First OpenAFS 1.6.8 release candidate available

The OpenAFS 1.6 Release Team announces that the first 1.6.8 release candidate
1.6.8pre1 has been tagged in the OpenAFS source repository, available at:

  git://git.openafs.org/openafs.git

as tag: openafs-stable-1_6_8pre1 .

Source files can be accessed via the web at:

  http://dl.openafs.org/dl/candidate/1.6.8pre1/

or via AFS at:

  UNIX: /afs/grand.central.org/software/openafs/candidate/1.6.8pre1/
  UNC: \\afs\grand.central.org\software\openafs\candidate\1.6.8pre1\

No binaries are available yet, but they'll be uploaded as they're built.

Besides many other fixes and enhancements, this release candidate includes
the following significant changes:

* The default fileserver sync behavior changes from "delayed" to
  "onclose". This means that explicit syncing only happens when a
  volume is detached. This was the recommended option in previous
  stable releases, and it's believed to improve data integrity.

* When a client is shut down, it will give up its callbacks. The Windows
  client has been doing this since 2007. Note that older fileservers
  (1.3.50 to 1.4.5 and 1.5.0 to 1.5.27) had a bug in the implementation of
  the relevant RPC that could cause crashes or other undefined behavior
  when this happens.

For the list of user visible changes foreseen for 1.6.8, please see

 http://dl.openafs.org/dl/candidate/1.6.8pre1/RELNOTES-1.6.8pre1


Please note that 1.6.7 will be a security only release based upon 1.6.6.
The details of this are not yet public, but the relevant changes will be
part of the final 1.6.8 release, even though they aren't included in the
1.6.8pre1 prerelease.


Please assist us by deploying this prerelease and providing positive or
negative feedback. Bug reports should be filed to [email protected] .
Reports of success should be sent to [email protected] .

1.6 releases are no longer targeting MS Windows.

Stephan Wiesand, 1.6 Branch Release Manager
for the OpenAFS Release Team