ChangeLog

   1 Changes Prior to this release
   2 Changes Prior to 1.0.9 release
   3     -   Documentation updates including kernel parameters documented
   4         in md.4
   5     -   --assemble --force for raid4/5 will mark clean, needed for 2.5
   6     -   --detail prints out the events counter as well
   7     -   flush device before reading superblock to be sure to get
   8         current data
   9     -   added mdadm.static target to makefile for static linking
  10     -   --monitor was ignoring  /dev/md0 due to off-by-one error
  11     -   Fix assorted typos
  12     -   Fix printing of Gibibytes - calc was wrong.
  13     -   Fix printing of Array Size in --detail when very big.
  14     -   --monitor no longer tries to work for raid0 or linear as these
  15         have nothing to be monitors.
  16     -   The word 'partitions' on a DEVICE line will cause all partitions
  17         listed in /proc/partitions to be considered
  18     -   If the config file is called 'partitions' then it will be treated
  19         as though it contained exactly 'device partitions' so e.g.
  20           mdadm -Ebsc partitions
  21         will fill all raid partitions easily.
  22     -   successfully assemble multipath devices by ignoring raid_disk
  23         value from superblock (it is always the same).
  24     -   --assemble not tied to MD_SB_DISKS limit quite so much
  25     -   Support compiling with tcc
  26     -   Support compiling with uclibc - just skip scan of /dev
  27     -   Add --update= option for Assemble mode.  Either sparc2.2
  28         or super-minor updates are possible.  See mdadm.8
  29
  30 Changes Prior to 1.0.1 release
  31     -   Round off MB/GiB etc values instead of round down.
  32     -   Add --sparc2.2 option to examine to shift superblock around
  33         and --sparc2.2update to rewrite the superblock
  34     -   Fix assorted typos in online help
  35
  36 Changes Prior to 1.0.0 release
  37     -   Allow --config with Misc mode (for --examine --scan)
  38     -   Add $(CXFLAGS) to end of CFLAGS in makefile
  39     -   When making an N disk raid5 array, the Nth drive
  40         is moved to the end of the array as a spare rather than
  41         being shifted up one place.  This means that when the
  42         kernel builds onto the last spare and inserts it,
  43         the devices will be in the expected order.
  44     -   Man page improvements
  45 Changes Prior to 0.8.2 release
  46     -   Correct spelling of persist[ae]nce/persist[ae]nt.
  47     -   Change "disk" to "device" in options and config file
  48     -   convert array size to "long long" *before* shift-left in -D and -Q
  49
  50 Changes Prior to 0.8.1 release
  51     -   Add "INSTALL" file.
  52     -   Fix some "i" variables that were not being set properly
  53     -   Initialise minsize and maxsize so that compilers don't complain.
  54     -   Tidy up Makefile and mdadm.spec installations
  55     -   Add "multipath" to documentation of valid levels
  56
  57 Changes Prior to 0.8 release
  58     -   Fix another bug in Assemble.c due to confusing 'i' with 'j'
  59     -   Minimal, untested, support for multipath
  60     -   re-write of argument parsing to have more coherent modes,
  61     -   add --query,-Q option
  62     -   Update mdadm.8 to reflect arg processing change and --query
  63     -   Change "long" to "unsigned long" for device sizes
  64     -   Handle "mailaddr" and "program" lines in config file for follow/scan mode.
  65     -   --follow --scan will exit if no program or mail found
  66     -   Add MAILADDR and PROGRAM to mdadm.conf-example
  67     -   Spell check man pages
  68     -   consistently use "component devices" instead of "subdevices"
  69     -   Make -Wall -Werror really work and fix lots of errors.
  70     -   --detail and --stop can have --scan which chooses devices from /proc/mdstat
  71     -   --monitor detects 20% changes in resync, failed spares,
  72         disappearing arrays,
  73     -   --monitor --scan will automatically add any devices found in /proc/mdstat
  74     -   --monitor will move spares between arrays with same spare-group if necessary
  75     -   Documentation for Monitor Mode
  76     -   --query notes if the array containing the given device is active or not
  77     -   Finished md.4 man page.
  78
  79 Changes Prior to 0.7.2 release
  80     -   mdadm.spec updates and ifdef BLKGETSIZE64 from  Luca Berra -- bluca@comedia.it
  81     -   more mdadm.spec updates from  Gregory Leblanc <gleblanc@linuxweasel.com>
  82     -   make directory for mdadm.conf configurable in Makefile
  83     -   Finished mdadm.conf.5.  Removed details of conf file from
  84         mdadm.8 leaving a reference to mdadm.conf.5.
  85     -   Fix bug in Assemble.c, thanks to Junaid Rizvi <domdev@sat.net.pk>
  86     -   Get --assemble --force to make sure old major/minor numbers are
  87         consistant, as md.c worries about this :-(
  88
  89
  90 Changes Prior to 0.7.1 release
  91     -   update mdadm.spec
  92     -   use BLKGETSIZE64 if available for array size
  93     -   give human readable as GiB/MiB and GB and MB, with 2 decimal point precision
  94     -   Only warn about size variation for raid1/4/5.
  95     -   Started md.4 man page
  96     -   Started mdadm.conf.5 man page
  97
  98 Changes Prior to 0.7 release
  99
 100     -   Fix makefile to install binary at /sbin and not /sbin/sbin
 101         Also install man page.
 102     -   Add --zero-superblock based on --destroywithextremeprejudice
 103         from Dale Stephenson <steph@snapserver.com>
 104     -   change name to mdadm.  It is palandromic, and much nicer to pronouce.
 105
 106 Changes Prior to 0.6 release
 107
 108     -   Remove the limit on the number of device names that can be
 109         given on the command line.
 110     -   Fix bug in --assemble --force where it would only update a
 111         single superblock.
 112     -   Fix bogus printing of big numbers not being block devices
 113         when given names of devices that don't exist.
 114     -   When --assemble --force, consider superblocks with an event
 115         count that is 1 behind as out-of-date.  Normally they are
 116         considered up-to-date (as the kernel assumes this too).
 117     -   When marking drives as not-failed in the superblock,
 118         we also mark them as ACTIVE and SYNC.
 119     -   Don't start arrays for which not all drives are available unless:
 120          --scan   which implies that all drives were found automatically
 121          --run    which means the user knows what they want
 122          --force  which means that we are fixing something broken
 123     -   Make sure all device numbers passed as 3rd arg of ioctl
 124         are passed as unsigned lock, so that it works on SPARC
 125     -   If HOT_ADD_DISK failes for -a, then only try ADD_NEW_DISK
 126         if we cannot read from the array, i.e. if the array is
 127         not started yet.
 128     -   man page update
 129     -   Taught Examine to handle --scan. It examines all devices listed
 130         on DEVICE lines in the config file.
 131     -   Added --brief (-b) flag for Examine and Detail to print out
 132         and mdctl.conf compatible description with uuid=, level=,
 133         disks= and  - for Examine - devices=
 134         --examine --brief collects all devices the make the one array and
 135         list them as one entry.
 136     -   Added level= and disks= options to ARRAY lines in config files
 137         so --brief output could be used as-is.
 138     -   Make parity style ({left,right}-{,a}symmetric) consistantly use -,
 139         never _.
 140     -   Add "Array Size" to --detail output
 141     -   Change "Size" to "Device Size" and exclude from Detail of arrays
 142         that do not have a consistent device size.
 143     -   Add Human readable MiB or GiB value on size lines of Detail and Examine
 144     -   --assemble --scan  doesn't complain about active drives
 145     -   require number of spares given in -x to be listed.
 146     -   Made --build actually work.
 147 Changes Prior to 0.5 release
 148
 149   --assemble:
 150      spare drives are handled properly.
 151
 152      --force can be used to recover from 2-drive failures on RAID5
 153      If you belive that /dev/hda1 /dev/hdb1 /dev/hdc1 /dev/hdd1 should
 154      make a raid5 array, but it has experienced multiple failures and
 155      wont start, then
 156
 157        mdctl --assemble --force /dev/md0 /dev/hd[abcd]1
 158
 159      Should update the superblock on the newest failed drive and
 160      restart the array in degraded mode.  You should then remove the
 161      remaining failed drive and re-add it (if you are happy that it
 162      might work).
 163
 164      Ofcourse whenever you have a 2-drive failure, you have a risk
 165      of corruption in data that hasn't be changed for a long time.  So
 166      this doesn't give you your array back all nice and happy, but it
 167      does allow you to recover data that might not be corrupt.
 168
 169      More flexibility in identifying a RAID array in the mdctl.conf
 170      e.g.
 171          array /dev/md4  super-minor=4
 172
 173       assembles /dev/md4 from all devices found that have a raid
 174       superblock that says the minor number of the array is 4.
 175       If the blocks with the right minor number do not all have the
 176       same UUID, an error is flags and no assembly happens.
 177
 178         array /dev/md3  devices=/dev/hd[abc]2
 179
 180       Assembles /dev/md3 drom /dev/hda2 /dev/hdb2 and/dev/hdc2.  All
 181       devices must exist and have raid superblock with the same uuid.
 182
 183       If two identity specifiers are used, only devices that match all
 184       of them are considered, so
 185
 186         array /dev/md2 devices=/dev/hd?2 super-minor=2
 187
 188       will assemble /dev/md2 using all /dev/hd?2 devices which have a
 189       raid superblock with minor number 2.
 190
 191   --create:
 192       When listing devices for --create, the word "missing" can be
 193       used to indicate that the respective slot does not have a
 194       working drive currently.  This is similar to the "failed-disk"
 195       directive in mkraid/raidtab.
 196       e.g.
 197          mdctl --create --level=5 -raid-disks=4 --spare-disks=2
 198                  /dev/md0 /dev/sda /dev/sdb missing /dev/sdc /dev/sdd  /dev/sde
 199
 200       will create a raid5 array with the third slot empty, and two
 201       spares.
 202
 203       By default, raid5 arrays are created with the last slot empty
 204       and drive listed for the last slot added as a spare.  If a
 205       "missing" slot is given, or if --force is given, then --create
 206       does exactly what you ask and doesn't try to be clever.
 207
 208
 209    --follow / --monitor:
 210
 211       This is a new mode.  I couldn't stop my self from picking a name
 212       starting with F (as current modes start A,B,C,D,E) but I
 213       relented and provided an alternate name that is somewhat more
 214       meaningful.
 215
 216       In this mode, mdctl does not exit, but runs continuously and
 217       periodically polls all the md devices to see if they have had
 218       any interested state change.
 219       The changes that it currently notices are:
 220            Fail      -  an active disc fails
 221            FailSpare -  a spare, that was presumably being build, fails
 222            ActiveSpare - a spare becomes active, presumably after a rebuild.
 223
 224       Options:
 225          --mail mailaddress  - send Email on any Fail* event
 226          --program program   - run the program on any event.
 227                    Args are: eventname mddevice subdevice(if-known)
 228          --delay  seconds    - change from the default 60second pause
 229                                between polls.
 230
 231       I plan to add functionality to this mode to allow sharing of
 232       spare drives. If an array is marks "spare-group=fred", and it
 233       has a failed drive and no spares, and if some other array is
 234       also "spare-group=fred" and it has no failed drives, but does
 235       have a spare drive that is big enough, the spare will be moved
 236       to the first array.
 237
 238   I also have the idea of adding a --grow mode which will re-organise
 239   the data on an N disk raid0/4/5 array to be on an N+M disk array.
 240   I have no concrete plans for this though.
 241
 242   I got rid of the "v" in the archive file name, and include the
 243   version number in the directory created by the archive.
 244
 245   There is now a man page and mdctl.spec (for rpm) thanks to
 246   Danilo Godec <danci@agenda.si>.
 247
 248   Ofcourse, the man page is now out of date and despite being based on
 249   the --help output, is not wholy correct.  After I get --follow
 250   working properly, I plan to revise the various documentation and/or
 251   the code to make sure the two match.
 252