Package Feeds

Understand how OpenWrt package feeds work, how to manage them with the feeds script, and how to create and use a custom feed.

A feed is an external source of package definitions — typically a git or SVN repository containing package Makefiles organized the same way as package/ in the main tree. Feeds let the community maintain large package collections independently of the core OpenWrt repository.

When you run ./scripts/feeds update and ./scripts/feeds install, the build system creates symlinks from feeds/<feedname>/ into the package tree so those packages can be selected in make menuconfig.

Default feeds

The file feeds.conf.default in the OpenWrt source root defines the feeds included with every release:

src-git packages https://git.openwrt.org/feed/packages.git
src-git luci https://git.openwrt.org/project/luci.git
src-git routing https://git.openwrt.org/feed/routing.git
src-git telephony https://git.openwrt.org/feed/telephony.git
src-git video https://github.com/openwrt/video.git

Feed	Contents
packages	The main community package feed: thousands of ported applications (Python, Perl, network tools, etc.)
luci	LuCI web interface and its modules
routing	Routing protocol daemons: BIRD, Babel, batman-adv, OLSR, etc.
telephony	VoIP software: Asterisk, Kamailio, and related packages
video	Media and video-related packages

Feed source types

Each line in feeds.conf or feeds.conf.default follows the format:

<type> <name> <url>[;<branch>]

Type	Description
src-git	Clone a git repository. Optionally specify a branch or tag after ; (e.g., src-git packages https://...;openwrt-23.05).
src-git-full	Clone a git repository with full history (no --depth 1).
src-svn	Checkout a Subversion repository.
src-link	Symlink to an existing local directory. The directory is not copied.
src-cpy	Copy a local directory into feeds/. Changes in the original directory are not reflected until the next update.

Managing feeds

All feed management is done through ./scripts/feeds from the OpenWrt source root.

update — fetch or refresh feeds

Download or refresh all feeds defined in feeds.conf:

./scripts/feeds update -a

Update a single named feed:

./scripts/feeds update packages

After updating, the feed contents are available under feeds/<name>/ but packages are not yet visible to menuconfig.

install — make packages available

Install (symlink) all packages from all feeds into the package tree:

./scripts/feeds install -a

Install a specific package by name:

./scripts/feeds install python3

Install all packages from a specific feed:

./scripts/feeds install -a -p packages

After installing, packages appear in make menuconfig and can be selected for the build.

uninstall — remove packages from the tree

Remove all feed packages from the package tree (reverse of install):

./scripts/feeds uninstall -a

Remove a specific package:

./scripts/feeds uninstall python3

search — find packages in feeds

Search for packages by name or description across all feeds:

./scripts/feeds search python

Search within a specific feed:

./scripts/feeds search -r packages python

list — list available packages

List all packages available in all feeds:

./scripts/feeds list

List packages from a specific feed:

./scripts/feeds list -r luci

clean — remove downloaded feed data

Remove all downloaded feed data (the feeds/ directory contents):

./scripts/feeds clean

Run this before a fresh update if you want to ensure a clean state.

Creating a custom feed

A custom feed is any git repository (or local directory) that contains package Makefiles in the standard OpenWrt layout.

1. Create the feed repository

   Create a new git repository. The directory structure mirrors package/ in the main tree:

   my-feed/
   ├── myapp/
   │   └── Makefile
   └── mylib/
       ├── Makefile
       └── patches/
           └── 001-fix.patch
   

   Package Makefiles in a feed are identical to those in the main tree. Commit and push to your git host.

2. Add the feed to your configuration

   Copy feeds.conf.default to feeds.conf (the local override file) and add your feed:

   cp feeds.conf.default feeds.conf
   

   Then add a line for your feed:

   src-git packages https://git.openwrt.org/feed/packages.git
   src-git luci https://git.openwrt.org/project/luci.git
   src-git routing https://git.openwrt.org/feed/routing.git
   src-git telephony https://git.openwrt.org/feed/telephony.git
   src-git video https://github.com/openwrt/video.git
   src-git myfeed https://github.com/myuser/my-openwrt-feed.git
   

   For local development, use src-link to avoid repeated pushes:

   src-link myfeed /home/user/my-openwrt-feed
   
3. Update and install the feed

   ./scripts/feeds update myfeed
   ./scripts/feeds install -a -p myfeed
   

   Your packages now appear in make menuconfig under their respective categories.

feeds.conf takes precedence over feeds.conf.default. If both files exist, only feeds.conf is read. When you create feeds.conf, copy all the default entries you still want — omitting a feed means it will not be available.

Feed workflow for development

The recommended workflow when developing packages in a custom feed:

# 1. Point feeds.conf at your local directory
echo 'src-link myfeed /path/to/my-feed' >> feeds.conf

# 2. Update and install
./scripts/feeds update myfeed
./scripts/feeds install -a -p myfeed

# 3. Build your package
make package/myapp/compile V=s

# 4. After editing the package Makefile, reinstall the feed symlinks
./scripts/feeds install myapp
make package/myapp/compile V=s

Because src-link uses symlinks, edits to files in your local feed directory are reflected immediately without re-running feeds update.