Release Announcements ===================== This is the first preview release of Samba 4.12. 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 4.12 will be the next version of the Samba suite. UPGRADING ========= NEW FEATURES/CHANGES ==================== Python 3.5 Required ------------------- Samba's minimum runtime requirement for python was raised to Python 3.4 with samba 4.11. Samba 4.12 raises this minimum version to Python 3.5 both to access new features and because this is the oldest version we test with in our CI infrastructure. (Build time support for the file server with Python 2.6 has not changed) GnuTLS 3.4.7 required --------------------- Samba is making efforts to remove in-tree cryptographic functionality, and to instead rely on externally maintained libraries. To this end, Samba has chosen GnuTLS as our standard cryptographic provider. Samba now requires GnuTLS 3.4.7 to be installed (including development headers at build time) for all configurations, not just the Samba AD DC. Using GnuTLS for SMB3 encryption you will notice huge performance and copy speed improvements. Tests with the CIFS Kernel client from Linux Kernel 5.3 show a 3x speed improvement for writing and a 2.5x speed improvement for reads! NOTE WELL: The use of GnuTLS means that Samba will honour the system-wide 'FIPS mode' (a reference to the US FIPS-140 cryptographic standard) and so will not operate in many still common situations if this system-wide parameter is in effect, as many of our protocols rely on outdated cryptography. A future Samba version will mitigate this to some extent where good cryptography effectively wraps bad cryptography, but for now that above applies. REMOVED FEATURES ================ BIND9_FLATFILE deprecated ------------------------- The BIND9_FLATFILE DNS backend is deprecated in this release and will be removed in the future. This was only practically useful on a single domain controller or under expert care and supervision. This release removes the "rndc command" smb.conf parameter, which supported this configuration by writing out a list of DCs permitted to make changes to the DNS Zone and nudging the 'named' server if a new DC was added to the domain. Administrators using BIND9_FLATFILE will need to maintain this manually from now on. smb.conf changes ================ Parameter Name Description Default -------------- ----------- ------- nfs4:acedup Changed default merge rndc command Removed KNOWN ISSUES ============ https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Release_Planning_for_Samba_4.12#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 ======================================================================