NethServer 7 RC2 "Gnocchi" released

We’re approching very quickly the final release but we’re still knee deep in fixing bugs and sorting out some issues that came up since the last release.
Now, after a few weeks of hard work, we’re finally ready for a new release of NethServer and it’s time get it off the ground.

Today, I’m excited to announce that NethServer 7 RC2 “Gnocchi” has been released and is publicly available.

In the past, we asked for help from our members to make NethServer 7 the best release yet and this is happening!

Overview

The RC2 release of NethServer 7 introduces no new features but aims to fix bugs in previous releases.

Changes from RC1

Legacy short user name support

By default, NethServer 7 enables the @domain suffix in user and group names, this new convention confuses the system user, and force to reconfigure his account credentials on any network client. Moreover, some applications require a configuration adjustment and such default is quite different from the previous NethServer version 6.x approach.

We have defined an additional option to support both name forms (short, long) and keep all data consistent.

And so much more

These are just the major highlights in 7 RC2 but there are other tiny improvements, refinements, and bugfixes that we aren’t covering here like:

  • SMB filesystem ACLs are not applied
  • Guest cannot write to shared folder
  • SambaAudit: “Reload” button doesn’t work
  • Virtual host inline help does not include plugins
  • Missing home dir on RSAT-created accounts
  • Useless Password policy page
  • Missing inline help in Password policy page

Full RC2 issues list is available on github

What does the RC release mean?

A release candidate (RC) is a testing version with the potential to be a final product, which is ready to release unless significant bugs emerge. RC releases can be used in production, especially if new features are not used on mission critical systems. Upgrades to the final release will be supported.

What needs test

Even in RC2, the most notable new feature that needs a good amount of testing is the AD Domain Controller setup, with particular focus on the depending functions such as email, shared folders and user authentication.

Feature freeze phase

This release is already in a core feature freeze phase, all work on adding new core features is suspended, shifting the effort towards fixing bugs and improving the stability and user experience.

This RC2 release contains all the exciting features of NethServer 7 in a form that anyone can help test. This testing, guided by the NethServer team, helps us target and identify bugs.

Future release

No new modules will be added or modified before the final release, we invite to stay tuned with our community for fresh news and updates about the forthcoming Stable Release.

Thank the overall NethServer community

As always, we want to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who makes NethServer possible! When you download a copy of NethServer or participate in your very own NethServer community, you enable us to write good Open Source software that many thousands have downloaded.

Why Gnocchi?

Gnocchi are thick, soft dough dumplings that may be made from semolina, ordinary wheat flour, egg, cheese, potato, breadcrumbs, cornmeal, or similar ingredients, with or without flavourings of herbs, vegetables, cocoa, or prunes. The dough for gnocchi is most often rolled out, then cut into small pieces of about the size of a cork.

As RC2 could be used as an alternative to the upcoming final release, Gnocchi is eaten as a first course (primo piatto) as an alternative to soups (minestre) or pasta.

It’s the favorite dish of our best RC1 contributors @JeffBales @saitobenkei and @rolf so that would be a special tribute to the men who helped us test NethServer over the past month

Download and Test

We need your help to make NethServer 7 the best release yet, so please take some time to download and try out the RC2 and make sure the things that are important to you are working.

  • You can install it on a virtual machine or on a bare-metal server using a DVD or USB stick
  • Upgrade from RC1 is supported through the Software center

If you find a bug, please report it replying to this topic – every bug you uncover is a chance to improve the experience for thousands of NethServer users worldwide, also our amazing quality team will be called upon to give its support on that!

Together, we can make NethServer rock-solid. We have a culture of coordinating new features and pushing fixes upstream as much as possible, and your feedback will help improve not only NethServer but Linux and free software as a whole.

Ready to check it out? Then head to the docs and download:

NethServer 7 RC2 (784MB) (from SourceForge.net)

Torrent link: nethserver-7.2.1511-rc2-x86_64.iso.torrent

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2 posts were merged into an existing topic: Replace existing AD Domain Controller with NS rc1