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diff --git a/WHATSNEW4.txt b/WHATSNEW4.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..726fb1cd97 --- /dev/null +++ b/WHATSNEW4.txt @@ -0,0 +1,146 @@ +What's new in Samba 4 alpha5 +============================ + +Samba 4 is the ambitious next version of the Samba suite that is being +developed in parallel to the stable 3.0 series. The main emphasis in +this branch is support for the Active Directory logon protocols used +by Windows 2000 and above. + +Samba4 alpha5 follows on from the alpha release series we have been +publishing since September 2007 + +WARNINGS +======== + +Samba4 alpha5 is not a final Samba release. That is more a reference +to Samba4's lack of the features we expect you will need than a +statement of code quality, but clearly it hasn't seen a broad +deployment yet. If you were to upgrade Samba3 (or indeed Windows) to +Samba4, you would find many things work, but that other key features +you may have relied on simply are not there yet. + +For example, while Samba 3.0 is an excellent member of a Active +Directory domain, Samba4 is happier as a domain controller, and it is +in this role where it has seen deployment into production. + +Samba4 is subjected to an awesome battery of tests on an +automated basis, we have found Samba4 to be very stable in it's +behaviour. We have to recommend against upgrading production servers +from Samba 3 to Samba 4 at this stage, because there may be the features on +which you may rely that are not present, or the mapping of +your configuration and user database may not be complete. + +If you are upgrading, or looking to develop, test or deploy Samba4, you should +backup all configuration and data. + +NEW FEATURES +============ + +Samba4 supports the server-side of the Active Directory logon environment +used by Windows 2000 and later, so we can do full domain join +and domain logon operations with these clients. + +Our Domain Controller (DC) implementation includes our own built-in +LDAP server and Kerberos Key Distribution Center (KDC) as well as the +Samba3-like logon services provided over CIFS. We correctly generate +the infamous Kerberos PAC, and include it with the Kerberos tickets we +issue. + +The new VFS features in Samba 4 adapts the filesystem on the server to +match the Windows client semantics, allowing Samba 4 to better match +windows behaviour and application expectations. This includes file +annotation information (in streams) and NT ACLs in particular. The +VFS is backed with an extensive automated test suite. + +A new scripting interface has been added to Samba 4, allowing +Python programs to interface to Samba's internals. + +The Samba 4 architecture is based around an LDAP-like database that +can use a range of modular backends. One of the backends supports +standards compliant LDAP servers (including OpenLDAP), and we are +working on modules to map between AD-like behaviours and this backend. +We are aiming for Samba 4 to be powerful frontend to large +directories. + +CHANGES SINCE Alpha4 +===================== + +In the time since Samba4 Alpha4 was released in June 2008, Samba has +continued to evolve, but you may particularly notice these areas: + + LDAP backend support restored (issues preventing the use of the LDAP + backend in alpha4 have been addressed). + + SMB2 Support: The SMB2 server, while still disabled, has improved, + and now supports SMB2 signing. + + OpenChange support: Updates have been made since alpha4 to better + support OpenChange's use of Samba4's libraries. + + Faster ldb loading: A fix to avoid calling 'init_module' (which was + not defined by Samba modules, but was by the C library) will fix + some of the slowness in authentication. + + SWAT Remains Disabled: Due to a lack of developer time and without a + long-term web developer to maintain it, the SWAT web UI remains been + disabled (and would need to be rewritten in python in any case). + + GNU Make: To try and simplfy our build system, we rely on GNU Make + to avoid autogenerating a massive single makefile. + + +These are just some of the highlights of the work done in the past few +months. More details can be found in our GIT history. + + +CHANGES +======= + +Those familiar with Samba 3 can find a list of user-visible changes +since that release series in the NEWS file. + +KNOWN ISSUES +============ + +- Domain member support is in it's infancy, and is not comparable to + the support found in Samba3. + +- There is no printing support in the current release. + +- There is no NetBIOS browsing support in the current release + +- The Samba4 port of the CTDB clustering support is not yet complete + +- Clock Synchronisation is critical. Many 'wrong password' errors are + actually due to Kerberos objecting to a clock skew between client + and server. (The NTP work in the previous alpha is partly to assist + with this problem). + +- Samba4 alpha5 is currently only portable to recent Linux + distributions. Work to return support for other Unix varients is + expected during the next alpha cycle + +- Samba4 alpha5 is incompatible with GnuTLS 2.0, found in Fedora 9 and + recent Ubuntu releases. GnuTLS use may be disabled using the + --disable-gnutls argument to ./configure. (otherwise 'make test' and + LDAPS operations will hang). + +RUNNING Samba4 +============== + +A short guide to setting up Samba 4 can be found in the howto.txt file +in root of the tarball. + +DEVELOPMENT and FEEDBACK +======================== +Bugs can be filed at https://bugzilla.samba.org/ but please be aware +that many features are simply not expected to work at this stage. + +The Samba Wiki at http://wiki.samba.org should detail some of these +development plans. + +Development and general discussion about Samba 4 happens mainly on +the #samba-technical IRC channel (on irc.freenode.net) and +the samba-technical mailing list (see http://lists.samba.org/ for +details). + |