Supported Operating Systems

MERLIC is available for Windows and Linux systems. On Windows, all components of MERLIC can be used. For Linux systems, currently only the runtime environment of MERLIC , MERLIC RTE , and MERLIC Frontend are available.

Windows

MERLIC 26.10.0 is available for Windows 11 ( 64-bit , version 24H2) or Windows IoT Enterprise LTSC 2024 , or newer.

Linux

MERLIC RTE and MERLIC Frontend are available on PC-based and Arm-based Linux systems (kernel version 5.4 or newer).

Developing the MERLIC Vision App is still done on a Windows system with the MERLIC Creator. The application can then be used with MERLIC RTE and MERLIC Frontend on the Linux system. Cameras can be set up remotely with the help of MERLIC RTE Setup .

System Requirements

A detailed description of the system requirements for installing and using MERLIC on Windows and Linux systems is provided in the MERLIC manual on the page System Requirements .

Major New Features

New Communication Architecture

MERLIC often needs to communicate across system boundaries in production environments. MERLIC 26.10 therefore introduces a redesigned communication architecture that makes communication between MERLIC components more secure and easier to manage. Its secure-by-default model initially allows only local connections. Remote access must be explicitly enabled and can be protected using Transport Layer Security (TLS).

For remote connections, MERLIC now uses WebSockets. Multiple MERLIC services and instances can share the same port via separate WebSocket endpoints, reducing the number of required ports and simplifying firewall configuration. This also makes it easier to connect to a specific MERLIC instance on a system.

For local communication, MERLIC uses Unix-domain sockets (UDS). This removes network stack overhead and port management, while access is controlled through operating system file permissions.

The redesigned architecture also provides the technical foundation for future integration of MERLIC applications into web-based environments.

New Connection Dialog

Production systems may run multiple MERLIC instances for different machine vision applications. MERLIC 26.10 introduces a redesigned connection dialog in MERLIC Frontend and MERLIC RTE Setup, making it easier to connect to these systems. In addition to selecting a host, users can now select the specific MERLIC instance they want to connect to. Previously connected hosts are automatically available for selection, while graphical indicators show system availability and the security level required for the connection. This provides a clearer overview and helps prevent configuration errors, especially in systems with multiple MERLIC instances.

Enhanced Grouping

When creating a MERLIC application, tools can be grouped to structure more complex Tool Flows. MERLIC 26.10 makes grouped tools easier to inspect, configure, and reuse within an MVApp. Groups can now be opened in their own Tool Flow tab, where users can view the contained tools, select individual tools, and check or adjust their parameter settings directly. The group interface is also configurable. Parameters and results of grouped tools can now be added to the group interface. This makes them available for configuration and allows them to be connected to widgets in the Frontend Designer without ungrouping the tools.

As a result, users can modify grouped configurations and adapt Frontend designs, while keeping existing tool groups intact, reducing unnecessary restructuring during MVApp development.

Software Bill of Materials (SBOMS) for MERLIC

Software Bills of Materials provide transparency about the components contained in a software product and support automated security and compliance processes. MERLIC 26.10 now provides SBOMs for most of its components in the standardized SPDX format.

The machine-readable SBOMs provide information such as provenance, dependencies, versions, and licenses. SBOMs can also be checked against databases of known vulnerabilities documented as Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs). This helps integrate MERLIC into existing software security and vulnerability management workflows.

Further Improved Usability

MERLIC 26.10 simplifies two common tasks during application setup and development: managing MVApps for process integration and inspecting regions of interest.

For most use cases, MVApps can now be imported directly into recipe management and used as virtual recipes in MERLIC RTE mode. This removes the need to create separate MERLIC recipes when no additional parameterizations or specific acquisition sequences are required, simplifying setup and maintenance. MERLIC recipes remain available for use cases that require multiple predefined MVApp parameterizations or a specific acquisition sequence.

ROI visualization has also been improved in MERLIC Creator and MERLIC Frontend. When an ROI is selected, relevant metrics such as width, height, position, angle, or radius are displayed directly, depending on the ROI type. This makes important ROI information immediately visible during application development and inspection.

Compatibility

Since the last MERLIC version we have been working hard to improve MERLIC in every way. This has, however, resulted in a few incompatibilities. We apologize for the inconvenience.

  • MERLIC RTE Setup
    • With the new communication architecture, the " Host " INI option of the category [RTESetup] has been removed. The same applies to the corresponding command line option " --host " that was provided for the executable file of the MERLIC RTE Setup. There is no compatibility with older MERLIC versions. Therefore, for the configuration of the Image Source Manager (ISM) and communication plugins of version 26.10, a MERLIC RTE Setup of version 26.10 is required. More information.
  • MERLIC Frontend
    • With the new communication architecture, the INI options " Host " and " Port " of the category [Frontend] are now legacy options. The same applies to the command line options " --tcp ". They are still provided but it is recommended to use the new command line option " --url " or the corresponding INI option " Url " instead. In addition, the INI options " TcpHost ", " TcpPortMax ", and " TcpPortMin " have been removed from the [Server] category. More information.
  • Miscellaneous
    • Due to the new underlying HALCON version, the behavior of existing custom tools may have changed since the last MERLIC version. Therefore, it is recommended to check the functionality of existing custom tools in this MERLIC version. More information.

    Security-Related Topics

    The following issues are relevant in the context of cybersecurity:

    • New Features
      • MERLIC now provides Software Bill of Materials (SBOMs) for the following MERLIC components:
        • Communication plugins
        • Communication plugin development SDK
        • Communication plugin host process
        • I/O plugins
        • MERLIC Collect Support Information
        • MERLIC Creator
        • MERLIC Directory Agent
        • MERLIC Frontend
        • MERLIC RTE
        • MERLIC RTE Setup
        The SBOM files are provided in SPDX format. They are located in the "sboms" directory within the MERLIC installation directory.
      • The communication architecture of MERLIC has been redesigned to provide a safe and secure environment for production. For local connections, MERLIC now uses Unix-domain sockets (UDS) with access control through the file system permission of the operating system. This simplifies the configuration because no ports must be defined for any MERLIC service when working with local connections.
        For remote connections, MERLIC now uses WebSocket connections. The respective MERLIC services and instances map to different WebSocket endpoints but they use the same port. This simplifies the configuration of remote connections because now only a single port is required in the configuration. It also enables and facilitates working with multiple MERLIC instances even if they are running on the same system. The MERLIC Directory Agent tracks all running MERLIC services and exposes these services on the network over HTTP(S) and WebSockets on a TCP port.
        The configuration settings are defined in the new configuration file for the MERLIC Directory Agent: "directory_agent_config.jsonc". The file is created automatically in the directory "C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\MVTec" (Windows) or "~/.config/MVTec/" (Linux) when starting MERLIC. It allows users to enable remote connections, and to configure the TCP server and optionally Transport Layer Security (TLS) for remote connections.
      • With the new communication architecture, MERLIC now supports Transport Layer Security (TLS) for the communication with MERLIC components to ensure secure connections. TLS can be enabled in the new configuration file of the MERLIC Directory Agent by specifying the respective server certificate file and the private server key file. If TLS is activated for a MERLIC service such as MERLIC RTE, connections to remote MERLIC clients are only possible if the corresponding CA certificates are trusted by the respective client systems.
    • Enhancements
      • Communication plugin host processes now use UNIX-domain sockets for inter-process communication (IPC) with MERLIC RTE on both Linux and Windows. Previously, this used local network connections over ephemeral TCP ports. Switching to UNIX-domain sockets confines IPC to the process owner and reduces attack surface on multi-user systems.
    • Fixed Problems
      • MERLIC could crash while checking for updates if the update file could not be interpreted. This problem has been fixed.
      • The third-party library Apache Thrift has been updated to version 0.25.0 to provide a fix for CVE-2026-43870, CVE-2026-43869, CVE-2026-43868, and CVE-2026-82458.
      • The license protection tools from Wibu-Systems used by MERLIC have been updated to CodeMeter version 8.41a to provide a fix for the security advisories WIBU-103401 and WIBU-103081. The advisories are listed in the Wibu-Systems security advisory overview: Wibu Security Advisories and CVE Updates - Wibu-Systems .
      • The third-party library OpenSSL has been updated to version 3.5.8 to provide a fix for CVE-2026-14456. This vulnerability does not affect MERLIC. It only affects server instances communicating over the QUIC protocol, which is only supported since HTTP/3. In MERLIC, only the "OPC UA" plugin uses OpenSSL while acting as a server. However, the plugin does not speak QUIC. In addition, the MERLIC Directory Agent only speaks HTTP/1.1. Therefore, MERLIC was not affected by this vulnerability.

    Image Source Manager

    • Enhancements
      • The following image acquisition interface used by the Image Source Manager (ISM) have been updated:
        GenICamTL: 24.11.24
        GigEVision2: 24.11.24
        USB3Vision: 24.11.28
        The GenApi used by these image acquisition interfaces has been updated to version 3.5.1.
        In addition, the following I/O interfaces have been updated:
        Advantech: 24.11.6
        Contec: 24.11.4
        Hilscher cifX: 24.11.8
        Interface: 24.11.4
        IOGenTL: 22.11.4
        NIDAQmx: 24.11.5
    • Fixed Problems
      • In the "Image Sources" tab of the MERLIC RTE Setup, parameters referenced in custom acquisition sequences were sometimes not displayed correctly in the "All Parameters" list. If a custom acquisition sequence containing a "SetParameter" action was executed, the referenced parameter was displayed without a category and with an incorrect visibility level. In this case, it was required to manually update the list to display the parameter correctly again. This problem has been fixed. Now, the parameter is displayed correctly without any need to update the parameter list manually. However, dependent parameters that are implicitly affected by the parameters, which are modified by the execution of the sequence, are still not updated automatically. The "All Parameter" list still needs to be updated manually to fetch the proper state of all parameters from the device after a single parameter has been modified, regardless of whether the parameter was modified by the user or by the execution of a sequence.

    MERLIC RTE

    • Enhancements
      • With the new communication architecture of MERLIC, the "Select system" dialog used to connect a MERLIC client has been redesigned. The new connection dialog now lists the host systems and all currently running MERLIC RTE instances. This way, it is now possible to select a specific MERLIC RTE instance. Users can connect in two steps: first, the local or remote system is selected, and then a specific MERLIC RTE instance is selected. The list of host systems shows all available systems on which a MERLIC RTE instance is currently running as well as all previously connected host systems. Graphical indicators displayed next to the names of the host systems indicate whether the systems are available and which security level is required to connect to the systems.
        In addition, after selecting a host system, the new connection dialog allows users to open the respective HTML page that provides an overview of the available MERLIC services and allows users to start the respective clients directly from the browser.
      • MERLIC now serves an HTML page providing information on all MERLIC RTE instances and their services that are available on the system. This page is served automatically when starting any MERLIC RTE instance with enabled TCP server on a system. It can be used as landing page to start MERLIC clients from the browser, provided MERLIC is installed on the respective system.

    Plugins for MERLIC RTE

    • Enhancements
      • The communication plugins have been updated to a new version. GUI texts and messages now consistently use the term "plugin" instead of "plug-in" throughout MERLIC.

    MERLIC RTE Setup

    • New Features
      • The recipe management of MERLIC has been improved. It is now possible to directly import an MVApp to the recipe management. The use of MERLIC recipes is only required for specific use cases, for example, to define multiple MVApp characterizations in advance or to use a specific acquisition sequence for an MVApp in MERLIC RTE mode. In all other use cases, a MERLIC recipe file is not required anymore, which facilitates the setup and maintenance of MERLIC files for the process integration.
      • With the new communication architecture, a new command line option " --url " has been added for the executable file of the MERLIC RTE Setup. It allows specifying the system and MERLIC RTE instance the MERLIC RTE Setup should connect to. When starting the MERLIC RTE Setup with the new command line option, it will automatically connect to the specified MERLIC RTE instance on startup.
        In addition, MERLIC now provides corresponding new INI option " Url " for the INI category [RTESetup] . This option can be used to define the desired system and MERLIC RTE instance, the MERLIC RTE Setup should connect to by default on startup. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.
    • Improved Usability
      • In the "Image Sources" tab of the MERLIC RTE Setup, the "Info" section showing detailed information on the image source has been improved. Previously, the file path of image file sources required too much space in the "Info" section, which caused the image preview to be very small. Now, the "Info" section is always displayed with a fixed height ensuring that the image preview is not affected while still allowing the user to manually change the height of the section if required.
      • In the "Recipes" tab of the MERLIC RTE Setup, the "Import recipe" button previously always opened the file browser in the example recipes directory, making it less convenient to access recently used recipes. Therefore, the functionality of the button has been improved. It now opens the folder of the most recently used recipe whenever possible. In addition, a new drop-down option "Import example recipe" provides separate access to the example recipes.
    • Fixed Problems
      • In the "Communication" tab of the MERLIC RTE Setup, tooltips were sometimes not displayed correctly, which could make them difficult to read. This problem has been fixed.
      • When attempting to load a recipe with an unsupported MVApp in the "Recipes" tab of the MERLIC RTE Setup, the field "Built with MERLIC" would always show "Unknown version", even when MERLIC could resolve it, which made it harder to get the information on the required MERLIC version. In addition, the MVApp info was not shown and the user management entry was always shown as "unknown". These problems have been fixed.
      • In the MERLIC RTE Setup, some German translations were missing on the "Recipes" tab. This problem has been fixed.
      • When the MERLIC RTE Setup was closed shortly after the connected MERLIC Creator or MERLIC RTE instance had been closed, the "merlic_rte_setup" process could sometimes continue running even though the MERLIC RTE window has already been closed. This problem has been fixed.

    MERLIC Creator

    • New Features
      • The visualization and modification options for tool groups have been improved. It is now possible to view the contents of a tool group without ungrouping its tools. Groups are now displayed in their own Tool Flow tab, which is automatically added when a new group is created. This tab shows the tool flow and tool connections within the group. When changing to the Tool Flow of a group, users may select tools within the group to check the configuration and modify parameter values.
        In addition, it is also possible to add tool parameters and tool results to the group interface from within the group. Graphical indicators in the group's Tool Flow tab help to easily identifity the tools for which parameters or results have been added to the group interface. The respective parameters and results will then be displayed at the group interface within the Tool Flow overview. They can therefore be connected to other tools outside the group and used in the Frontend Designer. This simplifies modifying the Frontend design of an MVApp that contains a group because it is no longer required to ungroup the tools first in order to connect a tool parameter or result in the group to a widget.
      • The command line option " -f [ --frontend]" of the MERLIC Creator has been removed. The MERLIC Frontend should now be started either directly from MERLIC Creator or via the executable "merlic_frontend.exe".
      • In MERLIC Creator and MERLIC Frontend, the visualization of regions of interest (ROIs) has been improved. When selecting an ROI, MERLIC now displays key metrics depending on the ROI type. For rectangle ROIs, the width, height, and center position is displayed. For non-paraxial rectangles, also the angle is displayed. For circular ROIs, the radius and center position is displayed, and for segment ROIs, the positions of the respective end points is displayed.
    • Improved Usability
      • When trying to save a MERLIC Vision App (MVApp) or MERLIC recipe under a name of an already exisiting MVApp or recipe, a dialog was shown asking the user if the existing file should be overwritten. However, the dialog did not mention the respective file name. The overwrite dialog has been improved to clearly display the respective file name of the MVApp or recipe file that would be overwritten.
    • Fixed Problems
      • Selecting text in the "About MERLIC" dialog caused font rendering issues. This problem has been fixed.
      • When trying to restore a single color setting in the MERLIC preferences via the icon next to the respective element, the color was not reset correctly. Instead of the default color, the color that was previously set when opening the preferences dialog was set. This problem has been fixed.
      • When MERLIC attempted to load an MVApp created with a newer file version, it displayed an error dialog with a misleading description. This problem has been fixed. The error dialog now shows the correct description.
      • When displaying a group with multiple trigger connections in the Tool Workspace, the respective triggers could not be distinguished. This problem has been fixed. The triggers now also display the name of the respective tool within the group.
      • When quickly clicking multiple tool parameters in the Tool Board to rename them, multiple rename editor windows could remain open after a different parameter was selected. This problem has been fixed.
      • MERLIC could crash while checking for updates if the update file could not be interpreted. This problem has been fixed.
      • The update dialog provides an option that suggests a disable option for an update check. However, the option only refers to disabling the display of the dialog itself. This problem has been fixed. The option now clearly describes its functionality.
      • MERLIC crashed when hovering over a tool parameter or tool result of a custom tool containing an array of HALCON handles, which exceeds the size of 2. This problem has been fixed.

    Frontend Designer

    • Fixed Problems
      • When ungrouping tools in the Tool Flow, connections to parameters used in the Frontend Designer layout could be lost. This resulted in broken parameter bindings in the Frontend Designer and prevented the MERLIC Frontend from starting. This problem has been fixed.

    MERLIC Frontend

    • New Features
      • With the new communication architecture, a new command line option " --url " has been added for the executable file of the MERLIC Frontend. It allows specifying the system and MERLIC RTE instance the MERLIC Frontend should connect to. When starting the MERLIC Frontend with the new command line option, it will automatically connect to the specified MERLIC RTE instance on startup.
        In addition, MERLIC now provides corresponding new INI option " Url " for the INI category [Frontend] . This option can be used to define the desired system and MERLIC RTE instance, the MERLIC Frontend should connect to by default on startup. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.
    • Fixed Problems
      • When a "Text Box" or a "Combo Box" widget was used in the MERLIC Frontend, users could set the connected tool parameter to any value even if the parameter allowed only a predefined set of values. This problem has been fixed. Now, values other than the listed ones are rejected, and the connected parameter remains set to its last valid value.
      • If the "Image Display" or "Training" widget was used multiple times in the MERLIC Frontend, for example, to display the same image on different tab views, the widgets were not updated correctly. This problem has been fixed.
      • In some cases, removing a tool or grouping a tool connected to a "Function Plot" widget incorrectly disabled the "Launch Frontend" button, preventing the MERLIC Frontend from being started. This problem has been fixed.
      • When using multiple "Function Plot" widgets, all of those plots were limited to the length of the smallest data tuple in any plot. This problem has been fixed. Each plot now uses the length of its own data tuples independently.

    Tools

    • Fixed Problems
      • In the tool "Calibrate Camera", the calibration plate descriptor "calplate_40mm.cpd" was not listed in the corresponding tool parameter. This problem has been fixed.
      • When passing an empty input parameter to a tool of the "ROI" tool category, for example, "Create Circle", the respective ROI result of the tool was not updated correctly. Instead, an outdated ROI result was returned. This problem has been fixed.
      • The tool "Detect Anomalies" did not perform an inference if any of the parameters "Anomaly Region Threshold" or "Anomaly Score Threshold" was defined as an MVApp parameter and its value was modified by MERLIC RTE. This could occur if a different recipe referencing the same MVApp was prepared, or if an iteration parameter was passed when starting an execution job. Additionally, the same issue affected the tool "Detect Anomalies in the Global Context" if any of the parameters "Anomaly Region Threshold", "Anomaly Score Threshold", "Anomaly Score Tolerance", or "Minimum Defect Area" was defined as MVApp parameter. These problems have been fixed.
      • Setting the tool parameter "Orientation Tolerance" of the tool "Determine Alignment with Matching" to an excessively large value caused MERLIC to become unresponsive. This problem has been fixed.
      • If no expression was defined in the tool "Evaluate Expression", the respective error message did not clearly state that the expression is missing. This problem has been fixed.
      • In some cases, MERLIC tools with deep learning functionality did not set a tool state error if the processing unit could not be set. This problem has been fixed.
      • The translation of the parameter "Duration since Start Time" was incorrect. This problem has been fixed. In addition, the example in the tool description has been expanded.

    Examples

    • Improved Usability
      • The Frontend designs of the MVApp examples have been revised to appear in a clear and consistent layout.

    Documentation

    • New Features
      • The page "Cybersecurity" in the MERLIC manual has been extended by a new section "Software Bill of Materials" providing information on the available SBOM files for MERLIC.
    • Enhancements
      • The font settings for the MERLIC documentation have been improved to display the documentation in a clear font fitting the respective documentation language.
      • The "Getting Started with MERLIC" page in the MERLIC manual has been extended with links to MERLIC related courses in the MVTec Academy. They are provided in the section "Tutorials" and offer quick access to interactive online courses.
      • The tool reference of the tools "Evaluate Contours" and "Evaluate Regions" has been improved. The description of the parameter "Feature Name" and the result "Feature Values" now describes more clearly the used value range when the tools are used to evaluate the orientation.
      • The documentation of the available "ActionResponses" for the Hilscher plugin has been extended with a description of the ActionResponse "ConnectionLost"
      • The documentation of activating a MERLIC license has been improved. The MERLIC manual now contains information that some browsers require explicit user confirmation for accessing applications to enable license activation.
    • Fixed Problems
      • In the MERLIC Tool Development manual, the description of the procedure " Me_get_rect() " wrongly stated that the "length1" and "length2" parameters represent the half lengths of the rectangle instead of the full lengths. This problem has been fixed.
      • The description of the "Error" state in the MERLIC manual was unclear regarding the required user action in this state and the error for loading unknown recipe IDs. This problem has been fixed.
      • On the page "Keyboard Shortcuts" in the MERLIC manual, the description for zooming in the MERLIC Frontend was missing. This problem has been fixed.
      • On the page "The MERLIC INI File", the documentation of the INI option " AlwaysShowROIHandles " mentioned a wrong default value. This problem has been fixed.
      • In the MERLIC manual, images showing the MERLIC state machine were sometimes displayed with reduced quality. This problem has been fixed.
      • In the tool reference of the legacy tool "Write to File", an MVApp example was wrongly listed in the section "Application Example". This problem has been fixed.

    Licensing

    • New Features
      • The license protection tools from Wibu-Systems used by MERLIC have been updated to the latest versions.
    • Fixed Problems
      • In certain cases, MERLIC did not log and report errors due to lost licenses. This problem has been fixed.

    Miscellaneous

    • The AI² interfaces that are optionally used for the deep learning tools are updated. MERLIC now contains the following versions of the interfaces:
      • OpenVINO: Revision 21.5.5.4
      • TensorRT: Revision 25.11.4.0
    • MERLIC did not automatically clean the log files at shutdown. Therefore, it was possible to have more log files than desired if the size of the individual files remained below the configured limit. This problem has been fixed.
    • MERLIC is now signed with a new digital signature, as the previously used certificate reached its validity date for signing.
    • To profit from the improvements of the new HALCON version, the HALCON libraries used by MERLIC have been upgraded to the HALCON 26.05 Progress version. Note that this change affects the compatibility. Read more.

    Release Notes for Windows Systems Only

    In this section, you can find the release notes that apply only for Windows systems.

    • The bundled SOM installer in the Windows offline archive was not correctly signed. This problem has been fixed. The executable is now signed with the MVTec certificate.

    Release Notes Linux Systems Only

    In this section, you can find the release notes that apply only for Linux systems.

    • To mitigate a vulnerability, the licensing libraries used on Siemens Edge systems have been updated to the newest versions.

    Known Issues

    The following issue is already known and in development process. It will be fixed for upcoming releases.

    • In frequent cases, when using TensorRT™ accelerated processing units in MERLIC tools with deep learning technology, MERLIC crashes if the required memory for the deep learning model exceeds the available memory on the GPU.

    Legal Notes :

    Intel, the Intel logo, OpenVINO, the OpenVINO logo, and Movidius are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries.