• Merged (PR #619): Removed unqualified calls to std::move.
• Merged (PR #651): Fixed filename typos in native examples.
• Merged (PR #662) and (PR #666): Fixed broken links in README.md.
• Merged (PR #669): Removed extra semicolons that caused compiler warnings.

Hotfix - 6/13/2024

• Merged (PR #688): Fixed incorrect version numbers in native/tests/CMakeLists.txt.

Hotfix - 7/10/2024

• Merged (PR #695): Fixed incorrect version numbers in native/examples/CMakeLists.txt

Bug Fixes

• Fixed detection of intrinsics on M1 Macs (PR #597).
• Fixed old dependency version numbers in README.md (PR #596).
• Fixed release date typo in README.md.

Features

• The BGV scheme now keeps ciphertexts in NTT form. BGV ciphertext multiplication is much faster than version 4.0.0.
• When a BGV ciphertext saved by previous versions is loaded in the current version, it is automatically converted to NTT form.
• Increased SEAL_COEFF_MOD_COUNT_MAX, the maximum number of primes that define the coefficient modulus, from 64 to 256.

Other Fixes

• Fixed typos (PR #590).
• Added $schema to cgmanifest.json (PR #558).
• Fixed typos (PR #512).
• Fixed typos (PR #530).
• Fixed typos (PR #509).
• Added missing const qualifiers (PR #556).
• Added vcpkg installation instructions (PR #562).
• Fixed an issue in specific environments where allocation fails without throwing std::bad_alloc.
• Fixed comments (C++) and C/.NET wrapper implementation of an exception thrown by invariant_noise_budget.

Major API Changes

• Added new public methods mod_reduce_xxx(...) (native) and ModReduceXxx(...) (dotnet) to the class Evaluator.

Features

• Added BGV scheme (PR 283). Thanks, Alibaba Gemini Lab!
• Added a new example "BGV basics" to native and dotnet.
• Loading objects serialized by Microsoft SEAL v3.4+ are supported.
• Updated versions of dependencies: GoogleTest from 1.10.0 to 1.11.0 and GoogleBenchmark from 1.5.2 to 1.6.0.

Other Fixes

• Fixed an ambiguous comment (PR 375).

Major API Changes

• Added seal::scheme_type::bgv.
• Added a new public method parms_id() (native) to the class EncryptionParameters.
• Added a new public method Create(...) (native and dotnet) with three inputs in the class CoeffModulus.
• Added a new public method correction_factor() (native) or CorrectionFactor() (dotnet) to the class Ciphertext.
• Removed the friendship of the class EncryptionParameters to the class SEALContext.

File Changes

• native/bench/bgv.cpp is added.
• Examples are renamed and extended.

Features

• All output files including downloaded thirdparty dependencies and Visual Studio project and solution files will be created in the build directory (PR 427).
• Reduced util::try_minimal_primitive_root search iterations by half (PR 430). Thanks, zirconium-n!
• Updated .Net SDK version to 6.0.x and supported Visual Studio version to 17 2022.
• Added SEAL_AVOID_BRANCHING option to eleminate branching in critical functions when Microsoft SEAL is built with maliciously inserted compiler flags.

Bug Fixes

• Removed exceptions in KeyGenerator::CreateGaloisKeys when inputs do not include steps so that even when EncryptionParameterQualifiers::using_batching is false Galois automorphisms are still available.

File Changes

• dotnet/SEALNet.sln is removed.
• dotnet/SEALNet.sln.in is added.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug when Intel HEXL is used (Issue 411) (PR414).
• Fixed an abnormal benchmark case due to AVX512 transitions when Intel HEXL is used (PR 416).

Bug Fixes

• Fixed compiler and linker errors in downstream projects when Microsoft SEAL is built with SEAL_BUILD_DEPS=ON and SEAL_USE_INTEL_HEXL=ON.
• Updated CMake minimum requirement to 3.13.

File Changes

• native/src/seal/util/intel_seal_ext.h is removed.
• native/src/seal/util/intel_seal_ext.cpp is removed.

Features

• Improved the performance of Evaluator::multiply, Evaluator::multiply_inplace, and Evaluator::square in the BFV scheme for default parameters with degree 4096 or higher.
• Improved the performance of decryption (PR 363).
• Updated to HEXL version 1.2.1 (PR 375).
• Added more benchmark cases (PR 379).

Minor API Changes

• const methods in SEALContext and SEALContext::ContextData classes that used to return a pointer or reference now have a preceeding const qualifier.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed failed tests on PowerPC architecture (Issue 360).

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an error when loading seeded ciphertexts serialized by v3.4.x from v3.5.0+.
• Fixed failed tests on ARM64 architecture (Issue 347).

Other

• Improved HEXL NTT integration (PR 349).
• Improved CKKS ciphertext multiplication (PR 346).
• Improved CKKS ciphertext square (PR 353), except that with GNU G++ compiler and 1024 degree there is a huge penalty in execution time. Users should switch from GNU G++ in this specific parameter setting if CKKS square is used.

New Features

• Updated the dependency Intel HEXL to v1.1.0 (PR 332).
• Integrated more optimizations from Intel HEXL to Microsoft SEAL.
• Intel HEXL now uses Microsoft SEAL's memory pool, so that memory allocation reported by Microsoft SEAL is more accurate.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed typos in comments (PR 328).
• Fixed a bug in DWTHandler (Issue 330).
• Fixed failing tests when SEAL_USE_ZLIB=OFF and SEAL_USE_ZTD=OFF (PR 332).
• Fixed shared library build when SEAL_USE_HEXL=ON (PR 332).
• Added missing const qualifiers to several members of BatchEncoder and Evaluator (PR 334).