Important Release Notes

When using a server running Mac OS X to host home folders for users, a user running a later version of Mac OS X as client for the home folder might experience gradual data corruption in the Address Book database or complete loss of this database: If you have configured a Mac OS X computer to host home directories for network users, and users on client computers run a version of Mac OS X higher than that of the server to access their network homes, the server version of Spotlight can severely damage the users' Address Book databases. (For example, when the server is running Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and the client is running Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.) This can lead to gradual destruction of the Address Book entries until total loss of the entire database occurs. Address Book clients, e.g. applications such as Apple Mail, iCal, Safari, or the Mac OS X Spell Checking Service may also fail as a consequence, causing freezes or crashes.

Workaround: Apple is aware of this problem for a very long time. This problem affects all file service protocols (such as AFP, NFS, or SMB). There is currently no known workaround. Apple does not disclose any information if and when this bug will be fixed.

When using the command nfsstat of Mac OS X Lion, the features to display the NFS server's export statistics and the current statistics of users accessing the server won't work: If you like to access server statistics for a Lion NFS server on the command-line, the built-in commands “nfsstat -e” and “nfsstat -u” to display export or user data will fail. They only return the error message “sysctl failed: Bad address”.

Workaround: This is a known bug of Mac OS X Lion. Apple did not port the nfsstat program correctly from 32 bit to 64 bit operation. Use the feature NFS Server > Statistics of NFS Manager instead.

Some applications cannot open files from an NFS server if those files have not been created using NFS: If you write a file with a Macintosh resource fork or extended Finder attributes to an NFS server without using NFS (e.g. using AppleShare, Windows sharing or by creating this file directly on the server writing it to the local hard disk), you may later have problems opening this file using NFS. Each file sharing protocol uses different techniques to handle forks and attributes. Those techniques are not compatible with each other, so you cannot write a file with resource fork or attributes using one protocol but read it with another protocol.

Workaround: You should avoid using different file server protocols at the same time when reading and writing Macintosh files with forks or Finder attributes.

The Finder may fail to re-trigger automounts after such mounts have expired. It might display nonsense messages instead: If you have defined an automatic connection to an NFS server, this connection had been in use, but then the connection expired because no file of it has been accessed for more than one hour, the Finder might fail to automatically reconnect to the server when you click on the icon of the mount point. In this case you may receive incorrect error messages, e.g. that you have selected an invalid alias, that the clicked object cannot be found, or that an object named “” is no longer available.

Workaround: Restarting the Finder might help, but not always. The best solution is to launch NFS Manager, select the affected entry in the automount table and to press the button Trigger selected mount now. Apple does not disclose any information if and when this bug will be fixed.

The Finder might display objects for file servers which have been disconnected already: Under particular circumstances, the Finder of Mac OS X may display files and folders on remote servers even after the connection to the server has been closed. The objects are in fact inaccessible or no longer exist.

Workaround: When you are experiencing this problem, press ⌘+⌥+esc and restart the Finder. Apple does not disclose any information if and when this bug will be fixed.

When removing or redefining automount entries, the automounter of Mac OS X may not unmount or remount the affected entries immediately: If you make multiple changes to automount entries, saving modified configurations in rapid succession, your changes may not become effective immediately. Active automounts whose entries have been removed don't unmount but keep connected, changed parameters for active automounts won't be respected. When triggering automounts via NFS Manager, you may receive the message that an unexpected problem occurred and that the object expected at the mount point location could not be found.

Workaround: The problem is caused by architectural issues in the way the automounter components and directory services communicate with each other, and how they cache information. If you are under the impression that the automounter ignores all your changes after a certain point of interaction, reboot the operating system to enforce that your changes take effect.