But it also means access to a much broader range of components. Instead of being released as a monolithic build à la DD-WRT, OpenWrt is more akin to an actual Linux distribution with its own package manager.īecause of all this, setting up and running OpenWrt can become a much more involved process, since the user has the freedom to make most any changes they want directly inside OpenWrt. The OpenWrt project home page unpretentiously describes the technology as 'a Linux distribution for embedded devices,' but that humble label doesn't cover the whole picture. OpenWrt is open source firmware similar to DD-WRT, but with a markedly different approach to its construction and deployment. While DD-WRT has its roots in open source, it has a more commercial flavor than some of the projects in the same vein. Consequently, while DD-WRT has been released under the terms of the GPL, commercial builds of the firmware may incorporate much non-GPL code. The project was successful enough that DD-WRT has become the basis for other firmware created by router manufacturers themselves. Eventually this work was turned into a commercial offering, which encouraged the folks at to launch their own branch of the project. Another company, Sveasoft, picked up on the results and created its own third-party firmware (aka Alchemy). The company was eventually obliged to release the source code for those routers under the terms of the GPL. In 2002, Linksys started releasing a line of routers (the WRT54G models) that used Linux as an embedded system. DD-WRT has a slightly convoluted history.

Dd wrt routers