Release Announcements
=====================
-This is the first preview release of Samba 4.10. This is *not*
+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 4.10 will be the next version of the Samba suite.
+Samba 4.12 will be the next version of the Samba suite.
UPGRADING
NEW FEATURES/CHANGES
====================
-GPO Improvements
-----------------
+Python 3.5 Required
+-------------------
-A new 'samba-tool gpo export' command has been added that can export a
-set of Group Policy Objects from a domain in a generalised XML format.
+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.
-A corresponding 'samba-tool gpo restore' command has been added to
-rebuild the Group Policy Objects from the XML after generalization.
-(The administrator needs to correct the values of XML entities between
-the backup and restore to account for the change in domain).
+(Build time support for the file server with Python 2.6 has not
+changed)
-kdc prefork
------------
+GnuTLS 3.4.7 required
+---------------------
-The KDC now supports the pre-fork process model and worker processes will be
-forked for the KDC when the pre-fork process model is selected for samba.
+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.
-prefork 'prefork children'
---------------------------
+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.
-The default value for this smdb.conf parameter has been increased from 1 to
-4.
+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!
-netlogon prefork
-----------------
+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.
-DCERPC now supports pre-forked NETLOGON processes. The netlogon processes are
-pre-forked when the prefork process model is selected for samba.
+A future Samba version will mitigate this to some extent where good
+cryptography effectively wraps bad cryptography, but for now that above
+applies.
-Offline domain backups
-----------------------
-
-The 'samba-tool domain backup' command has been extended with a new 'offline'
-option. This safely creates a backup of the local DC's database directly from
-disk. The main benefits of an offline backup are it's quicker, it stores more
-database details (for forensic purposes), and the samba process does not have
-to be running when the backup is made. Refer to the samba-tool help for more
-details on using this command.
-
-Group membership statistics
----------------------------
-
-A new 'samba-tool group stats' command has been added. This provides summary
-information about how the users are spread across groups in your domain.
-The 'samba-tool group list --verbose' command has also been updated to include
-the number of users in each group.
-
-prefork process restart
------------------------
-
-The pre-fork process model now restarts failed processes. The delay between
-restart attempts is controlled by the "prefork backoff increment" (default = 10)
-and "prefork maximum backoff" (default = 120) smbd.conf parameters. A linear
-back off strategy is used with "prefork backoff increment" added to the
-delay between restart attempts up until it reaches "prefork maximum backoff".
-
-Using the default sequence the restart delays (in seconds) are:
- 0, 10, 20, ..., 120, 120, ...
-
-standard process model
-----------------------
-
-When using the standard process model samba forks a new process to handle ldap
-and netlogon connections. Samba now honours the 'max smbd processes' smb.conf
-parameter. The default value of 0, indicates there is no limit. The limit
-is applied individually to netlogon and ldap. When the process limit is
-exceeded Samba drops new connections immediately.
REMOVED FEATURES
================
-MIT Kerberos build of the AD DC
--------------------------------
-
-While not removed, the MIT Kerberos build of the Samba AD DC is still
-considered experimental. Because Samba will not issue security
-patches for this configuration, such builds now require the explicit
-configure option: --with-experimental-mit-ad-dc
-
-For further details see
-https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Running_a_Samba_AD_DC_with_MIT_Kerberos_KDC
+BIND9_FLATFILE deprecated
+-------------------------
-samba_backup
-------------
+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.
-The samba_backup script has been removed. This has now been replaced by the
-'samba-tool domain backup offline' command.
+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
-------------- ----------- -------
- prefork backoff increment Delay added to process restart 10 (seconds)
- between attempts.
- prefork maximum backoff Maximum delay for process between 120 (seconds)
- process restart attempts
+ nfs4:acedup Changed default merge
+ rndc command Removed
KNOWN ISSUES
============
-https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Release_Planning_for_Samba_4.10#Release_blocking_bugs
+https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Release_Planning_for_Samba_4.12#Release_blocking_bugs
#######################################