Secret file system
This release contains a performance improvement we want to highlight.
The secret filesystem is a hybrid between the public and the private filesystem. If you have a valid URL then the file is publicly accessible and cacheable. However the URLs are unguessable and expire after a set amount of time. This means that only if you have access to something that can generate a URL for you do you have access to the file.
The URLs are time-bucketed which ensure that requests that occur close together get the same URL. This allows caching of files which can dramatically speed up sites (and prevents some expensive access-time checks) while still providing protection against unauthorized access.
By implementing this as a schema we can move fields over as we please and still use the private filesystem for things that may not even be shared through a link (though anyone with access to a private file can always download it to share it anyway).
See this specific change notice if you'd like to opt-out or want to learn more.
https://www.drupal.org/node/3443080
Features
[#3445024]
[#3444628]
[#3444592]
[#3444432]
[#3444422]
[#3443501]
[#3442690]
General improvements
[#3443501]
[#3446480]
[#3421348]
[#3446480]
[#3445981]
[#3445957]
[#3420070]
[#3438906]
[#3437859]
[#3436013]
Module updates
Update drupal/better_exposed_filters requirement from 6.0.3 to 6.0.5
Update drupal/search_api requirement from 1.31.0 to 1.34.0
Bugs & Improvements released in 12.4.2 / 12.3.5
[#3445902]
[#3445409]
[#3445166]
[#3426460]
[#3441126]