Release v2.1.1 — March 22, 2026

[jnilo1]

Minor release with bug fixes and flash script improvements. Upgrade path:

./flash_install_rtl8196e.sh gateway_ip

Bug fixes

• boothold unreliable via SSH: BusyBox devmem writes through KSEG0 (cached, write-back) — the HOLD flag could stay in L1 D-cache and be lost on watchdog reset. Replaced with a C binary (boothold) that uses pwrite() + O_SYNC on /dev/mem to force the write to DRAM.
• JFFS2 decompression errors on fresh userdata flash: mkfs.jffs2 -X zlib enables zlib but does not disable rtime (enabled by default). Added -x rtime -x lzo to force zlib-only compression — matches the kernel config (CONFIG_JFFS2_ZLIB=y, no rtime/lzo).
• Skeleton pollution after flash: flash_remote.sh and flash_install_rtl8196e.sh injected gateway config (passwd, eth0.conf, etc.) into the skeleton without cleanup. Added rsync --delete restore via EXIT trap.

Improvements

• Bootloader V2.5: auto-reboot after flashing all partition types (bootloader, rootfs, userdata — was only kernel).
• Flash scripts: two-phase bootloader detection (wait SSH down, then ARP) prevents false positives during shutdown. Quiet build mode. Compatible EFR32 firmware list shown at end of flash_install.
• S70otbr: sync daemon uses REST API instead of ot-ctl (eliminates broken pipe warnings). Fast poll (5s) until Thread is up, then 30s.

Full changelog

• RTL8196E CHANGELOG

[olivluca]

A small bug: I updated one device that was in otbr mode, then another one in zigbee mode, however the second device got the /userdata/etc/radio.conf from the first device, so it didn't start serialgateway.
No big problem I just deleted radio.conf and restarted, but maybe the backup should be done in a clean directory.
In fact I don't like too much the way you do it (e.g. overwrite files in 34-Userdata then restore the original files on exit, but the leftovers are still there).
You could use the temp directory to build userdata and don't touch 34-Userdata at all.
Example of the leftover files:

$ LC_ALL=C git status
On branch main
Your branch is up to date with 'origin/main'.

Untracked files:
  (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
        skeleton/etc/dropbear/dropbear_ecdsa_host_key
        skeleton/etc/dropbear/dropbear_ecdsa_host_key.pub
        skeleton/etc/dropbear/dropbear_ed25519_host_key
        skeleton/etc/dropbear/dropbear_ed25519_host_key.pub
        skeleton/etc/dropbear/dropbear_rsa_host_key
        skeleton/etc/dropbear/dropbear_rsa_host_key.pub
        skeleton/etc/eth0.conf
        skeleton/etc/mac_address
        skeleton/etc/radio.conf
        skeleton/thread/

nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)

[jnilo1]

@olivluca Thanks for the detailed report — you're right, this a bug. Should be fixed in just released v2.1.2.

All build and flash scripts now work on a temporary copy of the skeleton (SKELETON_DIR env var). The original 34-Userdata/skeleton/ is never modified — no residual files, no cross-contamination between runs.

About the radio.conf issue specifically: when upgrading a device, flash_remote.sh saves the current gateway config via SSH (eth0.conf, radio.conf, passwd, SSH keys, Thread credentials, etc.) and injects it into the temporary skeleton before rebuilding userdata. So the radio mode is preserved from the running gateway — not from leftover files in the repo. This is the recommended upgrade path for single-partition updates:

cd 3-Main-SoC-Realtek-RTL8196E
./flash_remote.sh userdata 192.168.1.88

The individual flash_userdata.sh script (without flash_remote.sh) prompts for network/radio config interactively — it doesn't save from the gateway.

Hope this addresses all your remarks — keep them coming!