========================
Salt 0.9.3 Release Notes
========================

:release: 2011-11-05

Salt 0.9.3 is finally arrived. This is another big step forward for Salt, new
features range from proper FreeBSD support to fixing issues seen when
attaching a minion to a master over the Internet.

The biggest improvements in 0.9.3 though can be found in the state system, it
has progressed from something ready for early testers to a system ready to
compete with platforms such as Puppet and Chef. The backbone of the state
system has been greatly refined and many new features are available.

Download!
---------

The Salt source can be downloaded from the salt GitHub site:

:download:`salt-0.9.3.tar.gz`

Or from PyPI:

https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/s/salt/salt-0.9.3.tar.gz

For instructions on how to set up Salt please see the :ref:`installation`
instructions.

New Features
------------

WAN Support
```````````

Recently more people have been testing Salt minions connecting to Salt Masters
over the Internet. It was found that Minions would commonly loose their
connection to the master when working over the internet. The minions can now
detect if the connection has been lost and reconnect to the master, making
WAN connections much more reliable.

State System Fixes
```````````````````

Substantial testing has gone into the state system and it is ready for real
world usage. A great deal has been added to the documentation for states and
the modules and functions available to states have been cleanly documented.

A number of State System bugs have also been founds and repaired, the output
from the state system has also been refined to be extremely clear and concise.

Error reporting has also been introduced, issues found in sls files will now
be clearly reported when executing Salt States.

Extend Declaration
``````````````````

The Salt States have also gained the ``extend`` declaration. This declaration
allows for states to be cleanly modified in a post environment. Simply said,
if there is an apache.sls file that declares the apache service, then another
sls can include apache and then extend it:

.. code-block:: yaml

    include:
      - apache

    extend:
      apache:
        service:
          - require:
            - pkg: mod_python

    mod_python:
      pkg:
        - installed

The notable behavior with the extend functionality is that it literally extends
or overwrites a declaration set up in another sls module. This means that Salt
will behave as though the modifications were made directly to the apache sls.
This ensures that the apache service in this example is directly tied to all
requirements.

Highstate Structure Specification
`````````````````````````````````

This release comes with a clear specification of the Highstate data structure
that is used to declare Salt States. This specification explains everything
that can be declared in the Salt SLS modules.

The specification is extremely simple, and illustrates how Salt has been able
to fulfill the requirements of a central configuration manager within a simple
and easy to understand format and specification.

SheBang Renderer Switch
```````````````````````

It came to our attention that having many renderers means that there may be a
situation where more than one State Renderer should be available within a
single State Tree.

The method chosen to accomplish this was something already familiar to
developers and systems administrators, a SheBang. The Python State Renderer
displays this new capability.

Python State Renderer
`````````````````````

Until now Salt States could only be declared in yaml or json using Jinja or
Mako. A new, very powerful, renderer has been added, making it possible to
write Salt States in pure Python:

.. code-block:: python

    #!py

    def run():
        '''
        Install the python-mako package
        '''
        return {'include': ['python'],
                'python-mako': {'pkg': ['installed']}}

This renderer is used by making a run function that returns the Highstate data
structure. Any capabilities of Python can be used in pure Python sls modules.

This example of a pure Python sls module is the same as this example in yaml:

.. code-block:: yaml

    include:
      - python

    python-mako:
      pkg:
        - installed

FreeBSD Support
```````````````

Additional support has been added for FreeBSD, this is Salt's first branch out
of the Linux world and proves the viability of Salt on non-Linux platforms.

Salt remote execution already worked on FreeBSD, and should work without issue
on any Unix-like platform. But this support comes in the form of package
management and user support, so Salt States also work on FreeBSD now.

The new freebsdpkg module provides package management support for FreeBSD
and the new pw_user and pw_group provide user and group management.

Module and State Additions
--------------------------

Cron Support
````````````

Support for managing the system crontab has been added, declaring a cron state
can be done easily:

.. code-block:: yaml

    date > /tmp/datestamp:
      cron:
        - present
        - user: fred
        - minute: 5
        - hour: 3

File State Additions
````````````````````

The file state has been given a number of new features, primarily the
directory, recurse, symlink, and absent functions.

file.directory
    Make sure that a directory exists and has the right permissions.

    .. code-block:: yaml

        /srv/foo:
          file:
            - directory
            - user: root
            - group: root
            - mode: 1755

file.symlink
    Make a symlink.

    .. code-block:: yaml

        /var/lib/www:
          file:
            - symlink
            - target: /srv/www
            - force: True

file.recurse
    The recurse state function will recursively download a directory on the
    master file server and place it on the minion. Any change in the files on
    the master will be pushed to the minion. The recurse function is very
    powerful and has been tested by pushing out the full Linux kernel source.

    .. code-block:: yaml

        /opt/code:
          file:
            - recurse
            - source: salt://linux

file.absent
    Make sure that the file is not on the system, recursively deletes
    directories, files, and symlinks.

    .. code-block:: yaml

        /etc/httpd/conf.d/somebogusfile.conf:
          file:
            - absent

Sysctl Module and State
```````````````````````

The sysctl module and state allows for sysctl components in the kernel to be
managed easily. the sysctl module contains the following functions:

sysctl.show
    Return a list of sysctl parameters for this minion

sysctl.get
    Return a single sysctl parameter for this minion

sysctl.assign
    Assign a single sysctl parameter for this minion

sysctl.persist
    Assign and persist a simple sysctl parameter for this minion

The sysctl state allows for sysctl parameters to be assigned:

.. code-block:: yaml

    vm.swappiness:
      sysctl:
        - present
        - value: 20

Kernel Module Management
````````````````````````

A module for managing Linux kernel modules has been added. The new functions
are as follows:

kmod.available
    Return a list of all available kernel modules

kmod.check_available
    Check to see if the specified kernel module is available

kmod.lsmod
    Return a dict containing information about currently loaded modules

kmod.load
    Load the specified kernel module

kmod.remove
    Unload the specified kernel module

The kmod state can enforce modules be either present or absent:

.. code-block:: yaml

    kvm_intel:
      kmod:
        - present

Ssh Authorized Keys
```````````````````
The ssh_auth state can distribute ssh authorized keys out to minions. Ssh
authorized keys can be present or absent.

.. code-block:: yaml

     :
      ssh_auth:
        - present
        - user: frank
        - enc: dsa
        - comment: 'Frank's key'
