Anubis v1.25.0 'Necron' Release: New Features and Personal Update from Xe

The Anubis team has released version 1.25.0, codenamed "Necron," bringing several new features and improvements to this popular web application firewall. The release comes with an honest update from maintainer Xe about personal challenges affecting development pace.

New Features and Improvements

The latest version introduces several notable additions:

IP List to Rule Conversion Tool

• A new iplist2rule utility command allows administrators to convert IP address blocklists into Anubis rulesets, streamlining the process of blocking known malicious IPs

Polish Localization

• Polish language support has been added thanks to contributor @btomaev (#1292)

Performance Enhancements

• Significant overhead reduction in the decaymap/memory system, improving idle performance (#1420)

Documentation Updates

• HAProxy configuration examples added to documentation (#1424)
• Clarified BotStopper Kubernetes instructions (#1404)
• Added AI coding tools policy (#1454)

Bug Fixes

• Resolved issues with honeypot and imprint links missing BASE_PREFIX when deployed behind a path prefix (#1402)
• Fixed SSL Labs IP addresses (#1377)
• Improved language detection to respect Accept-Language quality factors (#1380)

Personal Update from Xe

In a candid message accompanying the release, Xe acknowledged that Anubis development has slowed recently due to personal circumstances. The maintainer shared that they've been dealing with medical challenges, including preparing for complicated surgery in a non-native language country.

"I've been missing the sense of wanderlust and discovery that comes with the artistic way I playfully develop software," Xe wrote, noting that these stresses have been sapping their energy for public development work.

Xe also addressed the burnout from dealing with "perennial waves of anger" directed at them, while maintaining that they're handling it and will be fine. The maintainer plans to take some time for personal activities like watching Stargate SG-1 or playing Final Fantasy 14 during their upcoming hospital stay.

Despite these challenges, Xe encouraged the community to "go out there and try to actually create something new somehow" and to "be an example of how you want other people to act."

Community Contributions

This release saw contributions from 16 developers, including several first-time contributors:

• @majiayu000 (#1377)
• @ayoung5555 (#1395)
• @antonkesy (#1398)
• @tarrow (#1404)
• @tdgroot (#1393)
• @brainexe (#1420)
• @bjacquin (#1423)
• @louwers (#1446)
• @kurtmckee (#1443)

Getting the Release

The full changelog is available at v1.24.0...v1.25.0. Xe notes that if any issues arise with this release, users can downgrade to the previous version or upgrade to the main branch when fixes are merged.

For those interested in the lore reference, the "Necron" codename connects to Xe's mental state during development, as mentioned in their PS note about Final Fantasy 14 lore.