OpenWrt

OpenWrt 21.02.0 released

OpenWrt 21.02.0 is now available — the first stable release in the 21.02 series, with 5,800+ commits since 19.07.

Highlights:

  • WPA3 by default. All packages required for WPA3 are now present in default images; no manual install needed.
  • TLS / HTTPS in the base. opkg can verify package signatures over HTTPS out of the box. The default SSL library moves from mbedTLS to wolfSSL; alternatives remain available.
  • DSA replaces swconfig. The Distributed Switch Architecture is now used to manage Ethernet switches and VLANs on supported targets. Network configuration syntax changes accordingly, with a clearer split between layer-2 and layer-3 settings.
  • Address Space Layout Randomization is enabled for user-space binaries.
  • Containers via LXC and ujail are now supported.

Minimum hardware requirements move up: standard images require at least 8 MB of flash and 64 MB of RAM. Devices below that threshold are no longer recommended.

Several targets were retired — most notably ar71xx, superseded by ath79. New targets include realtek (commonly used in managed switches), bcm4908, and rockchip.

Sysupgrade from 19.07 generally preserves configuration, but devices that move from swconfig to DSA cannot migrate their network settings automatically — those need to be reconfigured by hand.

Downloads at downloads.openwrt.org. Full release notes on the wiki.