OpenWrt 21.02.0 second release candidate

[Hauke Mehrtens]

Hi,

The OpenWrt community is proud to announce the second release candidate 
of the upcoming OpenWrt 21.02 stable version series. It incorporates 
over 5800 commits since branching the previous OpenWrt 19.07 release and 
has been under development for about one and a half year.


Changes between OpenWrt 21.02.0-rc1 and 21.02.0-rc2


New network configuration syntax

There have been several changes to the network configuration syntax in 
/etc/config/network:

* in config interface, option ifname has been renamed to device (since
   it refers to a device section)
* in config device of type bridge, ifname has been renamed to ports
* for new installs, the generated configuration now creates separate
   sections for layer 2 (config device) and layer 3 (config interface)
   configuration

The old syntax is still supported to facilitate transition, and there is 
no automated migration when upgrading.

However, the LuCI web interface detects old-style configuration and will 
propose to migrate it to the new syntax. This is necessary to be able to 
edit network configuration through LuCI.

The new configuration style looks like this:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
config device
	option name 'br-lan'
	option type 'bridge'
	option macaddr '00:01:02:XX:XX:XX'
	list ports 'lan1'
	list ports 'lan2'
	list ports 'lan3'
	list ports 'lan4'

config interface 'lan'
	option device 'br-lan'
	option proto 'static'
	option ipaddr '192.168.1.1'
	option netmask '255.255.255.0'
	option ip6assign '60'

config device
	option name 'eth1'
	option macaddr '00:01:02:YY:YY:YY'

config interface 'wan'
	option device 'eth1'
	option proto 'dhcp'

config interface 'wan6'
	option device 'eth1'
	option proto 'dhcpv6'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
This example uses DSA with lanX interface names. A non-DSA device would 
use more classical ethX interface names.


LuCI update

LuCI has been updated to support the most recent network syntax (and 
migrate old config files if needed). In some cases migration will take 2 
steps.

Support for configuring devices (config device UCI sections) was added. 
It can be used for setting layer 2 options (like MTU and MAC address). 
It also supports bridge devices (including VLAN tagging).


LuCI HTTPS

LuCI is now available over HTTPS in addition to HTTP in the default images.
After an upgrade from OpenWrt 19.07 to OpenWrt 21.02 unencrypted HTTP 
requests are redirected to HTTPS. On fresh OpenWrt 21.02 installations 
they are not redirected. Deactivate the redirect to HTTPS like this:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
uci set uhttpd.main.redirect_https=0
uci commit uhttpd
service uhttpd reload
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


Software updates

* Linux kernel updated to version 5.4.119 (from 5.4.111 in v21.02.0-rc1)
* mac80211 updated to version 5.10.34-1 (from 5.10.16-1 in v21.02.0-rc1)
* mac80211 backport upstream fixes for the new FragAttacks
   vulnerabilities in 802.11
* mt76 updated to latest version
* dnsmasq updated to version 2.85 (from 2.84 in v21.02.0-rc1)
* busybox updated to version 1.33.1 (from 1.33.0 in v21.02.0-rc1)

Misc changes

* Linux kernel fix parsing fixed subpartitions
* Linux kernel Activate FORTIFY_SOURCE for MIPS kernel 5.4
* busybox add SRV support to nslookup_lede.c patch
* busybox disable PREFER_IPV4_ADDRESS
* openwrt-keyring only copy sign key for 21.02
* sdk, imagebuilder unset BINARY_FOLDER and DOWNLOAD_FOLDER in final
   archives
* uqmi fix network registration loop

Device support

* Lantiq DSL multiple backports for DSL statistics
* New devices MikroTik SXTsq 5 ac, MikroTik hAP ac2
* Device fixes for ALFA Network devices, Youku YK1, TP-Link AD7200,
   TP-Link EAP-225, TP-Link TL-WR810N v1, MikroTik RB922UAGS-5HPaCD


Known issues

* LuCI network migration tool doesn't migrate custom bridge MAC
   addresses. Custom device MAC has to be set again manually.


Full release notes and upgrade instructions are available at
https://openwrt.org/releases/21.02/notes-21.02.0-rc2

In particular, make sure to read the regressions and known issues before 
upgrading:
https://openwrt.org/releases/21.02/notes-21.02.0-rc2#known_issues

For a detailed list of all changes since 21.02.0-rc1, refer to
https://openwrt.org/releases/21.02/changelog-21.02.0-rc2

To download the 21.02.0-rc2 images, navigate to:
https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/21.02.0-rc2/

- ---

To stay informed of new OpenWrt releases and security advisories, there
are new channels available:

* a low-volume mailing list for important announcements: 
https://lists.openwrt.org/mailman/listinfo/openwrt-announce

* a dedicated "announcements" section in the forum: 
https://forum.openwrt.org/c/announcements/14

* other announcement channels (such as RSS feeds) might be added in the
   future, they will be listed at https://openwrt.org/contact


As always, a big thank you goes to all our active package maintainers, 
testers, documenters, and supporters.

Have fun!

The OpenWrt Community