But that means custom per-device firmware builds, that in my experience with every router I tried it on means they lag months/years behind security patches. Is there some way to stay patched without building from source and reflashing every time a patch to something upstream happens? (almost daily, now, I guess that means?)
If something urgent appears, a point release will be made asap. If worry that isn't soon enough, can use the daily snapshot builds. That said, imo an essential device like a router should be as solid as possible and only upgraded if important rather for minor bug fixes.