It depends on what you want. You can choose to live the risky life and just install what is released, or you can decide to first read other people’s experience with the software and then decide if you want to install it, or want to wait for the next release.
When it is your own home router and you have some way to restore it (e.g. have kept older versions on a computer), by all means just go for it and most of the time you will be allright.
When you are operating a business network with equipment at customers, in any case do some update on a representative device you keep in the office where you can run tests before deploying it to customers.
And when you have half an hour of time to spare, read the forum. Or be prepared to spend a multiple of that half an hour later on recovering customer’s devices, and handle their complaints.
(duplicate)
I think it would be possible (I have written this in other topics as well) to put all changelog lines in a database where for every line there are some keyfields like what release this pertains to, what release negates this change (initially empty, can later be filled), what release the problem was introduced in, what models it pertains to, maybe some other things.
And, for each changelog line some optional field with room for further explanations, links to documentation, etc.
Then it should be relatively easy to maintain, probably from MikroTik point of view even easier than a textfile with some lines, as that has to be gathered from different sources at the time of release, while the database could be filled at the time each change is committed.
The website as described would present the changelog for the version range selected. The starting topic of the release has a link to the proper version range.
And when read on the website, each line that has further information has a link to that information, so we can easily see further information instead of having to ask for it here in the release topic (this is especially true for the testing and development versions).
If the problem is really the RouterBOOT 6.41.4 or older (if someone do not know the differencies between RouterBOOT and RouterOS is better to shut up)
negligence on MikroTik staff can be advised, BUT, is worst the negligence on the users,
because the latest “bug free” BIOS is (actually) 6.43.7, and all the users than install just RouterOS without upgrade also the BIOS to actual RouterOS version,
is like install newer processor on motherboard without FIRST upgrade the BIOS with one that support new processor.
Or like convert Windows 10 (64) from MBR to GPT without first upgrade the BIOS with one EFI capable version…
rextended:
Sorry, but no. First your analogy is wrong because with BIOS etc. you know beforehand you have to update it for CPU/GPT to work. If there was a warning on top of this release changelog saying “You need routerboot version X, update it beforehand” it would be OK. But there isn’t…
Also it’s very common to have old stock or backup hardware that’s been sitting in storage for a while, with old version, you just pick up when you need it, try to load latest version… and you are stuck in a boot loop. Again with no warning this is going to happen, unless you read forum and this thread.
And last is simply “don’t touch what’s not broken”, especially with Mikrotik where there is certain risk that updating to latest and newest version will break something, even if it’s long-term release. If device is perfectly stable with some version of Routerboot and ROS, but then there’s some feature I need from long-term, I only update absolute minimum that’s required for this new feature to work, limiting amount of new stuff that may cause issues. Again if there was a warning saying this version requires newer Routerboot, I would have known to update it… or maybe just decide it’s not worth it.
In this world full of serious vulnerabilities this approach is not possible anymore, unless you do not care about security and you do not mind to sacrifice your device for some botnet like “Meris” https://blog.mikrotik.com/security/meris-botnet.html. And this is the Sophie’s Choice … struggle with potential buggy upgrade or stay unprotected. Even if you have your own staging environment and you test new MikroTik builds before production deployment you can get into situation where new bits are not usable and old ones are vulnerable or having any other serious issue. Here is why I blame MikroTik for lausy cooperation with customers. The silence from MikroTik side in this thread as an example.
I’ve emailed support@mikrotik.com and explained them my story and told them to read this forum… after some emails I’m happy with this last email from them…
Hello,
Suggested stable versions for upgrade are > 6.44.4, 6.46.6, 6.48.4, 6.49.
We will check and fix issues with upgrading in the next versions of ROS.
Best regards,
Oskars K.
So lets see if they deliver…
I suggest you to progress 6.44.6, 6.46.8, 6.47.10, 6.48.5
Upgrade at least on 6.47.10 also the BIOS (RouterBOOT), that is the problem on 6.48.5 (and 6.49).
Ignore 6.45.x (6.45.9)
6.49 is not a long-term release
Download on PC the 7.1rc6 based on right platform used on your routerboard,
open routeros-7.1rc6-xxxxxx.npk with 7-ZIP (or similar),
go to /etc/ and extract the xxxxx-7.1rc6.fwf based on firmware type that have your routerboard.
put the file inside the root folder on winbox
go to system / routerboard, on “Upgrade Firmware” must appear 7.1rc6, Upgrade the RouterBOOT / Current Firmware.
on settings temporarly disable auto upgrade
Reboot.
On winbox go to system / packages / “Check for Updates” / etc. as usual.
Do all at your own risk, and test on laboratory before do anything.
soooo inconvenient and messedup I'd say... its like saying, if you want win10, you need to install windows 95 first and then upgrade and upgrade and upgrade until you reach win10
No, it's the case where you have windows 95 running and you want to get to windows 11 without touching running config. Or you can bite the bullet and format disk and install windows 11 directly (netinstall newest version of ROS).
Managed to downgrade a rb941-2nd from 7.1rc6 to 6.48.5 successfully using the tik app on my android.
Its not that we need proof…it’s that we need hard data to confirm, troubleshoot and ultimately to fix. Someone just complaining that xyz doesnt work solves nothing. A vast majority of the people here work professionally in IT, we should do better.
Dear Emils,
I got problem with the dude with 6.48.5 long-term on arm / RB4011.
the dude server itself ok, but the number client that be able to connect to the dude server is limited only one. the #2 connection got an error connection close.
when downgraded into 6.47.10, the number of client connected is not limited to 1.
is there any new setting on 6.48.5 that limit the number of the dude client connection ?
thank you
Mikrotik 4011 was good on 6.47.10, but after 6.48.5 update i got message “no policy found/generated” for IKE2 connection continuously every day or every second day. 6.49 same thing. Reverted to 6.47.10 - no problem.
Server 4011. Client 1100AHx4, it’s version does not matter (tried 6.47.10, 6.48.5, 6.49) - problem depends only of server firmware.
Emils ask me for the supout, but I can not provide. May be anyone has similar problem?
today 12 pieces of rb951 used as caps (upgraded to 6.48.5 before 10 days) soft-bricked after the second reboot happened by power outage. i netinstalled all of them and they are back to business.
I experienced the same thing with 18 RB953GS-5HnT-RP - All required a netinstall after upgrading and 2nd reboot seemingly wiped out the NAND storage. Error on serial terminal was “Kernel Not Found”. Luckily in this case I was wiping the config and redeploying with a different configuration anyway.
curious if the original ROS version was particular older (eg not the previous long-term) - i’ve seen weirdness when going making big leaps in firmware?
The 2nd reboot is likely when the firmware auto-upgrade kicking in - so the 2nd reboot is a curious detail here.
the version the rb951ui-2hnd they had was ROS 6.43.16
i never use firmware auto-upgrade.
New version 6.48.6 has been released in long-term RouterOS channel:
http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/v6-48-6-long-term-is-released/153888/1