Netgear WGT634U-based Network Stumbler

This is a description of how RussellSenior goes about building a stumbler device based on the NetgearWgt643u and OpenWrt. This is experimental software. Follow these instructions at your own risk. Based on the excellent trailblazing work and example provided by JasonMcArthur.

Hardware

Building OpenWrt Software

Currently, I am using the buildroot-ng svn tree. This description is based on the already obsolete r4902. 

cd /src/openwrt
svn co https://svn.openwrt.org/openwrt/branches/buildroot-ng 
svn co https://svn.openwrt.org/openwrt/packages 
cd /src/openwrt/buildroot-ng/openwrt/package 
for i in $(find ../../../packages -type d | grep -v .svn | awk -F/ 'NF==6') ; do echo $i ; ln -s $i $(echo $i | awk -F/ '{ print $6 }') ; done

# add package infrastructure for an older version of gpsd (v2.9)

mkdir /src/openwrt/buildroot-ng/openwrt/package/gpsd-old
cat > /src/openwrt/buildroot-ng/openwrt/package/gpsd-old <<EOF
include $(TOPDIR)/rules.mk

PKG_NAME:=gpsd-old
PKG_VERSION:=2.9
PKG_RELEASE:=1

PKG_BUILD_DIR:=$(BUILD_DIR)/$(PKG_NAME)-$(PKG_VERSION)
PKG_SOURCE:=$(PKG_NAME)-$(PKG_VERSION).tar.gz
PKG_SOURCE_URL:=http://www.personaltelco.net/~russell/
PKG_MD5SUM:=b676f6cb355d801023f08a62f11a606f
PKG_CAT:=zcat

PKG_BUILDDEP=libpthread uclibcxx

include $(INCLUDE_DIR)/package.mk

define Package/gpsd-old
  SECTION:=net
  CATEGORY:=Network
  TITLE:=gpsd
  DEPENDS:=+libpthread +uclibcxx
  DESCRIPTION:=An interface daemon for GPS receivers
endef

define Build/Configure
        ( cd $(PKG_BUILD_DIR); rm -rf config.cache; \
                $(TARGET_CONFIGURE_OPTS) \
                CFLAGS="$(TARGET_CFLAGS)" \
                CXXFLAGS="$(TARGET_CFLAGS) -fno-builtin -fno-rtti -nostdinc++ -nodefaultlibs"  \
                CPPFLAGS="-I$(STAGING_DIR)/usr/include -I$(STAGING_DIR)/include" \
                LDFLAGS="-nodefaultlibs -L$(STAGING_DIR)/usr/lib -L$(STAGING_DIR)/lib" \
                LIBS="-luClibc++ -lc -lm -lnotimpl" \
                ./configure \
                        --target=$(GNU_TARGET_NAME) \
                        --host=$(GNU_TARGET_NAME) \
                        --build=$(GNU_HOST_NAME) \
                        --program-prefix="" \
                        --program-suffix="" \
                        --prefix=/usr \
                        --exec-prefix=/usr \
                        --bindir=/usr/bin \
                        --datadir=/usr/share \
                        --includedir=/usr/include \
                        --infodir=/usr/share/info \
                        --libdir=/usr/lib \
                        --libexecdir=/usr/lib \
                        --localstatedir=/var \
                        --mandir=/usr/share/man \
                        --sbindir=/usr/sbin \
                        --sysconfdir=/etc \
                        $(DISABLE_LARGEFILE) \
                        $(DISABLE_NLS) \
                        --enable-shared \
                        --enable-static \
                        --with-gnu-ld \
                        --without-x \
        );
endef

define Build/Compile
        cp $(PKG_BUILD_DIR)/libtool $(PKG_BUILD_DIR)/libtool.orig
        sed 's/-lstdc++ //' < $(PKG_BUILD_DIR)/libtool.orig > $(PKG_BUILD_DIR)/libtool
        $(MAKE) -C $(PKG_BUILD_DIR) \
                all
endef

define Package/gpsd-old/install
        install -d -m0755 $(1)/usr/lib
        install -m0755 $(PKG_BUILD_DIR)/.libs/libgps.so* $(1)/usr/lib/
        install -d -m0755 $(1)/usr/sbin/
        install -m0755 $(PKG_BUILD_DIR)/.libs/gpsd $(1)/usr/sbin/
endef

define Build/InstallDev
        mkdir -p $(STAGING_DIR)/usr/include
        $(CP) $(PKG_BUILD_DIR)/gps{,d}.h $(STAGING_DIR)/usr/include/
        mkdir -p $(STAGING_DIR)/usr/lib
        $(CP) $(PKG_BUILD_DIR)/.libs/libgps.{a,so*} $(STAGING_DIR)/usr/lib/
endef

define Build/UninstallDev
        rm -rf $(STAGING_DIR)/usr/include/gps{,d}.h \
                $(STAGING_DIR)/usr/lib/libgps.{a,so*} 
endef

$(eval $(call BuildPackage,gpsd-old))
EOF

cd /src/openwrt/buildroot-ng/openwrt
make menuconfig
make

In the menuconfig, I set the Target System to (Broadcom BCM47xx/53xx [2.6]), and for kicks I also "Select all packages by default" and enable a few things (which I am currently forgetting) that don't automatically get configured in. Often, you will find packages that won't build for some reason or another. In those cases, open a ticket, deconfigure the package in menuconfig and try again. Run make alone to see abbreviated messages, or make V=99 to get lots of information. The configuration I used for r4902 can be found [http://www.personaltelco.net/~russell/buildroot-ng/config-r4902 here].

When the build is complete, the resulting files will be found thusly:

Additionally, as of my recent attempts, the Packages file that is needed for the ipkg utility to function properly later on is apparently not constructed (maybe I missed it), but I developed a script that does it for me: 

TOPDIR="/src/openwrt/buildroot-ng/openwrt"

CTRLDIR="${TOPDIR}/build_mipsel"
PKGSDIR="${TOPDIR}/bin/packages"
PKGSFIL="${PKGSDIR}/Packages"

rm -f ${PKGSFIL}

for i in $(find ${CTRLDIR} -name 'control' | grep CONTROL) ; 
  do echo $i ; 
  PACKAGE=$(grep ^Package: $i | cut -d' ' -f2) ; 
  VERSION=$(grep ^Version: $i | cut -d' ' -f2) ; 
  ARCH=$(grep ^Architecture: $i | cut -d' ' -f2) ; 
  FILENAME="${PACKAGE}_${VERSION}_${ARCH}.ipk" ;
  IPKG="${PKGSDIR}/${FILENAME}"
  if [ -f ${IPKG} ] ; then
      SIZE=$(wc -c ${IPKG} | cut -d' ' -f1) ; 
      MD5=$(md5sum ${IPKG} | cut -d' ' -f1) ; 
      cat $i >> ${PKGSFIL} ; 
      echo "Filename: ${FILENAME}" >> ${PKGSFIL} ; 
      echo "Size: ${SIZE}" >> ${PKGSFIL} ; 
      echo "MD5Sum: ${MD5}" >> ${PKGSFIL} ; 
      echo "" >> ${PKGSFIL} ; 
  else
      echo "${FILENAME} NOT FOUND!"
  fi
done

Now, you can copy the ipkg repository somewhere wget'able, e.g.: 

rsync -v -a -H /src/openwrt/buildroot-ng/openwrt/bin/packages/ donk.personaltelco.net:public_html/buildroot-ng/r4902/

Checking out the WGT634U

If this is a new device, it is probably a good idea to check it out on the stock firmware first to make sure it functions.

The Flash Environment

There is more than one way to flash the newly-built image onto the WGT634U.

CFE TFTP Flash-From-Console Method

This is the method I tend to use. For this, you will need a TFTP server and a serial console cable. On my debian/unstable box, I use the tftpd-hpa package.

Configuration

Adding Sound

For this, you need a usb-audio device and some additional software: