Device: GL-AXT1800 (Slate AX)
Firmware: 4.8.3 (also 4.8.2 likely affected)
Kernel: 5.4.164
SDK: wlan-ap-v2.6.0 / OpenWrt 23.05-SNAPSHOT
Issue
The shipped /usr/lib/libevent-2.1.so.7.0.1 (built 2026-04-13) is missing the pthread threading symbols that libevent2 normally provides:
evthread_set_id_callback
evthread_set_lock_callbacks
evthread_set_condition_callbacks
These are present in upstream OpenWrt 23.05.5 libevent2-7 build (verified via downloads.openwrt.org/.../libevent2-7_2.1.12-1_aarch64_cortex-a53.ipk).
Reproduction
# Install transmission-daemon from GL.iNet repo
opkg install transmission-daemon
# Try to start
/etc/init.d/transmission start
# Logs show:
Error relocating /usr/bin/transmission-daemon: evthread_set_condition_callbacks: symbol not found
Error relocating /usr/bin/transmission-daemon: evthread_set_id_callback: symbol not found
Error relocating /usr/bin/transmission-daemon: evthread_set_lock_callbacks: symbol not found
Verification
strings /usr/lib/libevent-2.1.so.7 | grep '^evthread_set_'
# Returns nothing on 4.8.3, but should return all three callback functions
Workaround
Replacing /usr/lib/libevent-2.1.so.7.0.1 with the upstream OpenWrt 23.05.5 build (libevent2-7_2.1.12-1_aarch64_cortex-a53.ipk) immediately fixes transmission-daemon and any other libevent-based threaded daemon.
Likely root cause
The libevent build configuration was changed on 2026-04-13 — pthread support was disabled. Probably --disable-thread-support or similar flag in the build recipe regressed.
Impact
Any OpenWrt package linked against libevent-2.1.so.7 that uses threading will fail to start. Confirmed broken: transmission-daemon. Likely affects others (memcached, monit, redis-server, tor when built with libevent threading).