)
https://github.com/Entware-for-kernel-3x/rtndev-3x/blob/master/asuswrt-opt/Makefile#L69

For some reason, Asus modified the location of iproute2 components on HND.

 

[thelonelycoder]

@zyxmon is there a unique identifier for the installed Entware repo or version for Entware, Entware-ng and Entware-ng-3x?
opkg -v returns 0.1.8 for itself for all installations I have which is not helpful.
Some string I can grep from a file maybe?
Thanks.

 

[RMerlin]

Having a way to identify an installed Entware repo might be a good idea indeed, maybe an /opt/etc/release file or something similar?

 

[zyxmon]

There is no release information now in Entware.
Currently repo can be identified by /opt/etc/opkg.conf.

Having a way to identify an installed Entware repo might be a good idea indeed, maybe an /opt/etc/release file or something similar?

Yes, it is a good idea.

src/gz keen3x http://entware-3x.zyxmon.org/binaries/mipsel

The last portion of URL is architcture. The beginning is different for Entware-ng and Entware-3x.

 

[thelonelycoder]

Currently repo can be identified by /opt/etc/opkg.conf.

That'll do for now.

 

[XIII]

Trying out 64 arm repo on my 86U.

I currently use only 2 non-default packages: pixelserv-tls and unbound.

http(s)://doubleclick.net/servstats and http(s)://192.168.1.2/servstats are both not working, while pixelserv-tls is alive:

# /opt/etc/init.d/S80pixelserv-tls check
 Checking pixelserv-tls (AB-Solution)...              alive.

# nslookup doubleclick.net
Server:    127.0.0.1
Address 1: 127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain

Name:      doubleclick.net
Address 1: 192.168.1.2

 

[XIII]

Good job @zyxmon , working error free so far on RT-AC86U with armv8 repo.

So you can access https://doubleclick.net/servstats?

(Wondering what I'm doing wrong...)

 

[thelonelycoder]

So you can access https://doubleclick.net/servstats?

(Wondering what I'm doing wrong...)

Sure, works flawless for both protocols.

[user@domain.local ~]$ nslookup doubleclick.net
Server:        192.168.2.1
Address:    192.168.2.1#53

Name:    doubleclick.net
Address: 192.168.2.2

 

[sfx2000]

Having a way to identify an installed Entware repo might be a good idea indeed, maybe an /opt/etc/release file or something similar?

touch a file somewhere that is persistent - "entware", and inside the file the major/minor release? The presence of the file suggests that entware is present, and a script would cat the version from there...

 

[heysoundude]

Installs without a hitch with (unreleased) AB-Solution 4.

will amtm give the option to upgrade entware to 3x? is this something that will become germane when AB-S4 is released, or am I facing a complete re-do?
further, should I even bother with that, given I have an n66u mips router - will there be any significant benefit?

It may be getting to the point that some sort of flowchart as to what the various models of routers require/can support as far as AM is concerned...
I feel a hardware upgrade in my not-too-distant future so I can try to keep up...

 

[thelonelycoder]

will amtm give the option to upgrade entware to 3x? is this something that will become germane when AB-S4 is released, or am I facing a complete re-do?

No, amtm will very likely have the option to install Entware through it removed when AB4 comes out. Or it will have a customized installer and not using the built in script in Asuswrt-Merlin. I have my reasons for either case.

further, should I even bother with that, given I have an n66u mips router - will there be any significant benefit?

I quote from post #1:

Entware-3x is new version of Entware optimized for 3.x and 4.x linux kernels. It is based on Entware-ng but can be used only on firmwares with 3.x and 4.x linux kernels.

Check your version with:

uname -r

Older mipsel routers will have kernel versions like 2.6.22.19, while my 1900P on fw 384.3_alpha3-g0462c71 returns 2.6.36.4brcmarm.
Both are not capable to run Entware-ng-3x.

It may be getting to the point that some sort of flowchart as to what the various models of routers require/can support as far as AM is concerned...
I feel a hardware upgrade in my not-too-distant future so I can try to keep up...

amtm and AB4 will both install the best and latest available Entware version for the hardware it runs on (uname -m).
That's Entware-ng for most models, while the RT-AC86U and other models returning aarch64 with uname -m will install Entware-ng-3x using the arm8 (64-bit) repo. Unless my further tests prove that an unwise decision, but I doubt it, arm8 runs extremely well on my 86U.

Edit: In all mentioned cases, if Entware is already installed and running while installing AB3 or 4, the installed version will be used and not altered. An upgrade of an installed Entware version to Entware-ng-3x is not planned as I have not tested this and I am unsure if that is a good idea.
Better start from scratch.

 

[XIII]

http(s)://doubleclick.net/servstats and http(s)://192.168.1.2/servstats are both not working

This is what I did wrong:

I renamed the Entware folder on my USB drive to OLD-entware and installed Entware-3x from scratch, but forgot to copy ca.crt & ca.key from the old Entware folder to the new one (intentionally did not generate new certificates because a lot of iOS devices have this particular ca.crt certificate already installed).

 

[thelonelycoder]

This is what I did wrong:

I renamed the Entware folder on my USB drive to OLD-entware and installed Entware-3x from scratch, but forgot to copy ca.crt & ca.key from the old Entware folder to the new one (intentionally did not generate new certificates because a lot of iOS devices have this particular ca.crt certificate already installed).

I use the same certs on all my routers. Saves me from importing new certs into devices.

 

[XIII]

I use the same certs on all my routers. Saves me from importing new certs into devices.

So do I.

 

[zyxmon]

touch a file somewhere that is persistent - "entware", and inside the file the major/minor release? The presence of the file suggests that entware is present, and a script would cat the version from there...

There is no major/minor release for entware. I have added package entware-release that creates /opt/etc/entware_release file to identify entware. Now it is installed by asuswrt-install.sh script.
Approximately a dozen of asuswrt users have already installed Entware-3x. They can run `opkg update; opkg install entware-release` to create this file.
File contents

# cat /opt/etc/entware_release
release=entware-3x
arch=aarch64
cpu=cortex-a53
cpu_subtype=unknown
float=hard
gcc=6.3.0
gcc_flags=-O2 -pipe -mcpu=cortex-a53 -fno-caller-saves -fno-plt
libc=glibc
libc_version=2.25

We are considering adding Entware release information automatically on installation/update for all Entware-3x (and possibly Entware-ng) installations.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Entware-3x can be easily installed on asuswrt-merlin with 4.1 kernel

I didn't think asuswrt-merlin was available for the GT-AC5300, or can this be installed on stock firmware?

 

[thelonelycoder]

I didn't think asuswrt-merlin was available for the GT-AC5300, or can this be installed on stock firmware?

I know of at least one successful Entware (and AB-Solution) installation on stock firmware. Some instructions seem doable that I found.

 

[Gingernut]

I hav

I know of at least one successful Entware (and AB-Solution) installation on stock firmware. Some instructions seem doable that I found.

I have entware-3x 64 bit installed on a stock firmware rt-ac86u following instructions here https://www.snbforums.com/threads/using-entware-on-asus-gt-ac5300.43160/.

Seems to be working fine but I'm only running Transmission atm.

 

[sfx2000]

There is no major/minor release for entware. I have added package entware-release that creates /opt/etc/entware_release file to identify entware. Now it is installed by asuswrt-install.sh script.
Approximately a dozen of asuswrt users have already installed Entware-3x. They can run `opkg update; opkg install entware-release` to create this file.
File contents

FWIW - some folks might like to over-optimize - I've found in my testing that aarch64 and armv7l is pretty close with embedded devices with less that 2GB of RAM... most of my platforms in the science project are armv7's, but I've got more than a couple of a53/a57 cores

we build with this - armv7l-unknown-linux-gnueabihf

which in gcc... -02 with -march=armv7-a -mfpu=neon-vfpv4 -mfloat-abi=hard avoiding ffast, as that can break things... this is a problem for devices like bcm4708/09, as they don't have neon or vfp - but we don't support that SoC - it's old, and most devices don't have enough RAM or flash.

Anyways - our code there generally works well on each platform, and across platform - since we support multiple cores, we do tune for kernel/clib's there on a case basis if it's beneficial - that goes with building uboot and the device trees...

since entware generally doesn't worry about bootloaders and kernels...