Dec 28th: Beta 3 is now available. Note that the RT-AX86U is a Frankenbuild with pieces from four different releases. Changes since beta 2:
Dec 14th: Beta 2 is now available. Changes since Beta 1:
Asuswrt-Merlin 386.1 beta is now available for all supported models (and a few new ones). This marks the switch to the new 386 code base from Asus, which introduces a few changes of its own:
- AiMesh 2.0 (better node management, shared Guest Networks, topology optimizer and more)
- Both AC and AX models are once again based on the same code base
- Speedtest powered by Ookla (note: can be limited by your router's CPU speed)
- Switch to OpenSSL 1.1.1 (so we can now fully move everything to 1.1.1 on our end)
- IPSEC IKEv2 support
- Instant Guard (new simple-to-configure mobile VPN client based on IPSEC)
And numerous under the hood changes, such as better Guest Network handling (the first Guest Network can now be shared with AiMesh nodes) and various other enhancements.
On Asuswrt-Merlin's own end of things, this release mark the addition of two new models:
- RT-AX86U
- Experimental support for the GT-AC2900 (done in collaboration with Asus)
The latter comes with a few caveats:
- The non-ROG webui is used (meaning some ROG-exclusive features are currently NOT supported)
- VPNFusion is not supported (as it's tied to Asus's own closed source OpenVPN implementation)
The non-ROG UI has been implemented by Asus, they also took care of adding GeForceNow QoS support to our code base. This will serve as an experiment to see if other GT models could be added in the future with their collaboration.
Upgrade notes:
- If coming from a previous alpha build, you MUST do a factory default reset after flashing this beta firmware.
- If coming from stock Asus firmware, a factory default reset is recommended, but not mandatory.
- If going back to stock Asus firmware, a factory default reset is STRONGLY recommended.
- If updating your GT-AC2900 from an older 384_xxxx firmware, reformatting your JFFS partition is STRONGLY recommended.
- Direct upgrade from 384.18 or 384.19 should be fine, but be prepared to do a factory default reset if something does not work as expected.
Here are the highlights of changes since 384.19:
There are a number of specific areas that will require thorough testing:
Please keep discussions in this thread on this specific beta release. Off-topic posts will be either ignored, moved or deleted depending on my mood at the time.
Downloads are here.
Changelog is here.
Code:
1b79675d07 Updated documentation
e39ec6d7a4 amas-utils: update RT-AX86U components from 386_41157
1f605b7e5f SDK 5.02: Update addvtoken tool for RT-AC86U
ff2a2d09d7 bwdpi: update RT-AX86U components from 384_41157 FW image
809348cdf6 SDK 5.02p1: add wl_server_socket retrieved from 386_41156 RT-AX86U FW image
04dc297351 Add missing binary blobs for RT-AX56U and RT-AX58U
e07bac6faf Refresh 386_41350 binary blobs for RT-AC68U/RT-AC86U/RT-AC88U/RT-AC5300 from GPL tarballs
380955f012 httpd: delete backed up cert when generating a new cert was requested by the user
1a7ee5b918 build: added addvtoken to copy-prebuilt
d56beb5779 Merge 386_41350 binary blobs for GT-AC2900
b24eb3c656 Merge HND5.02 SDK from 386_41350
94adc38000 build: remove exception that disabled Ookla speedtest on RT-AX56U/RT-AX58U
9fc204773a httpd: implement runner status report for RT-AC86U/GT-AC2900; fix unknown status report
8848e1dc18 webui: add Wifi Radar images to RT-AX56U sysdeps
a1d0a960e4 openvpn: use iproute2 instead of netlink for all platforms
e80b4095e4 others: remove legacy entware-setup.sh symlink
33964aba35 build: disable RSAv2 key usage
96aec67417 Bumped revision to beta 3
8b34a6ff41 Updated documentation
37f085dca2 build: updated copy-prebuilt: handle both GPL and prebuilt archives, removed cloudcheck
488dd205e9 Merge 386_41350 SDK + binary blobs for RT-AX56U and RT-AX58U
7e4c6049c9 Merge 386_41350 binary blobs for RT-AC86U
101cfdadbc Merge 386_41350 binary blobs for RT-AC3100
5eb87e84b6 Merge 386_41350 binary blobs for RT-AC5300
cc7bc87f3f Merge 386_41350 binary blobs for RT-AC88U
1df62e60ec Merge 386_41350 SDK + binary blobs for RT-AX88U
db2cd91504 webui: switched to Asus's own clientid/vendorid WAN fields; fixed JS error due to missing element IDs
c9a308469a inadyn: resync with Asus's code
a87997fce3 Merge 386_41350 binary blobs for RT-AC68U
8a6519445b Merge with GPL 386_41350 (from RT-AX88U)Dec 14th: Beta 2 is now available. Changes since Beta 1:
Code:
7ee69fca7d Fix support for newer RSA signatures (as well as backward compatibility), and enable version 2 support
742a4f6db3 Updated documentation
a2472bcc37 build: bump FW image header to 386_40000 for models relying on it
6e43679943 rc: log allowed outbound connections from LAN when these are enabled
f4dd1608fa openssl: update to 1.1.1i
64ce6d2ccf rc: fix bandwidth limiter script caused by incorrect merge
1b4dc3b964 httpd: webui: revise HW acceleration reporting on Sysinfo page for HND models
a800293fb1 rc: always copy LE certs to /etc on httpd start
2a82f01f69 networkmap: use separate prebuild for RT-AC5300 (it has a different ND5 hash from other 7.14 models)
aa4d3d277e rc: remove AC3200/AC87U kludge from jffs2.c
d1dc42d8b6 openvpn: switch back to iproute2 for 2.6.xx models
90e3078724 SDK7114: use model-specific wl/et executables
fa332f6a00 SDK-6750: add missing fc symlink for RT-AX58U
d522c51f01 Bumped revision to beta 2Asuswrt-Merlin 386.1 beta is now available for all supported models (and a few new ones). This marks the switch to the new 386 code base from Asus, which introduces a few changes of its own:
- AiMesh 2.0 (better node management, shared Guest Networks, topology optimizer and more)
- Both AC and AX models are once again based on the same code base
- Speedtest powered by Ookla (note: can be limited by your router's CPU speed)
- Switch to OpenSSL 1.1.1 (so we can now fully move everything to 1.1.1 on our end)
- IPSEC IKEv2 support
- Instant Guard (new simple-to-configure mobile VPN client based on IPSEC)
And numerous under the hood changes, such as better Guest Network handling (the first Guest Network can now be shared with AiMesh nodes) and various other enhancements.
On Asuswrt-Merlin's own end of things, this release mark the addition of two new models:
- RT-AX86U
- Experimental support for the GT-AC2900 (done in collaboration with Asus)
The latter comes with a few caveats:
- The non-ROG webui is used (meaning some ROG-exclusive features are currently NOT supported)
- VPNFusion is not supported (as it's tied to Asus's own closed source OpenVPN implementation)
The non-ROG UI has been implemented by Asus, they also took care of adding GeForceNow QoS support to our code base. This will serve as an experiment to see if other GT models could be added in the future with their collaboration.
Upgrade notes:
- If coming from a previous alpha build, you MUST do a factory default reset after flashing this beta firmware.
- If coming from stock Asus firmware, a factory default reset is recommended, but not mandatory.
- If going back to stock Asus firmware, a factory default reset is STRONGLY recommended.
- If updating your GT-AC2900 from an older 384_xxxx firmware, reformatting your JFFS partition is STRONGLY recommended.
- Direct upgrade from 384.18 or 384.19 should be fine, but be prepared to do a factory default reset if something does not work as expected.
Here are the highlights of changes since 384.19:
- Merged with beta GPL 386_41035. Since it's a beta GPL, logging activity will be a bit more verbose than normal. Just don't panic at log entries you don't understand, not everything means that your router is not working properly. Most of this is debugging info, NOT error reporting.
- Added support for the RT-AX86U and the GT-AC2900 (the latter is experimental)
- Updated components: OpenVPN (2.5.0), OpenSSL (1.1.1h), nano (5.2), curl (7.72.0), zlib (1.2.11), lz4 (1.9.2), e2fsprogs (1.45.6), dropbear (2020.81), miniuppnpd (2.2.0-20201129 snapshot), ipset userspace (7.6, which is compatible with the kernel's v6 protocol).
- Various changes to OpenVPN to support 2.5.0, remove deprecated features (like the old ciphers setting), tweak the webui, and fix a few issues. Please review the detailed list of changes in the Changelog.
- Firmware update server is now hardcoded rather than stored in nvram, for security purposes, and check frequency changed from every 48 hours to every 24 hours
- Added an option to run the Speedtest through a specific OpenVPN client (the webui will automatically detect which client is currently running and add it to the list of available interfaces)
- fq_codel is no longer supported under Adaptive QoS, due to architectural changes made by Trend Micro, preventing Asuswrt-Merlin's previous patch from injecting fq_codel into rules generated by the Trend Micro engine.
- Fixed some ISPs that failed to renew DHCP leases when Adaptive QoS was enabled.
- Removed largely unused and outdated support for the Cloudcheck mobile app (I bet virtually none of you knew it even existed
- Improvements to the DNSPrivacy preset list implementation, and the addition of AdGuard and CIRA Canadian Shield to the list
- Increased the number of available mount points for third party web pages from 10 to 20.
- And a brand new website to better accommodate the list of supported models, and make publishing new releases easier (and more automated) for me. It was completed a few months ago, but was waiting to launch it at the same time as the first 386 beta release).
There are a number of specific areas that will require thorough testing:
- OpenVPN (note that some issues may be caused by VPN tunnel providers who haven't properly updated their own server. That was the case for PIA for instance which only recently updated their servers to be compatible with 2.5.0 clients.)
- ipset (the warning about the protocol version is normal, and just a warning telling you that the kernel supports version 6, and your ipset executable supports both version 6 and 7)
- While testing AiMesh is ok, do note that AiMesh is closed source, and therefore any issue within it are outside of my control. Reproduce the same issue with the stock firmware, and if you do, report it to Asus instead
- Everything about the RT-AX86U and GT-AC2900
Please keep discussions in this thread on this specific beta release. Off-topic posts will be either ignored, moved or deleted depending on my mood at the time.
Downloads are here.
Changelog is here.
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