Table of Contents
Where to get packages
- OpenWrt has a Package management system.
- OpenWrt offers a Software repository, which currently (2011-Feb) contains about 2000 packages. No, this is no typo.
- There are usually multiple Mirror Servers available for use in case the main repository fails
- Other projects can offer additional repositories.
- Installation and removal of packages is done with:
opkg.
Official packages
The official OpenWrt packages are found in the respective packages folder on the repository server.
The specific repository for your OpenWrt version should already be configured correctly in OPKG when installing the specific OpenWrt image for your device.
Example of /etc/opkg.conf for Chaos Calmer mirror:
dest root / dest ram /tmp lists_dir ext /var/opkg-lists option overlay_root /overlay option check_signature 1 src/gz chaos_calmer_base http://openwrtmirror.example.com/chaos_calmer/15.05/ar71xx/generic/packages/base src/gz chaos_calmer_packages http://openwrtmirror.example.com/chaos_calmer/15.05/ar71xx/generic/packages/packages src/gz chaos_calmer_luci http://openwrtmirror.example.com/chaos_calmer/15.05/ar71xx/generic/packages/luci src/gz chaos_calmer_routing http://openwrtmirror.example.com/chaos_calmer/15.05/ar71xx/generic/packages/routing src/gz chaos_calmer_telephony http://openwrtmirror.example.com/chaos_calmer/15.05/ar71xx/generic/packages/telephony src/gz chaos_calmer_management http://openwrtmirror.example.com/chaos_calmer/15.05/ar71xx/generic/packages/management
Example of /etc/opkg.conf for ar71xx trunk:
dest root / dest ram /tmp lists_dir ext /var/opkg-lists option overlay_root /overlay src/gz chaos_calmer_base http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ar71xx/generic/packages/base src/gz chaos_calmer_packages http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ar71xx/generic/packages/packages src/gz chaos_calmer_luci http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ar71xx/generic/packages/luci src/gz chaos_calmer_routing http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ar71xx/generic/packages/routing src/gz chaos_calmer_telephony http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ar71xx/generic/packages/telephony src/gz chaos_calmer_management http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ar71xx/generic/packages/management
Each package feed is in a separate directory
- packages
- telephony
- routing
- management
- oldpackages
Other feeds are available but have no package repository. Examples: alljoyn, luci2
Packages can be divided into three categories:
- containing shell scripts only - architecture-independent
- normal packages (binaries) - architecture-dependent
- kernel packages (kmod-*) - kernel version specific
Trunk: Installing kernel modules requires often a reflash/sysupgrade because the build revision changed (it gets recompiled every few days automatically).
Each release has its own directory containing sub-directories for the different platforms supported, each platform-directory contains pre-built images for the different targets and a packages directory containing the installable *.ipk files.
Here are some examples of OpenWrt package repositories for different compilation targets and OpenWrt versions.
- Barrier Breaker 14.07 packages for generic ar71xx platform can be found at: https://downloads.openwrt.org/barrier_breaker/14.07/ar71xx/generic/packages/
- For the snapshot-release and ar71xx platforms you find them here: http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ar71xx/packages/. While the other repositories are mostly not updated, the packages in the trunk repositories are continuously built by the OpenWrt build bots. Beware with upgrading packages, since some (kernel) packages are made for the specific OpenWrt build built at the same time as the package.
Install packages / Usage of OPKG
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
opkg | Print a list of all available commands and options |
opkg update | Download the current list of packages available |
opkg list | View the list of all packages in the current package list. Use with regular expressions |
opkg list_installed | View the list of installed packages |
opkg install umurmur | Install the package named umurmur, can also use a FQDN instead, e.g. opkg install http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ar71xx/packages/umurmur-polarssl_0.2.6-1_ar71xx.ipk |
opkg remove umurmur | Remove the umurmur package |
→ Read more about: opkg – Technical Reference
Legacy packages
see packages.old
Package Sources
Stable Version: Source tar-balls for most packages can be found at http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/ and http://mirror2.openwrt.org/sources/.
Trunk: Found at the PKG_SOURCE_URL from the package Makefile in the corresponding feed.
Third party packages
see packages.old
Creating custom packages
→ Howto Create a Package to create custom packages for OpenWrt using the toolchain (Buildroot)
→ crosscompile to simply sample a program
External storage
→ opkg – Technical Reference: Installation Destinations
→ Mounting Filesystems for various ways to mount external storage
