ADD_A_DEVICE.md

Adding a new device

The repo ships with devices/xiaomi_ax3600/ as the reference. Adding a second device is a directory copy plus a one-line edit.

Steps

1. Pick an id. Use the OpenWrt board id (make menuconfig -> Target Profile shows it). Examples: xiaomi_ax9000, dynalink_dl-wrx36, redmi_ax6. Lowercase, underscores.

2. Generate the .config for that device.

   git clone --branch <upstream-branch> https://github.com/<upstream-repo> openwrt
   cd openwrt
   make menuconfig
   # Set Target Profile to your device, save, exit.
   ./scripts/diffconfig.sh > ../my-device.config

   diffconfig.sh produces a minimal .config containing only the deltas from the default — that's exactly what this template wants.

3. Drop it in.

   mkdir -p devices/<id>/files
   mv ../my-device.config devices/<id>/config

4. (Optional) Add a rootfs overlay. Anything under devices/<id>/files/ is copied to the image root. Common entries:

   • etc/uci-defaults/99-my-defaults — runs once on first boot
   • etc/ssh/sshd_config — gets chmod 0600 automatically
   • etc/rc.local — boot-time hook

   Files shared by all devices go in common/files/ instead.

5. Switch the active device.

   # builder.yml
   device: <id>

6. Push. The build runs immediately on push (and every 2 hours on cron).

Verifying locally before push

You can sanity-check the config-loading without a full compile:

yq -V                             # should print yq v4.x
bash scripts/load-config.sh       # prints resolved config, exits 0

If load-config.sh fails because devices/<id>/config is missing, you got the id wrong.

Tips

• Don't check in the full upstream .config (~3000 lines). Use diffconfig.sh output. It survives upstream churn far better.
• Do comment package additions in devices/<id>/config so future-you knows why a package is pinned.
• The artifact path in build.yml is openwrt/bin/targets/qualcommax/ipq807x — adjust if your device targets a different SoC family.