[OpenAFS-announce] OpenAFS 1.3.70 released

Derrick J Brashear shadow@dementia.org
Tue, 10 Aug 2004 02:58:46 -0400 (EDT)


OpenAFS 1.2.11 is now available for download from the openafs.org web
site.

In addition to the gzipped tarfile of source, binary distributions of
OpenAFS 1.3.70 are available for Windows XP and 2003 as both an MSI and 
an installer package, AIX 4.3.3, Darwin 7.0, Tru64 5.0A,
Solaris 7, Solaris 8, and Solaris 10 beta 2 in a gzipped tar format, and a 
MacOS X 10.3 package in a tarfile.

Further ports will be uploaded as they become available.

For Windows, 1.3.70 is the currently supported stable client. The 
following paragraphs detail changes in the Windows client; Note that if 
you have XP and are moving to service pack 2, this is a critical update.

For UNIX, 1.3.70 is a milestone in the 1.4 release cycle. Starting in 
1.3.70, platforms with pthreads support provide a volserver which like the 
fileserver and butc backup system uses pthreads. Solaris versions 
8 and above, AIX, IRIX, OpenBSD, Darwin, MacOS and Linux clients support 
large (>2gb) files, and provided fileservers have this option enabled. 
HP-UX may also support large files, but has not yet been verified. We hope 
sites which can do so will make use of 1.3.70 on their UNIX platforms and 
provide feedback to help us fix any remaining issues before 1.4 is 
released.

IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING WINDOWS XP SP2 AND ALL PREVIOUS RELEASES OF
OPENAFS FOR WINDOWS

There is a serious incompatibility between Microsoft Windows XP SP2
and all previous versions of AFS for Windows whether released by IBM/Transarc 
or OpenAFS.org.  The afslogon.dll which provides the
Integrated Logon functionality violates newly imposed security
restrictions.  These restrictions cause network operations performed
during DLL process attachment to block forever.  This will prevent
proper loading and unloading of user profile information.  Depending
on the version of AFS, the boot cycle of Windows XP SP2 may fail to
complete.

All users are strongly encouraged to upgrade to this release prior
to the installation of Windows XP SP2.  If OpenAFS for Windows cannot
be installed, all references to afslogon.dll should be removed from
the system.  If present the following registry key should be deleted

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows_NT\CurrentVersion\WinLogon\Notify\AfsLogon

In addition, the string "TransarcAFSDaemon" must be removed from the "Provider 
Order" value in the following keys:

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider\Order
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider\HwOrder

Doing so will avoid the incompatibility and will disable the integrated
logon functionality.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Release Announcement:

OpenAFS for Windows release 1.3.70 is the culmination of eight months of
significant effort which has has resulted in the most stable and
functional AFS client for the Windows operating systems in the history
of AFS.  While the last five months have produced a new stable build
every month, it is now time to slow things down for a while.  The
OpenAFS Gatekeepers do not anticipate releasing another stable build for
the Windows platform before the end of the year.  In the meantime,
development will continue to focus on functionality which is expected to
be destabilizing in the near term but which in the long term will
produce an even better product for the subsequent year.

The 1.3.70 release is a departure from previous releases and is
not fully backward compatible.  In particular, not all configuration
data will be re-used from previously installed releases.  In this
release all OpenAFS configuration data is moved out of the WINDOWS
directory and stored either within the registry or the OpenAFS Client
installation directory.  The location of information is documented
within the afs-install-notes.txt and registry.txt files associated with
the release. It is hoped that this is the only time that OpenAFS.org
will have to make such an incompatible change.

Active development of OpenAFS for Windows installation and configuration
documentation is underway within the OpenAFS Wiki.  It is hoped the
wider community will continue the efforts of a small few in extending
the collective knowledge.  Please examine the Wiki documentation at

http://grand.central.org/twiki/bin/view/AFSLore/NewWindowsDocumentation

Feel free to edit the contents to correct spelling, grammar, and
factual inconsistencies.

The following is a summary of major features added to OpenAFS for
Windows since the 1.2.10 release:

      * Support for Windows 2003 Terminal Server
      * Support for Windows XP SP2
      * Kerberos 5 support is provided via integration with the MIT
        Kerberos for Windows 2.6.x distribution.  This supports token
        retrieval via Kerberos 5 without the use of krb524d; automatic
        token renewal; tokens for multiple cells from a single Kerberos 5
        principal; a built in aklog command line client; support for use
        of Windows Active Directory issued tickets; and more.
      * OpenAFS ships with its own version of aklog which includes
        Kerberos 5 support as well as the ability to use PTS to create
        new users in foreign cells after obtaining a cross-cell token.
      * The Microsoft Loopback Adapter is automatically installed by
        the OpenAFS for Windows installers.  With the MSA installed
        OpenAFS will use a common "AFS" server name on all machines
        simplifying the use of AFS paths within login scripts
      * AFS UNC paths are now supported throughout the operating
        system.    \\AFS\cellname\directory
      * SMB/CIFS connections are now authenticated thereby closing a
        security hole.
      * OpenAFS will now by default utilize a locally defined root.afs
        volume.  Now longer is network connectivity to the root.afs
        volume of the default cell a requirement for starting the AFS
        Client Service.  (This feature is known as "freelance" or
        "dynamic root" mode.)
      * Cell server lookups via DNS are now active by default without
        any additional configuration.
      * The integration logon functionality has been significantly
        enhanced to support different behavior based upon the domain used
        to logon to the machine.
      * The AFS Systray tool has been enhanced with new command line
        options used to automatically restore drive mappings from
        previous sessions.  This is particularly useful with roaming
        profiles.
      * The AFS Client Service configuration may only be altered via
        Administrator accounts.
      * OpenAFS for Windows will be compatible with both Windows XP SP2
        and Windows 2003 SP1 (when they are released)
      * Old style profile (.ini) files are no longer used.  All
        configuration information is now stored in the registry with
        proper separation of user and machine specific data.  This allows
        individual users to maintain their own drive mappings as well as
        be able to roam from machine to machine and keep their settings.
      * Integration with the Windows Explorer has been significantly
        improved.
      * User tokens are destroyed on logout (except when profile is
        stored within AFS).
      * Large numbers of resource leaks and other coding errors have been
        corrected.

For a complete summary of all changes since the 1.2.10 release see the
file:  afs-changes-since-1.2.txt.

For a list of known open issues see the file: afs-issues.txt

For a list of registry values used by OpenAFS see the file: registry.txt

For information on customizing the MSI installer for Group Policy
Deployment see the file: msi-deployment-guide.txt

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reporting Bugs:

Bug reports should be sent to openafs-bugs@openafs.org.  Please include
as much information as possible about the issue.  If you are reporting a
crash, please install the debugging symbols by re-running the installer.
   If a dump file is available for the problem include it along with the
AFS Client Trace file  %WINDIR%\TEMP\afsd.log.  The AFS Client startup
log is %WINDIR%\TEMP\afsd_init.log.  Send the last continuous block of
log information from this file.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

How to Contribute to the Development of OpenAFS for Windows:

Contributions to the development of OpenAFS for Windows are needed.
Contributions may take many forms including cash donations, support
contracts, donated developer time, donated tech writer time, and even
testing time is appreciated.

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Derrick Brashear,
for the OpenAFS gatekeepers