changes on MANGLE and kernel 2.4.18

[Leonardo Rodrigues]

    Hello Guys,

    I've noticed some changes on MANGLE table from 2.4.17 to 2.4.18 ...



( maching running with kernel 2.4.17 and iptables 1.2.5 )
[root@firewall /root]# iptables -t mangle -nL -v
Chain PREROUTING (policy ACCEPT 0 packets, 0 bytes)
 pkts bytes target     prot opt in     out     source
destination

Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT 0 packets, 0 bytes)
 pkts bytes target     prot opt in     out     source
destination



( same macine with kernel 2.4.18 and iptables 1.2.5 )
[root@firewall /root]# iptables -t mangle -nL -v
Chain PREROUTING (policy ACCEPT 0 packets, 0 bytes)
 pkts bytes target     prot opt in     out     source
destination

Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT 0 packets, 0 bytes)
 pkts bytes target     prot opt in     out     source
destination

Chain FORWARD (policy ACCEPT 0 packets, 0 bytes)
 pkts bytes target     prot opt in     out     source
destination

Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT 0 packets, 0 bytes)
 pkts bytes target     prot opt in     out     source
destination

Chain POSTROUTING (policy ACCEPT 0 packets, 0 bytes)
 pkts bytes target     prot opt in     out     source
destination


    Question is: What are these new chains in mangle table ( INPUT,
FORWARD and POSTROUTING ) are supposed to do ?? I've looked on kernel's
Changelog but it just says 'updates on netfilter' ....

    Thanks for your attention ...

    Sincerily,
    Leonardo Rodrigues