OpenWrt 25.12.0-rc1 - Release Candidate

[Paul Tow]

It seems someone forgot to officially announce 25.12.0-rc1 on the front page of https://www.openwrt.org. There’s also still no page up at https://openwrt.org/releases/25.12/25.12.0-rc1.

The RC has, however, been announced on the openwrt-announce and openwrt-devel mailing lists, as well as on the forums. It’s only missing on the wiki.

>> On Dec 21, 2025, at 3:34:00 PM, Hauke Mehrtens <hauke at hauke-m.de> wrote:
>> 
>> Hi,
>> 
>> The OpenWrt community is proud to announce the first release candidate 
>> of the OpenWrt 25.12 stable series.
>> 
>> Download firmware images using the OpenWrt Firmware Selector:
>> * https://firmware-selector.openwrt.org?version=25.12.0-rc1
>> 
>> Download firmware images directly from our download servers:
>> * https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/25.12.0-rc1/targets/
>> 
>> 
>> Please test this version
>> ========================
>> 
>> This is not the final version, this is a test version. Please report 
>> problems and bugs in our issue tracker.
>> https://github.com/openwrt/openwrt/issues
>> 
>> 
>> Highlights in OpenWrt 25.12
>> ===========================
>> 
>> OpenWrt 25.12.0-rc1 incorporates over 4300 commits since branching the 
>> previous OpenWrt 24.10 release and has been under development for over 
>> one year.
>> 
>> Only the main changes are listed below.
>> 
>> General changes
>> ===============
>> 
>> * Switch package manager from opkg to apk
>> * Integration of attended Sysupgrade into default LuCI installation
>> * The shell history is stored in RAM till the next reboot
>> * Integration of video feed
>> * Wi-Fi scripts converted to ucode
>> 
>> 
>> Target changes
>> ==============
>> 
>> * Extend realtek target with support for more switch SoCs like 10G
>> Ethernet switches.
>> * Extend qualcommax target with support for ipq50xx and ipq60xx SoCs.
>> * Added siflower target for Siflower SF21A6826/SF21H8898 SoCs
>> * Added sunxi/arm926ejs subtarget for Allwinner F1C100/200s SoCs
>> 
>> 
>> Many new devices added
>> ======================
>> 
>> OpenWrt 25.12 supports over 2180 devices. Support for over 160 new 
>> devices was added in addition to the device support by OpenWrt 24.10.
>> 
>> 
>> Core components update
>> ======================
>> 
>> Core components have the following versions in 23.05.0-rc1:
>> 
>> * Updated toolchain:
>> * musl libc 1.2.5
>> * glibc 2.41
>> * gcc 14.3.0
>> * binutils 2.44
>> * Updated Linux kernel
>> * 6.12.62 for all targets
>> * main packages:
>> * cfg80211/mac80211 from kernel 6.18.0
>> * hostapd master snapshot from August 2025
>> * dnsmasq 2.91
>> * dropbear 2025.89
>> * busybox 1.37.0
>> 
>> In addition to the listed applications, many others were also updated.
>> 
>> 
>> Upgrading to 25.12
>> ===================
>> 
>> Sysupgrade can be used to upgrade a device from 24.10 to 25.12, and 
>> configuration will be preserved in most cases.
>> 
>> :!: Sysupgrade from 23.05 to 25.12 is not officially supported.
>> 
>> 
>> -----------------
>> 
>> Full release notes and upgrade instructions are available at
>> https://openwrt.org/releases/25.12/notes-25.12.0-rc1
>> 
>> In particular, make sure to read the regressions and known issues before 
>> upgrading:
>> https://openwrt.org/releases/25.12/notes-25.12.0-rc1#known_issues
>> 
>> For a detailed list of all changes since 24.10 branching, refer to
>> https://openwrt.org/releases/25.12/changelog-25.12.0-rc1
>> 
>> To download the 25.12.0-rc1 images, navigate to:
>> https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/25.12.0-rc1/targets/
>> Use OpenWrt Firmware Selector to download:
>> https://firmware-selector.openwrt.org?version=25.12.0-rc1
>> 
>> As always, a big thank you goes to all our active package maintainers, 
>> testers, documenters and supporters.
>> 
>> Have fun!
>> 
>> The OpenWrt Community
>> 
>> ---
>> 
>> To stay informed of new OpenWrt releases and security advisories, there
>> are new channels available:
>> 
>> * a low-volume mailing list for important announcements:
>> https://lists.openwrt.org/mailman/listinfo/openwrt-announce
>> 
>> * a dedicated "announcements" section in the forum:
>> https://forum.openwrt.org/c/announcements/14
>> 
>> * other announcement channels (such as RSS feeds) might be added in
>> the future, they will be listed at https://openwrt.org/contact
>