ChangeLog

   1 Changes Prior to 1.3.0 release
   2     -   Make 'size' and unsigned long in Create to allow creation of
   3         larger arrays.
   4     -   Explicitly flag spare devices as 'spare' in --detail and --examine
   5         output.  Previously they simply had no flags lists.
   6     -   Make MailCmd (for monitor) configurable in Makefile, and default
   7         to "/usr/sbin/sendmail -t". Also split out the warning related
   8         flags into CWFLAGS for easier build configurability.
   9     -   Minor bugfix in Manage code.
  10     -   --monitor now notices and reports degraded arrays at startup using
  11         "DegradedArray" event, and also has a --oneshot option to only
  12         report DegradedArrays, and then exit.
  13     -   Small man-page clarification w.r.t. raid levels and raid4 in
  14         particular.
  15     -   Disallow creation of arrays with only one device as this is
  16         probably a mistake.  --force will override this check.
  17     -   Correct some misleading documentation in the "mdadm --create --help"
  18         message.
  19     -   Ignore chunksize if raid1 or multipath.
  20     -   Explicit statement in man page that raid-disks cannot be changed
  21         after array is created.
  22     -   Improve message when attempting to start an array with
  23         insufficient devices.  Instead of required the array to be full,
  24         we only require it has as many active devices as last time.
  25
  26 Changes Prior to 1.2.0 release
  27     -   Fix bug where --daemonise required an argument.
  28     -   In --assemble --verbose, print appropriate message if device is
  29         not in devices= list
  30     -   Updated mdadm.conf.5 to reflect fact that device= takes wildcards
  31     -   Typos:  componenet -> component
  32     -   Reduce size of "--help" message put excess into "--help-options"
  33     -   Fix bug introduced when MD_SB_DISKS dependancy removed, and which
  34         caused spares not be assembled properly.
  35     -   Print appropriate message if --monitor --scan decides not to
  36         monitor anything.
  37 Changes Prior to 1.1.0 release
  38     -   add --deamonise flag for --monitor - forks and prints pid to stdout
  39     -   Fix bug so we REALLY clear dirty flag with -Af
  40     -   -Db now prints a 'devices=' word for each array.
  41     -   "mdadm -A /dev/md0" will get info from configfile, even without scan
  42     -   When assembling multipath arrays, ignore devices which are flagged
  43         as having errors.
  44     -   take --super-minor=dev  to mean "use the minor number of the mddev
  45         being assembled.
  46     -   take --config=none to mean "completely ignore config file"
  47     -   Make --monitor require --scan or a device list.
  48 Changes Prior to 1.0.9 release
  49     -   Documentation updates including kernel parameters documented
  50         in md.4
  51     -   --assemble --force for raid4/5 will mark clean, needed for 2.5
  52     -   --detail prints out the events counter as well
  53     -   flush device before reading superblock to be sure to get
  54         current data
  55     -   added mdadm.static target to makefile for static linking
  56     -   --monitor was ignoring  /dev/md0 due to off-by-one error
  57     -   Fix assorted typos
  58     -   Fix printing of Gibibytes - calc was wrong.
  59     -   Fix printing of Array Size in --detail when very big.
  60     -   --monitor no longer tries to work for raid0 or linear as these
  61         have nothing to be monitored.
  62     -   The word 'partitions' on a DEVICE line will cause all partitions
  63         listed in /proc/partitions to be considered
  64     -   If the config file is called 'partitions' then it will be treated
  65         as though it contained exactly 'device partitions' so e.g.
  66           mdadm -Ebsc partitions
  67         will find all raid partitions easily.
  68     -   successfully assemble multipath devices by ignoring raid_disk
  69         value from superblock (it is always the same).
  70     -   --assemble not tied to MD_SB_DISKS limit quite so much
  71     -   Support compiling with tcc
  72     -   Support compiling with uclibc - just skip scan of /dev
  73     -   Add --update= option for Assemble mode.  Either sparc2.2
  74         or super-minor updates are possible.  See mdadm.8
  75
  76 Changes Prior to 1.0.1 release
  77     -   Round off MB/GiB etc values instead of round down.
  78     -   Add --sparc2.2 option to examine to shift superblock around
  79         and --sparc2.2update to rewrite the superblock
  80     -   Fix assorted typos in online help
  81
  82 Changes Prior to 1.0.0 release
  83     -   Allow --config with Misc mode (for --examine --scan)
  84     -   Add $(CXFLAGS) to end of CFLAGS in makefile
  85     -   When making an N disk raid5 array, the Nth drive
  86         is moved to the end of the array as a spare rather than
  87         being shifted up one place.  This means that when the
  88         kernel builds onto the last spare and inserts it,
  89         the devices will be in the expected order.
  90     -   Man page improvements
  91 Changes Prior to 0.8.2 release
  92     -   Correct spelling of persist[ae]nce/persist[ae]nt.
  93     -   Change "disk" to "device" in options and config file
  94     -   convert array size to "long long" *before* shift-left in -D and -Q
  95
  96 Changes Prior to 0.8.1 release
  97     -   Add "INSTALL" file.
  98     -   Fix some "i" variables that were not being set properly
  99     -   Initialise minsize and maxsize so that compilers don't complain.
 100     -   Tidy up Makefile and mdadm.spec installations
 101     -   Add "multipath" to documentation of valid levels
 102
 103 Changes Prior to 0.8 release
 104     -   Fix another bug in Assemble.c due to confusing 'i' with 'j'
 105     -   Minimal, untested, support for multipath
 106     -   re-write of argument parsing to have more coherent modes,
 107     -   add --query,-Q option
 108     -   Update mdadm.8 to reflect arg processing change and --query
 109     -   Change "long" to "unsigned long" for device sizes
 110     -   Handle "mailaddr" and "program" lines in config file for follow/scan mode.
 111     -   --follow --scan will exit if no program or mail found
 112     -   Add MAILADDR and PROGRAM to mdadm.conf-example
 113     -   Spell check man pages
 114     -   consistently use "component devices" instead of "subdevices"
 115     -   Make -Wall -Werror really work and fix lots of errors.
 116     -   --detail and --stop can have --scan which chooses devices from /proc/mdstat
 117     -   --monitor detects 20% changes in resync, failed spares,
 118         disappearing arrays,
 119     -   --monitor --scan will automatically add any devices found in /proc/mdstat
 120     -   --monitor will move spares between arrays with same spare-group if necessary
 121     -   Documentation for Monitor Mode
 122     -   --query notes if the array containing the given device is active or not
 123     -   Finished md.4 man page.
 124
 125 Changes Prior to 0.7.2 release
 126     -   mdadm.spec updates and ifdef BLKGETSIZE64 from  Luca Berra -- bluca@comedia.it
 127     -   more mdadm.spec updates from  Gregory Leblanc <gleblanc@linuxweasel.com>
 128     -   make directory for mdadm.conf configurable in Makefile
 129     -   Finished mdadm.conf.5.  Removed details of conf file from
 130         mdadm.8 leaving a reference to mdadm.conf.5.
 131     -   Fix bug in Assemble.c, thanks to Junaid Rizvi <domdev@sat.net.pk>
 132     -   Get --assemble --force to make sure old major/minor numbers are
 133         consistant, as md.c worries about this :-(
 134
 135
 136 Changes Prior to 0.7.1 release
 137     -   update mdadm.spec
 138     -   use BLKGETSIZE64 if available for array size
 139     -   give human readable as GiB/MiB and GB and MB, with 2 decimal point precision
 140     -   Only warn about size variation for raid1/4/5.
 141     -   Started md.4 man page
 142     -   Started mdadm.conf.5 man page
 143
 144 Changes Prior to 0.7 release
 145
 146     -   Fix makefile to install binary at /sbin and not /sbin/sbin
 147         Also install man page.
 148     -   Add --zero-superblock based on --destroywithextremeprejudice
 149         from Dale Stephenson <steph@snapserver.com>
 150     -   change name to mdadm.  It is palandromic, and much nicer to pronouce.
 151
 152 Changes Prior to 0.6 release
 153
 154     -   Remove the limit on the number of device names that can be
 155         given on the command line.
 156     -   Fix bug in --assemble --force where it would only update a
 157         single superblock.
 158     -   Fix bogus printing of big numbers not being block devices
 159         when given names of devices that don't exist.
 160     -   When --assemble --force, consider superblocks with an event
 161         count that is 1 behind as out-of-date.  Normally they are
 162         considered up-to-date (as the kernel assumes this too).
 163     -   When marking drives as not-failed in the superblock,
 164         we also mark them as ACTIVE and SYNC.
 165     -   Don't start arrays for which not all drives are available unless:
 166          --scan   which implies that all drives were found automatically
 167          --run    which means the user knows what they want
 168          --force  which means that we are fixing something broken
 169     -   Make sure all device numbers passed as 3rd arg of ioctl
 170         are passed as unsigned lock, so that it works on SPARC
 171     -   If HOT_ADD_DISK failes for -a, then only try ADD_NEW_DISK
 172         if we cannot read from the array, i.e. if the array is
 173         not started yet.
 174     -   man page update
 175     -   Taught Examine to handle --scan. It examines all devices listed
 176         on DEVICE lines in the config file.
 177     -   Added --brief (-b) flag for Examine and Detail to print out
 178         and mdctl.conf compatible description with uuid=, level=,
 179         disks= and  - for Examine - devices=
 180         --examine --brief collects all devices the make the one array and
 181         list them as one entry.
 182     -   Added level= and disks= options to ARRAY lines in config files
 183         so --brief output could be used as-is.
 184     -   Make parity style ({left,right}-{,a}symmetric) consistantly use -,
 185         never _.
 186     -   Add "Array Size" to --detail output
 187     -   Change "Size" to "Device Size" and exclude from Detail of arrays
 188         that do not have a consistent device size.
 189     -   Add Human readable MiB or GiB value on size lines of Detail and Examine
 190     -   --assemble --scan  doesn't complain about active drives
 191     -   require number of spares given in -x to be listed.
 192     -   Made --build actually work.
 193 Changes Prior to 0.5 release
 194
 195   --assemble:
 196      spare drives are handled properly.
 197
 198      --force can be used to recover from 2-drive failures on RAID5
 199      If you belive that /dev/hda1 /dev/hdb1 /dev/hdc1 /dev/hdd1 should
 200      make a raid5 array, but it has experienced multiple failures and
 201      wont start, then
 202
 203        mdctl --assemble --force /dev/md0 /dev/hd[abcd]1
 204
 205      Should update the superblock on the newest failed drive and
 206      restart the array in degraded mode.  You should then remove the
 207      remaining failed drive and re-add it (if you are happy that it
 208      might work).
 209
 210      Ofcourse whenever you have a 2-drive failure, you have a risk
 211      of corruption in data that hasn't be changed for a long time.  So
 212      this doesn't give you your array back all nice and happy, but it
 213      does allow you to recover data that might not be corrupt.
 214
 215      More flexibility in identifying a RAID array in the mdctl.conf
 216      e.g.
 217          array /dev/md4  super-minor=4
 218
 219       assembles /dev/md4 from all devices found that have a raid
 220       superblock that says the minor number of the array is 4.
 221       If the blocks with the right minor number do not all have the
 222       same UUID, an error is flags and no assembly happens.
 223
 224         array /dev/md3  devices=/dev/hd[abc]2
 225
 226       Assembles /dev/md3 drom /dev/hda2 /dev/hdb2 and/dev/hdc2.  All
 227       devices must exist and have raid superblock with the same uuid.
 228
 229       If two identity specifiers are used, only devices that match all
 230       of them are considered, so
 231
 232         array /dev/md2 devices=/dev/hd?2 super-minor=2
 233
 234       will assemble /dev/md2 using all /dev/hd?2 devices which have a
 235       raid superblock with minor number 2.
 236
 237   --create:
 238       When listing devices for --create, the word "missing" can be
 239       used to indicate that the respective slot does not have a
 240       working drive currently.  This is similar to the "failed-disk"
 241       directive in mkraid/raidtab.
 242       e.g.
 243          mdctl --create --level=5 -raid-disks=4 --spare-disks=2
 244                  /dev/md0 /dev/sda /dev/sdb missing /dev/sdc /dev/sdd  /dev/sde
 245
 246       will create a raid5 array with the third slot empty, and two
 247       spares.
 248
 249       By default, raid5 arrays are created with the last slot empty
 250       and drive listed for the last slot added as a spare.  If a
 251       "missing" slot is given, or if --force is given, then --create
 252       does exactly what you ask and doesn't try to be clever.
 253
 254
 255    --follow / --monitor:
 256
 257       This is a new mode.  I couldn't stop my self from picking a name
 258       starting with F (as current modes start A,B,C,D,E) but I
 259       relented and provided an alternate name that is somewhat more
 260       meaningful.
 261
 262       In this mode, mdctl does not exit, but runs continuously and
 263       periodically polls all the md devices to see if they have had
 264       any interested state change.
 265       The changes that it currently notices are:
 266            Fail      -  an active disc fails
 267            FailSpare -  a spare, that was presumably being build, fails
 268            ActiveSpare - a spare becomes active, presumably after a rebuild.
 269
 270       Options:
 271          --mail mailaddress  - send Email on any Fail* event
 272          --program program   - run the program on any event.
 273                    Args are: eventname mddevice subdevice(if-known)
 274          --delay  seconds    - change from the default 60second pause
 275                                between polls.
 276
 277       I plan to add functionality to this mode to allow sharing of
 278       spare drives. If an array is marks "spare-group=fred", and it
 279       has a failed drive and no spares, and if some other array is
 280       also "spare-group=fred" and it has no failed drives, but does
 281       have a spare drive that is big enough, the spare will be moved
 282       to the first array.
 283
 284   I also have the idea of adding a --grow mode which will re-organise
 285   the data on an N disk raid0/4/5 array to be on an N+M disk array.
 286   I have no concrete plans for this though.
 287
 288   I got rid of the "v" in the archive file name, and include the
 289   version number in the directory created by the archive.
 290
 291   There is now a man page and mdctl.spec (for rpm) thanks to
 292   Danilo Godec <danci@agenda.si>.
 293
 294   Ofcourse, the man page is now out of date and despite being based on
 295   the --help output, is not wholy correct.  After I get --follow
 296   working properly, I plan to revise the various documentation and/or
 297   the code to make sure the two match.
 298