shorewall_code/Shorewall/releasenotes.txt

Shorewall 4.3.6

Shorewall 4.3 is the development thread for Shorewall 4.4 which will be
released late in 2009.

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               R E L E A S E  4 . 4  H I G H L I G H T S
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1) Support for Shorewall-shell has been discontinued. Shorewall-perl
   has been combined with Shorewall-common to produce a single
   Shorewall package.

2) The interfaces file OPTIONs have been extended to largely remove the
   need for the hosts file.  

Problems corrected in 4.3.6

1)  The shorewall6 dump command now correctly displays the installed
    Shorewall version.
  
2)   Previously, the 'start' command set the permission flags on
    /var/lib/shorewall*/state so that it could be read by
    non-root users while the 'stop' command set the permissions such
    that the file could not be read by those users.

    Beginning with 4.3.6, both commands will secure the file for
    root-only access. If you want the file to be world-readable, then
    add 

    	chmod 744 /var/lib/shorewall*/state

    To your /etc/shorewall*/started, /etc/shorewall*/stopped and
    /etc/shorewall*/restored files.

Known Problems Remaiining:

None.

New Features in Shorewall 4.3.6

None.

New Features in Shorewall 4.4

1)  The Shorewall packaging has been completely revamped in Shorewall
    4.4.

    The new packages are:

    - Shorewall.   Includes the former Shorewall-common and
                   Shorewall-perl packages. Includes everything needed
                   to create an IPv4 firewall.

    - Shorewall6.  Requires Shorewall. Adds the components necessary to
      		   create an IPv6 firewall.

    - Shorewall-lite

		   May be installed on a firewall system to run
		   IPv4 firewall scripts generated by Shorewall.

    - Shorewall6-lite

		   May be installed on a firewall system to run
		   IPv6 firewall scripts generated by Shorewall.

2)  The interfaces file supports a new 'nets=' option. This option
    allows users to restrict a zone's definition to particular networks
    through an interface without having to use the hosts file.

    Example interfaces file:

    #ZONE	INTERFACE	BROADCAST		OPTIONS
    loc		eth3		detect			dhcp,logmartians=1,routefilter=1,nets=172.20.1.0/24
    dmz     	eth4		detect			logmartians=1,routefilter=1,nets=206.124.146.177
    net		eth0		detect			dhcp,blacklist,tcpflags,optional,routefilter=0,nets=(!172.20.0.0/24,206.124.146.177)
    net		eth2		detect			dhcp,blacklist,tcpflags,optional,upnp,routefilter=0,nets=(!172.20.0.0/24,206.124.146.177)
    loc		tun+		detect			nets=172.20.0.0/24
    #LAST LINE -- ADD YOUR ENTRIES BEFORE THIS ONE -- DO NOT REMOVE

    Note that when more than one network address is listed, the list
    must be enclosed in parentheses. Notice also that exclusion may be
    used.

    The first entry in the above interfaces file is equivalent to the
    following:

    interfaces:

    #ZONE	INTERFACE	BROADCAST		OPTIONS
    -		eth0		detect			dhcp,logmartians=1,routefilter=1

    hosts:

    #ZONE	HOST(S)					OPTIONS
    loc		$INT_IF:192.20.1.0/24			broadcast

    Note that the 'broadcast' option is automatically assumed and need
    not be explicitly specified.

3)  Some websites run applications that require multiple connections
    from a client browser. Where multiple 'balanced' providers are
    configured, this can lead to problems when some of the connections
    are routed through one provider and some through another.

    To work around this issue, the SAME target has been added to
    /etc/shorewall/tcrules. SAME may be used in the PREROUTING and
    OUTPUT chains. When used in PREROUTING, it causes matching
    connections from an individual local system to all use the same
    provider.

    For example:

    	SAME:P	192.168.1.0/24	-	tcp	80,443

    If a host in 192.168.1.0/24 attempts a connection on TCP port 80 or
    443 and it has sent a packet on either of those ports in the last
    five minutes then the new connection will use the same provider as
    the connection over which that last packet was sent.

    When used in the OUTPUT chain, it causes all matching connections
    to an individual remote system to all use the same provider.

    For example:

    	SAME	$FW	-	tcp	80,443

    If the firewall attempts a connection on TCP port 80 or
    443 and it has sent a packet on either of those ports in the last
    five minutes to the same remote system then the new connection will
    use the same provider as the connection over which that last packet
    was sent.

    Important note: SAME only works with providers that have the
    'track' option specified in /etc/shorewall/providers.