Easy ExtRoot

This is the original BarrierBreaker version. You can find here the ChaosCalmer version.

This project was triggered by a practical need. Somehow, I have never managed to have a functional OpenWRT extroot system from the first try. It seems I always forget something, from the packages needed to be installed to some configuration in the fstab file.

If you have been here before and you just want the files, go to https://github.com/c2sandu/Easy-ExtRoot.

If you want to learn more about extroot and when do you need something like that, you can visit http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/extroot.

 

What you get

Instead of receiving a step by step guide of what you need to install, what commands are needed and so on, this project provides a ready made firmware file which includes everything you need installed by default, plus a simple script to extend the root filesystem. After two commands and two reboots you will have a fully functional extroot filesystem.

As you can see in the picture above, you will have 256 MB swap space and all the rest of the available storage will be allotted to the root filesystem.

 

What you need

• TP-Link TL-MR3020 router (update: image available for Hame MPR-A1 clones, too)
• USB memory stick

If you need to generate an extroot filesystem for a different router, you can use the instructions and the files provided below, changing the name of the profile.

Warning

Each time you run the extroot script, the USB memory device connected to the router is repartitioned, meaning that you will lose all the data on the USB memory stick. Therefore, use ONLY a dedicated USB memory stick.

Read the disclaimer before going any further.

Files

You can find on Github the firmware file and the relevant files used to generate the image. The relevant files are below:

root@ExtRoot:~#tree extroot
extroot
└── etc
├── config
│   ├── fstab
│   ├── network
│   ├── system
│   └── wireless
├── init.d
│   └── extroot
├── passwd
├── profile
├── rc.local
└── shadow

However, if you want to customize your image, you can do so by generating a modified one. The command I used for generating the image from the OpenWRT Image Builder is:

make image PROFILE=TLMR3020 PACKAGES=”block-mount kmod-scsi-generic kmod-usb-uhci kmod-usb-ohci kmod-usb-storage kmod-usb-core kmod-usb2 kmod-scsi-core kmod-fs-ext4 partx-utils e2fsprogs fdisk -libip6tc -kmod-ppp -kmod-pppox -kmod-ppoe -libip6tc -kmod-ipv6 -kmod-ip6tables -odhcp6c -ppp -ip6tables -ppp-mod-pppoe” FILES=files/extroot

For MPR-A1 clone, the command is:

make image PROFILE=MPRA1 PACKAGES=”block-mount kmod-scsi-generic kmod-usb-uhci kmod-usb-ohci kmod-usb-storage kmod-usb-core kmod-usb2 kmod-scsi-core kmod-fs-ext4 partx-utils e2fsprogs fdisk -libip6tc -kmod-ppp -kmod-pppox -kmod-ppoe -libip6tc -kmod-ipv6 -kmod-ip6tables -odhcp6c -ppp -ip6tables -ppp-mod-pppoe” FILES=files/extroot

The make info command will give you the list of predefined profiles you can use.

How to use

• SSH to your router
• copy (e.g. using WinSCP) the firmware file to the /tmp filesystem
• flash the new firmware to the router (see below)

• • insert the USB memory stick (if it’s not yet inserted). The script will complain and exit if the memory stick is not inserted.
  • re-connect to the router using SSH. Default password is d0c55555 (it’s a “zero” there, not an “o” letter) and the default IP address is 172.20.2.100. After logging in, you can change the root password using passwd command.
  • run the script /etc/init.d/extroot. You can first review what is inside the script, eventually modifying the size of swap partition, etc.

• reboot and you are done

• there you go! Plenty of space for your packages 🙂

Alternatives

You can find below a link I bookmarked and used before this project:

http://techjim.blogspot.ro/2013/11/tp-link-mr3020-extroot-and-other-tips.html

 

Good luck!