Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2020 19:52 Post subject: How often do you flash DD-WRT?
I'm just curious how often everyone flashes a new build of DD-WRT on there router.
Personally, I think every couple months is good. Overall, it tends to allow me to get any new security fixes and features while I'm not over flashing the chip and I can usually avoid the rare bugs that occasionally pop up.
Joined: 16 Nov 2015 Posts: 6414 Location: UK, London, just across the river..
Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2020 20:49 Post subject:
hmm, it depends if i follow svn line to be aware of the progress, and i know how to unbrick my units...yep i do it quite often...i don't care about warned out flash chip ,as they are good enough to last a long time... _________________ Atheros
TP-Link WR740Nv1 ---DD-WRT 55179 WAP
TP-Link WR1043NDv2 -DD-WRT 55303 Gateway/DoT,Forced DNS,Ad-Block,Firewall,x4VLAN,VPN
TP-Link WR1043NDv2 -Gargoyle OS 1.15.x AP,DNS,QoS,Quotas
Qualcomm-Atheros
Netgear XR500 --DD-WRT 55460 Gateway/DoH,Forced DNS,AP Isolation,4VLAN,Ad-Block,Firewall,Vanilla
Netgear R7800 --DD-WRT 55460 Gateway/DoT,AD-Block,Forced DNS,AP&Net Isolation,x3VLAN,Firewall,Vanilla
Netgear R9000 --DD-WRT 55363 Gateway/DoT,AD-Block,AP Isolation,Firewall,Forced DNS,x2VLAN,Vanilla
Broadcom
Netgear R7000 --DD-WRT 55460 Gateway/SmartDNS/DoH,AD-Block,Firewall,Forced DNS,x3VLAN,VPN
NOT USING 5Ghz ANYWHERE
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Stubby DNS over TLS I DNSCrypt v2 by mac913
Services like "WAN Traffic Counter" and "JFFS2 Support" do write to internal flash and I don't use these services.
As for updating firmware it depends on the services used and keeping the security of the services up to update. _________________ Home Network on Telus 1Gb PureFibre - 10GbE Copper Backbone
2x R7800 - Gateway & WiFi & 3xWireGuard - DDWRT r53562 Std k4.9
Off Site 1
R7000 - Gateway & WiFi & WireGuard - DDWRT r54517 Std
E3000 - Station Bridge - DDWRT r49626 Mega K4.4
Off Site 2
R7000 - Gateway & WiFi - DDWRT r54517 Std
E2000 - Wired ISP IPTV PVR Blocker - DDWRT r35531
I do mine based on time/convenience. Sometimes I have things going on and cannot be down, but other times I have plenty of time or I see a new update that I want.
Joined: 08 May 2018 Posts: 14129 Location: Texas, USA
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2020 1:28 Post subject:
I'm in the habit lately of timing my upgrades when certain key things are fixed. It would be great if we could land on a "0" or "5" and only have a beta release once a month and a stable release once a quarter. _________________ "Life is but a fleeting moment, a vapor that vanishes quickly; All is vanity"
Contribute To DD-WRT Pogo - A minimal level of ability is expected and needed... DD-WRT Releases 2023 (PolitePol)
DD-WRT Releases 2023 (RSS Everything)
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Linux User #377467 counter.li.org / linuxcounter.net
Joined: 16 Mar 2019 Posts: 353 Location: Szczecin, Poland EU
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2020 17:43 Post subject:
Generally I'm flash version to version. Sometimes I have soft brick on my device. I must back to last stable version. Generally I'm update my device as soon as is possible. Then I can test the newest builds. DD-WRT is advantageous project for me.
Joined: 04 Aug 2018 Posts: 1446 Location: Appalachian mountains, USA
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2020 21:38 Post subject:
Fascinating range of responses developing here.
I upgrade only every six months to a year, because I have to upgrade five routers, three of which have to be upgraded and tested remotely - they are not nearby - without being offline for any extended period. It's all kind of a high-stakes game, and it eats a lot of my time, especially as I feel I have to be fairly thorough with testing. It's the time commitment that keeps me from upgrading more often. _________________ 2x Netgear XR500 and 3x Linksys WRT1900ACSv2 on 53544: VLANs, VAPs, NAS, station mode, OpenVPN client (AirVPN), wireguard server (AirVPN port forward) and clients (AzireVPN, AirVPN, private), 3 DNSCrypt providers via VPN.
I usually try to understand what is happening in trac / svn.dd-wrt.com.
If I'm bored and driver, kernel or wireguard commits were added --> flash
If my release is older than a month --> flash
Nowadays I registered here in the forum to also add my reports, but am doing this since I bought the WRT54GL in 2009.
Never had a problem with defective flash, but VERY often managed to brick everything due to not understanding / reading / being patient enough
I think it varies from case to case.
For my personal D-Link repeater bridge, I upgrade the firmware everytime there's a new build, because I'm the only user. I can afford to get it soft-bricked without affecting others, and it's fairly easy to recover (compared with my previous Linksys router), and even if I'm unable to recover (or lazy to recover) then I still have internet connection from the main router. I don't think flash wear-out is a big concern because most flash chips have the life-time in the range of 100,000 erase. I also think that upgrading frequently will help the developer(s) iron out any issue in the early stage and speed up the development process: pushing out small changes and confirm before moving on will be more efficient than adding a lot of codes in one go then unable to pinpoint the root cause if there's issue.
But for the other router used at work, I am afraid of upgrading/try not to upgrade, because if something went wrong then many people would be affected. That kind of environment prefers stability over speed/functionality.