"USB key 4G " and "openvpn" are not available in the package repository for this target

[chriszebird]

• I have searched the issues of this repository and believe that this is not a duplicate.

Summary

On the **Raspberry Pi 3 b+ + hat + seed - WM1302 ** ChirpStack Gateway OS image base or Full with upgrade, it is currently not possible to use common USB 4G modems (e.g. Huawei E3372h-153) because the required kernel modules (Include / build the standard USB 4G modem kmods ) :

kmod-usb-net
kmod-usb-net-cdc-ether
kmod-usb-net-cdc-ncm
kmod-usb-net-huawei-cdc-ncm
kmod-usb-serial-option
kmod-usb-serial-wwan
(and any other minimal dependencies needed). are not available in the package repository for this target.

Similarly, the tun kernel module (and kmod-tun) is not available, which prevents using OpenVPN client on ChirpStack Gateway OS (even though openvpn-openssl appears in the package list, it cannot be installed due to missing kmod-tun and architecture constraints).

I would like to request:

1. Either an image/profile of ChirpStack Gateway OS that includes:
   • 4G USB modem support (USB-net and USB-serial drivers commonly used for LTE sticks),
   • and optionally TUN support for OpenVPN client,
2. Or clear documentation stating that these use-cases are not supported on ChirpStack Gateway OS and that users must use WireGuard and/or an external router for 4G.

What is the use-case?

My setup:

• Gateway hardware: Raspberry Pi 3 b + LoRa concentrator seed - WM1302 .
• OS: ChirpStack Gateway OS (OpenWrt-based), kernel 6.6.104,
• Modem: Huawei E3372h-153 USB 4G stick.
• Goal:
  Make this Pi+concentrator a standalone LoRaWAN gateway that:
  • connects to the Internet via 4G (USB modem),
  • optionally uses OpenVPN (like my existing SenseCAP M2 4G gateways) to reach a local LNS/VPN,
  • and forwards LoRa packets via UDP (port 1700) to an existing ChirpStack LNS.

What happens today:

• The modem switches from 12d1:1f01 to 12d1:14dc (mass storage → modem) using usbmode and /etc/usb-mode.json.

• dmesg shows the Huawei device and USB Mass Storage correctly.

• But no new network or serial interface appears (ip link show only lists lo, eth0, br-lan).

• Installing the usual OpenWrt packages for this modem fails:

  opkg install kmod-usb-net kmod-usb-net-cdc-ether kmod-usb-net-cdc-ncm \
               kmod-usb-net-huawei-cdc-ncm kmod-usb-serial-option kmod-usb-serial-wwan
  

Checked all available USB-related packages from the 24.10.3 feeds for arm_arm1176jzf-s_vfp.
None of the following exist in the repository:

• kmod-usb-net
• kmod-usb-net-cdc-ether
• kmod-usb-net-cdc-ncm
• kmod-usb-net-huawei-cdc-ncm
• kmod-usb-serial
• kmod-usb-serial-option
• kmod-usb-serial-wwan

Only usb-modeswitch, usbutils, and firmware packages are available.

First of all thank you for this very nice work but the custom kernel is too light. It's better to add more than not enough, even if it means deactivating... but there are probably reasons that I don't know about, so well done.