Show changelog from CLI?

RouterOS General
1

Hi,

when running the following command in the CLI:

/system/package/update/check-for-updates
            channel: stable                  
  installed-version: 7.17.2                  
     latest-version: 7.18                    
             status: New version is available

it returns the installed and latest available version but does not display the changelog, whereas Winbox provides this information.

Is there a way to retrieve the changelog via CLI as well (other than using fetch with some crafted URL)?

2

Pretty sure that it is Winbox which fires a http call to a well-known changelog URL on MT’s website from your PC, not the ROS device itself transferring changelog data to Winbox.

EDIT: Well dip me in tar and feathers, Wireshark doesn’t show any connection from Winbox, sounds like the changelog really arrives from ROS…

3

Anyone an idea? Otherwise I’d file a feature request at Mikrotik support.

4

I think even Winbox is fetching from “crafted” url:

https://download.mikrotik.com/routeros/<version>/CHANGELOG

Why not using it with fetch tool from CLI?

Simple script with global function for it can be made if you want to avoid typing it every time.

5

It actually is. Good find !!

https://download.mikrotik.com/routeros/7.18.1/CHANGELOG

What’s new in 7.18.1 (2025-Feb-28 13:31):

*) bridge - improved stability in case of configuration error (introduced in v7.15);
*) bridge - show warning instead of causing error when using multicast MAC as admin-mac (introduced in v7.17);
*) cloud - fixed issues when BTH is toggled fast between enable/disable;
*) cloud - improved “BTH Files” web page design;
*) console - fixed issue with files when using scripts (introduced in v7.18);
*) console - improved file add/remove process stability;
*) dhcpv6-relay - clear saved routes on DHCP release;
*) dhcpv6-relay - show client address;
*) disk - add “sector-size” property in print detail;
*) disk - improved stability when formatting crypted partitions;
*) l3hw - remove VLAN tag before VXLAN encapsulation (fixes pvid behavior for bridged VXLAN);
*) lte - fixed modem recovery after firmware upgrade for R11e-LTE modem;
*) lte - fixed Router Advertisement processing issue for AT modems when an APN with “ip-type=ipv6” was configured;
*) ovpn - disable hardware accelerator for GCM on MMIPS CPUs (introduced in v7.18);
*) poe-out - fixed health showing 0V voltage when using PoE-in for RB960;
*) poe-out - upgraded firmware for 802.3at/bt PSE controlled boards (the update will cause brief power interruption to PoE-out interfaces);
*) route - show BGP session name instead of cache-id;
*) switch - improved stability when enabling IGMP snooping with VXLAN (introduced in v7.18);
*) system - improved internal “flash/” prefix handling for different file path related settings;
*) winbox - fixed missing SMB client on non-ROSE devices;

6

Here is simple global function for fetching changelog:

:global changelog do={
  :local version
  :if ([:typeof $1] = "str") do={
    :set version $1
  } else={
    :onerror e {
      :set version ([/system/package/update/check-for-updates as-value]->"latest-version")
    } do={
      :error "Unable to check for latest version. $e"
    }
  }
  :onerror e {
    :local fetchUrl "https://download.mikrotik.com/routeros/$version/CHANGELOG"
    :put [:tocrlf ([/tool/fetch url=$fetchUrl output=user as-value]->"data")]
  } do={
    :error "Unable to fetch changelog for version '$version'. $e"
  }
}

Usage:
$changelog [version]
if version is not specified it uses latest-version from /system/package/update/check-for-updates
examples:

> $changelog 7.16.2
What's new in 7.16.2 (2024-Nov-26 14:09):

*) certificate - do not download CRL if there is not enough free RAM;
*) certificate - fixed handling of capsman-cap certificates (introduced in v7.16);
*) dhcpv4-server/relay - added additional error messages for DHCP servers and relays;
*) dns - fixed lookup order for static DNS entries (introduced in v7.16.1);
*) ethernet - improved linking after reboot for hAP ax lite devices ("/system routerboard upgrade" required);
*) gps - changed default GPS antenna setting for LtAP mini with internal LTE/GPS combo antenna;
*) leds - fixed bogus argument for "leds" property (introduced in v7.16);
*) leds - fixed PoE-in LEDs for CRS318-1Fi-15Fr-2S device;
*) modem - KNOT BG77 modem, improved handling of modem unexpected restarts;
*) route - fixed possible issue with inactive routes after reboot (introduced in v7.16);
*) routerboot - improved stability for IPQ8072 and IPQ6010 when flash-boot is used ("/system routerboard upgrade" required);




> $changelog
What's new in 7.18.1 (2025-Feb-28 13:31):

*) bridge - improved stability in case of configuration error (introduced in v7.15);
*) bridge - show warning instead of causing error when using multicast MAC as admin-mac (introduced in v7.17);
*) cloud - fixed issues when BTH is toggled fast between enable/disable;
*) cloud - improved "BTH Files" web page design;
*) console - fixed issue with files when using scripts (introduced in v7.18);
*) console - improved file add/remove process stability;
*) dhcpv6-relay - clear saved routes on DHCP release;
*) dhcpv6-relay - show client address;
*) disk - add "sector-size" property in print detail;
*) disk - improved stability when formatting crypted partitions;
*) l3hw - remove VLAN tag before VXLAN encapsulation (fixes pvid behavior for bridged VXLAN);
*) lte - fixed modem recovery after firmware upgrade for R11e-LTE modem;
*) lte - fixed Router Advertisement processing issue for AT modems when an APN with "ip-type=ipv6" was configured;
*) ovpn - disable hardware accelerator for GCM on MMIPS CPUs (introduced in v7.18);
*) poe-out - fixed health showing 0V voltage when using PoE-in for RB960;
*) poe-out - upgraded firmware for 802.3at/bt PSE controlled boards (the update will cause brief power interruption to PoE-out interfaces);
*) route - show BGP session name instead of cache-id;
*) switch - improved stability when enabling IGMP snooping with VXLAN (introduced in v7.18);
*) system - improved internal "flash/" prefix handling for different file path related settings;
*) winbox - fixed missing SMB client on non-ROSE devices;
7

Thanks for your answers! Especially the script from optio can be a future reference for everyone searching the forum.

8

It is fetched from ROS and transferred to WInbox. Using packet sniffer on ROS is visible…
Here is TCP stream to upgrade.mikrotik.com:80 when checking for upgrade over Winbox and CLI:

GET /routeros/NEWESTa7.stable?version=7.16.2 HTTP/1.1
Host: upgrade.mikrotik.com
User-Agent: RouterOS 7.16.2


HTTP/1.1 200 OK
accept-ranges: bytes
Content-Length: 18
Content-Type: text/plain
etag: "3006fb4d829a97707680a5c1d1757b9e"
last-modified: Mon, 03 Mar 2025 08:52:38 GMT
strict-transport-security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains
vary: Origin
vary: Accept-Encoding
x-content-type-options: nosniff
x-ratelimit-limit: 6020
x-ratelimit-remaining: 6015
x-xss-protection: 1; mode=block
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2025 19:28:58 GMT

7.18.1 1740742288

GET /routeros/7.18.1/CHANGELOG HTTP/1.1
Host: upgrade.mikrotik.com
User-Agent: RouterOS 7.16.2


HTTP/1.1 200 OK
accept-ranges: bytes
Content-Length: 1589
Content-Type: text/plain
etag: "e832bd13deb956835d65ae8e20245bd1"
last-modified: Mon, 03 Mar 2025 08:52:34 GMT
strict-transport-security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains
vary: Origin
vary: Accept-Encoding
x-content-type-options: nosniff
x-ratelimit-limit: 6030
x-ratelimit-remaining: 6020
x-xss-protection: 1; mode=block
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2025 19:28:58 GMT

What's new in 7.18.1 (2025-Feb-28 13:31):

*) bridge - improved stability in case of configuration error (introduced in v7.15);
*) bridge - show warning instead of causing error when using multicast MAC as admin-mac (introduced in v7.17);
*) cloud - fixed issues when BTH is toggled fast between enable/disable;
*) cloud - improved "BTH Files" web page design;
*) console - fixed issue with files when using scripts (introduced in v7.18);
*) console - improved file add/remove process stability;
*) dhcpv6-relay - clear saved routes on DHCP release;
*) dhcpv6-relay - show client address;
*) disk - add "sector-size" property in print detail;
*) disk - improved stability when formatting crypted partitions;
*) l3hw - remove VLAN tag before VXLAN encapsulation (fixes pvid behavior for bridged VXLAN);
*) lte - fixed modem recovery after firmware upgrade for R11e-LTE modem;
*) lte - fixed Router Advertisement processing issue for AT modems when an APN with "ip-type=ipv6" was configured;
*) ovpn - disable hardware accelerator for GCM on MMIPS CPUs (introduced in v7.18);
*) poe-out - fixed health showing 0V voltage when using PoE-in for RB960;
*) poe-out - upgraded firmware for 802.3at/bt PSE controlled boards (the update will cause brief power interruption to PoE-out interfaces);
*) route - show BGP session name instead of cache-id;
*) switch - improved stability when enabling IGMP snooping with VXLAN (introduced in v7.18);
*) system - improved internal "flash/" prefix handling for different file path related settings;
*) winbox - fixed missing SMB client on non-ROSE devices;

So CHANGELOG is always fetched but not possible to print over CLI, so request from @infabo seems appropriate, if is always fetched why not introduce some additional argument to check-for-updates, like show-changelog to print it.

9

I file a feature request - for reference: SUP-185090.

10

Introduced in 7.21beta2:

*) console - added changelog to /system/package/update/check-for-updates;

see V7.21beta [testing] is released!

2 Likes