4.1.4 release notes

Author: michaelklishin

release-notes/4.1.4.md

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+RabbitMQ `4.1.4` is a maintenance release in the `4.1.x` [release series](https://www.rabbitmq.com/release-information).
+
+It is **strongly recommended** that you read [4.1.0 release notes](https://github.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/releases/tag/v4.1.0)
+in detail if upgrading from a version prior to `4.1.0`.
+
+
+### Minimum Supported Erlang Version
+
+[RabbitMQ and Erlang/OTP Compatibility Matrix](https://www.rabbitmq.com/docs/which-erlang) has more details on Erlang version requirements for RabbitMQ.
+
+Nodes **will fail to start** on older Erlang releases.
+
+
+## Changes Worth Mentioning
+
+Release notes can be found on GitHub at [rabbitmq-server/release-notes](https://github.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/tree/v4.1.x/release-notes).
+
+
+### Core Server
+
+#### Bug Fixes
+
+ * `default_password`, `ssl_options.password` now can tell between a generated random password
+   value and an [encrypted value](https://www.rabbitmq.com/docs/configure#configuration-encryption) better.
+
+   Encrypted values must be prefixed with `encrypted:`. All other values, including
+   generated passwords that contain a colon (`:`), will be considered non-encrypted ones.
+
+   GitHub issue: [#14365](https://github.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/pull/14365)
+
+ * Import of definition files that contained topic exchange permissions failed.
+
+   GitHub issue: [#14409](https://github.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/pull/14409)
+
+#### Enhancements
+
+ * When a configured [authentication or authorization backend](https://www.rabbitmq.com/docs/access-control#backends) comes from a known
+   plugin but the plugin is not enabled, the node will now refuse to start.
+
+   Previously the node would boot but client connections would fail because
+   of the missing backend modules.
+
+   GitHub issues: [#13783](https://github.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/discussions/13783), [#14408](https://github.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/pull/14408)
+
+ * Similarly to the number of [queues](https://github.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/pull/11196) and [virtual hosts](https://github.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/pull/7798), it is now possible
+   to configure a limit on the cluster-wide number of exchanges that applications
+   can create:
+
+   ```ini
+   # Applications won't be able to decalre more than 200 exchanges
+   # (including the protocol-standard pre-declared ones) in the cluster
+   cluster_exchange_limit = 200
+   ```
+
+   The setting must be set to the same value on all cluster nodes.
+
+   As with other limits, the goal is to introduce a guard against applications
+   that leak resources.
+
+   GitHub issue: [#14339](https://github.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/pull/14339)
+
+
+ * In some environments, the use of load balancers is mandated and therefore
+   [Local Random exchanges](https://www.rabbitmq.com/docs/local-random-exchange) cannot be used.
+
+   A new setting, `exchange_types.local_random.enabled`, can be used to explicitly disable the local random exchange type,
+   returning an error to the clients that try to declare such an exchange:
+
+   ```ini
+   # use in environments where the locality requirements of the local random exchange type cannot
+   # be satisfied
+   exchange_types.local_random.enabled = false
+   ```
+
+   GitHub issue: [#14363](https://github.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/pull/14363)
+
+ * `RABBITMQ_MAX_OPEN_FILES` is a new environment variable supported by the `rabbitmq-server`
+   startup script on Linux, macOS and BSD family operating systems.
+
+   It **does not** replace the [standard mechanisms](https://www.rabbitmq.com/docs/networking#open-file-handle-limit) of increasing the maximum allowed
+   file handle limit for the node. However, it can be useful in environments where the
+   soft (current) limit is meaningfully lower than the hard (maximum allowed per system configuration) limit, and the user can only control the soft limit.
+
+   For example, this is the case in most hosted Kubernetes environments.
+
+
+### Stream Plugin
+
+#### Bug Fixes
+
+ * If a Single Active Consumer could not leave its SAC group because the stream
+   coordinator was not available, the operation will now be retried a few times
+   before reporting a failure back to the client.
+
+   GitHub issue: [#14341](https://github.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/pull/14341)
+
+ * Advertised TLS hostname setting value was not passed on to the stream protocol
+   metadata frame.
+
+   GitHub issue: [#14345](https://github.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/pull/14345)
+
+
+### CLI TOols
+
+#### Bug Fixes
+
+ * `rabbitmqctl cluster_status --formatter=json` double converted the `running_nodes`
+   field.
+
+   GitHub issue: [#14382](https://github.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/pull/14382)
+
+
+### Shovel Plugin
+
+#### Bug Fixes
+
+ * `rabbitmqctl shovel_status` command now handles the presence of metrics.
+
+   GitHub issue: [#14298](https://github.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/pull/14298)
+
+ * AMQP 1.0 shovels now perform stricter validation on the `src-delete-after` values.
+   They support a narrower set of values compared to their AMQP 0-9-1 counterparts
+   but shovel definition validation did not account for that difference.
+
+   GitHub issue: [#14420](https://github.com/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/pull/14420)
+
+
+### Dependency Changes
+
+ * `ra` was upgraded to [`2.16.13`](https://github.com/rabbitmq/ra/releases)
+ * `cuttlefish` was upgraded to [`3.5.0`](https://github.com/kyorai/cuttlefish/releases)
+
+
+## Source Code Archives
+
+To obtain source code of the entire distribution, please download the archive named `rabbitmq-server-4.1.4.tar.xz`
+instead of the source tarball produced by GitHub.