How to install on an old version of OpenWRT 17.01.7 (a success story)

Installation & Set Up
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Some notes on how to successfully install Remote.it on OpenWRT 17.01.7:

Log in to the router via SSH (change 192.168.1.1 to your router’s IP address):

ssh -v -oHostKeyAlgorithms=+ssh-rsa root@192.168.1.1

Update the package list:

opkg update

Install curl:

opkg install curl

Install ca-bundle (certificate authority):

opkg install ca-bundle

Change to the temp directory:

cd /tmp

Download and install an OLD version of the jq from openwrt.org:

wget https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/18.06.0/packages/mips_24kc/packages/jq_1.5-3_mips_24kc.ipk

Install jq:

opkg install jq_1.5-3_mips_24kc.ipk

Then proceed with the installation instructions for Remote.it on OpenWRT.

sh -c "$(curl -L "https://downloads.remote.it/remoteit/install_agent.sh")"

Basically, curl, ca-bundle and jq are required for installation. The problem is that jq isn’t found in OpenWRT package lists prior to 18.01, so it can’t be installed that way. I first tried the latest version of jq from OpenWRT’s snapshot packages repository, but that created errors with Remote.it. I removed it and installed the older 1.5 version jq package for OpenWRT 18.01, and suddenly everything worked.

For good measure, here’s the cleanup instructions for Remote.it on OpenWRT:

opkg remove remoteit
rm -rf /etc/remoteit /usr/share/remoteit
1 Like
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Thank you for the notes on installation!
As an extra note here, the install command can take your registration code so that you do not need to use a claim code to get the device into your account.
These instructions are so that you can have the dependencies installed on your system such as curl and jq.

To generate the one line install which will have your registration code, you can go into the remote.it app (app.remote.it, desktop app, or mobile app) and click the blue + “add device” and select “OpenWrt” icon. Then copy the command. This will add the device with an SSH service to your account.

You should not run the remove commands unless you are trying to uninstall Remote.it.

You can also install remote.it in a docker container as well if you are running Docker on your device.