OpenWrt Attended Sysupgrade
Updating like a boss
Quick background before the post (optional) TL;DR
Q: What is OpenWrt?
A: OpenWrt is a free, open-source router firmware (FW), providing more control, new features, and improved security.
Q: What I am using it for?
A: I needed features that were not possible with the original FW, and my router was officially discontinued in 2015. Today it is still up-to-date thanks to OpenWrt. /TL;DR
Q: What is Attended Sysupgrade?
A: Here we are.
So I am using an external SSD to extend the internal filesystem of the router to be able to install extra SW packages. Attended Sysupgrade is an OpenWrt feature that downloads a new, custom-built firmware image that already includes all the extra software packages I have installed, allowing to upgrade in one step while keeping both settings and packages.
In today’s corporate-minded, profit-oriented, cost-saving world this is a top-notch feature built purely for user convenience that is so rare it deserves special mention. Let me show you in action in a one-minute short how it is generating my custom firmware on my 10+ years old, officially unsupported router completely for free. Fascinating… And now, the video.
(Volume note: contains music, but not from the beginning).