I am building Backfire if there are any changes. There has been nothing except a minor openssl version bump in the past 4 weeks, so I have not rebuilt Backfire. In general, Backfire is pretty stable (dead) right now. There will perhaps still be a 10.03.2 at some point, but there are almost no changes in the code.
https://dev.openwrt.org/log/branches/backfire
https://dev.openwrt.org/log/branches/packages_10.03.2

Time has always resetted itself in connection to the reboot when flashing, but after that the time should keep itself ok if the router is soft-rebooted. I just rebooted my 3700v2 (running that newest version) and it kept the date just fine. A hard reboot with complete power-off will probably also reset the date. But ntpclient should automatically pick up the correct time as soon as there is an internet connection and thus access to the current time.

Regarding Luci statistics plugins, my build has never included all the plugins.

No comment to the Wifi A band. My build has the standard Wifi components, so the possible problem should then be pretty generic. (I only have G/N devices.)

(Last edited by hnyman on 14 May 2012, 16:03)

Ok, thanks and understood on the Backfire-is-stable changes.

I don't recall seeing the plugin errors on previous Backfire installs, but they're harmless and easy to ignore. The time behavior is definitely different though. My previous install would always update promptly. I wonder if it's related to my port usage. This is a slave router, and I don't connect the WAN port. Does the ntpclient insist on sending on that one? This is something the Netgear firmware does, but I (thankfully) didn't see it with Backfire. It would be too bad if Trunk returned to it.

I'm still unable to configure any 802.11A+N frequency that works at startup. It complains about hardware/channel requirements, but then works fine when clicking "enable" manually. I may have to stick with Backfire until I figure this out.

You can get rid of the warnings by disabling the missing non-used plugins in your luci statistics config.

31754 is the first trunk build with the new network interface management module, netifd, which is the default since yesterday. Openwrt's switch to use it by default occured at the same time as kernel was bumped to 3.3.6 and uClibc to 0.9.33.2, so there are several changes in the core components at the same time.

Netifd is not yet quite complete, but it is replacing the old scripts anyway. It should be compatible regarding the config files, but there could easily be bugs. Developers have tested it for time, but yesterday's switch has now brought it for us, the general Openwrt user populace.

I already spotted one bug yesterday, and Jow fixed it today... https://dev.openwrt.org/ticket/11460

One known bug is the missing WAN IP info from Luci: https://dev.openwrt.org/ticket/11459

If you feel that your network config does not work after the updateas it used to do, please check the bug tracker for similar bugs and file a bug if you can identify the buggy behaviour.

EDIT: I removed the newest version from the FTP server, as 6in4 tunnels seem to have trouble initialising.
EDIT2: Nbd fixed the problem https://dev.openwrt.org/ticket/11468#comment:1 , so the newest r31831 seems to work ok.

(Last edited by hnyman on 20 May 2012, 21:49)

I built also the Backfire version this time, although there has only been two openssl version bumps in the past 6 weeks. In future I am only building Backfire, if there are enough changes to justify the effort.

In the trunk version, the new QoS logic, CoDel, seems to work quite nicely. It replaced the old logic two weeks ago.
https://dev.openwrt.org/changeset/31759
https://dev.openwrt.org/changeset/31756
http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=2209336

(Last edited by hnyman on 27 May 2012, 07:54)

Thanks for the Backfire build, but ... my 802.11A+N issue at router restart is gone with your 31858 Trunk build from yesterday. Looks like I'll move forward now.

Yeah, that is no wonder. Backfire is mostly code from March 2010 (10.03) and although some packages have been updated, the bulk of the code dates to that period. I am using the trunk build myself and have been building Backfire only because it is still the official stable branch.

I have seen some words from developers about finalising Backfire 10.03.2 and then at some point declaring a new "stable" branch from the current Attitude Adjustment using kernel 3.3.x as the common base. There has been a effort to bump all target platforms to the new 3.3.x kernel series, and about 3/4 of the currently active platforms are already there. https://lists.openwrt.org/pipermail/openwrt-devel/2012-April/014952.html

(Last edited by hnyman on 27 May 2012, 10:11)

There seems to be an issue with the NTP configuration in the 31858 trunk build. The LUCI configuration on the System->System page doesn't seem to be effective, and changing the time server settings there doesn't result in any changes to files in /etc/config. Also, the init.d/sysntpd script doesn't read the same stanzas as were present in the backfire config (they look for "ntp" stanzas not "timeserver", I think).

Seems like this is probably a simple config issue, but I can't figure it out. I've worked around this by installing the old ntpclient and luic_app_ntpc packages, but, any ideas?

The config was changed a while ago, when a new ntpd was introduced in Trunk. LuCI works me ok. I can change both the timezone and add new ntp servers.

My etc/config/system after adding a new server:

root@OpenWrt:~# cat /etc/config/system

config system
        option hostname 'OpenWrt'
        option log_size '64'
        option conloglevel '8'
        option cronloglevel '8'
        option zonename 'Europe/Helsinki'
        option timezone 'EET-2EEST,M3.5.0/3,M10.5.0/4'

config timeserver 'ntp'
        option enable_server '0'
        list server '0.openwrt.pool.ntp.org'
        list server '1.openwrt.pool.ntp.org'
        list server '2.openwrt.pool.ntp.org'
        list server '3.openwrt.pool.ntp.org'
        list server 'ntp1.hut.fi'

config led 'led_wan'
        option name 'WAN LED (green)'
        option sysfs 'wndr3700:green:wan'
        option default '0'

config led 'led_usb'
        option name 'USB'
        option sysfs 'wndr3700:green:usb'
        option trigger 'usbdev'
        option dev '1-1'
        option interval '50'

root@OpenWrt:~#

(Last edited by hnyman on 29 May 2012, 19:20)

Aha - the 'ntp' is the key. My existing (working) Backfire config didn't have that, just the timeserver. After adding it, the script successfully handles the config and ntp works.

Did yours add that token when you upgraded from Backfire? Or did you rewrite your config. Mine did not pick this up, on either a WNDR3700 or a WNDR3700v2.

Anyway, thanks for the tip!

I am frequently jumping between Backfire and trunk, so I have separate settings burned to the firmware. I am not trying to copy a full set of settings from one to the other.

Actually, I am using the default /etc/config/system all the way through. The one included in the firmware image is the one that I use.

I modify only those files that are personal for me: https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?pid=147482#p147482
EDIT:
/etc/config/dhcp, firewall, luci_statistics, qos, wireless and radvd are the modified config files. Of those files dhcp, firewall, qos, wireless and radvd are identical between Backfire and trunk, and only luci_statistics has a difference, as Backfire has less statistics available. (Aditionally wireless has a difference between 3700v1 and 3700v2 due to different wireless MAC addresses, so I am maintaining a total of 4 different settings sets.)

I am taking all other settings from the firmware default config files.

(Last edited by hnyman on 30 May 2012, 11:13)

hnyman - I'm trying your latest trunk build out, and loving it so far.    Any ideas how I can get the PPTP client installed (I struggled with the backfire builds so was hoping trunk would give me some better options).   I get kernel dependency issues when I try to do it manually, so not sure if there's something obvious I'm doing wrong.  Thanks in advance..

hnyman - Could I trouble you to add a build for 3800 (same as 3700v2, but with more space)?  I just tried to flash 3700v2, but there were complaints. 

Invalid image, hardware ID mismatch, hw:33373031 image:64657669.
Image check 'platform_check_image' failed.

Ok, I have one more Backfire->Trunk upgrade quirk, firewall behavior. I forward a couple of ports to a machine on my LAN, and this forward worked fine from either the LAN or WAN ports under Backfire - that is, I could access the WAN IP of the router and the target ports would forward in both cases.

With 31858 Trunk, the WAN forwarding works fine but the LAN forwarding is refused. This is a pain because my phone can't roam to my wireless network. Like you, I have no changes to the firewall config file. Do you not have this issue?

That is probably a side effect of the change to netifd a while ago. Jow has probably fixed that NAT reflection functionality with r31936: https://dev.openwrt.org/changeset/31936

The change to use netifd by default at r31730 has caused multiple minor issues for network interface management, which the developers have been fixing after the wider user population has now been testing the code.

(Last edited by hnyman on 31 May 2012, 05:57)

More space? I think that 3800 has the same amount of flash as 3700v2. But it has more RAM.

I haven't built the 3800, as my built automation scripts have been tailored for 3700, but I might look into it.

EDIT: the next build will have also the 3800 version.

(Last edited by hnyman on 31 May 2012, 07:27)

Aha - I see you've built 32008, which I'll proceed to try out. Thanks!!

EDIT: indeed, 32008 appears to fix the LAN->LAN forwarding glitches.

One minor glitch in 32008 that I notice, on the front Status->Overview page, the Network IPv4 box displays a WAN address of 0.0.0.0 at all times. The netmask and gateway are similarly 255.255.255.255 and 0.0.0.0. All the other fields on the page, including IPv6/6to4, are populated correctly.

(Last edited by tt on 31 May 2012, 13:35)

Known problem due to netifd. Reported first time two weeks ago and mentioned in this thread by me in message #179 on this same page ;-)
It has been finally fixed today, so my next build will be again ok.

See:
https://dev.openwrt.org/ticket/11459
https://dev.openwrt.org/ticket/11561
http://luci.subsignal.org/trac/changeset/8687

(Last edited by hnyman on 31 May 2012, 15:07)

I'm sure the next build will be perfect. :-)

Thanks again. Running smoothly here.

The update/build frequency is directly related to the bugs corrected / changes done.
e.g. 32005 fixed a rather bad data corruption bug introduced in 31931 causing https://dev.openwrt.org/ticket/11557 , so I wanted to remove all post-31931 revisions from the FTP server. So I built 32008 rather quickly.

Currently I am building 32016, as there have been nice changes on the Luci side, e.g. fixing that empty IP address in status page error: https://dev.openwrt.org/ticket/11561 . Will make that revision available after testing it.

EDIT: 32016 shows the IP address properly on the status page ;-)
        ...and WNDR3800 version is now included.

(Last edited by hnyman on 31 May 2012, 20:08)

Hopefully this is not me, but I just tried to flash the WNDR3800 and got this:

root@wifi01 /tmp# sysupgrade -v WNDR3800-trunk-r32016-2012-05-31-2155-squashfs-factory.img
Invalid image, hardware ID mismatch, hw:33373031 image:64657669.
Image check 'platform_check_image' failed.

You tried to use the "factory install" image for upgrade. That is only for first install.
You have to use the "sysupgrade.bin" image for sysupgrade.

Ps. that was probably the reason for your earlier error, too.

(Last edited by hnyman on 31 May 2012, 21:54)

Is this still a problem because od the Netifd issues?  Thanks again for your help / build!

I guess that is unrelated to netifd.

It is rather difficult to install low-level modules from the snapshot repository to private builds, as the kernel dependencies are verified very strictly (since a change a few months ago).

As I am compiling the firmware with rather default kernel options, there should be no incompatibilities to the snapshot modules. You might experiment by installing the package forcibly from the console command line "opkg --force-depends install pptp". Example at https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?pid=162230#p162230

(and also install luci-proto-pptp.)

See below how it reports the error but still installs the pptp module:

  _______                     ________        __
 |       |.-----.-----.-----.|  |  |  |.----.|  |_
 |   -   ||  _  |  -__|     ||  |  |  ||   _||   _|
 |_______||   __|_____|__|__||________||__|  |____|
          |__| W I R E L E S S   F R E E D O M
 -----------------------------------------------------
 ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT (Bleeding Edge, r32016)
 -----------------------------------------------------
  * 1/4 oz Vodka      Pour all ingredients into mixing
  * 1/4 oz Gin        tin with ice, strain into glass.
  * 1/4 oz Amaretto
  * 1/4 oz Triple sec
  * 1/4 oz Peach schnapps
  * 1/4 oz Sour mix
  * 1 splash Cranberry juice
 -----------------------------------------------------

root@OpenWrt:~# opkg update
Downloading http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ar71xx/packages/Packages.gz.
Inflating http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ar71xx/packages/Packages.gz.
Updated list of available packages in /var/opkg-lists/attitude_adjustment.

root@OpenWrt:~# opkg --force-depends install pptp
Installing pptp (1.7.1-5) to root...
Downloading http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ar71xx/packages/pptp_1.7.1-5_ar71xx.ipk.
Installing kmod-gre (3.3.7-1) to root...
Downloading http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ar71xx/packages/kmod-gre_3.3.7-1_ar71xx.ipk.
Installing resolveip (1) to root...
Downloading http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ar71xx/packages/resolveip_1_ar71xx.ipk.
Configuring kmod-gre.
Configuring resolveip.
Configuring pptp.
Collected errors:
 * satisfy_dependencies_for: Cannot satisfy the following dependencies for pptp:
 *      kernel (= 3.3.7-1-5f583fd8df4941dd98ed07fcc1535a2b) *

root@OpenWrt:~# opkg list-installed
...
opkg - 618-2
ppp - 2.4.5-5
ppp-mod-pppoe - 2.4.5-5
pptp - 1.7.1-5
px5g - 1
qos-scripts - 1.2.1-6
radvd - 1.8.5-1
...
root@OpenWrt:~#

(Last edited by hnyman on 31 May 2012, 23:07)

mmmm thanks.  I tried that yesterday, and the router started into a reboot loop, so I'll try again  with the latest build. Thanks!