samba-mirror/WHATSNEW.txt

Release Announcements
=====================

This is the first preview release of Samba 4.8.  This is *not*
intended for production environments and is designed for testing
purposes only.  Please report any defects via the Samba bug reporting
system at https://bugzilla.samba.org/.

Samba 4.8 will be the next version of the Samba suite.


UPGRADING
=========


NEW FEATURES/CHANGES
====================

KDC GPO application
-------------------

Adds Group Policy support for the samba kdc. Applies password policies
(minimum/maximum password age, minimum password length, and password
complexity) and kerberos policies (user/service ticket lifetime and
renew lifetime).

Adds the samba_gpoupdate script for applying and unapplying
policy. Can be applied automatically by setting

 'server services = +gpoupdate'.

Time Machine Support with vfs_fruit
===================================
Samba can be configured as a Time Machine target for Apple Mac devices
through the vfs_fruit module. When enabling a share for Time Machine
support the relevant Avahi records to support discovery will be published
for installations that have been built against the Avahi client library.

Shares can be designated as a Time Machine share with the following setting:

  'fruit:time machine = yes'

Support for lower casing the MDNS Name
======================================
Allows the server name that is advertised through MDNS to be set to the
hostname rather than the Samba NETBIOS name. This allows an administrator
to make Samba registered MDNS records match the case of the hostname
rather than being in all capitals.

This can be set with the following settings:

  'mdns name = mdns'

Encrypted secrets
=================
Attributes deemed to be sensitive are now encrypted on disk. The sensitive
values are currently:
	pekList
	msDS-ExecuteScriptPassword
	currentValue
	dBCSPwd
	initialAuthIncoming
	initialAuthOutgoing
	lmPwdHistory
	ntPwdHistory
	priorValue
	supplementalCredentials
	trustAuthIncoming
	trustAuthOutgoing
	unicodePwd
	clearTextPassword

This encryption is enabled by default on a new provision or join, it
can be disabled at provision or join time with the new option
--plaintext-secrets.

However, an in-place upgrade will not encrypt the database.

Once encrypted, it is not possible to do an in-place downgrade (eg to
4.7) of the database. To obtain an unencrypted copy of the database a
new DC join should be performed, specifying the --plaintext-secrets
option.

The key file "encrypted_secrets.key" is created in the same directory
as the database and should NEVER be disclosed.  It is included by the
samba_backup script.

smb.conf changes
================

  Parameter Name                     Description             Default
  --------------                     -----------             -------
  auth methods                       Removed
  binddns dir                        New
  client schannel                    Default changed/        yes
                                     Deprecated
  gpo update command                 New
  ldap ssl ads                       Deprecated
  map untrusted to domain            Removed
  oplock contention limit            Removed
  prefork children                   New                     1
  mdns name                          Added                   netbios
  fruit:time machine                 Added                   false
  profile acls                       Removed
  use spnego                         Removed
  server schannel                    Default changed/        yes
                                     Deprecated
  unicode                            Deprecated
  winbind scan trusted domains       New                     yes
  winbind trusted domains only       Removed


NT4-style replication based net commands removed
================================================

The following commands and sub-commands have been removed from the
"net" utility:

net rpc samdump
net rpc vampire ldif

Also, replicating from a real NT4 domain with "net rpc vampire" and
"net rpc vampire keytab" has been removed.

The NT4-based commands were accidentially broken in 2013, and nobody
noticed the breakage. So instead of fixing them including tests (which
would have meant writing a server for the protocols, which we don't
have) we decided to remove them.

For the same reason, the "samsync", "samdeltas" and "database_redo"
commands have been removed from rpcclient.

"net rpc vampire keytab" from Active Directory domains continues to be
supported.

vfs_aio_linux module removed
============================

The current Linux kernel aio does not match what Samba would
do. Shipping code that uses it leads people to false
assumptions. Samba implements async I/O based on threads by default,
there is no special module required to see benefits of read and write
request being sent do the disk in parallel.

smbclient reparse point symlink parameters reversed
===================================================

A bug in smbclient caused the 'symlink' command to reverse the
meaning of the new name and link target parameters when creating a
reparse point symlink against a Windows server. As this is a
little used feature the ordering of these parameters has been
reversed to match the parameter ordering of the UNIX extensions
'symlink' command. The usage message for this command has also
been improved to remove confusion.

Winbind changes
---------------

The dependency to global list of trusted domains within
the winbindd processes has been reduced a lot.

The construction of that global list is not reliable and often
incomplete in complex trust setups. In most situations the list is not needed
any more for winbindd to operate correctly. E.g. for plain file serving via SMB
using a simple idmap setup with autorid, tdb or ad. However some more complex
setups require the list, e.g. if you specify idmap backends for specific
domains. Some pam_winbind setups may also require the global list.

If you have a setup that doesn't require the global list, you should set
"winbind scan trusted domains = no".

REMOVED FEATURES
================

The two commands "net serverid list" and "net serverid wipe" have been
removed, because the file serverid.tdb is not used anymore.

"net serverid list" can be replaced by listing all files in the
subdirectory "msg.lock" of Samba's "lock directory". The unique id
listed by "net serverid list" is stored in every process' lockfile in
"msg.lock".

"net serverid wipe" is not necessary anymore. It was meant primarily
for clustered environments, where the serverid.tdb file was not
properly cleaned up after single node crashes. Nowadays smbd and
winbind take care of cleaning up the msg.lock and msg.sock directories
automatically.

KNOWN ISSUES
============

https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Release_Planning_for_Samba_4.8#Release_blocking_bugs


#######################################
Reporting bugs & Development Discussion
#######################################

Please discuss this release on the samba-technical mailing list or by
joining the #samba-technical IRC channel on irc.freenode.net.

If you do report problems then please try to send high quality
feedback. If you don't provide vital information to help us track down
the problem then you will probably be ignored.  All bug reports should
be filed under the Samba 4.1 and newer product in the project's Bugzilla
database (https://bugzilla.samba.org/).


======================================================================
== Our Code, Our Bugs, Our Responsibility.
== The Samba Team
======================================================================