• v0.4.0-rc.4 8f0a0cc233

    Jarl v0.4.0-rc.4 Pre-release

    adam released this 2026-10-11 20:16:26 +01:00 | 83 commits to main since this release

    Upgrading from 0.3

    • Back up first (sudo jarld backup).
    • When jarld first starts, it rewrites named's configuration: options
      move into their new fixed order, and every view gets its view key in
      match-clients and keys.conf. It is checked with named-checkconf
      before named reloads, like any apply. Files you changed by hand are left
      alone; the log then says to run jarl resync.
    • The systemd unit changed (it allows AF_NETLINK). The package replaces
      it; an override that adds AF_NETLINK (systemctl edit jarl) does no
      harm and can be removed.
    • The database moves to schema 7 (disabled zones) as jarld starts.
    • If statistics showed a spike after views were created or changed, see
      "Statistics" under Fixed: the bad minutes can be removed from
      /var/lib/jarl/stats.db (minute rows have res = 'm'; the hours and
      days that include them are 'h' and 'd').

    Added

    • View keys: every view gets a TSIG key, jarl-view-NAME, at the front of
      its match-clients, so a query signed with it lands in that view from any
      address. Jarl signs its delegation check's queries to this server's own
      addresses with the key of the zone's view: before, they got whichever
      view matched the server's own address (usually internal), so the check
      could report the wrong serial for the external view. jarl view key VIEW shows a key, for dig -k (docs/views.md). The first apply after
      upgrading adds the keys to named.conf and keys.conf.
    • Server statistics: named's memory (resident, and its own count) and
      CPU use, its cache size, sockets, and recursive and TCP clients against
      their limits; the host's memory and load; free space where zone files,
      logs and Jarl's data are. Memory and CPU are kept over time like the
      other statistics. Statistics page → Server, jarl stats server, API
      /stats/server. Read from named's statistics channel, rndc status and
      /proc, with no extra privileges.
    • CLI: the record commands that change records take several views,
      --view internal,external, or --view all, and make the change in each,
      as one changeset (all views or none).
    • Blocking can be paused until resumed, like Pi-hole's "indefinitely":
      jarl block pause indefinitely, Until I resume on the Blocking page,
      {"indefinitely": true} in the API.
    • Disabled zones: a zone can be disabled instead of deleted. named stops
      loading it (its zone statement is left out of named.conf), while Jarl
      keeps it with its records, options and history, still editable;
      enabling it serves it as it is then. Disabling says what clients get
      instead (recursion, or REFUSED). Signed zones can't be disabled. Web
      UI: Disable/Enable on the zone page, a badge in the zone list. CLI:
      jarl zone disable|enable. API: PATCH /zones/{zone} with
      {"disabled": true}. Database schema 7.
    • Blocking (docs/blocking.md): named answers "doesn't exist" for ads,
      trackers and malware, using BIND's response policy zones.
      • Blocklists in Adblock, hosts or plain-domain format, downloaded by jarld
        and checked daily (blocking.refresh). A list is downloaded only when
        the server says it changed, checked with named-checkzone, and reloaded
        only when its content differs; a failed update keeps the previous
        version and shows on the dashboard.
      • Your own block and allow rules, for a domain and the names below it or
        the exact name. Rules take precedence over every list, and the most
        specific rule wins.
      • Lists and rules apply to chosen views, or to every view that offers
        recursion. They are configuration: staged, reviewed and reverted like
        any change.
      • Checking a name says whether it is blocked and by which rule or list
        entry, with an Allow button in the web UI.
      • Web UI: a Blocking page, with well-known lists to pick and named's
        memory per list. CLI: jarl blocklist and jarl block. API:
        /blocking/lists, /blocking/rules, /blocking/check.
      • Pausing: jarl block pause [DURATION] or the Blocking page lets every
        name through for a while (at most a day); blocking resumes by itself.
        The lists stay loaded, so it takes effect at once.
      • Statistics: blocked queries over time (a line on the queries chart)
        and their share, blocked per list, the most blocked names and the
        clients with the most blocked queries (jarl stats top blocked,
        top blocked-clients). Blocked answers no longer count as names that
        don't exist.
      • The view choice in the web UI's forms is a compact dropdown, however
        many views there are.
      • A blocking permission; database schema 6.

    Changed

    • Web UI: each view has its own page, like a zone: Settings (match lists,
      comment, colour), Options and Zones tabs (with New zone in VIEW),
      and Delete. The Views page lists them in order, with the arrows that
      reorder them; view links everywhere open the view's page.
    • Web UI: A and AAAA records have a + CNAME button that fills in the
      add form with a CNAME pointing to the record's name, leaving only the
      alias's name to type.
    • Options are kept in one fixed order, in named.conf, the web UI and the
      CLI: grouped by topic (files, listening, access control, recursion and
      forwarding, DNSSEC, transfers and notify, then the rest), alphabetical
      within a group. The same option is now in the same place in every view
      and zone. The first apply after upgrading reorders named.conf (a diff
      that only moves lines). Top-level statements keep their order.
    • Options that end in a list (allow-transfer, forwarders,
      listen-on, ...) can be given without their braces, in the web UI, CLI
      and API: 10.0.10.53; key xfer becomes { 10.0.10.53; key xfer; }.
      Before, only some server options (those edited one element per line)
      added them.
    • The dashboard's configuration checks include named-checkconf's own
      warnings about the running configuration (such as both "recursion no;" and "allow-recursion" active), which before only showed while applying.
      The CLI now prints them after an apply too.
    • Statistics page: cards and tiles fill their rows instead of leaving one
      alone beside an empty space, and the queries and failed answers charts
      have the same margins, so their time axes line up.
    • Dashboard: options have their own tile; "0 TSIG keys · 22 options" read
      as if the options belonged to the keys.
    • Web UI times use the 24-hour clock.
    • Diffs of named.conf say which block each change is in, after the @@
      line numbers (@@ -50,6 +49,8 @@ view "internal" {), like git does
      with function names. Moving an option from the server's options into a
      view no longer looks like two unrelated edits.
    • Web UI options (server, top-level, view and zone): values with blocks,
      such as logging, are shown and edited laid out as in named.conf, over
      several lines with indentation. The editor grows with its content, Tab
      indents and Enter keeps the indentation (Esc, then Tab, moves on). With
      a draft open, the tables show the draft's values, so a staged edit stays
      visible after Save.
    • The pending-changes banner has an Apply now button: it applies your
      draft without going to the Changes page, and stays on the page you're
      on. If the changes are refused, a dialog says why and links to Changes.
    • Blocking page: blocklists and rules have an Edit button (name, URL,
      views, comment; a rule's action and scope). The list button that
      downloads now is called Refresh, like jarl blocklist refresh.
    • Records table: disabled records are hatched and have a "disabled" badge
      next to their name, instead of only a muted colour and a badge in the
      comment column.

    Fixed

    • Under the shipped systemd unit, jarld couldn't list the host's
      addresses (it needs a netlink socket, which RestrictAddressFamilies
      didn't allow), so the name server checks didn't recognize this server's
      own addresses. The Name servers tab then queried them like another
      server's, and the delegation check didn't sign those queries with the
      view's key: with views, both got the view matching the server's own
      address (usually internal) and reported a wrong serial. The unit now
      allows AF_NETLINK, and without it jarld reads the addresses from
      /proc.
    • Statistics: after a reconfig that added, removed or recreated views
      (creating the first view, for instance), a minute could count everything
      since named started: millions of queries in an hour. A per-view counter
      (cache, upstream times, validation) going down was taken for a restart
      of named. Now only a new boot time means a restart, and a counter that
      goes down counts 0 for that minute.
    • Blocking page, checking a name: when your own block rule is for that very
      name, it offers to remove the rule instead of an allow rule, which was
      refused as a second rule for the same name. It also names the rule that
      matched rather than the policy zone entry.
    • docs/validation.md lacked the disabled_conflict warning added in 0.3.0.
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