[Beta 384/NG] Asuswrt-merlin 384.4 Beta is now available

[RMerlin]

Asuswrt-Merlin 384.4 beta is now available. While the changelog is shorter than the last few releases, this release focused on finally catching up with Asus's own releases, and also migrating the remaining models to the New Gen branch: the RT-AC87U and RT-AC5300.


March 10th: 384.4 Beta 3 is now available. Changes since beta 2:

0206b32 Updated documentation
644942d httpd: check that opendir() succeeded, otherwise httpd would crash
a25de1c entware: add 64-bit support for HND platform
2aec002 entware: point setup script to the new Entware installers (following the NG/3X repos merge)
40ba6c4 sd-idle: fix spindown/up logging
a4e8553 rc: move services-start custom script to the very end of start_services()
65183bd rc: when preparing httpd key/cert from a stored pair, also generate server.pem with them for AiCloud
cc353fb httpd: gencert: no longer generate cfgsync cert (now handled by cfgsync itself)
956c32c webui: update Site Survey page for AiMesh-capable models to use the new wlc_scan_state values from GPL 20379
aa3949d webui: fix broken DST offset parser (Asus bug in 20379)
3f1ea25 httpd: restart daemon after the user upload a new SSL certificate
9f158cd Bumped revision to beta 3

March 5th: 384.4 Beta 2 is now available. Changes since beta 1:

86e369d Updated documentation
b14a3a2 sd-idle: re-add some of the logging Asus removed
d511ea1 rc: miniupnpd: re-add miniupnpd restart on first ntp sync, but move it after a 15 secs wait
b88d171 build: copy-prebuilt: fix casing for some models
5751f66 upnp: do not restart miniupnpd on ntp initial sync
b776c8e build: copy-prebuilt: fix bwdpi path; make model checks lower-case to be similar to build-all
8f0b0ed rc: remove another function that does not exist in pre-379 binary blobs
4ce0273 rc: revert check_asus_jffs(() calls from GPL 20379 as it does not exist in older binary blobs
8c15ab0 qos: streamline faketc script
590645e Refresh RT-AC88U binary blobs from (real) GPL 20379
7199d17 Revert some of the 20379 changes specific to the RT-AC68U (which still uses 20308 binary blobs)
ee01a16 Merge with GPL 384_20379 (last GPL merge was actually 384_20309 - wrong GPL tarball was used)
b3749f8 Updated documentation
04d75a0 rc: fix tab spacing (to sync with GPL)
1bc2658 firewall: remove Merlin NAT loopback
a63b156 Revert "cfgsync: move cert generation to a dedicated script, and generate it at service launch"
a2ada4e wps: update RT-AC3200 WPS monitor with exe extracted from firmware release (was missing from GPL)
be8d911 letsencrypt: enabled support for RT-AC86U
17131cb letsencrypt: separated libs into platform-specific folders, added HND version from GT-AC5300 GPL
2443497 Bumped revision to beta 2
75c3bce webui: accept single-char hostnames in validator.hostName() (closes #71)

People upgrading from firmware 380.xx are strongly recommended to do a factory default reset following the upgrade, and to manually reconfigure their router.

The highlights:

• Merged with GPL 384_20379 code base (with binary components from 382_50010 and 384_20308 for some models)
• Added support for the RT-AC87U and RT-AC5300
• Added IPSEC Server support for the RT-AC86U, with hardware acceleration. Benchmarks pushed it at over 300 Mbps.
• Samba protocol version can now be set to SMBv1, SMBv2 (recommended) or SMBv1 + v2 (the old "SMBv2 enabled setting"). Default is now SMBv1 + v2 for all models. It's recommended to switch it to SMBv2, followed by a reboot of all your computers to renegotiate sessions to the new protocol. Expect a small performance hit on all models but the RT-AC86U.
• Telnetd support has been removed. It belongs in a museum - use SSH instead.
• And a few other fixes, see the changelog for details

Things in need of testing:

• Continued general testing for the RT-AC86U, as the HND platform still presents a few potential challenges
• General reliability for the RT-AC87U and RT-AC5300.
• IPSEC VPN support (for those models that support it - RT-AC88U and newer)
• Basic DLNA functionality (a recent bridge snooping change Asus did has been reverted)

Please keep this thread's discussions to these specific beta releases.

Downloads are here.
Changelog is here.

 

[RMerlin]

Known issues:

• DST offsets not properly shown on webui (bug in 384_20379; fixed)
• Site Survey does not work for AiMesh-capable models (fixed)

 

[FreshJR]

As to the nvram variable size limit changes, what is the new max limit?

I'm assuming each char used in a string is 1byte.

 

[RMerlin]

As to the nvram variable size limit changes, what is the new max limit?

I'm assuming each char used in a string is 1byte.

The size varies for each individual nvram setting, they are documented in shared/defaults.c.

On the RT-AC86U, there's an additional limit of 1000 chars enforced by Broadcom. Asus bypasses that limit for some settings such as dhcp_staticlist by storing them in nvram.

I don't have a list of which, they are handled in the closed source libnvram.

Length is indeed in bytes/char.

 

[Ken Firch]

Updated my 2 RT-AC68U AP's and RT-AC86U router from 384.4 alpha1 to 384.4 beta1. No restore was done. All is well so far.

 

[scjr]

Thanks @RMerlin for all your hard work.

If you’re on 384.3 and upgrade to 384.4 beta 1, would that require a reset?

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks @RMerlin for all your hard work.

If you’re on 384.3 and upgrade to 384.4 beta 1, would that require a reset?

No, only if coming from 380.xx, since there's been too many changes between these two releases to be safe.

 

[scjr]

No, only if coming from 380.xx, since there's been too many changes between these two releases to be safe.

Thank you.

Edit: Upgrade to 384.4 b1 was smooth. Everything running fine. Thanks again, Eric.

 

[Toddimus]

So far so good here. Everything seems smooth.

 

[Strat]

3/4G USB dongles still not working for me

 

[jerry6]

Upgrade on the AC 3200 went well , no problems so far , all working as expected

 

[mikelees2]

Upgrade on the RT-5300 went well. I do have some pages content not working on the QOS and Traffic pages. (CORRECTION All now seems to be working )

Thanks for the hard work @RMerlin Seems stable to me so far.

 

[daviworld]

RT-AC5300 all the issue's I reported in the alpha are now resolved, and so far it seem's very solid, haven't noticed anymore error's nor issues. Now, I will see how it holds with my current setting's over the next few day's for stability and performance

 

[Reinvented]

Any changes since Alpha 2? I saw that it was merged with ASUS latest release or what not, and I tried out the Alpha. Wireless portion shows stuff for traffic monitor, but Bonded connection still doesn't show anything.

 

[SwampKracker]

Things are working great as always, Merlin.

 

[TheOldMan]

The upgrade to 384.4_b1 on my RT-AC3200 went well. Thanks, RMerlin for your hard work!

 

[RMerlin]

Any changes since Alpha 2? I saw that it was merged with ASUS latest release or what not, and I tried out the Alpha. Wireless portion shows stuff for traffic monitor, but Bonded connection still doesn't show anything.

merlin@ubuntu-dev:~/amng$ git log 508109e..384.4-beta1 --oneline
bb57652 Bumped revision to 384.4 Beta 1
9103a0c Updated documentation
92007a0 webui: fix AiProtection site block label on Italian version, would break the page layout
8a0ee08 lldpd: hide log entry generated when wifi interface is down
736d04b snmpd: disable support on the RT-AC86U as it's currently incompatible (ref: issue #92)
12381f9 strongswan: further optimizations to the bundled openssl static libs
e4713ac Updated documentation
af04114 telnet: removed telnet server
385be83 webui: only check for ntfs parse setting change if supported by model, otherwise can incorrectly trigger a reboot
beb8eed samba: make SMBv2 + SMBv1 the default, and add a SMBv2-only option
dc4c2aa rc: watchdog wasn't checking the correct nvram entries on DDNS checks (close #81)
c8cf3f9 webui: clarify the SMB2.0 settings labeling
0ad85e6 bwdpi: update RT-AC5300 libbwdpi with 20379 GPL's

 

[Keenan]

Installed and working great so far.

 

[jrmwvu04]

Upgrade on the AC 3200 went well , no problems so far , all working as expected

The upgrade to 384.4_b1 on my RT-AC3200 went well. Thanks, RMerlin for your hard work!

Weird, I was made to understand that the AC3200 would burst into flames immediately upon installation of 384 code.

 

[jasonho]

on ac86u, with only smb2, both android and linxu destop cann browse the shares, only smb1+2, can. thanks