wget: busybox wget doesn't work

[asche77]

Package Name

openwrt/package/utils/busybox

Wget

Uclient-fetch

Maintainer

openwrt

OpenWrt Version

25.12.1

OpenWrt Target/Subtarget

ramips/mt7621

Steps to Reproduce

DO(N'T) THIS:

root@OpenWrt:~# apk add curl wget

(1/6) Purging uclient-fetch (2026.02.20~7a0aa2e4-r1)
  Executing uclient-fetch-2026.02.20~7a0aa2e4-r1.pre-deinstall
  * add alternative: /usr/bin/wget -> /bin/busybox
(2/6) Installing libpcre2 (10.47-r1)
wgetwget: applet not found
ERROR: wget: exited with error 127
ERROR: libpcre2-10.47-r1: unexpected end of file
(3/6) Installing wget-nossl (1.25.0-r2)
wgetwget: applet not found
ERROR: wget: exited with error 127
ERROR: wget-nossl-1.25.0-r2: unexpected end of file
(4/6) Installing libnghttp2-14 (1.66.0-r1)
wgetwget: applet not found
ERROR: wget: exited with error 127
ERROR: libnghttp2-14-1.66.0-r1: unexpected end of file
(5/6) Installing libcurl4 (8.19.0-r1)
wgetwget: applet not found
ERROR: wget: exited with error 127
ERROR: libcurl4-8.19.0-r1: unexpected end of file
(6/6) Installing curl (8.19.0-r1)
wgetwget: applet not found
ERROR: wget: exited with error 127
ERROR: curl-8.19.0-r1: unexpected end of file
5 errors; 26.9 MiB in 224 packages

NO GOING BACK:

apk add uclient-fetch

(1/6) Installing uclient-fetch (2026.02.20~7a0aa2e4-r1)
(2/6) Installing libnghttp2-14 (1.66.0-r1)
(3/6) Installing libcurl4 (8.19.0-r1)
(4/6) Installing curl (8.19.0-r1)
(5/6) Installing libpcre2 (10.47-r1)
(6/6) Installing wget-nossl (1.25.0-r2)
6 errors; 26.9 MiB in 224 packages

Errors

wgetwget: applet not found
ERROR: wget: exited with error 127
ERROR: uclient-fetch-2026.02.20~7a0aa2e4-r1: unexpected end of file
wgetwget: applet not found
ERROR: wget: exited with error 127
ERROR: libnghttp2-14-1.66.0-r1: unexpected end of file
wgetwget: applet not found
ERROR: wget: exited with error 127
ERROR: libcurl4-8.19.0-r1: unexpected end of file
wgetwget: applet not found
ERROR: wget: exited with error 127
ERROR: curl-8.19.0-r1: unexpected end of file
wgetwget: applet not found
ERROR: wget: exited with error 127
ERROR: libpcre2-10.47-r1: unexpected end of file
wgetwget: applet not found
ERROR: wget: exited with error 127
ERROR: wget-nossl-1.25.0-r2: unexpected end of 

RESULT:
apk inoperable, can't update / install packages.

Actual Behaviour

I (misguidedly) tried to add wget to the system.

This causesd uclient-fetch to be de-installed.

Now no packages - including wget - can be downloaded and installed. Apparently apk relies on wget and somewhere there is an erroneous "wgetwget" command that ... doesnt work.

Or it could be that busybox / wget-nossl would need to be downloaded first before deinstalling uclient-fetch?

Confirmation Checklist

• The package is maintained in this repository.
• I understand that issues related to the base OpenWrt repository or LuCI repository will be closed.
• I am reporting an issue for OpenWrt, not an unsupported fork.

[efahl]

Hmm, seems like all of this should be handled in update_alternatives...

https://github.com/openwrt/openwrt/blob/main/package/base-files/files/lib/functions.sh#L298

[whattheheehaw]

I am also having this problem. It's really bad.

[GeorgeSapkin]

I can reproduce this as described. The issue is that the currently default wget-nossl has no TLS support, so it chokes on https://. The solution is to install wget-ssl instead:

root@OpenWrt:~# apk add wget-ssl
(1/3) Installing libopenssl3 (3.5.5-r1)
  Executing libopenssl3-3.5.5-r1.post-install
(2/3) Installing libpcre2 (10.47-r1)
  Executing libpcre2-10.47-r1.post-install
(3/3) Installing wget-ssl (1.25.0-r2)
  Executing wget-ssl-1.25.0-r2.post-install
  * add alternative: /usr/bin/wget -> /usr/libexec/wget-ssl
OK: 26.5 MiB in 185 packages

Which can be switched to be the default variant (currently there's none). No-TLS wget is pretty much incompatible with apk.

[efahl]

Ok, so it looks like wget-ssl needs to have a higher provider-priority than wget-nossl?

[asche77]

I guess there are two steps that could/should be taken:

1. Sequence: first download the new packages. Then uninstall the old ones. Finally install the new (already downloaded) packages.
2. Give higher priority / change default to wget-ssl.

[GeorgeSapkin]

I think uclient-fetch and wget-ssl should provide wget-ssl instead (the latter one obviously does that implicitly), and apk should depends on that.

Edit: it's a bit more involved than that, since this needs to have provides across multiple packages, so virtual providers must be used.

[asdf618]

If you still have curl installed, here's a fix:

#!/bin/sh

PARAMS="-L -k" # -L follows redirects, -k ignores SSL (needed for bootstrap)
OUTPUT_SET=0

while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
    case "$1" in
        -O)
            if [ "$2" = "-" ]; then
                # apk specifically wants data on stdout
                OUTPUT_SET=1
                shift 2
            else
                # Save to a specific file
                PARAMS="$PARAMS -o \"$2\""
                OUTPUT_SET=1
                shift 2
            fi
            ;;
        -T|--timeout)
            PARAMS="$PARAMS --connect-timeout $2"
            shift 2
            ;;
        -q|--quiet)
            PARAMS="$PARAMS -s"
            shift
            ;;
        -t|--tries)
            PARAMS="$PARAMS --retry $2"
            shift 2
            ;;
        *)
            # Standard URL or other flags
            PARAMS="$PARAMS \"$1\""
            shift
            ;;
    esac
done

if [ "$OUTPUT_SET" -eq 0 ]; then
    PARAMS="-O $PARAMS"
fi

eval exec curl $PARAMS

Point /usr/bin/wget to this script, and proceed with apk update; apk install wget-ssl