OpenWrt: Version 25.12.0 brings package manager change

The OpenWrt project has released version 25.12.0 of its open-source router firmware. Particularly noteworthy are the numerous supported devices and the switch to a new package management system.

In the release notes, OpenWrt provides an overview of the changes. The developers highlight that upgrading from OpenWrt 24.10 to 25.12 is supported by the sysupgrade tool in many cases, which attempts to migrate the configuration. Nevertheless, those wishing to upgrade should back up their configuration beforehand, advise the OpenWrt programmers. The developers have worked on OpenWrt 25.12.0 for over a year, with more than 4700 source code commits since version 24.10. The codename “Dave's Guitar” is intended to honor Dave Täht, who passed away in April 2025.

OpenWrt: Changes under the hood

The package manager is switching from the old opkg to apk (Alpine Package Keeper). The main reason for this is that OpenWrt-opkg is no longer supported, while apk is still maintained. Only a few package names have changed. A cheatsheet aims to provide helpful information for the transition. Additionally, OpenWrt now includes a web-based “attended.sysupgrade” LuCI app (ASU). On devices with larger flash memory, OpenWrt also installs the command-line tool “owut” (OpenWrt Upgrade Tool) by default. ASU is designed to update to new OpenWrt versions and can automatically build firmware images with all currently installed packages. It retains the system configuration and allows the integration of additionally installed packages directly into the SquashFS file system. This is intended to significantly simplify upgrades: with just a few clicks in LuCI and after a short waiting period, a customized firmware image is ready for installation without further manual intervention.

Furthermore, OpenWrt stores the shell command history in a RAM-based file system. This history remains available even after new logins. This avoids unnecessary write operations to the flash memory, which has a limited number of write cycles. However, this can be reconfigured to allow persistent storage on the flash memory. This increases write cycles and affects flash lifespan, warn the developers.

Hardware and Software Support

On the hardware side, there is increased support for Realtek targets, particularly more switch SoCs with 10-GBit support. The qualcommax target supports two additional SoCs. A siflower build target and new sub-targets for Allwinner F1C100/200s SoCs are newly included. The Microchip LAN969x switch chipset is also new. In total, OpenWrt now supports over 2200 devices. 180 new devices have been added since OpenWrt 24.10.

The software is also more up-to-date: Linux kernel 6.12.71 is used for all build targets, along with glibc 2.41, gcc 14.3.0, and binutils 2.44. Key components now include busybox 1.37.0, dropbear 2025.89, and dnsmasq 2.91. OpenWrt 24.10 will reach its end of support six months after the release of OpenWrt 25.12.0, meaning there will be no more security updates after September 2026. Users should therefore use this time to update to the new version promptly.

At the end of October, the OpenWrt project had to close security vulnerabilities that allowed attackers to inject and execute malicious code or escalate their privileges within the system.

(dmk)