packages.adb index references filenames that don't match actual GitHub release assets (apk upgrade fails with 404)

[MarkBeharrell]

Environment:

• OpenWrt 25.12 (apk-based)
• Architecture: x86_64
• Tailscale: 1.96.1-r1 → 1.96.2-r1

Problem:

apk upgrade tailscale silently does nothing. The packages.adb feed index
references:

  tailscale-1.96.2-r1.apk

But the actual GitHub release asset is named:

  tailscale_1.96.2_x86_64.apk

The naming mismatch (dashes vs underscores, -r1 suffix vs _x86_64 suffix)
causes apk to get a 404 when it tries to download the package. No error is shown
— the upgrade just silently skips.

Additionally, apk policy tailscale shows no repository association after
installing via --allow-untrusted, so future apk upgrade runs won't pick it
up anyway.

Workaround:

Fetch the correct URL from the GitHub releases API and install directly:

  DOWNLOAD_URL=$(wget -qO- https://api.github.com/repos/GuNanOvO/openwrt-tailscale/releases/latest \
    | grep -o '"browser_download_url":"[^"]*x86_64[^"]*\.apk"' | head -n1 | cut -d'"' -f4)
  wget -O /tmp/tailscale.apk "${DOWNLOAD_URL}"
  apk add --allow-untrusted /tmp/tailscale.apk

Request:

Please ensure the filenames listed in packages.adb match the actual release
asset names on GitHub, so apk upgrade tailscale works correctly.

[ksharizard]

Hi,
I was trying to use the workaround but it seems like you hardcoded the arch (x86_64) into it. Here is the fixed version:

DOWNLOAD_URL=$(wget -qO- https://api.github.com/repos/GuNanOvO/openwrt-tailscale/releases/latest \
  | grep -o '"browser_download_url":"[^"]*'"$(cat /etc/apk/arch)"'[^"]*\.apk"' | head -n1 | cut -d'"' -f4)
wget -O /tmp/tailscale.apk "${DOWNLOAD_URL}"
apk add --allow-untrusted /tmp/tailscale.apk

[GuNanOvO]

Hi @MarkBeharrell @ksharizard , thank you very much for the detailed report and the workaround — really helpful 👍

This issue has now been fixed and it should be working correctly.

The root cause is that in newer OpenWrt (apk-based, e.g. 25.12), the packages.adb index does not directly use the actual built filename. Instead, it generates the package reference based on build-time metadata (such as version, release, etc.).

After I standardized the asset naming in the repository (using underscores and arch suffixes), it caused a mismatch with how apk resolves filenames, which led to the 404 during apk upgrade.

This behavior is different from the old opkg system, where the index is directly tied to the actual .ipk filenames generated at indexing time.

Now I’ve fully aligned with the apk indexing mechanism and reverted to the expected naming convention used by the original packaging logic.

Could you please test it again on your side? If there are still any issues, feel free to report back — and thanks again for the great feedback 🙏

[ksharizard]

Hi, looks to be working now. Just installed v1.96.3 with it.