[Bacula-users] Bacula release 1.29

[Kern S. <ke...@si...>]

Hello,

I have just posted the released version of Bacula 1.29.
This is mainly a stability update with lots of fixes
to 1.28.  You are all urged to update, especially Windows
users. The File daemons are compatible with version 1.28,
so they do not all need to be updated simultaneously.

This release does contain a few new features. One that
allows dynamic Include lists to be built either by
reading a file at Job run time, or by running a program
at Job run time. See the FileSet documentation for
details. 

Bacula also now has a mechanism for reading
data from an arbitrary program, thus permitting "hot"
backups of very large databases without making a copy.

Finally, it has preliminary support for writing the output
to a program rather than a tape. This allows interface
to any Mass Storage Device for backing/restoring data.

Thanks for the input that I received from a number of you.
I would particularly like to thank James MacLean and team
for doing stress testing of Bacula concerning weird
and long filenames. This pointed out a number of bugs that 
this version fixes.


I'm including a copy of the release notes for your
convenience. I urge you all to carefully review the
ChangeLog as well for any changes.

As usual, you can get Bacula from:

  http://sourceforge.net/projects/bacula

Best regards,

Kern

          Release Notes for Bacula 1.29

  Bacula code: Total files = 228 Total lines = 62,662 (*.h *.c *.in)

Major Changes this Release:
- This release is primarily a bug fix release. I spent a great
  deal of time searching for any possible buffer overflow, stress
  testing the memory allocator, and eliminating places where bad
  input or strange characters could cause a crash.  
- All known 1.28 bugs have been fixed.
- Allow dynamic input of files into Include statements via a
  program or reading a file. E.g.
     Include = {
        "|program input"
        "<file_input"
- Allow backup of raw partitions.
- Allow input of data for backup via a fifo -- good for doing a
  "hot" backup of a database.
- Fixed a major bug that caused Bacula to crash if there were error
  messages in the catalog interface code and you started two jobs
  at the same time.
- Fixed a buffer overrun bug found by James MacLean in filename quoting
  if you had very long filenames with many single quotes in it.
- Fixed a number of "recursive" calls to the print routines that would
  eventually cause a crash -- pointed out by James MacLean.


Other Changes this Release:
- Bigendian is detected in configure making porting easier.
- Added beginning of Gentoo platform files
- Improved mtx-changer for handling subtle differences between differen
  versions of mtx. Also beginning of handling Bar Code reading.
- Quite a number of updates to the manual, with more examples ... 
- Documented tape drive modes expected by Bacula.
- Enhanced the dbcheck program with a few more options and better
  user control as well as better display.
- Fixed a bug in VolumeUseDuration reported by George Motter.
- Implemented thread timer routines, currently used to time out FIFO's,
  but ultimately will monitor connections.
- Improved error reporting. Initial errors no longer changed by later
errors.
  Both FD and SD exit status reported in Backup output report.
- Cancel now work within the File daemon (previously it always traversed
all
  files).
- New Volume Files option for "update" that allows correcting incorrect
volume         file count entries in catalog due to a program crash.
- Removed virtually all sm_check()s -- should run a bit faster.


Items to note:
- Version 1.28 File daemons can be used with version 1.29, but it
  is preferable to upgrade.