Asus Merlin - Is there a development road map?

[Authority]

Hello - long time user. Was wondering if there's any kind of development road map for the Asus Merlin firmware? I understand that a lot of it is is response to Asus releases, but I am sure there are thing on Merlin's "to do list" but I can't find it published anywhere.

 

[JacquesR]

Hello - long time user. Was wondering if there's any kind of development road map for the Asus Merlin firmware? I understand that a lot of it is is response to Asus releases, but I am sure there are thing on Merlin's "to do list" but I can't find it published anywhere.

See RMerlin's August 17 post.

 

[Authority]

See RMerlin's August 17 post.

Thanks - that's good to know. If the download numbers are any guide there are a lot more people using Asus Merlin firmware than checking these threads. It might be a good idea to have something on his web page? Something like:

Current Version: xxxxx

Next Release: Paused (see http://www.snbforums.com/threads/asuswrt-merlin-384-19-is-now-available.65801/post-611534)

 

[Authority]

See RMerlin's August 17 post.

After further digging... it seems development is back on?

"a lot will change in the coming weeks once I move to updated GPL code from Asus."

[Thread-1] [ 386.1_Alpha Build(s) ] Testing available build(s)

https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=!AGY2taGX02nVmWA&id=CCE5625ED3599CE0!1427&cid=CCE5625ED3599CE0 @RMerlin @thiggins is it possible to have "Alpha" prefix also? New model, support is still being gradually implemented, it's a work-in-progress. Early development, I have not uniformized build...

www.snbforums.com

But that was in fact my point; it seems unnecessary to have to dig for this information when it could be on his front page just like build numbers.

 

[RMerlin]

There's no public roadmap because I don't have one myself. I'm still waiting for Asus to finalize their own betatest before I can move forward and get updated code for all supported models.

 

[Authority]

There's no public roadmap because I don't have one myself. I'm still waiting for Asus to finalize their own betatest before I can move forward and get updated code for all supported models.

I understand, and I get that "when is the next release?" is really annoying. I am just suggesting if you updated your webpage with your current development status it would be much appreciated by your user base.

"Status" could be anything from "waiting for Asus" or "shooting for next month" or "paused because I have a cold". I was able to gather this from spending an hour poking around here today, bit it seems a bit unecesary when you could easily update us all with a single line on your web page. Just my two cents.

 

[bluepoint]

I understand, and I get that "when is the next release?" is really annoying. I am just suggesting if you updated your webpage with your current development status it would be much appreciated by your user base.

"Status" could be anything from "waiting for Asus" or "shooting for next month" or "paused because I have a cold". I was able to gather this from spending an hour poking around here today, bit it seems a bit unecesary when you could easily update us all with a single line on your web page. Just my two cents.

Just look around his dev site to get the sense of what he's up to.

Home | Asuswrt-Merlin

www.asuswrt-merlin.net

 

[Authority]

Just look around his dev site to get the sense of what he's up to.

Home | Asuswrt-Merlin

www.asuswrt-merlin.net

Unfortunately it doesn’t have the information I was looking for. That was the point of my post.

 

[bluepoint]

Unfortunately it doesn’t have the information I was looking for. That was the point of my post.

I guess the lead is not enough for you then there is nothing better. Good luck!

 

[fields987]

this isn't really a roadmap, as @RMerlin doens't really have one himself. But you can kind of keep up with all the changes going on behind the scenes within his development cycle. by watching the commits on github and staying up on the changelog. I'm not sure there is any set cadence here, but its been my experience that there is usually new activity at least every week or two. So to say Merlin is shutting down the project pending asus pushing 386 is just not true. He's been very active to align his code with 386 when ASUS is ready on their end to move this codebase into GA.

Commits · RMerl/asuswrt-merlin.ng

Third party firmware for Asus routers (newer codebase) - Commits · RMerl/asuswrt-merlin.ng

github.com

asuswrt-merlin.ng/Changelog-NG.txt at master · RMerl/asuswrt-merlin.ng

Third party firmware for Asus routers (newer codebase) - RMerl/asuswrt-merlin.ng

github.com

 

[RMerlin]

I've already said in the past that the places to go for keeping track of development were these forums, and Github, and I occasionally post preview or announcements to Twitter. I'm not going to also start making blog posts on my website.

This is a one-man project, I don't have anyone to handle the management aspects of all of this. The new website that's currently under development will already be more informative than the old one, in addition to making my job easier for managing it. For instance the latest version table will now be dynamically generated out of a data file that my release script will automatically push to the server, saving me from having to log into the CMS backend to edit 3-4 different pages.

My goal these days is to streamline my workflow, not to increase it, sorry.

 

[Mike S]

There's no public roadmap because I don't have one myself. I'm still waiting for Asus to finalize their own betatest before I can move forward and get updated code for all supported models.

The ABSOLUTE top priority needs to be fixing the ongoing stability problem that randomly makes the GUI disappear. I have 7 routers running Asus-Merlin Ver 384.18, and most of them are having this issue every month or two. There are a lot of other people having the same issue. See this thread: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/cant-login-to-gui.64631/page-4

 

[RMerlin]

The ABSOLUTE top priority needs to be fixing the ongoing stability problem that randomly makes the GUI disappear. I have 7 routers running Asus-Merlin Ver 384.18, and most of them are having this issue every month or two. There are a lot of other people having the same issue. See this thread: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/cant-login-to-gui.64631/page-4

And I have never been able to reproduce it here, so there's nothing more I can do.

If neither SSH or httpd works, the most likely cause is you are running something causing your router to run out of memory, as these two services are completely unrelated.

 

[heysoundude]

I've already said in the past that the places to go for keeping track of development were these forums, and Github, and I occasionally post preview or announcements to Twitter. I'm not going to also start making blog posts on my website.

This is a one-man project, I don't have anyone to handle the management aspects of all of this. The new website that's currently under development will already be more informative than the old one, in addition to making my job easier for managing it. For instance the latest version table will now be dynamically generated out of a data file that my release script will automatically push to the server, saving me from having to log into the CMS backend to edit 3-4 different pages.

My goal these days is to streamline my workflow, not to increase it, sorry.


View attachment 27046

My asuswrt-merlin.net/about looks nothing like this ^

what am I missing?

 

[RMerlin]

My asuswrt-merlin.net/about looks nothing like this ^

what am I missing?

This:

The new website that's currently under development

 

[heysoundude]

I prefer that look...and will wait patiently for its launch.

 

[RMerlin]

I prefer that look...and will wait patiently for its launch.

The plan is to launch the new website alongside 386.1.

I should be getting updated GPLs in the coming days, including the new unified AX SDKs. I will need to merge these together on my own end, at which point I will be able to evaluate the feasibility of adding new models, depending on how unified the AX SDKs now are.

 

[RMerlin]

The About page also got a facelift:

 

[Mike S]

And I have never been able to reproduce it here, so there's nothing more I can do.

If neither SSH or httpd works, the most likely cause is you are running something causing your router to run out of memory, as these two services are completely unrelated.

I can understand that because this is so intermittent, it is a very difficult issue to diagnose. Is there any way that I can help you figure out what is going on? Is there some way we can get a diagnostic dump of the router when it gets into this state or have some detailed diagnostic traces to figure out what triggers this? This is really a very significant problem that is forcing those of us using these routers in business applications to look at alternative solutions.

Otherwise, I love your firmware. Just need to figure out a way to fix this problem.

 

[heysoundude]

The plan is to launch the new website alongside 386.1.

I should be getting updated GPLs in the coming days, including the new unified AX SDKs. I will need to merge these together on my own end, at which point I will be able to evaluate the feasibility of adding new models, depending on how unified the AX SDKs now are.

whatever will be, will be...