What's new in P4 Server 2026.1

Released: May 2026

Learn about new features and enhancements in this release of P4 Server. For a complete list of what's new in this release, including bug fixes, see the following resources:

Secure by default configuration implements security best practices

From P4 Server 2026.1, new server installations automatically use a secure by default configuration that aligns with Perforce security best practices.

When you upgrade to P4 Server 2026.1 or later, the following best practice settings are automatically applied:

  • If currently set to a value less than 4, the security configurable is set to 4, even if you have previously set a value explicitly.

  • All other applicable configurables still in their default state are updated to new default values.

To learn more, see Important security update: Secure by default in the P4 Server Administration Documentation.

Sparse streams branch files only on submit

Sparse streams now use branch-on-submit behavior. This means that a file checked out from a parent stream is only branched into the sparse stream if they are in a submitted changelist.

If you revert the file before submitting, it is removed from the workspace and a branching record is not created. This prevents sparse streams from accumulating files that were checked out and reverted without being submitted.

To learn more, see Sparse streams.

P4 REST API enhanced

This release introduces several enhancements to P4 REST API, including some breaking changes if you use the 2025.2 version of the REST API.

Update your client applications to handle renamed endpoints, boolean values, request parameters, and standardized JSON responses when upgrading to P4 REST API 2026.1. To learn more, see P4 REST API 2026.1 breaking changes.

The P4 REST API is a Technology Preview feature released with P4 Server. Features offered in Technology Preview are experimental and not guaranteed to always work as expected. If you have feedback and functionality suggestions, email techpreview@perforce.com.

Additional enhancements

  • A new --reset-password command lets a system administrator recover superuser access when all superusers are locked out. For example, this can be helpful to use after setting dm.user.setinitialpasswd=0 with no superuser able to set passwords, or after inheriting a database with no known superuser. The command resets a user's password, optionally changes their authentication method, and can insert a super protections entry. All changes are audited in auth.csv. This replaces the manual database file workaround.

  • Filtered forwarding replicas are now prevented from syncing files that are excluded by their filters. The commit server no longer ignores downstream replica filters when commands are forwarded to it.

  • The p4d -xx command now includes a check for removing obliterated files from labels.

P4 Web Server

  • The new webserver.log.retain configurable restricts the number of historic log files for the P4 Web Server.

  • The new webserver.log.path configurable lets you set the directory where P4 Web Server logs are written.

  • The P4 Web Server can now start in HTTP (insecure) mode when P4 Server uses an SSL certificate.

  • The p4 webserver command now supports the show subcommand that lists all the currently running web servers.

  • New search query parameters have been added to the GET /file/revisions endpoint:

    • output=[fileSize|globalLock]

    • search=<searchExpression>

    • sort=[date|head|fileSize|fileType]

    • order=[asc|desc]

    • fields=<fieldName, fieldName, fieldName>