4,700+
Commits since 24.10
2,200+
Supported devices
180+
New devices added

opkg Is Out — APK Is In

The headline change in OpenWrt 25.12 is the retirement of the long-standing opkg package manager in favor of apk — the Alpine Package Keeper, not to be confused with Android’s APK format. The reason is straightforward: the OpenWrt fork of opkg is no longer actively maintained, while apk continues to receive regular upstream development.

The transition was designed to cause minimal disruption. Most package names remain identical, and the vast majority of functionality carries over. The main adjustment for users will be command-line syntax. To ease the migration, the OpenWrt project has published an official cheat sheet mapping common opkg commands to their apk equivalents at openwrt.org/docs/…/opkg-to-apk-cheatsheet.

# Example: common command equivalents # Install a package opkg install <package> → apk add <package> # Update package list opkg update → apk update # List installed packages opkg list-installed → apk list –installed # Remove a package opkg remove <package> → apk del <package>

Smarter Firmware Upgrades

Upgrading OpenWrt has historically been a manual and sometimes tricky process. Version 25.12 significantly smooths this out through two complementary tools now bundled by default.

The Attended Sysupgrade (ASU) LuCI application is now installed by default in the web management interface. It allows users to upgrade to a new OpenWrt version while automatically rebuilding the firmware image with all currently installed packages, preserving configuration files in the process.

For devices with larger flash storage or users who prefer the command line, the owut tool is also now included by default. Running owut check --verbose --version-to 25.12 provides a detailed preview of what an upgrade will involve before committing to it.

“Upgrading from 24.10 to 25.12 should be transparent on most devices — most configuration data has either remained the same or will be translated correctly on first boot.”

— OpenWrt 25.12.0 Release Notes

What Else Is New

📶

Wi-Fi Scripts Rewritten in ucode

Wi-Fi management scripts have been migrated from traditional shell scripting to ucode, an ECMAScript dialect. This improves execution speed, reliability, and integration with OpenWrt subsystems.

🎞️

Video Feed Enabled by Default

The OpenWrt video feed is now integrated by default, giving users direct access to Qt5 graphical interface applications from the software repository without manual feed configuration.

💾

Persistent Shell History

Shell command history is now stored in a RAM-backed filesystem, preventing history loss between sessions while avoiding unnecessary writes to flash storage that could shorten device lifespan.

🔧

Hardware Compatibility

Hardware requirements are largely unchanged. Most devices running OpenWrt 24.10 are supported. Over 180 new devices have been added, bringing total supported hardware to more than 2,200 devices.

Upgrade Path and EOL Notice

Direct upgrades from OpenWrt 24.10 to 25.12 are supported and expected to be smooth on most hardware. However, sysupgrade from 23.05 to 25.12 is not officially supported — users on that version should plan a staged upgrade or a clean install.

With the release of 25.12, the 24.10 stable series enters a six-month countdown to end-of-life. Security updates for 24.10 will cease after September 2026. The OpenWrt project encourages all users to migrate before that deadline.

Known Issues

  • Users of Zyxel EX5601-T0 devices should verify their WAN interfaces — the port was renamed from eth1 to wan.
  • Pixel 10 phones may experience connection problems with WPA3-protected Wi-Fi 6 access points.
  • 802.11r Fast Transition (FT) causes issues with some Wi-Fi clients when WPA3 is in use.

How to Get It

Firmware images are available via the OpenWrt Firmware Selector or directly from the download servers. Full release notes and known regressions are documented at openwrt.org/releases/25.12/notes-25.12.0.