Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described in which radio units (RUs), distributed units (DUs), or combinations thereof, may have a single hardware configuration that may be configured to implement different functions for radio frequency (RF) and baseband processing at a base station. A desired functionality for a RU or DU may be identified, and the RU or DU may be configured to implement the functionality through run-time configuration or boot images to implement a particular set of functions that may be needed for a particular cell or deployment. A RU or DU may be reconfigured following an initial configuration to perform different functions following the reconfiguration.