ChangeLog

   1 Changes Prior to this release
   2     -   mdadm.spec updates and ifdef BLKGETSIZE64 from  Luca Berra -- bluca@comedia.it
   3     -   more mdadm.spec updates from  Gregory Leblanc <gleblanc@linuxweasel.com>
   4     -   make directory for mdadm.conf configurable in Makefile
   5     -   Finished mdadm.conf.5.  Removed details of conf file from
   6         mdadm.8 leaving a reference to mdadm.conf.5.
   7     -   Fix bug in Assemble.c, thanks to Junaid Rizvi <domdev@sat.net.pk>
   8     -   Get --assemble --force to make sure old major/minor numbers are
   9         consistant, as md.c worries about this :-(
  10
  11
  12 Changes Prior to 0.7.1 release
  13     -   update mdadm.spec
  14     -   use BLKGETSIZE64 if available for array size
  15     -   give human readable as GiB/MiB and GB and MB, with 2 decimal point precision
  16     -   Only warn about size variation for raid1/4/5.
  17     -   Started md.4 man page
  18     -   Started mdadm.conf.5 man page
  19
  20 Changes Prior to 0.7 release
  21
  22     -   Fix makefile to install binary at /sbin and not /sbin/sbin
  23         Also install man page.
  24     -   Add --zero-superblock based on --destroywithextremeprejudice
  25         from Dale Stephenson <steph@snapserver.com>
  26     -   change name to mdadm.  It is palandromic, and much nicer to pronouce.
  27
  28 Changes Prior to 0.6 release
  29
  30     -   Remove the limit on the number of device names that can be
  31         given on the command line.
  32     -   Fix bug in --assemble --force where it would only update a
  33         single superblock.
  34     -   Fix bogus printing of big numbers not being block devices
  35         when given names of devices that don't exist.
  36     -   When --assemble --force, consider superblocks with an event
  37         count that is 1 behind as out-of-date.  Normally they are
  38         considered up-to-date (as the kernel assumes this too).
  39     -   When marking drives as not-failed in the superblock,
  40         we also mark them as ACTIVE and SYNC.
  41     -   Don't start arrays for which not all drives are available unless:
  42          --scan   which implies that all drives were found automatically
  43          --run    which means the user knows what they want
  44          --force  which means that we are fixing something broken
  45     -   Make sure all device numbers passed as 3rd arg of ioctl
  46         are passed as unsigned lock, so that it works on SPARC
  47     -   If HOT_ADD_DISK failes for -a, then only try ADD_NEW_DISK
  48         if we cannot read from the array, i.e. if the array is
  49         not started yet.
  50     -   man page update
  51     -   Taught Examine to handle --scan. It examines all devices listed
  52         on DEVICE lines in the config file.
  53     -   Added --brief (-b) flag for Examine and Detail to print out
  54         and mdctl.conf compatible description with uuid=, level=,
  55         disks= and  - for Examine - devices=
  56         --examine --brief collects all devices the make the one array and
  57         list them as one entry.
  58     -   Added level= and disks= options to ARRAY lines in config files
  59         so --brief output could be used as-is.
  60     -   Make parity style ({left,right}-{,a}symmetric) consistantly use -,
  61         never _.
  62     -   Add "Array Size" to --detail output
  63     -   Change "Size" to "Device Size" and exclude from Detail of arrays
  64         that do not have a consistent device size.
  65     -   Add Human readable MiB or GiB value on size lines of Detail and Examine
  66     -   --assemble --scan  doesn't complain about active drives
  67     -   require number of spares given in -x to be listed.
  68     -   Made --build actually work.
  69 Changes Prior to 0.5 release
  70
  71   --assemble:
  72      spare drives are handled properly.
  73
  74      --force can be used to recover from 2-drive failures on RAID5
  75      If you belive that /dev/hda1 /dev/hdb1 /dev/hdc1 /dev/hdd1 should
  76      make a raid5 array, but it has experienced multiple failures and
  77      wont start, then
  78
  79        mdctl --assemble --force /dev/md0 /dev/hd[abcd]1
  80
  81      Should update the superblock on the newest failed drive and
  82      restart the array in degraded mode.  You should then remove the
  83      remaining failed drive and re-add it (if you are happy that it
  84      might work).
  85
  86      Ofcourse whenever you have a 2-drive failure, you have a risk
  87      of corruption in data that hasn't be changed for a long time.  So
  88      this doesn't give you your array back all nice and happy, but it
  89      does allow you to recover data that might not be corrupt.
  90
  91      More flexibility in identifying a RAID array in the mdctl.conf
  92      e.g.
  93          array /dev/md4  super-minor=4
  94
  95       assembles /dev/md4 from all devices found that have a raid
  96       superblock that says the minor number of the array is 4.
  97       If the blocks with the right minor number do not all have the
  98       same UUID, an error is flags and no assembly happens.
  99
 100         array /dev/md3  devices=/dev/hd[abc]2
 101
 102       Assembles /dev/md3 drom /dev/hda2 /dev/hdb2 and/dev/hdc2.  All
 103       devices must exist and have raid superblock with the same uuid.
 104
 105       If two identity specifiers are used, only devices that match all
 106       of them are considered, so
 107
 108         array /dev/md2 devices=/dev/hd?2 super-minor=2
 109
 110       will assemble /dev/md2 using all /dev/hd?2 devices which have a
 111       raid superblock with minor number 2.
 112
 113   --create:
 114       When listing devices for --create, the word "missing" can be
 115       used to indicate that the respective slot does not have a
 116       working drive currently.  This is similar to the "failed-disk"
 117       directive in mkraid/raidtab.
 118       e.g.
 119          mdctl --create --level=5 -raid-disks=4 --spare-disks=2
 120                  /dev/md0 /dev/sda /dev/sdb missing /dev/sdc /dev/sdd  /dev/sde
 121
 122       will create a raid5 array with the third slot empty, and two
 123       spares.
 124
 125       By default, raid5 arrays are created with the last slot empty
 126       and drive listed for the last slot added as a spare.  If a
 127       "missing" slot is given, or if --force is given, then --create
 128       does exactly what you ask and doesn't try to be clever.
 129
 130
 131    --follow / --monitor:
 132
 133       This is a new mode.  I couldn't stop my self from picking a name
 134       starting with F (as current modes start A,B,C,D,E) but I
 135       relented and provided an alternate name that is somewhat more
 136       meaningful.
 137
 138       In this mode, mdctl does not exit, but runs continuously and
 139       periodically polls all the md devices to see if they have had
 140       any interested state change.
 141       The changes that it currently notices are:
 142            Fail      -  an active disc fails
 143            FailSpare -  a spare, that was presumably being build, fails
 144            ActiveSpare - a spare becomes active, presumably after a rebuild.
 145
 146       Options:
 147          --mail mailaddress  - send Email on any Fail* event
 148          --program program   - run the program on any event.
 149                    Args are: eventname mddevice subdevice(if-known)
 150          --delay  seconds    - change from the default 60second pause
 151                                between polls.
 152
 153       I plan to add functionality to this mode to allow sharing of
 154       spare drives. If an array is marks "spare-group=fred", and it
 155       has a failed drive and no spares, and if some other array is
 156       also "spare-group=fred" and it has no failed drives, but does
 157       have a spare drive that is big enough, the spare will be moved
 158       to the first array.
 159
 160   I also have the idea of adding a --grow mode which will re-organise
 161   the data on an N disk raid0/4/5 array to be on an N+M disk array.
 162   I have no concrete plans for this though.
 163
 164   I got rid of the "v" in the archive file name, and include the
 165   version number in the directory created by the archive.
 166
 167   There is now a man page and mdctl.spec (for rpm) thanks to
 168   Danilo Godec <danci@agenda.si>.
 169
 170   Ofcourse, the man page is now out of date and despite being based on
 171   the --help output, is not wholy correct.  After I get --follow
 172   working properly, I plan to revise the various documentation and/or
 173   the code to make sure the two match.
 174