ChangeLog

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