Distributions and plumbing, 13 November 2026

OpenWrt gained mainline support for another MediaTek router while two packages drew heavy forum testing, and Debian developers argued over unannounced LLM review of NEW uploads. Nix discussions covered bit-reproducible builds, a faster evaluator, and whether defense-industry work should draw ethical disapproval.

OpenWrt adds mainline support for the LTC Velo 7 Max

OpenWrt mainline now supports the LTC Velo 7 Max, built around the MT7988A. In a long forum thread, users discussed sysupgrade, dual-boot slot checks, and U-Boot rootfs verification.

Shunt offers DNS-agnostic policy routing on OpenWrt

A package called Shunt was announced for policy-based routing that does not depend on which DNS backend is in use. The thread also produced an odhcp6c pull request that fixes ignored DHCPv6 interface metrics.

Debian developer stops NEW uploads over LLM reviews

A Debian developer said they will no longer upload to NEW after the DFSG team deployed unannounced LLM reviews. The heated debian-devel thread, with 60 participants, centers on GR compliance and accountability.

luci-app-traffic-chart looks for testers

The author of luci-app-traffic-chart released iterative versions and asked for testers on the OpenWrt forum. Discussion is focused on debugging install, theme, and offload compatibility.

Thread asks what bit-reproducible Nix builds would take

A NixOS Discourse thread explores what it would mean if every Nix build were bit-reproducible. The discussion covers deterministic VM replay for builds and for CI debugging.

NixOS contributors debate defense-industry work

A heated NixOS Discourse thread debates whether people who work in defense should face ethical disapproval or exclusion from the project. Twenty-two participants joined the exchange.

OpenWrt user proposes fixes for multicast-to-unicast bugs

An OpenWrt user reported multicast-to-unicast bugs that produce duplicate packets and break dynamic VLANs, and offered configuration and kernel fixes. The report also cites umdns RFC violations.

Brix announced as a faster Nix evaluator

Brix, a fast rewrite of the Nix language and evaluator, was announced on NixOS Discourse. The short technical discussion so far covers garbage collection and caching.