1. Headline Features

1.1. Improved inventory pages

Inventory management has always been a core feature of Foreman. In Foreman 2.2 the host detail page redesign was started and made default in Foreman 3.2. This release greatly enhances the page with many more integrations which provides the user a more complete overview without having to navigate to other pages.

For a long time foreman_column_view has provided a way to customize the columns on the host list. The new Selectable columns feature feature brings a lot of this functionality to Foreman itself without the need to know a lot about the Foreman internals.

1.2. Enabled HTTP/2 on Apache

HTTP/2 is now enabled by default on all platforms. Compared to HTTP/1(.1) the newer HTTP/2 protocol allows multiplexing over a single connection, making it possible for clients to retrieve multiple resources at the same time. For example, browsers no longer need to wait for one one image to complete before requesting the next image.

1.3. Use of system crypto policy with Apache on Enterprise Linux 8

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 introduced consistent crypto policies and Foreman’s installer now configures Apache to use those. Where previously the installer manually maintained a list of protocols and ciphers, it now follows what is configured system wide.

Note that Katello users can’t use the FUTURE policy since cdn.redhat.com has a cerificate signed with SHA1 in its signature chain. This was already a problem prior to this change. See Red Hat BZ#2117265 for more information.

For Debian/Ubuntu users nothing has changed.

1.4. Redis 6 on Enterprise Linux 8

The installer now ensures Redis 6 is used on Enterprise Linux 8. The Redis 5 AppStream went EOL in May 2022. Previously it was up to the user to switch streams, but now the installer enforces the redis:6 stream and updates the package.

1.5. Allow manual modifications of ansible.cfg

The installer no longer manages ansible.cfg and thus allows users to put in their own modifications. This file was previously used to configure the options that Foreman required to have set. This is no longer the case as the necessary options are set using a different mechanism. During upgrades the file is not touched which means some cruft remains. It is safe to remove the file or remove all content.

2. Upgrade Warnings

3. Foreman 3.5.3

A full list of changes is available on Redmine

3.1. Foreman

3.1.1. Unattended Installations

  • preseed_netplan_generic_interface with DHCP interface - #35578

3.1.2. API

  • Parameter 'search' on fact_value API endpoint results in internal server error - #35990

3.1.3. Inventory

  • Host Detail button landed to old Host UI page - #36225

3.1.4. PuppetCA

  • "change Puppet Master" option does not work - #35949

3.2. Smart Proxy

3.2.1. TFTP

  • tftp initrd/vmlinux generation: curl malformed - #36209

4. Foreman 3.5.2

A full list of changes is available on Redmine

4.1. Foreman

4.1.1. API

  • Fixes API documentation typo - #35648

4.1.2. Development tools

  • Change container image to CentOS 8 Stream - #35593

4.1.3. Inventory

  • Host list interpretes HTML from comment-field - #35977

  • Windows password-encryption code changes input-value - #35946

  • No host found error after editing host's address - #35762

4.1.4. JavaScript stack

  • Add tag_type parameter to replace_value_control - #35876

  • New host details - Move Details tab out of experimental labs - #35839

4.1.5. Notifications

  • Make RSS notification stick around for 1 month instead of going away after a day - #35866

4.1.6. Settings

  • Foreman.settings.load_values is not able to pick settings which transitioned from a non-default to default value - #35894

4.1.7. Templates

  • host_puppet_environment ignores host param - #36153

  • ks= kernel parameter in Kickstart default iPXE causes RHEL9 Anaconda failure to start - #34975

4.1.8. Unattended installations

  • Pass URL parameters to foreman_url as hash - #36019

4.2. Installer

4.2.1. Foreman modules

  • assets are not compressed during delivery anymore - #36028

  • mod_expires is not loaded - #35870

  • Disable Puppetserver telemetry by default - #35728

4.3. Packaging

4.3.1. RPMs

  • rubygem-openscap (and thus foreman_openscap) can't be installed on CentOS Stream 8 - #36086

  • Legacy rex form is missing options for future or recurring execution - #35997

  • Introduce foreman-obsolete-packages to remove old packages - #35743

4.4. Smart Proxy

  • Invalid syntax for curl --time-cond - #36138

5. Foreman 3.5.1

A full list of changes is available on Redmine

5.1. Foreman

5.1.1. DB migrations

  • Statistics migrations are purged even if foreman_statistics is present - #35871

5.1.2. Facts

  • Support new Debian unstable OS facts - #35865

5.1.3. Host creation

  • Ubuntu Autoinstall enable offline and online installation - #35719

5.1.4. Unattended installations

  • Provisioning registered RHEL hosts is impossible without Katello installed - #35868

5.1.5. Web Interface

  • host details - Details tab cards have horizontal scroll - #35819

6. Foreman 3.5.0

A full list of changes is available on Redmine

6.1. Foreman

6.1.1. API

  • Internal Server Error when creating a CV with org_id specified as array - #35816

  • User is able to create table preference without columns - #35673

  • Fixes API documentation typo - #35648

  • Calling the api/v2/operatingsystems#bootfiles endpoint fails with "unknown permission" - #35055

6.1.2. Authentication

  • Kerberos authentication fails for POST, PUT and DELETE api calls - #35473

6.1.3. Compute resources - GCE

  • Remove GCE Compute resource code - #35088

6.1.4. Compute resources - VMware

  • hammer cannot use the cluster name or id as valid input when clusters are residing inside folders and fails with error fog not found - #35438

6.1.5. DB migrations

  • Remove i386 from seeded host architectures - #35528

  • After removing the foreman_docker plugin, foreman log is flooded with huge tracebacks related to "unknown class DockerRegistry, ignoring" and "unknown class Container, ignoring" - #35347

  • Remove Trends and Statistics data from all instances - #32116

6.1.6. Development tools

  • Describe dealing with pkgconfig error in foreman_dev_setup.asciidoc - #35647

  • Updating Contributions file with a few links & adding a link to it in ReadMe file - #35587

  • developer_docs/foreman_dev_setup adding a guide for Fedora users and edge error fix - #35581

  • Update as_deprecation_tracker to at least 1.6 for Ruby 3 - #35430

  • Add testing instructions to the Foreman development setup guide - #35417

  • Add a disabled option to the dropdown menu items on foreman - #35416

  • Document developer setup for Smart Proxy, REX & Ansible - #35391

6.1.7. External Nodes

  • Foreman Puppet ENC "hostname" and "fqdn" conflict with core Puppet Facts - #35326

6.1.8. Facts

  • Add BIOS info to reported data facet - #35696

  • Ansible fact parser fails to parse Windows facts if they do not contain os_name - #35658

  • Add kernel_version to reported data facet for use in new host UI OS card - #35619

  • Missing icons for salt and chef as fact sources - #35569

  • While running concurrent registrations, foreman fails with 500 ISE on index_operatingsystems_on_title unique index violation - #35485

6.1.9. Host creation

  • Bulk rebuild hosts can not reset the build token - #35203

6.1.10. Host registration

  • Malformed Debian repository - #35650

  • Use registration_url setting exposed by the Smart Proxy - #35626

  • Changing proxy causes an error - #35490

6.1.11. Internationalization

  • React-intl components are not translated - #35744

  • Malformed translation strings - #35708

6.1.12. Inventory

  • BIOS UUID on host detail page is incorrect - #35836

  • Status of same columns in different categories should affect each other - #35757

  • Add Virtual guests to System properties card - #35745

  • Add network category to selectable columns - #35733

  • Incorrect page title on host statuses page - #35724

  • Host Details - Add a BIOS card - #35667

  • Host Details - Add a provisioning card - #35665

  • Host - Details tab - 'Networking interfaces' card - #35656

  • Display host name instead of host ID in delete host confirm modal in host overview - #35636

  • Add reported data profile for hosts index page - #35623

  • Add kernel release to new host details operating system card - #35622

  • new host details - Details tab cards are all in one column on very tall screens - #35605

  • Add a link to the host group on the new host detail page - #35497

  • add masonryLayout to os card in host details - #35475

  • host details audits, change from list to table - #35424

  • Add a card with templates to the Host details page - #35387

  • Make columns on host index page selectable - #35361

  • Host details Operating system card - #35345

  • Host detail page - Cursor on boxes should be regular pointer - #35319

  • New host detail - OS label as a link to OS detail - #35305

  • Host Details tab - Switch to masonry card layout instead of square grid - #35294

  • Create column selector on host index page - #35287

  • Use more accurate messaging when host statuses are cleared - #35206

  • Hosts "New UI" no way to review templates - #35176

  • Fix host details tab cards Expand/collapse all behavior - #34997

  • Page title incorrect on new host details page - #34219

6.1.13. JavaScript stack

  • Move CardExpansionContext to apply all host tabs - #35702

  • Fix current lint warnings - #35558

  • Add ouia-id to ConfirmModal - #35439

  • Remove deprecated slot 'details-cards' - #34786

6.1.14. Network

  • Boding interface bondig slaves are always changed to lower case - #35377

6.1.15. Organizations and Locations

  • Taxonomies are being set during extlogin too early, leading to user's default taxonomies being ignored - #34949

6.1.16. Packaging

  • Allow latest 6.1 version of Rails for bug fixes and CVEs - #35758

  • Relax JWT pin to get newer versions of the gem - #35663

  • Update rack-cors to 1.1.x - #35450

  • Update sshkey to version 2.x - #35449

  • Update roadie-rails to version 3 for Ruby 3 support - #35448

  • Update apipie-rails to 0.8.x - #35447

  • Update oauth to version 1 - #35429

  • Update rails-i18n to version 7 - #35428

  • Ensure scoped_search is at least 4.1.10 - #35427

  • Update ancestry to version 4 - #35423

  • Update audited to version 5 - #35422

  • Pin will_paginate to at least 3.3.0 - #35421

  • Bump sidekiq to 6.3.x - #35414

  • Disable public_file_server in production - #35403

  • Allow additional entries in config.hosts - #35376

  • Update graphql gem to at least 1.12 - #32685

  • Unbundle websockify - #29539

6.1.17. Plugin integration

  • Remove empty webpack_assets.rb file - #35419

6.1.18. Proxy gateway

  • Make the Http Proxy store a CA certifcate - #35359

6.1.19. Rails

  • use caller_locations when emiting deprecation warnings - #35717

  • Drop boot_settings.rb early loading mechanism - #35420

  • Incorrect method signatures with keyword arguments - #35300

6.1.20. Rake tasks

  • 'snapshots:generate' doesn't work - #35488

  • `foreman-rake permissions:reset` should show a warning that it's required to manually update the password in 'foreman.yml' - #31966

6.1.21. Reporting

  • new report template to list all the installed packages - #29590

6.1.22. Settings

  • Power status should be a selectable column - #35621

6.1.23. Templates

  • Ubuntu TTY is unresponsive after deployment on some compute providers - #35796

  • Expose product version as a macro in templates - #35694

  • Template input_resource macro & preview error - #35536

  • save_to_file macro does not work if the thing being saved contains a heredoc terminated with EOF - #35530

6.1.24. Unattended installations

  • custom pre/post snippet hooks - #35674

  • dhclient not available in minimal iso image for EL>=8 - #35583

  • NetPlan templates broken when using Dual Stack environments - #35578

  • Allow delaying yggdrasild restart - #35561

  • REX pull deployment snippet is not included in kickstart default template - #35547

  • Fix the iPXE default template description - #35519

  • Raise an error if OS family is not set - #35480

  • Change puppetlabs_repo snippet to reference puppet-release files from repo root directory - #35466

  • Ubuntu Autoinstall template does not take host params into account - #35397

  • RHEL 9 provisioned host goes into emergency mode after initial reboot - #35331

  • New kexec template required in order to deploy Ubuntu 22 via discovery - #35285

  • AutoYaST PXELinux does not support networks without DHCP - #35240

  • Dual Stack Fallback mode for provisioning - #35207

  • Add option to use `reboot --kexec` to speed up provisioning - #35194

  • Ubuntu Autoinstall default network identifier - #35180

  • Add option to permit graphical installs for Red Hat - #35177

  • Ubuntu Autoinstall does not support static IP deployment - #35166

  • Add option to clone installation media - #35152

  • Add installation medium for Stream 9 - #35151

  • Permit setting puppet tag during install - #35137

  • remove reference to legacy puppet brand identifier puppetlabs in provision templates - #31593

6.1.25. Users, Roles and Permissions

  • Users who were disabled should be clearly marked in the user list - #35131

  • Refactor filters page to use PatternFly 4 - #34764

6.1.26. Web Interface

  • Hide Manage columns button text in small screens - #35751

  • Searchbar disappears when trying to select a bookmark as user without bookmark permissions - #35634

  • Host details statuses clear button is always disabled - #35491

  • Add ouiaId for the host details pages - #35436

  • New/Edit Subnet form help text for Range field - #25507

6.2. Installer

  • Add foreman_kernel_care support to the installer - #35800

  • Add ForemanGoogle plugin - #35677

  • Drop xinetd support - #35353

6.2.1. External modules

  • SSO feature settings are not getting enabled and fails with HTTPD CONF issue - #35524

6.2.2. Foreman modules

  • smart_proxy_ansible needs smart_proxy_rex, but installer doesn't set it up automatically - #35809

  • Provide a parameter to set Candlepin log level - #35699

  • allow setting GssapiLocalName Off - #35685

  • Filter "Applied catalog in x.y seconds" messages out of Puppet report - #35684

  • Add support to customize rhsm API URL and pulpcore content URL - #35681

  • Add support to set registration_url - #35680

  • Add stronger ciphers to Candlepin's config - #35638

  • Configure Pulpcore's TELEMETRY feature - #35607

  • Support ensuring the OpenSCAP Puppet module in the foreman_proxy module - #35531

  • Add default pulp_deb config during installer runs - #35496

  • Restart yggdrasil from /usr/bin/katello-rhsm-consumer - #35486

  • Make installer generate an environment file for ansible instead of ansible.cfg - #35455

  • Salt master configuration file has wrong file permission - #35396

  • Compatibility with apache mod_status - #35356

  • serve assets directly via Apache, not via Puma/Rails - #33956

6.2.3. foreman-installer script

  • Enable HTTP/2 in Apache configs - #35631

  • Default Apache to use system ciphers via PROFILE=system - #35629

  • Use Redis 6 - #35564

  • Remove the trailing "\" from capsule-certs-generate command for new capsules in katello-certs-check - #35453

6.3. Packaging

6.3.1. RPMs

  • foreman-proxy logrotate sends signal to all processes under foreman-proxy.service - #35859

  • katello-change-hostname uses removed --disable-system-checks - #35756

  • Obsolete foreman_docker - #35538

  • make sprockets-based plugin assets reachable from within /var/lib/foreman/public/assets - #35409

  • dnf can't load foreman-protector.py as a regular user - #35366

6.4. SELinux

  • Foreman can't log to journald/syslog - #35695

  • Allow apache to read /var/lib/foreman/public - #35402

  • Access to /etc/resolv.conf is denied when using systemd-resolved - #34807

6.5. Smart Proxy

  • Drop deprecated methods - #33881

  • Drop daemonize support - #31118

6.5.1. Packaging

  • Explicitly depend on webrick for Ruby 3 support - #35510

  • Declare compatible versions of Sinatra - #35507

6.5.2. Plugins

  • Verify boolean settings in modules - #35468

6.5.3. Registration

  • registration_url setting for Registration module - #35639

  • Use rackup_path helper in registration - #35467

Appendix A: Foreman Contributors

We’d like to thank the following people who contributed to the Foreman 3.5 release:

Adam Ruzicka, Alex Fisher, Alexander Olofsson, Amit Upadhye, Anthony Somerset, Bastian Schmidt, Bernhard Suttner, Chris Roberts, Christian Ruppert, Dan Ports, Dirk Götz, Dirk Heinrichs, Dyrkon, Elkin Aguas, Eric D. Helms, Evgeni Golov, Ewoud Kohl van Wijngaarden, Frank Adaemmer, Ian Ballou, Jeremy Lenz, Jonas Trüstedt, Kamil Szubrycht, Karolina Malyjurkova, Leos Stejskal, Lior Keren, Lucy Fu, Lukáš Zapletal, Manuel Laug, Marcel Kühlhorn, Marek Hulán, Maria Agaphontzev, Matt Darcy, Matěj Mudra, Maximilian Kolb, Nofar Alfassi, Oleh Fedorenko, Ondrej Ezr, Partha Aji, Pat Riehecky, Paul Donohue, Pavel Moravec, Peter Koprda, Quirin Pamp, Ron Lavi, Samir Jha, Sayan Das, Shim Shtein, William Clark, benjamin-robertson, kobybr, timdeluxe, Štefan Németh

As well as all users who helped test releases, report bugs and provide feedback on the project.