Qemu tools were available inside the images since the beginning because it was easier for the development.
But running the image on a physical machine had a drawback: the tools were not able to run correctly, multiple errors were logged, and a useless daemon was running.
Many users asked the tools for VMware too.
So the safest path is to move both tools to extra optional packages.
This choice has multiple benefits:
- image size have been reduced
- no more errors on non-KVM machine
- no more useless daemon running even if not needed
Also bear in mind that most installations run on physical hardware.
This is the actual status of installation based on phone home:
Pyhical 66%, KVM 25% (but here there are many dev installations), VMware 8%.
This is not possible for now, it’s a limitation of OpenWrt: [OpenWrt Wiki] Preserving OpenWrt packages
Creating a script that handle all the cases is quite hard and prone to error.
I have to disagree. We are not running a modern distro like Debian, working with OpenWrt is much like working on a Slackware in the nineties.
Yes this is a solution but a nightmare to maintain because OpenWrt build system can’t handle such situations.
I know it’s hard, but if you want, you can keep your custom build: Custom images | NethSecurity