# \[PRE-RELEASE\] Chef Client 13.8

**URL:** <https://discourse.chef.io/t/pre-release-chef-client-13-8/12635>\
**Category:** Chef Infra (archive)\
**Created:** [February 23, 2018, 5:03pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/pre-release-chef-client-13-8/12635 "2018-02-23T17:03:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![thommay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@thommay](https://discourse.chef.io/u/thommay)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 5:03pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/pre-release-chef-client-13-8/12635/1 "2018-02-23T17:03:06Z")

</div>

Ohai Chefs!

We have selected 13.8.0 as our Chef v13.8 release candidate which is scheduled for release on Tuesday February 27, 2018.

# Release Highlights

## Revert attributes changes from 13.7

Per [Regression in Chef Client 13.7.16](https://discourse.chef.io/t/regression-in-chef-client-13-7-16/12518/1) , there was a regression in how arrays and hashes were handled in 13.7. In 13.8, we’ve reverted to the same code as 13.6.

## Continuing work on `windows_task`

13.8 has better validation for the `idle_time` property, when using the `on_idle` frequency.

## Security Updates

- Updated libxml2 to 2.9.7; fixes: CVE-2017-15412

Please see the [CHANGELOG](https://github.com/chef/chef/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md) for the complete list of changes.

# Get the Build

As always, you can download binaries directly from [downloads.chef.io](https://downloads.chef.io/chef/current/13.8.0) or by using the new `mixlib-install` command line utility available in ChefDK 0.19.6 or greater.

```auto
$ mixlib-install download chef -v 13.8.0 -c current

```

Alternatively, you can install Chef using one of the following command options:

```auto
# In Shell
$ curl https://omnitruck.chef.io/install.sh | sudo bash -s -- -P chef -v 13.8.0 -c current

# In Windows Powershell
. { iwr -useb https://omnitruck.chef.io/install.ps1 } | iex; install -project chef -version 13.8.0 -channel current

```

Cheers,  
-Thom