ASUS RT-AC88U AsusWrt-Merlin Firmware 384.19 Beta 1

The AsusWrt-Merlin firmware was developed with the primary goal of boosting the original ASUS firmware, fix bugs and also add new improvements. This package includes a customized firmware targeted at ASUS routers that brings various changes without modifying the interface of the original firmware.

Changes:

- NOTE: The RT-AX56U build is not available for this release.
- NEW: Added support for static routes for PPTP/L2TP VPN clients, on the Static Route page (themiron)
- NEW: Added notification when jffs free space drops below 3 MB.
- UPDATED: Merged GPL 384_9354 for AX models.
- UPDATED: Merged GPL 384_81992 for mainline models.
- UPDATED: Merged SDK + binary blobs 384_9354 for RT-AX58U.
- UPDATED: Merged SDK + binary blobs 384_9107 for RT_AX88U.
- UPDATED: Merged binary blobs + SDK 384_81981 for RT_AC5300.
- UPDATED: Merged binary blobs + SDK 384_81992 for RT-AC86U.
- UPDATED: Merged bwdpi components from 385_20630 firmware image for RT-AC68U.
- UPDATED: dnsmasq to 2.82-openssl (themiron)
- CHANGED: Rewrote a large portion of the OpenVPN implementation, to make the code easier to maintain. Functionality should largely remain the same.
- CHANGED: Replaced updown-.sh OpenVPN event handler scripts with binary libovpn functions. Should only affect people who were overwriting the original event handler with their own.
- CHANGED: Enabling Client Config Dir (ccd) for an OpenVPN server in non-exclusive mode will no longer accept duplicate common names (to prevent issues with two clients trying to share the same settings). If you need such an unusual setup, you should enable "Username/Password auth only", which will make the common name become the username. Or better, ensure that you have unique certificates for all of your users.
- CHANGED: Removed the (undocumented) vpn_debug setting. Debug logging will now only come from OpenVPN itself (through the log verbosity setting).
- CHANGED: Improved mechanism for providing an available mount point for addon API scripters (dave14305)
- CHANGED: Harmonized the various SSL certificate modes with upstream. 0-None - will be self-generated, 1-Imported - lets you upload your own (no longer self generated unless you don't upload one), 2-Let's Encrypt (unchanged) Self-generated cert will be stored to /jffs/cert.tgz, just like upstream.
- FIXED: Broken French webui on AX models (fixed with Asus's GPL update)
- FIXED: Chacha20 wasn't prioritized for bcm675x models which lacked AES acceleration (RT-AX56U and RT-AX58U)
- FIXED: ddns updates and OpenVPN instances might be launched twice at boot time if the initial ntp clock sync happened too fast.
- FIXED: Enforced DNS and tQoS fix would be lost when the firewall gets restarted while an OpenVPN client is running.
- FIXED: Various issues surrounding error state report when an OpenVPN client failed to start properly.
- FIXED: WINS provided by an OpenVPN server weren't properly used.

Installation Notes:

- This custom firmware can be applied like any regular update.
- You should not need to reset to factory defaults.
- You can revert back to an original ASUS firmware at any time.
- Do not load a saved copy of your settings.   

About Router Firmware:

Before you consider downloading this firmware, go to the system information page of the router and make sure that the currently installed version isn't either newer or matching this release.

Due to the large variety of router models and different methods for upgrading the device, it is highly recommended that you read and, above all, understand the installation steps before you apply the new firmware, even if you are a power user.

In theory, these steps shouldn't be much of a hassle for anyone, because manufacturers try to make them as easy as possible, even if they don't always succeed. Basically, you must upload the new firmware to the router through its administration page and allow it to upgrade.

If you install a new version, you can expect increased security levels, different vulnerability issues to be resolved, improved overall performance and transfer speeds, enhanced compatibility with other devices, added support for newly developed technologies, as well as several other changes.

If you're looking for certain safety measures, remember that it would be best if you perform the upload using an Ethernet cable rather than a wireless connection, which can be interrupted easily. Also, make sure you don't power off the router or use its buttons during the installation, if you wish avoid any malfunctions.

If this firmware meets your current needs, get the desired version and apply it to your router unit; if not, check with our website as often as possible so that you don't miss the update that will improve your device.