Included iperf-3.1.3 is very old (mid 2016), can we get it updated?

[Secret Ninja Banana]

I run an AiMesh network with three RT-BE92U units, all on 3006.102.6, and would like to monitor the connection speed between the nodes, ideally in an automated fashion, so that poorly performing nodes can be restarted automatically. I was therefore pleased to learn that /usr/bin/iperf3 is already included in the firmware – albeit in a very old version (3.1.3 from mid-2016), which, for example, doesn't yet support the `--bidir` option. The current version as of January 2026 is 3.20 (see the iperf3 homepage).

Would it be possible to update the iperf3 binary for the next version of Asuswrt and Asuswrt-Merlin? How and where can we suggest such changes, what would be the best approach? Should I try to contact ASUS directly, or is there a well-known person in the community I could ask to bring this to ASUS's attention, or should I forget about it because ASUS is known not to care about such minor issues?

(Not that I really need `--bidir`, but I am thinking about all the little problems and bugs that have surely been fixed in the almost 10 years since the release of version 3.1.3.)

 

[ColinTaylor]

I have no insight into why that particular version of iperf3 was included. However, I do wonder whether it's for cross-compatibility with Windows. Version 3.1.3 was the last binary to be provided by ESnet themselves (N.B. they no longer provide any binaries). I still keep a copy that version on all my machines because I've found that mixing different client and server versions can sometimes produce strange results. Version 3.1.3 seems to work better for me, but YMMV.

FWIW The version in Entware is currently 3.18.

 

[Tech9]

and would like to monitor the connection speed between the nodes

Doesn't make much sense. If the nodes are wirelessly connected your results will be affected by dynamically changing environment and unrelated to actual node's health. The same node after reboot will behave in exactly the same way. If the nodes are wired you'll be measuring the Ethernet connection. The results will be also CPU limited when iPerf is run on the router.

 

[RMerlin]

iperf is used internally by the firmware, including in various closed source portions. That means an upgrade can potentially break functionality without me even being able to notice, so I'm not touching it.