autofs-5.0.0

============

Differences between version 4 and version 5.

- Master map is now read and parsed by the `automount' daemon

  - the parameters for the `automount' daemon are now very different.

    See automount(8).

- The master map default is "auto.master" and nsswitch is used to

  locate it. The line "+auto.master" has been added to the default

  installed "/etc/auto.master" to ensure that those using NIS will

  still find their master map. This is in line with other industry

  automount implementations. The name of the default master map can

  be overridden by setting the MASTER_MAP_NAME configuration variable.

- The `automount' daemon is now a multi-threaded application and so

  appears as a single process (unless a thread process display option

  is used).

- `autofs' filesystem mounts only appear in /proc/mounts and not

  /etc/mtab. If you have a large number of entries in a direct mount

  map and link /etc/mtab to /proc/mounts you may see performance

  degradation.

- `autofs' version 5.0.0 will refuse to run if it cannot find an

   autofs4 kernel module that supports protocol version 5.00 or above.

- mount options present in the master map are accumulated by default

  which is different to the behavior of some other autofs

  implementations. A configuration option is available to change this

  behavior if required.

New in 5.0.0 is:

- improved direct mount map support

  - single level map entries now work as expected.

  - top level directory of direct mount hierarchy no longer obscures

    directory tree below.

- `+' map inclusion

  - maps preceded by a `+' in file maps may now be included inline.

  - implemented for the master map and mount maps.

- added nsswitch map source support

  - is now used to locate maps if no map source is given in their

    specification.

  - is used for both master map and mount maps.

- rewrote multi-mount map code

  - multi-mount map entry offsets now mount and expire independently

    instead of having to mount and umount all offset entries at once.

- added LDAP encryption and authentication support

  - needs to be enabled using a configure option.

  - a configuration file specifies whether encryption and authentication

    is to be used (see INSTALL and auto.master(5) for more information).

- improved shutdown and restart

  - needs to be enabled using a configure option.

  - see INSTALL for more information.

- a "hosts" map module has been added

  - an entry like "/net -hosts" is now understood and uses the new

    multi-mount semantics for lazy mount/umount of exports from the host.

  - the implementation is quite simple minded at this stage and will need

    refinement. It just iterates through the host table and adds any host

    names it finds to the internal map.

Things not yet done

===================

- I have no way to test the Gentoo setup here anymore so it is unlikely

  to work. Patches from anyone who needs this are welcome.

Ian