-NEWS - list of user-visible changes between releases of GRUB
-
-New in 0.97 - 2005-05-08:
-* Fix the prototypes and the definitions of nested functions. This was
- required for gcc-4.
-* Implement a more robust workaround for buggy BIOSes which don't pass
- boot drive correctly (notably for HP Vectra).
-
-New in 0.96 - 2005-01-30:
-* The command "fallback" supports mutiple fallback entries.
-* The command "savedefault" supports an optional argument which
- is the number of next boot entry or the special keyword `fallback'.
-* New utility "grub-set-default".
-* New section "Making your system robust" in the manual.
-
-New in 0.95 - 2004-06-13:
-* Add support for ReiserFS 3.
-* Fix support for FreeBSD 5.
-* Support ATARAID for Linux in the grub shell and grub-install.
-* Add CDROM support for El Torito with no emulation mode. You can use
- (cd) as a CDROM drive in the config file.
-* Option --no-mem-option is implied for Linux 2.4.18 and newer.
-* Add support for UFS2.
-
-New in 0.94 - 2004-01-25:
-* Support building on x86-64 with gcc -m32.
-* Use a BIOS call to turn on/off Gate A20. This should solve various
- problems related to Gate A20 in modern BIOSes.
-* Add a workaround for buggy BIOSes (notably HP Vectra series) which
- don't pass the boot drive correctly.
-* Display "GNU GRUB" instead of "GRUB" in the menu.
-* Add support for QNX RTP into the grub shell.
-* Add support for the initrd max address of a kernel header in Linux.
-* Support 32 bit and 64 bit dev_t.
-* Add support for an install device in GRUB's notation with no
- parenthesis (e.g. grub-install hd0).
-* Improve the manual a lot.
-
-New in 0.93 - 2002-12-08:
-* Define the behavior of the boot loader when the load end address is
- zero and the bss end address is zero in the Multiboot Specification.
- Also, add the support into GRUB.
-* Finally, we have a Bug Tracking System! Now the preferable way to
- report bugs is to use the BTS rather than sending e-mail to bug-grub.
- See <http://bugcomm.enbug.org/?project=grub&mode=project>, for more
- details.
-* The appendix "FAQ" in the manual is removed. See the GNU GRUB FAQ on
- the web <http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/grub-faq.html> instead.
-* The terminal handling code is rewritten radically, and many bugfixes
- are made at the same time.
-* The command "color" is effective even in the command-line.
-* The command "terminal" takes two new options, ``--no-echo'' and
- ``--no-edit''. If you specify ``--no-echo'', GRUB won't echo back
- input characters. If you specify ``--no-edit'', GRUB will disable the
- BASH-like editing feature. These options are useful when using an
- intelligent terminal (such as the comint mode in GNU Emacs).
-* The utility ``grub-md5-crypt'' prompts to retype a password and checks
- if the passwords match.
-* Support for booting Linux is rewritten, so GRUB now supports
- large-EBDA systems.
-* The menu interfaces supports Page Up, Page Down, and Right Key.
-* New command "terminfo", for vt100-incompatible terminals.
-* New options, ``-D'', ``-g'' and ``-m'' are supported for FreeBSD.
-
-New in 0.92 - 2002-04-30:
-* The command "displaymem" uses only hex digits for consistency.
-* The netboot code goes back to the progress bars instead of dots, for
- the notation of data transfers. And, that is displayed only in debug
- mode, that is to say, nothing is displayed by default. Remember that
- you can turn on debug mode via the command "debug".
-* The command "help" doesn't show all the available commands by default,
- when no argument is specified. Rarely used commands (such as
- "testload") and useless commands in interactive use (such as
- "savedefault") are hidden. If you want to see help messages for those
- commands, specify the new option "--all".
-* A built-in, `more'-like pager is added. When a command prints too many
- lines to fit the screen, GRUB waits until you hit return key. This
- feature can be turned off by the new command "pager".
-* The command "terminal" accepts a new option, "--lines=LINES". You can
- set the maximum number of lines arbitrarily with this option. If you
- don't specify it, the maximum number will be 24.
-* The command "terminal" accepts another new option, "--silent". You can
- suppress the "Press any key to continue" message with this option.
-* The mem= option for Linux is recognized and used to limit the maximum
- address of initrd.
-* A fallback entry is executed immediately after a default entry,
- without prompting a user's intervention, as the manual has ever been
- saying.
-* The utility ``grub-install'' makes sure that GRUB images have been
- written to a physical disk completely. To assist this feature, a new
- command "dump" is added.
-
-New in 0.91 - 2002-01-21:
-* Support for Linux DAC960 is added.
-* JFS and XFS support is added.
-* The commands "hide" and "unhide" support logical partitions.
-* The utility ``grub-install'' supports NetBSD.
-* The network support is updated to Etherboot-5.0.5.
-* The manner of handling the preset menu changes. In the previous
- implementation, the preset menu is used only when opening the
- configuration file failed. Now try to use the preset menu first. And,
- if the configuration file is available, it is read after readoing the
- preset menu. In this case, menu entries in the preset menu (if any)
- are overrided by the configuration file.
-* Diskless support is a bit changed. In the previous, GRUB set up a
- network automatically via a special function. In the current, the
- function is gone and the preset menu feature is used (i.e. just
- execute the command "bootp" as if you specified it in the preset
- menu). This has no impact against most users, but you should take care
- if using the preset menu for your own purpose, because GRUB doesn't
- call "bootp" implicitly when the preset menu is used explicitly. In
- this case, you would probably need to insert commands to initialize a
- network into your preset menu.
-* Important bugfixes are made for ReiserFS, APM, TFTP, LBA, etc.
-
-New in 0.90 - 2001-07-11:
-* The command "setkey" resets key mappings, when no argument is
- specified.
-* Linux devfs support is added.
-* The utility ``grub-install'' accepts a new option, `--recheck'. If
- this option is specified, probe a device map, even if it already
- exists. You should use this option whenever you add/remove a disk.
-* The command "password" supports a md5 password if the option `--md5'
- is given. This command can now also be used to protect specific menu
- items with their own passwords.
-* New command, "displayapm".
-* New command, "md5crypt".
-* The new utility ``grub-md5-crypt'' is a frontend of the grub shell. It
- encrypts a password in MD5 format.
-* New commands, "testvbe" and "vbeprobe".
-* The configure script accepts a new option, `--enable-preset-menu'. You
- can embed an arbitrary configuration which will be used when Stage 2
- cannot open a real configuration file, with this option. The argument
- must be an existing file.
-* EZ-BIOS support is added.
-* Booting Windows from a logical partition is supported.
-* The example Multiboot kernel in the directory "docs" is built, if you
- specify the option `--enable-example-kernel' to the configure script.
-* New command, "ifconfig".
-* Linux software RAID support is added (only for RAID-1).
-* Hercules support is added.
-* The configure script now accepts `--disable-auto-linux-mem-opt', which
- has the same meaning as you specify the option `--no-mem-option' to the
- command "kernel".
-* Jump to the physical entry address of a Multiboot kernel when booting
- it up. The old behavior was to use the virtual one, regardless of the
- setting of the physical address.
-* The commands "bootp" and "dhcp" accepts a new option
- `--with-configfile', so that you can load a remotely specified
- configuration file automatically, like the network boot images.
-* VSTa filesystem support is added.
-* ELF symbol loading support is added.
-
-New in 0.5.96 - 2000-10-04:
-* New commands, "reboot" and "halt".
-* New command, "hiddenmenu". You can hide the menu interface by default
- with this command.
-* You can specify `--no-mem-option' to the command "kernel", if you want
- GRUB not to pass a Linux's mem option automatically.
-* Now GRUB is compliant with the Linux/i386 boot protocol version 2.02.
-* The network support is updated to Etherboot-4.6.4.
-* Symlinks in ReiserFS are supported.
-* Add a workaround into the grub shell, so that it works fine even under
- Linux 2.4.
-* Add a new option `--stage2' into the commands "install" and "setup",
- to let the grub shell know what the file name of Stage 2 is under your
- operating system. You must specify the option correctly, if you cannot
- unmount the partition where GRUB images reside. We'd recommend _not_
- using those commands directly, but using the utility "grub-install"
- instead, because this is safer.
-* One violation against the Network Boot Image Proposal was found and
- fixed. So now the image `nbgrub' can work fine even with a card such
- as rtl8139.
-* Serial terminal support is added. The configure script accepts
- a new option `--disable-serial'. Unless it is specified, you can use
- two new commands, "serial" and "terminal" in the command-line and the
- menu. See the manual, for more details.
-* Preserve the possible magic number used by Windows NT in a MBR.
-* The command-line interface is switched to single-line editing mode.
-* Only for developers: the configure script accepts
- `--enable-serial-speed-simulation', which is useful when you want to
- simulate the speed of a serial device on a psuedo terminal.
-* Also only for developers: you can specify an optional argument to the
- option `--hold' for the grub shell. The argument means how many
- seconds the grub shell should wait until diving into the main routine.
-* New command, "savedefault". Now you can save current entry number to
- your disk with this command and then you can set the default boot
- entry to it by the command "default saved".
-* Add a new option `--prefix' into the command "setup", so that you can
- specify the name of a directory which contains GRUB images. And, the
- behavior of this command changed slightly, that is, this command now
- searchs stage1 automatically under "/boot/grub" and "/grub", unless
- you specify the option `--prefix'.
-* The utility `grub-install' recognizes a separate boot partition
- automatically.
-* New commands, "partnew" and "parttype". You can modify partition
- tables with these commands.
-
-New in 0.5.95 - 2000-06-27:
-* NetBSD ELF kernel support is added. You have to specify the new option
- to the command "kernel". See below.
-* Added a new option `--type=TYPE' into the command "kernel". This
- option suggests what type of kernel you want to load. TYPE must be
- either of "netbsd", "freebsd", "openbsd", "linux", "biglinux" and
- "multiboot". Actually, this option will be necessary only if you want
- to load a NetBSD ELF kernel, because GRUB can automatically determine
- a kernel type in the other cases.
-* ReiserFS support is added.
-* Added a new option `--force-lba' into the command "install". This
- option disables some sanity checks for LBA mode (but not all). If you
- are sure that your machine supports LBA mode but GRUB doesn't work in
- LBA mode, you should specify it. It is necessary if your BIOS is too
- buggy. In the previous version, it was a compile-time option, but you
- don't have to recompile GRUB any longer.
-* Likewise, now the command "setup" and the script "grub-install" also
- accept `--force-lba' option. Specifying this option to "setup" or
- "grub-install" has the same effect as to the command "install".
-* The configure script doesn't accept the option
- `--disable-lba-support-bitmap-check' any longer. Use the option above.
-* The network support is updated to Etherboot-4.6.1. So now we have
- 3Com59x and DEPCA drivers.
-* Now you can omit the configuration file argument to the command
- "password". If you omit it, then GRUB will just unlock privileged
- instructions (such as `c') when you enter a correct password.
-* The new command "lock" can be used to prevent end-users from executing
- arbitrary menu entries. This command will emit an error until the user
- enters a correct password.
-* Recognize the Linux extended partition type.
-* Pass a correct memory size to Linux and *BSD.
-* Diskless support is added. Now configure accepts --enable-diskless,
- and "make" will produce two additional images, ``nbgrub'' for Net Boot
- Image Proposal and ``pxegrub'' for Preboot Execution Environment. See
- the documentation, for more details.
-* The command "tftpserver" overrides a TFTP server address returned by a
- BOOTP server, a DHCP server or a RARP server.
-* Fix a serious bug about LBA support. It is possible that you don't
- disable the LBA support bitmap check any longer. Please send a report,
- if you must still disable it. We need to know if we should get rid of
- the option.
-
-New in 0.5.94 - 2000-03-06:
-* Stage 1 supports both the LBA mode and the CHS mode.
-* The NetBSD and OpenBSD boot bug is fixed.
-* The more automatic installation command "setup" is added.
-* The command "embed" embeds a Stage 1.5 in the sectors after a MBR.
-* Support symbolic color name syntax in the command "color".
-* The grub shell loads the BIOS drive mapping information from a device
- map file if it is specified and can be opened. If not found, try to
- create it based on the guessed information.
-* NetBSD support in the grub shell is improved.
-* A simple checker for the format of a Multiboot kernel, ``mbchk'', is
- added.
-* The command "find" searches for a filename in all devices and print
- the list of the devices which contain the file.
-* The command "map" maps a drive to another drive so that we can
- chain-load some foolish operating systems (such as DOS) even if such
- an operating system resides at a non-first drive.
-* The command "setkey" maps a key to another.
-* The GRUB manual is rewritten, and now consists of three parts and
- appendices.
-* The command "ioprobe" detects what I/O ports are used for a BIOS
- drive.
-* OpenBSD support in the grub shell is improved.
-* The command "install" can now patch a Stage 2 with a different
- filename from "/boot/grub/menu.lst" even if a Stage 1.5 is used.
-* New program, ``grub-install''.
-* The command "blocklist" prints the blocklist notation of a file.
-* The command "chainloader" now accepts an option "--force", which is
- required if you want to chain-load a boot loader defective in the
- signature, such as SCO Unixware 7.1.
-* The netboot support is heavily rewritten, based on Etherboot-4.4.3.
- Most of the device drivers are stolen from it, so we now have many
- network drivers. See netboot/README.netboot for more details.
-* Now configure accepts the option `--disable-lba-support-bitmap-check'
- to ignore an incorrect LBA support bitmap returned by a buggy BIOS. If
- you are sure that your BIOS does support LBA mode but GRUB doesn't
- work in LBA mode, recompile GRUB with this option specified. You can
- check if GRUB accesses a drive in LBA mode by the command "geometry".
-* New commands "bootp", "dhcp" and "rarp" can be used to initialize a
- network device and get IP addresses from a network.
-* Long filename support in the FAT filesystem is added.
-* The command "cmp" compares each bytes in two files.
-
-New in 0.5.93 - 1999-10-30:
-* ELF format of FreeBSD kernel is supported.
-* Support the partition ids for NetBSD and OpenBSD.
-* Exit from the grub shell just by pushing the key `q' in the menu.
-* New options for configure can disable some functions in Stage 2. See
- the output from `configure --help' for more information.
-* FAT32 support is added.
-* Minix fs support is added.
-* New commands "hide" and "unhide".
-* The character `=' after a command is not necessary any longer, but it
- is supported for backward compatibility.
-* The command "help" displays helpful information about builtin
- commands.
-* The command "geometry" displays the information of a drive specified
- and set the geometry to arbitrary C/H/S values if the optional
- arguments are used.
-* The command "configfile" loads a configuration file interactively.
-* The command "device" assigns a BIOS drive to an arbitrary filename in
- the grub shell.
-* The option `--no-floppy' force the grub shell to assume that there is
- no floppy, and the option `--probe-second-floppy' enables the probe of
- the second floppy drive.
-* Integrated the netboot support in the Dresden version of GRUB.
-* FreeBSD support in the grub shell is improved.
-* Killing (C-u and C-k), yanking (C-y) and manipulating the history
- (C-p and C-n) are supported.
-* The address argument for the command "install" is now optional.
-* Better completion support.
-* The command "cat" displays the contents of a file.
-
-New in 0.5.92 - 1999-07-26:
-* Bug fixes (i.e. Stage 1.5 can work fine again).
-* The /sbin/grub stage2 simulator now works at least on GNU/Linux, and
- uses the Linux HDIO_GETGEO ioctl to determine hard disk geometry.
-* TAB not only lists filenames, but also completes a filename when the
- filename is unique.
-* Password is not echoed back, put an asterisk for each of input
- characters.
-* stage2_debug is removed, and the debugging features are added into
- stage2.
-* Color menu support.
-* New command "quit".
-* The man page for /sbin/grub.
-* All documents become Texinfo.
-* Linux video mode selection is supported.
-* The new Stage 1 `stage1_lba' supports LBA addressing mode.
-
-New in 0.5.91 - 1999-03-14, Gordon Matzigkeit:
-* LBA and preliminary AWARD BIOS disk extension support.
-* Started docs/grub.texi.
-* /sbin/grub GUI now works (but it doesn't yet access disks properly).
- Run `configure --enable-sbin-grub' to build this program in the grub
- subdirectory.
-
-New in 0.5.90 - 1999-03-01, Gordon Matzigkeit:
-* Bug fixes.
-* GRUB understands symlinks on ext2fs (but still not ffs).
-* Many source code and build cleanups to comply with GNU standards.
-
-New in 0.5 - 1998-08-20, Erich Boleyn:
-
-* Improved error messages in the stage1 to be strings (easier to read
- than the previous case of single characters), and removed any
- display in the case of no error (less confusing).
-
-* New document describing error conditions and messages.
-
-* Improved configure/build process.
-
-* Made the early bootup interrupt-safe. Wasn't doing cli/sti when
- necessary sometimes.
-
-* GRUB now shuts off the floppy before transferring control to any
- other programs/modules/loaders. (chain-loading doesn't matter here,
- just loading 32-bit modules/kernels)
-
-* Fixed a few stupid bugs, including a several in the ext2fs code.
-
-* Linux boot format support extended from just "zImage" to include
- "bzImage" and initial ramdisk (also called "initrd") support for
- both. "initrd" support is untested, but the critical parts were
- taken from a supplied patch and seem OK.
-
-* Several new command features. See the command-listing for details.
-
-New in 0.4 - 1998-03-19, Erich Boleyn:
-
-* GRUB now correctly points ES:SI at a partition descriptor when
- chain-loading.
-
-* Many minor bugs fixed (some in the build scripts).
-
-* Intel MPS 1.4 config/check code is totally new, and the "syscmd="
- command is completely removed. Check command-listing for details.
-
-Version 0.4-pre, Erich Boleyn:
-
-* Reorganized docs, moved most "NOTE" items to a FAQ (with new entries
- as well).
-
-* Now supports automatic decompression of any files loaded via the
- GRUB stage2 filesystem code. Simply compress the file using GNU
- gzip normally, then when loading, the GRUB internals will see the
- contents in the decompressed state... i.e. all GRUB functions
- operate normally as if it is the uncompressed file. An extra
- version of the "module" loading function has been added which
- disables this functionality if desired (in all the other cases, not
- decompressing doesn't make sense).
-
-* Changed device strings used in filesystem code to more logical
- format. Added "relative" disk and partition capability, see
- command-listing and filesystem syntax description for details.
-
-* "install=" command vastly improved. Also moved to non-debug area.
- Check command-listing and install documentation for details.
-
-* Added several new commands: "rootnoverify=", "uppermem=", and a new
- debug command "displaymem". Check command-listing for details.
-
-* Added versioning numbers (and subsequently broke compatibility with
- some of the previous code, so GRUB should be re-installed!).
-
-* Added unattended booting support via new "fallback=" command.
-
-* During debug probe of SMP configuration table compatible with Intel
- MPS 1.4 standard, GRUB now checks for a pointer in the EBDA.
-
-* Using a "default=" entry greater than 11 caused the UI to do funny
- things (it didn't pre-scroll the list to the appropriate place).
-
-* Reading files on FAT floppies had yet more problems related by many
- users of version 0.3 6/17/96. Again, all known problems fixed.
-
-* "Extended" partitions now work (still cannot make an extended
- partition active with "makeactive" command).
-
-* The build environment is greatly simplified, now using an
- autoconf-like "configure" script.
-
-New in 0.3-19960617 - 1996-06-17, Erich Boleyn:
-
-* Yet more documentation improvements.
-
-* Known bugs in floppy operation fixed (12-bit FAT didn't work for
- most cases, and inserting other floppies didn't flush the filesystem
- cache).
-
-* NASTY uninitialized pointer bug causing "raw" floppy operation to
- crash on several PCs is now fixed. This seems to have been the root
- cause of all of the compatibility problems that have currently been
- observed.
-
-* debug-mode command added to automate most difficult step of
- installation for common cases (new install method #4).
-
-* Testing "mini-debugger" now merged with command-line when "DEBUG"
- defined in compile (no SYSDEBUG option anymore). See description of
- commands in the command-line for details.
-
-New in 0.3-19960602 - 1996-06-02, Erich Boleyn:
-
-* Completed initial licenses.
-
-* Initial filesystem documentation written.
-
-* Block-list and FAT filesystems now work as documented (in
- particular, for the blocklist filesystem, shortcuts like "+1" for
- "0+1,512" now work correctly).
-
-* Fixed several problems (old and new) in the various filesystems (for
- example, the ext2fs filesystem code is now much faster, as it caches
- some mapping blocks where it didn't at all before). Filesystem
- semantics are much more uniform as well (symbolic links and reading
- a directory as a file now return errors where it would silently fail
- before).
-
-* "makeactive" now works for standard PC partitions on hard disks (not
- extended partitions... so any PC partition number above 3 will give
- a "no such partition" error). If a BSD sub-partition is is used, it
- will ignore it, and only use the primary PC partition number.
-
-New in 0.3-19960520 - 1996-05-20, Erich Boleyn:
-
-* Updated instructions (though still very sparse).
-
-* New floppy probe (works much like the Linux floppy boot probe)
- attempts to find the size of a floppy in a drive. Might still need
- work! Please try on various floppy drives with various media!
-
-* New floppy handler will claim a non-existent drive if the floppy
- disk isn't present in the drive. (for example, it won't be on the
- list of installed drives unless a floppy is present)
-
-* Stage1 now compatible with both a hard disk MBR and the DOS BIOS
- parameter block (see "install/README" for more details on how this
- can be used).
-
-* Block-list filesystem partially works, as described in the file
- "NOTES". Loading an a.out or elf kernel won't work with it, but all
- other filetypes pretty much should. (certainly chain-loading works
- OK)
-
- NOTE: you must use the full format "0+1,512" for just he first
- block... no parameters can be implicit in this version.. THis is
- being fixed too.
-
-* Linux ext2 filesystem works. (it's very slow for big files, but
- this is being fixed)
-
-* Linux boot type now supported. Use a standard piggybacked image as
- with LILO. Put in hack to support >64MB via GRUB placing the RAM
- size as the first item on the command-line automatically. Must pass
- root partition on command-line using normal Linux syntax... if not,
- it uses it's builtin root partition.
-
-* Supports chain-loading. For details, see "COMMANDS" and the
- examples directory. (was able to boot DOS and Windows NT on my test
- box). NOTE that the "root partition" must be set to work right.
- "makeactive" is currently a no-op.
-
-* Several weird bugs fixed. One important note: If you recompile, it
- will warn about a clash with builtin "strcmp". This is normal...
- do NOT remove the strcmp definition, as then GCC will possibly put
- inline code from it's own builtin function in some places. (my
- strcmp has slightly different functionality, hence the problem)
-
-* Mini-debugger is currently broken.
-
-New in 0.2 - 1996-04-12, Erich Boleyn:
-
-* Completely new menu-based UI. See "COMMANDS" and the examples
- directory for details. NOTE that the argument to a command must be
- preceded by a space between it and the '=', in both the config file
- and the command-line. This will be fixed.
-
-New in 0.1 - 1996-03-31, Erich Boleyn:
-
-* Newer version of Multiboot Standard (version 0.6) supported.
-
-* Autodetects kernel types. Supports Multiboot, FreeBSD, NetBSD
- (Linux isn't finished).
-
-* Stage 1.5 works now. Default setup is now for working with a BSD
- FFS floppy loading "/grub/stage2" as the main bootloader.
-
-* Filesystem support improved. It didn't work on many floppies before
- (problem with the partition-detection code).
-
-* Memory probe now supports arbitrary amounts of RAM (some technical
- limitations exist, see Multiboot standard version 0.6 for details).
-
-* A mini-debugger is included by default, activated by hitting '~' on
- the command-line (it might interfere with things, but it seems OK
- for my alpha-testing). The commands are in the function
- "enter_sysdebug" defined in "common.c". If you have an Intel MPS-
- compatible machine, there are extra commands enabled for SMP cpu
- testing. 'q' exits and goes back to what you were doing before.
-
-New in 0.0-19960206 - 1996-02-06, Erich Boleyn:
-
-* Newer version of Multiboot Standard (version 0.4) supported.
-
-New in 0.0-19951210 - 1995-12-10, Erich Boleyn:
-
-* You can now perform TAB-based completion listing of any valid
- partially completed disk/partition/file-name combination. Try it
- out to see what you like, examples are in the NOTES file under
- "Device completion".
-
-* Fixed a bug causing the memory size routine to sometimes report
- ridiculous values.
-
-* Fixed some documentation (what little there is :-/ and a few
- assembly bugs in the BIOS access routines that nobody reported yet,
- so I won't detail it here.
projects / thirdparty / grub.git / commitdiff
