I generally release major new versions of MaraDNS on solstices. I released MaraDNS 1.0.00 on June 21, 2002; MaraDNS 1.2.00 on December 21, 2005, and MaraDNS 1.3.01 (Starting with 1.3, there are no longer .00 releases) on December 21, 2006. In keeping with this tradition, I release the first betatest release of the 1.3 branch of MaraDNS today: 1.3.07.01.
This is a betatest release. No, not "beta" the way Google means "beta" ("beta", in Google parlance, seems to mean "we're too lazy to have a real release cycle for our web apps"). This means that no new features will be added to the MaraDNS 1.3 code before it is declared stable. The only changes before I declare 1.3 stable will be more SQA tests added, documentation improvments, and bug fixes.
The two big features added to the 1.3 branch are:
- It is now possible to have djbdns-style delegation of subdomains with the recursive resolver
- BIND zone files are now supported, via a Python script that converts BIND zone files in to MaraDNS-1.3-compatible zone files
In terms of the MaraDNS 1.0 branch, the only changes that will be done with that branch are "typo-bugfixes" and security fixes. When a say a "typo bugfix", I mean a bugfix that requires changing 10 lines or less of code. MaraDNS 1.0 "how do I" questions have not been answered by me for about a year (but you may be able to get support on the mailing list). Typo-bugfixes will only be applied with the MaraDNS 1.0 code for six more months. After that, only security bug fixes will be applied to MaraDNS 1.0. On December 21, 2010, I will stop supplying security fixes to MaraDNS 1.0.
In terms of the MaraDNS 1.2 branch, this is still the stable branch of MaraDNS. Since, however, 1.3 is now frozen, I will start to phase out the kinds of bugs I will fix in 1.2. Security, bugs, of course, will continue to be fixed. As will typo-bugs. However, any other bugs will need a compelling reason for me to fix. For example, I will no longer fix RFC-compliance bugs in 1.2 unless you can show me a serious real-world problem the lack of RFC compliance is causing.
Anyway, MaraDNS 1.3.07.01 is available for download here:
www.maradns.org/download.html
I encourage people to help me beta-test and find bugs in the 1.3 branch.
