1 Starting with 1.47, changes marked with SYSLINUX, PXELINUX, ISOLINUX
2 or EXTLINUX apply to that specific program only; other changes apply
6 * SYSLINUX: correctly handle the case where the -d option is
7 specified with a non-absolute path, i.e. "syslinux -d
8 syslinux" instead of "syslinux -d /syslinux".
9 * ISOLINUX: recognize the directory names /boot/syslinux and
10 /syslinux, and the filename syslinux.cfg in addition to the
11 isolinux-specific names. Thus, "syslinux.cfg" is now a
12 generic name, whereas "isolinux.cfg" or "extlinux.conf" is
13 specific to different derivative.
16 * ISOLINUX: fix initialization on systems which don't zero
18 * SYSLINUX/EXTLINUX: fix handing of disk read retries in
20 * ISOLINUX: change the initialization sequence to avoid
21 problems with certain (old) BIOSes. Special thanks to
22 Helmut Hullen for invaluable debugging support.
23 * ifplop.c32: new module which detects if the PLoP Boot Loader
24 already has booted a CDROM or USB drive (Gert Hulselmans).
25 * Correct a severe memory overwrite bug, triggered primarily
26 when selecting a very long command line in the menu system.
27 * lua.c32: Lua script interpreter, currently experimental.
28 * PXELINUX: new option IPAPPEND 4 to append the system UUID to
29 the kernel command line.
30 * PXELINUX: display BOOTIF and SYSUUID at startup time, and
31 when Ctrl-N is pressed on the command line.
34 * Major code base changes; all filesystem rewritten in C.
35 This work was done primarily by Liu Aleaxander (Yuanhan Liu).
36 * EXTLINUX: btrfs and ext4 support. btrfs support was done by
38 * EXTLINUX is no longer a separate derivative; extlinux and
39 syslinux both install the same loader (ldlinux.sys); for the
40 Linux-based installers the extlinux binary is used for a
41 mounted filesystem; the syslinux binary for an unmounted
43 * When loading a new configuration file with the CONFIG
44 command, one can now also specify a new current directory
45 with an APPEND statement.
46 * Full ADV support for Syslinux, to boot-once and MENU SAVE
48 * Full support of GPT-partitioned disks, including disks
49 and/or parititions larger than 2 TiB (if supported by BIOS.)
50 * The GPT handover protocol adjusted to the current T13
51 committee draft; see doc/gpt.txt.
52 * HDT: code cleanup, small bugfixes
53 * The "linux" syslinux installer (syslinux-nomtools) now has a
54 command-line syntax closer to the extlinux installer. The
55 mtools, dos and win32 installers will get this new syntax
56 eventually, but it is not implemented yet.
57 * chain.c32: support booting GPT partitions by index, GUID, label.
58 * chain.c32: support booting the Syslinux partition with "fs".
59 * chain.c32: implement gpt.txt hand-over protocol.
60 * chain.c32: support for chainloading Grub stage 2.
61 * PXELINUX: TFTP URL syntax (tftp://) supported even when not
62 running gPXE/gpxelinux.
63 * New ls.c32 module to display the contents of the disk from
64 the command line, and pwd.c32 to display the current
66 * rosh.c32 (read only shell) updated and hopefully usable.
67 * PXELINUX: Support "localboot -1", just like the other
69 * gfxboot.com removed in favor of gfxboot.c32.
70 * New MENU HELP statement to display fullscreen help text as a
71 result of a menu selection.
72 * memdiskfind utility that can be used with the phram driver
73 in the Linux kernel to mount a memdisk.
74 * ifcpu.c32: Adding usage when no parameters are given,
76 * ifcpu.c32, ifcpu64.c32: handle more than one argument per
78 * isohybrid: C version which does not require Perl.
79 * New command MENU IMMEDIATE to permit hotkeys to activate
80 immediately without needing Enter.
81 * mdiskchk.com supports a --no-sequential (or -n) option to
82 suppress the classic all-drive-probing heuristic. Useful
83 on BIOSes who crash/hang when certain drive numbers are
85 * ElTorito.Sys DOS driver now scans drive numbers upwards
86 instead of downwards, in order to avoid a fairly common
87 bug on some BIOSes where probing drive 0xFF causes a
91 * chain.c32: fix chainloading the MBR of a hard disk (broken
93 * mboot.c32: report the boot loader name in the information
95 * com32: set argv[0] in a com32 module.
96 * core: add a workaround for a bug in Xen HVM older than
97 version 3.3: disable halt on those platforms.
98 * Fix problems where certain operations in com32 modules would
99 cause the core to believe the system was idle.
100 * MEMDISK: fix MBR detection when used with a DOSEMU header or
102 * MEMDISK: generate the mBFT checksum correctly.
105 * gPXELINUX: updated to gPXE 1.0.0. gPXELINUX can now do NBP
106 chainloading, and does not require a second DHCP.
107 * vesamenu.c32: unbreak the default "grey hole" background.
108 * We no longer have a built-in default of "linux auto".
109 Instead, if no DEFAULT or UI statement is found, or the
110 configuration file is missing entirely, we drop to the boot:
111 prompt with an error message (if NOESCAPE is set, we stop
112 with a "boot failed" message; this is also the case for
113 PXELINUX if the configuration file is not found.)
114 * chain.c32: support chainloading Grub4DOS; patch by Gert
116 * New tool: sysdump.c32, can be used to produce system
117 information for debugging via tftp or ymodem (serial port).
118 * "vga=current" on the Linux command line is now supported.
119 * chain.c32: support for Windows Recovery Console, via the
121 * chain.c32: should now support loading NTLDR from different
122 type media than loaded from.
123 * chain.c32: support chainloading to a FAT/NTFS partition with
124 invalid "hidden sectors" via the "sethidden" option.
125 * memdisk: fix the mBFT ACPI table.
126 * vesamenu.c32: if the image is smaller than the screen, tile
127 it across the whole screen.
128 * mkdiskimage: -s option for producing a sparse image.
129 * vesamenu.c32: support arbitrary resolution setting (beyond
130 BIOS support) on some Intel-based video chipsets. This code
131 is a modified version of the "915resolution" tool by
132 Steve Tomljenovic; your mileage might vary.
135 * SYSLINUX: make the DOS installer work for MS-DOS 7.x/8.x
137 * HDT: updated to version 0.3.6 (numerous changes.)
138 * mboot.c32: now supports video mode setting if requested by
140 * MEMDISK: Fix floppy images of PC-DOS.
141 * MEMDISK: Add support for emulation of CD-ROM images; patch
143 * MEMDISK: Comply with the Win9x "safe hook" standard,
144 allowing a protected-mode driver.
145 * MEMDISK: New "mBFT" ACPI table, by analogy with the iSCSI
146 iBFT table. This allows detection from a protected-mode
147 operating system without EDD support.
148 * 32-bit version of the gfxboot loader (gfxboot.c32), so far
149 experimental. This will replace gfxboot.com in the future.
150 * vesamenu.c32: new MENU RESOLUTION directive to set a screen
151 resolution other than 640x480.
152 * chain.c32: add support for loading isolinux.bin.
153 * chain.c32: make sure to always return to text mode.
154 * eltorito.sys: DOS driver for generic CD-ROMs; by Gary Tong
158 * PXELINUX: clear memory before handing over to a chainloaded
159 NBP. This may help avoid a bug in Windows RIS.
160 * PXELINUX: fix localboot after NBP chainloading on certain
161 BIOSes (including ASUS A8N-E, but possibly others.)
162 * chain.c32: support chainloaded bootloaders on ISOLINUX.
163 * PXELINUX: allow filenames up to 251 characters.
164 * MEMDISK: fix problems booting from USB on Thinkpads, and
165 possibly other machines or hardware combinations.
166 * isohybrid: fix the -id option.
167 * HDT: updated to version 0.3.4.
168 * MEMDISK: the stack size is now configurable, with the stack=
170 * Simple menu: fix Ctrl-W (word erase) in command-line edit.
171 * Simple menu: fix crash on some platforms.
172 * Gfxboot: fixes to the configuration file parsing.
173 * PXELINUX: add a tool to override specific DHCP options via
174 values hardcoded in the pxelinux.0 file. These hardcoded
175 values can be either "before DHCP" (defaults if DHCP do not
176 provide values), or "after DHCP" (overrides DHCP). The tool
177 pxelinux-options can be used to set these options. This
178 feature does not apply to gpxelinux.0; when used with gPXE
179 this is better handled by modifying the embedded script.
182 * isohybrid: fix the -partok logic for loading from a partition.
183 * ISOLINUX: deal with systems which return from INT 13h with
185 * Do not invoke the idle handler during large file loads.
186 * Simple menu: make ONTIMEOUT work with MENU HIDDEN.
187 * PXELINUX: handle TFTP servers which have extra NULs at the
188 end of an OACK packet.
191 * Shuffler: fix bug in real-mode entry. This affected a
192 number of modules, probably in relatively unimportant ways,
193 but it completely broke linux.c32.
194 * Improved performance.
195 * Attempt to halt the processor while idle. This can cause
196 bad reponsiveness when using a serial console especially for
197 automated input; if that ends up being a problem, use the
198 new "NOHALT 1" configuration command.
199 * linux.c32 now suppresses all messages if the "quiet" flag is
201 * isohybrid: add a variety of options, and a help message.
202 * ISOLINUX: fix booting in hybrid mode when CBIOS is used.
203 This unfortunately means that the isohybrid handoff protocol
204 has changed, so the isohybrid utility must version-match
206 * Drop support for ACPI 3 extended memory flags.
207 * Menu system: don't set the autocr flag on the serial
209 * altmbr: fix handling of logical partitions.
210 * altmbr: cap at 439 bytes so the partition select byte isn't
214 * New shuffler mechanism and API.
215 * Rewritten mboot.c32 module.
216 * The syslinux_boot_linux() function has been simplified.
217 * Don't hang trying to boot a "menu quit" label from the CLI.
218 * Fix problem with boot-once "sticking" on some BIOSes.
219 * isohybrid: fix problem with images over 2 GB in size.
220 * APM poweroff module (poweroff.com) by Sebastian Herbszt.
221 * ISOLINUX: fix the handling of large directories. Bug found
222 and fixed by Steffen Winterfeldt.
225 * PXELINUX: fix the "keeppxe" option, which was broken in
227 * MEMDISK: correct the extraction of geometry information from
228 the MBR of a hard disk image, again broken in 3.74.
229 * extlinux(1) man page from Brian Pellin.
230 * Simple menu: MENU SAVE is now controllable on a menu-by-menu
231 or entry-by-entry basis.
232 * gPXELINUX: fix interrupt-disabling bug.
233 * HDT: fix lockup on machines with certain PCI configurations.
236 * New UI directive, which allows a more natural way to specify
237 a menu system (or not.) With the UI directive specifying
238 the menu system, the DEFAULT directive can be used to select
239 the default entry inside the menus.
240 * kbdmap.c32: new module to load a new keyboard map
242 * isohybrid: workaround bug in some versions of binutils.
243 * Fix issue with the placement of the initrd on some machines.
244 * ifcpu64: fix handling of less than three arguments.
245 * Fix bug in the shuffle library when dealing with a very
246 large number of fragments.
247 * Documentation fixes by Vicente Jimenez Aguilar.
248 * gPXE updated to version 0.9.7.
249 * hdt.c32: Hardware Detection Tool, an interactive hardware
250 analyzer module by Erwan Velu.
251 * MEMDISK: enable automatic determination of the disk geometry
252 for a large floppy disk image if (and only if) it is
253 formatted with a FAT filesystem.
254 * SYSLINUX: fix the handling of .bss files on FAT12/16.
255 * Suppress the Loading ... message if "quiet" is specified on
256 the kernel command line.
257 * Fix the use of "CONSOLE 0" with menu.c32.
258 * Allow COM32 modules to be aware of all memory even in the
259 presence of a memory hole. The "linux.c32" module can be
260 used to load a kernel (or memdisk) plus large initrd on
262 * MBR: produce alternate MBR variants which force the drive
263 number to hd0 (_f variants), or force the drive number to
264 hd0 if the Ctrl key is pressed (_c variants.) Furthermore,
265 add an MBR variant (altmbr*.bin) which ignores the active
266 flag and instead boots the partition number specified in the
267 byte at offset 439 decimal.
268 * Add IPAPPEND strings to com32 modules, especially needed for
270 * New MENU SAVE directive which saves the latest menu
271 selection until the next boot. Currently only implemented for
273 * gfxboot.com: *experimental* interface module to Steffen
274 Winterfeldt's "gfxboot" graphical front end
275 (http://gfxboot.sourceforge.net/). Module by Sebastian Herbszt.
278 * Upgrade gPXE to release version 0.9.5.
279 * Fix a number of build errors on various platforms.
280 * Handle systems with E820 "extended attributes" per ACPI 3.
281 Someone "cleverly" decided to change the E820 spec in a
282 backwards-incompatible manner!
283 * MEMDISK: default to "safeint".
284 * Adopt the moniker "The Syslinux Project", standard proper
285 noun capitalization, to refer to the project as a whole.
286 Thus, reserve the all-caps "SYSLINUX" to refer to the FAT
288 * mboot.c32: add "-solaris" option to pass DHCP information to
289 the Solaris kernel; required for automatic Solaris boot
290 without using Solaris' pxeboot program.
291 * config.c32: trivial COM32 module to restart Syslinux with
292 another configuration file from the command line (equivalent
293 to the CONFIG command in the configuratin file.)
296 * Include the pxechain.com module from Jeffery Hutzelman at
297 Carnegie Mellon University. This allows chaining another
298 PXE boot program while changing the DHCP packet passed to
300 * Reorganize the Makefile system.
301 * Major PCI core cleanups and other source cleanup.
303 * Try to avoid memory-snooping attacks on passwords. Note
304 that if someone has root on the box, they generally don't
305 need to compromise the boot loader...
306 * ISOLINUX: fix crash when given a zero-length file.
307 * sdi.c32: support gzipped SDI images.
308 * ISOLINUX: support generating images which can be either
309 a CD-ROM or a hard disk (USB disk, etc.) See
310 doc/isolinux.txt for more information.
311 * Remote gdb support for COM32 modules; patch from Stefan
313 * Support beeps in F-key help in the simple menu system.
314 * Tab display of labels, based on a patch from Sebastian
315 Herbszt. Can be disabled with the NOCOMPLETE configuration
317 * "menu default" can now be specified after "menu begin", to
318 indicate that a specific submenu should be the default entry.
321 * Workaround for a VESA BIOS which tries to make DOS system
323 * Simple menu: fix navigation around disabled entries
324 (or at least try to...)
325 * EXTLINUX: proper error message when confused about mount
327 * MEMDISK: be smarter about incompletely disabled floppies in
328 the BIOS and about being the only floppy.
329 * Optionally allow initrd to be specified on a separate line
330 rather than as part of the "append" line. This is not
331 recommended, but apparently makes life easier for some
333 * SYSLINUX: if no config file is present, set the current
334 directory to the root directory (Sebastian Herbszt).
335 * chain.c32: option "hide" to support hiding and unhiding of
336 primary partitions on the boot drive with DOS, Win, or OS/2
337 partition types (01, 04, 06, 07, 0b, 0c, 0e).
338 * Unbreak the KBDMAP command (broken in 3.70).
339 * EXTLINUX: fix the handling of the ADV when using CBIOS.
340 * ifcpu64.c32: simple COM32 module to select a 32- or 64-bit
341 kernel (and optionally 32-bit kernels with or without PAE.)
342 Eventually we want a scripting language for this
343 kind of stuff; a Lua module is under development.
344 * Fix parsing of the SERIAL command without a baud rate
346 * chain.c32: error out when try to boot an unbootable
348 * SYSLINUX: when building the Win32 installer, search for
349 MinGW under a large number of possible names.
352 * PXELINUX: Support enhanced capabilities when running on top
353 of gPXE (http://www.etherboot.org/). In particular, support
354 URL-style syntax for filenames, and any protocol that gPXE
355 supports (except, currently, iSCSI and AoE.) This feature
356 is currently highly experimental.
357 * Substantial infrastructure changes to support files whose
358 length aren't known at open time (typically network
359 connections.) Please note that the semantics of some of the
360 comboot APIs have changed slightly; please see doc/comboot.txt.
361 * PXELINUX: We no longer require a TFTP server which supports
362 the tsize option for all transfers.
363 * PXELINUX: Integrate with the gPXE source base; unified image
364 now included as "gpxelinux.0".
365 * The source tree has been restructured; files that were
366 previously in the root have moved into the core, dos, gpxe,
367 and utils directories.
368 * "make install", "make netinstall", and "make extbootinstall"
369 have been updated massively. "make install-all" now installs
371 * Change default dir for auxiliary files from
372 /usr/lib/syslinux to /usr/share/syslinux.
373 * SYSLINUX: VFAT long filename support.
374 * MEMDISK: Any image less than 4096K (4 MB) is treated as a
375 floppy disk. The geometry-guessing code will recognize all
376 common extended formats, but it is still possible some very
377 exotic formats need geometry specification. Large floppies
378 and very small harddisks still need explicit specification.
379 * chain.c32: option "swap" to support swapping of BIOS drive
380 numbers. This is necessary to boot certain operating systems
381 (DOS, Windows) from a secondary drive.
382 * chain.c32: option "file=" to support loading a boot file from
383 the SYSLINUX filesystem instead of loading the boot sector
385 * chain.c32: option "seg=" to control the load location.
386 * chain.c32: option "ntldr=" as a shorthand for "seg=0x2000
387 file="; use this to load one of WinNT's loaders:
389 chain.c32 hd0 1 ntldr=/MiniNT/setupldr.bin
391 Note that the file needs to be in the SYSLINUX filesystem.
392 * chain.32: options "freedos=" and "msdos="/"pcdos=" as
393 shorthands for "seg=0x60 file=" and "seg=0x70 file="
394 respectively; use this to load FreeDOS's kernel.sys, MS-DOS's
395 io.sys or PC-DOS's ibmbio.sys.
396 * Change to the A20 algorithm which *MIGHT* help systems that
397 have systems which freeze when Syslinux is used with USB
398 keyboards. Note that this has been hard do verify, so I
399 would greatly appreciate feedback on it.
400 * Complex menu system: unbreak menus which has unnamed
401 submenus, like complex.c.
402 * Fix newline on the serial port for some com32 modules.
403 * chain.c32: support "boot" as the drive specification,
404 indicating the drive from which it was booted
405 (for syslinux/extlinux).
406 * SYSLINUX/EXTLINUX: support "localboot" with the same feature
408 * Add an experimental MBR for GPT partition tables.
409 * Use $(CC) when determining compile flags.
410 * chain.c32: fix booting from logical partitions (Sergey
414 * Fix errors in the PCI and DMI detection modules (Erwan Velu,
416 * Fix host dependencies and other issues in the build system.
417 * PXELINUX: Allow class E addresses as unicast.
418 * sdi.c32: module to load Microsoft System Deployment Images.
419 For additional information, please see:
420 http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms838543.aspx
421 * EXTLINUX: Correct reading directories with deleted entries.
422 * Shuffle library: correct the handling of certain geometries
423 (an upward move with source material blocking the move); as
424 required by sdi.c32 but theoretically possible for other
426 * Add "make netinstall" to install /tftpboot.
427 * Fix some documentation files that didn't get moved/renamed.
430 * Clean up garbage after "aborted." message.
431 * Clean up memdump.com filenames.
432 * Support SHA256 and SHA512 encrypted passwords.
433 * The shuffle library now can generate chained descriptors,
434 thus allowing pretty much arbitrarily complex memory maps.
435 * Handle command lines up to 2047 characters, the current
437 * vesamenu: support systems without linear framebuffer support
438 (sigh, what is this, 1993?) and 15-bit RGB modes.
439 * Move the label storage (for the command-line interface) to
440 high memory, removing the size limit and freeing up 64K of
442 * Get rid of 4096-entry limit in the simple menu system.
443 * New hierarchial submenu support: see MENU BEGIN, MENU END,
444 MENU GOTO in doc/menu.txt.
445 * MENU QUIT allows creating a menu entry for returning to the
447 * ISOLINUX: Work around bug in certain Adaptec BIOSes,
448 patch by Bruce Robson.
449 * pngtopnm dependency removed from samples/ directory.
450 * Text documentation files (in doc/) renamed *.doc -> *.txt.
453 * EXTLINUX: fix crash when accessing an empty file.
454 * elf.c32: If a PHDR segment is present, load it.
455 * Fix SHA-1 and MD5 passwords.
456 * ISOLINUX: fix booting when mastered without
457 mkisofs -boot-info-table (broken since 3.50, sigh...)
458 * Handle BIOSes which emit multiple contiguous valid
459 memory regions in the e820 map.
462 * Support for "auxilliary data vector", a small amount of
463 writable storage. Currently only supported for EXTLINUX,
464 but the infrastructure is there for the other derivatives,
465 assuming a suitable storage location can be found.
466 * EXTLINUX: boot-once support (--once, --clear-once, and
468 * A command is now required to the EXTLINUX installer, i.e. at
469 least one of --install, --update, --once, --clear-once, or
473 * PXELINUX: as per RFC 5071, PXELINUX no longer requires the
474 use of the magic cookie option (208) for unencapsulated
475 options. Currently it does not require it for
476 vendor-encapsulated options (vendor-option-space) either,
477 but that MAY be reverted in the future if it causes
479 * Documentation text files moved to a common "doc" directory;
480 man pages from the Debian project added to the "man"
482 * Correct bug with self-overlapping memory areas when using
483 the shuffle interface.
486 * Add "menu separator", "menu indent", "menu disabled"
488 * vesamenu: fix handing of VESA modes with noncontiguous
489 memory buffers. In particular, Qemu/KVM sets up such a mode
490 when Cirrus Logic emulation is enabled (which is the
492 * Support for calling real mode functions using far calls,
493 with argument on the stack. This was implemented to support
494 the BIOS BBS specification, but subsequent experiments show
495 that the at least one of the most common BIOS cores, Award,
496 passes the presence check but doesn't actually implement the
500 * Fix bugs related to the $PnP BIOS functionality on some
502 * PXELINUX: Fix the "naked" version of :: (suppress prefix.)
503 * elf.c32: better error messages.
504 * Faster operation under Intel VT virtualization.
505 * PXELINUX: Fix DHCP bootfile option.
506 * mkdiskimage: Support more than 1024 cylinders.
507 * (Hopefully) fix installer on non-x86 platforms.
508 * Fix shuffle_and_boot_rm, used by linux.c32.
509 * Fix shuffle_and_boot_pm on 386/486.
510 * ISOLINUX (at least): fix bss memory overwrite hang.
511 * MBR: Fix booting from logical partitions.
515 * Handle capitalized F-key commands in the menu system.
516 * Fix padding error when loading multiple ramdisks.
517 * Workaround for VMware crashing when trying to print a
518 message during early kernel boot (does not seem to work,
520 * chain.c32: add the ability to search for a specific MBR
521 signature at runtime.
522 * Fall back to the server identity option if the siaddr field
523 in the DHCP header isn't set. This seems to match the
524 behaviour of most PXE stacks.
525 * mkdiskimage: give the generated disk image an MBR signature.
526 * MEMDISK: Fix failures on some BIOSes.
527 * Simple menu system: new "MENU HIDDEN" option to not display
528 the menu unless the user presses a key.
529 * Simple menu system: support MD5-encrypted passwords (modern
530 Unix standard style, with "$1$" prefixes.)
531 * pcitest.c32: now functions as a full "lspci". Thanks to
532 Erwan Velu for this work.
533 * MEMDISK: Make EDD actually work.
534 * ISOLINUX: Fix for certain broken CD-ROM BIOSes which
535 randomly corrupted register FS.
536 * Simple menu system: fix memory overwrite bug that caused
537 some systems to lock up or behave weirdly.
538 * Fix building on 64-bit systems without a 32-bit libc installed.
541 * EXTLINUX: Fix failure to find the configuration file.
544 * New keywords allow the type of file to be specified in the
546 * It is now supported to load a different configuration file
547 with the CONFIG keyword.
548 * Fix API call 0x0019 (Read Disk.)
549 * MENU AUTOBOOT, MENU TABMSG, MENU PASSPROMPT allows
550 internationalization of menu messages.
551 * A new feature, TEXT HELP, allows the administrator to set
552 a multi-line help message for individual selections.
553 * Fix API call 0x0012 (Cleanup, shuffle and boot.)
554 * New API call "Cleanup, shuffle and boot to flat protected mode"
555 * New API call "Cleanup, shuffle and boot to real mode",
556 similar to API call 0x0012 but allows arbitrary register setting.
557 * Introduce a library interface for loading arbitrary binary
558 formats with relatively easily understood code. See
559 the elf.c32 module for an example on how to use it.
560 * New module "elf.c32", to load a protected-mode ELF kernel.
561 * MBR (old and new): Fix bug in CHS mode when LBA >
563 * vesamenu: fix decoding of palettized PNG images.
564 * Update the Linux kernel boot protocol.
565 * PXELINUX: Press Ctrl-N at the boot prompt to read out the
567 * Instead of the (non-existent) MAC, use the client identifier
568 for networks like Infiniband and Firewire/1394.
569 * Add a new INCLUDE command to the core syslinux parser.
570 * Allow binding help text to F11 and F12.
571 * F-key help now available in the simple menu system.
572 * Disabled the polling for ARP during idle. It is simply too
573 slow on some (broken!) PXE stacks.
574 * PXELINUX: also try to fetch the config file based on UUID.
575 * SYSLINUX/EXTLINUX: New RAID mode (-r) which calls the BIOS
576 to load the next device (typically the next drive) on boot
580 * MEMDISK: Disable EDD by default on floppy disks. EDD can be
581 enabled with the "edd" option and disabled with "noedd".
582 This (hopefully) should make Ghost work again.
583 * SYSLINUX: "unix" installer now uses Linux ioctls instead of
585 * New MBR which can boot from logical partitions.
586 * SYSLINUX: Fix bug in detecting special extensions which was
587 introduced in 3.35 :(
588 * PXELINUX: Unbreak chainbooting FreeBSD (and possibly others.)
591 * MEMDISK: New "safeint" mode.
592 * MEMDISK: Be more compliant with the PnP BIOS spec.
593 * MEMDISK: Turn on EDD support by default.
594 * MEMDISK: Try to work on some machines on which it would not
595 work when there was no floppy drive in the system.
596 * Simple menu system: fix serial console support (broken in
598 * SYSLINUX: Support subdirectories. Like ISOLINUX, the
599 "current directory" is the directory in which syslinux.cfg
600 is found; this is searched for in the sequence
601 /boot/syslinux, /syslinux, /. As a side benefit, label names
602 like "linux-2.6.18" and "linux-2.6.19" are now supported.
604 To install ldlinux.sys in a subdirectory, pass the -d
605 directory option to the SYSLINUX installer.
607 This work was sponsored by slax.org (thanks, Tomas!)
608 * New API call: read disk.
609 * Invoke ONERROR on initrd load failure.
612 * The simple menu system (menu.c32 and vesamenu.c32) now
613 support loading more than one configuration file at a time,
614 using MENU INCLUDE or by specifying multiple filenames.
615 * The MENU COLOR statement can now control the shadowing mode.
618 * libcom32 extended to support graphics mode and graphical console.
619 * vesamenu.c32, new graphical version of the Simple
620 Menu System, see README.menu.
621 * New com32 modules by Erwan Velu do selection based on CPUID
622 or PCI devices present.
623 * RPM spec: add syslinux-tftpboot module; move syslinux by
624 default to the /usr/share/syslinux directory.
625 * RPM spec: extlinux is now a separate package.
628 * EXTLINUX: New options --install (-i) and --update (-U), to
629 make it clear if a boot loader should be installed or
630 updated. For now, defaults to --install for compatibility;
631 a future version will require one of these options.
632 * New library functions to load and place files in memory.
633 * mboot.c32 bug fixes.
634 * Remove 8 MB kernel size restriction.
635 * Add "klibc" target for building unix/syslinux and
636 extlinux/extlinux with klcc (klibc-1.4.27 or later.)
637 * PXELINUX: Fail (and eventually reboot) if no configuration
639 * COM32 module by Erwan Velu to make decisions based on DMI
641 * Fix issue where going back and forth between menus a lot
643 * ISOLINUX: Fix bug which made "cd boot sectors" not work.
646 * MEMDISK: Fix bug by which accessing the real floppy disk
647 as B: in MS-DOS was broken.
648 * Simple menu system: allow tweaking of the screen layout.
649 * Simple menu system: better command-line editing, correctly
650 handle command lines above 256 characters.
651 * PXELINUX: revert memory allocation change that caused
652 problems on some network cards.
653 * MEMDISK: Try work around a bug on some BIOSes when no
654 physical floppy disk is present in the system.
655 * Enable the 16550A FIFOs, if present, when doing serial
657 * New "totaltimeout" command establishes a timeout without
658 regard for any user input.
659 * Simple menu system: timeout behaviour now more in line with
661 * Simple menu system: "ontimeout" should now work correctly.
664 * gcc 4.0.1 compilation fixes.
665 * Add support for querying the PCI BIOS in libcom32
666 (used by ethersel et al.)
667 * Fix PCI handing (ethersel etc) on several old chipsets (and
669 * Try to deal with systems with broken EBIOS.
670 * New API call to do "localboot".
671 * New API call to query features.
672 * New API call to run kernel image, a lower-level call than
673 "run command". See comboot.doc.
674 * Fix for bug in EBIOS code discovered by Arwin Vosselman.
675 * NOESCAPE security fix.
676 * Comments are now recognized even without a space following #.
677 * Fix incorrect handling of mixes of entries with and without
679 * The idle API call now harmlessly returns failure if it is a
680 no-op. That way the caller can decide whether or not to
681 bother invoking it again.
682 * Temporarily disable the idle API call on PXELINUX, due to
683 some platforms on which the idle API call seems to hang; this
684 problem has not yet been debugged.
685 * MEMDISK: the handling of DOSEMU-headered images was broken;
687 * EXTLINUX: symlinks are now supported.
688 * Simple menu system: N and P now work correctly as hotkeys.
689 * MEMDISK: more BIOS bug workarounds.
692 * gcc4 compilation fix.
693 * <BEL> (Ctrl-G) in message files now causes a beep.
694 * Reduce the command line to 511 characters; 1023 caused
698 * SYSLINUX: Fix performance regression (-s mode always
700 * Add API function for idle loop.
701 * libutil: Add do_idle() function for idle loop, make
703 * libutil: Add SHA-1 and base64 functions.
704 * Simple menu system: add password support.
705 * EXTLINUX: Sparse files now handled correctly.
706 * EXTLINUX: Large directories now handled correctly.
707 * ALL: At the prompt, Ctrl-X now forces text mode.
708 * Fix configuration file parsing error, that could cause
710 * Rewritten advanced menuing system from Murali Ganapathy.
711 * MEMDISK: New "bigraw" mode to work around certain broken
713 * COM32 module to boot Multiboot systems, including Xen. See
714 com32/modules/mboot.doc.
715 * Max command line changed to 1023 characters. Note that the
716 kernel proper still can only handle 255 characters without
717 patching, and COM16 binaries can only handle 125 characters.
720 * Fix chainloading (chain.c32).
721 * Fix zlib build problem.
722 * Use a private copy of <linux/ext2_fs.h>.
725 * Fix typo that caused the ramdisk to load in the wrong place.
728 * New API function "shuffle and boot"; allows COM32 modules to
729 load or construct (almost) arbitrarily complex objects,
730 e.g. a kernel and its initrd/initramfs in pieces, and have
731 the API core reorganize memory for booting. (A library API
732 for this function will be introduced in a later version.)
733 * The initrd= option now supports multiple filenames separated
734 by commas. This is mostly useful for initramfs, which can
735 be composed of multiple separate cpio or cpio.gz archives.
736 (Note: all files except the last one are zero-padded to a 4K
737 page boundary. This should not affect initramfs.)
738 * EXTLINUX: Fix API function 000Ah (get derivative-specific
740 * libcom32/ethersel: Support PCI Config Mechanism #2 on
741 machines still infested with that hideous old hack.
742 * SYSLINUX: Fix directory-parsing bug.
745 * SYSLINUX: The "unix" installer now sets the MS-DOS
746 attributes (hidden, system, readonly.)
747 * COM32 library: build the .lnx (test modules for running
748 under Linux) as architecture native modules, in case
749 i386 devel libraries aren't installed.
750 * EXTLINUX: Hack for systems which don't have BLKGETSIZE64
751 defined in the standard header files.
752 * Simple menu system: minor aestetic improvements, and try to
753 work better over a serial console (speed, and readability on
754 monochrome terminal emulators.)
755 * New CONSOLE directive to control output on the video console
756 (useful for dealing with some broken serial-forwarding
758 * New com32 module "ethersel" for searching for an Ethernet
759 card and selecting the proper version of Etherboot.
760 * EXTLINUX: Allow the user to override the detected geometry.
764 * EXTLINUX, SYSLINUX: Fix compile errors on some systems.
765 * EXTLINUX: Default to zipdrive geometry (64 heads, 32
766 sectors) if no other geometry can be detected.
769 * SYSLINUX: Support FAT32 and EDD. As an unfortunate
770 consequence, LDLINUX.SYS is no longer an ordinary file; it
771 is block-mapped at install time, which means it can only be
772 written using the syslinux installers.
773 * SYSLINUX: Reorganize the source code for the installers;
774 each one of the installers (dos, win32, unix, mtools) is now
775 built in its own subdirectory. In particular, "mtools" is
776 the unprivileged installer which uses mtools; "unix" is the
777 privileged installer which uses system calls.
778 * SYSLINUX: Completely rewritten DOS installer in C.
779 * ALL: "label" statement information is now stored in a
780 compressed format, which means that a lot more labels are
781 permitted (500-1000 in a typical configuration, but depends
783 * EXTLINUX: New derivative, which boots from an ext2/ext3
785 * SYSLINUX: The DOS and Win32 installers can now optionally
786 write the boot sector to a file instead of the real boot
787 sector. This is not supported in the Linux installers,
789 * ALL: New NOESCAPE command, disables the "hold down the Shift
790 key to display the prompt" behaviour.
791 * New simple menu system, as an alternative to the advanced
792 menu system already present. See README.menu for details.
793 * PXELINUX: Filenames can now be prefixed with an IP address
794 or DNS name plus :: (e.g. 192.0.2.1::filename or
795 server.domain.com::filename), which downloads a file from an
796 alternate TFTP server, or just a :: (e.g. ::filename), which
797 suppresses the common pathname prefix. See pxelinux.doc.
798 * SYSLINUX: Add an -m option to the DOS and Win32 installers
799 to write an MBR and -a to mark the partition SYSLINUX is
800 being installed on active.
801 * MEMDISK: Give a way to query the boot loader type while
802 running MEMDISK; see memdisk/memdisk.doc and
804 * mkdiskimage: substantially improved mkdiskimage which, among
805 other things, can now be used to initialize USB keys as
806 zipdrives; see README.usbkey for more information.
809 * MEMDISK: Fix command-line parsing "brown paper bag" class
811 * MEMDISK: Add "raw" mode to support the DOS boot disk from
812 WinME/XP, which seems to deliberately crash the system
813 when someone uses the "INT 15h mover" highmem API.
814 * Make "make install" do something sane for the com32
815 development environment.
816 * In the spec file, create a separate -devel RPM for the com32
817 development environment.
820 * Simple C library, based on klibc, for writing COM32
822 * Fix the handling of file length in loading of COM32
824 * MEMDISK: Work around a linker bug by rearranging the code to
825 not use the linker for the 16-bit code.
826 * SYSLINUX: If we're building on a machine without a Win32
827 (mingw) compiler, just skip building syslinux.exe.
828 * ISOLINUX: Support non-mkisofs mastering programs, at least
829 as long as the image is single-session. For best results,
830 ISOLINUX should be the only boot loader installed.
831 * MEMDISK: Allow the user to specify that the simulated disk
832 should be write-protected.
835 * ALL: Add an API call to get the configuration file name.
836 * SYSLINUX: Fix bug in 2.10 that prevented it from working
837 correctly for a lot of people.
838 * SYSLINUX: In the installer, make mtools a bit less fussy.
839 * Make the menu system compile with newer gcc's.
842 * MEMDISK: Handle images compressed with zip as well as with
843 gzip. Some Windows-based image tools apparently generate
844 these kinds of images by default. Patch by Patrick
846 * Major menu improvement from Murali Ganapathy.
847 * ISOLINUX: Wonderfully sick and brilliant workaround for
848 severe bugs in certain Award BIOSes; from Knut Petersen.
849 * SYSLINUX: Fix for the nomtools installed, from Frederic
851 * PXELINUX: Fix handling of IP numbers in the ranges
853 * ALL: New option "allowoptions" (defaults to 1), which
854 controls if options are allowed on the command line or not.
855 * SYSLINUX: Support building under klibc (see the klibc
856 distribution for details.)
859 * SYSLINUX: Remove residual setuid crap from
861 * Handle video pages correctly when using the API functions.
862 * Handle compiling on an x86-64 platform correctly.
863 * Menu system from Murali Krishnan Ganapathy; see the menu
864 directory for information.
865 * COMBOOT: Allow COMBOOT programs to change screen text mode.
866 * COMBOOT: Correct the documentation of how to detect
867 SYSLINUX from COMBOOT!!!!
868 * COMBOOT: Fix "get key without echo" API function.
869 * SYSLINUX: Fix bug that affected the API open function.
870 * ALL: Improve the E820 memory parser, to work around some
874 * Add new configuration command "ontimeout" to allow timeout
875 to have a different action than just pressing Enter.
876 * Add new configuration command "onerror" to allow a custom
877 command to be executed in case the kernel image is not found.
878 * Fix bugs in the COMBOOT/COM32 command-line parsing. APPEND
879 now works with COMBOOT/COM32 images.
880 * PXELINUX: Poll for ARP requests while sitting at the
881 prompt. This makes some boot servers a lot less unhappy.
882 * PXELINUX: Actually free sockets when we get a failure
883 (including file not found.) This bug would cause us to run
884 out of sockets and thus "go deaf" after a while.
885 * MEMDISK: Add an API to query for the existence of MEMDISK.
886 * SYSLINUX: Fix loading boot sectors (.bs/.bss) from floppy
888 * .c32 is now one of the extensions searched for
890 * PXELINUX: RFBG.exe seems to randomly overwrite memory
891 location 0x5700. Thus, don't use it!
892 * PXELINUX: Change pathname length max from 63 to 127; change
893 max vkernels from 128 to 64.
894 * Support Ctrl-U -> kill entire command line input.
895 * The "samples" directory contains a (barely at all tested)
896 chain loading example, chain.c32, which may be used to
897 chainload local floppy disks and hard disks. Use with
898 "chain fdN" or "chain hdN [partition]"; N = 0 for the first
902 * MEMDISK: Workaround for BIOSes which go into a snit when
903 they get a RESET command for the floppy system when there is
904 no floppy in the system.
905 * PXELINUX: Add "ipappend 2", which passes the hardware
906 address of the boot interface to the kernel as a
908 * mkdiskimage: fix the generation of the end limit.
909 * PXELINUX: Fix multiple bugs in chainloading of other NBPs.
910 * MEMDISK: Fix bug that would occationally cause "ran out of
911 input data" when using compressed disk images.
912 * SYSLINUX: Updates for the win32 installer (from Lars Munch.)
913 * PXELINUX: PXELINUX-specific options are now recognized both
914 in a vendor-option-space (a.k.a. type 43 encapsulated) as
915 well as in a site-option-space (unencapsulated.)
916 * COM32: Don't crash when DS != 0.
917 * COMBOOT/COM32: Make file reading work correctly. Thanks to
918 Phung Chi Kien for submitting a test program.
921 * ALL: Fix problem that would occationally cause a
922 boot failure, depending on the length of the kernel.
923 * ISOLINUX: Fix problem that would occationally cause a
924 boot failure, depending on the length of directories.
925 * SYSLINUX: Win32 installer now flushes buffers.
926 * ppmtolss16: Be fully compliant with the PNM spec;
927 actually process comments in the header and odd
928 alignments of the various parameters, as well as
929 "plain" (not raw) files and PBM and PGM files.
930 * PXELINUX: Lower the default MTU to 1472 in order to deal
931 with systems with slightly nonstandard MTUs, and PXE
932 stacks which don't defragment correctly. Unfortunately this
933 is very hard to test dynamically.
936 * PXELINUX: Add a default query based on the hardware address
937 of the boot device. This is in lower case hexadecimal form
938 separated by dashes and including the hardware type, for
939 example, the Ethernet (type 1) address 88:99:AA:BB:CC:DD
940 would query the file pxelinux.cfg/01-88-99-aa-bb-cc-dd.
941 * PXELINUX: Fix bug involving non-IP-based config file names.
942 * SYSLINUX: New installer for WinNT-based systems, from Lars
944 * MEMDISK: Fix handling of memory region overlap when
945 decompressing. Thanks to Mikhail Kupchik for identifying
949 * ALL: Reclaim even more low memory by observing that
950 comboot_seg == real_mode_seg is perfectly fine, and by the
951 fact that the 1000h segment managed to get unused in all
953 * PXELINUX: Attempt to negotiate full Ethernet-sized blocks
954 (1468 bytes) using the blksize option.
955 * SYSLINUX: Resurrect the old no-mtools version of the
956 installer, although as a root-only tool. Some distributors
957 have indicated that they need a small standalone installer.
958 * MEMDISK: Fix a memory offset computation error when
959 installing compressed disks which generally would cause
960 1 MB of memory to be wasted.
961 * MEMDISK: Fix installing the E820 memory map. Calling
962 INT 15h AX=0E820h with MEMDISK 2.03 loaded would give a
963 completely corrupt memory map.
964 * SYSLINUX: Make libsyslinux a dynamic library, so that it can
965 be updated separately from client programs. The whole idea,
966 after all, is to enable alternate programs to become
968 * Include an rpm spec file in the distribution, so rpmbuild
972 * Actually support comment lines in the configuration file.
973 * PXELINUX: Try to resolve some problems with stack switches.
974 * PXELINUX: Handle PXE stacks with broken routing.
975 With these workarounds, the remote install PXE boot floppy
976 (rbfg.exe) from Argon Technologies should work correctly.
977 * Fix problems with Perl scripts in UTF-8 locales.
978 * You probably need NASM 0.98.34 or later to compile this
979 version. 0.98.36 is recommended.
980 * MEMDISK: Now supports gzip compressed images.
983 * SYSLINUX: Security flaws have been found in the SYSLINUX
984 installer when running setuid root. Rewrite the SYSLINUX
985 installer so it uses mtools instead. It therefore now
986 requires mtools (specifically mcopy and mattrib) to exist on
987 your system, but it will not require root privileges and
988 SHOULD NOT be setuid.
991 * MEMDISK: Fix memory sizing bug when the ramdisk crosses the
993 * MEMDISK: Add a "pause" option to stop immediately before
994 booting, to read off the messages.
995 * MEMDISK: Support disk images with DOSEMU headers.
996 * Update the mkdiskimage script to handle newer mtools
997 versions, and be able to generate disk images with DOSEMU
998 headers (controlled by the -d option).
999 * Fix the COM32 sample program.
1000 * PXELINUX, ISOLINUX: Fix some COMBOOT API calls.
1001 * PXELINUX: Doc fix.
1002 * Build SYSLINUX into a small library for encapsulation into
1003 other programs (however, please keep in mind this is a GPL'd
1005 * SYSLINUX: Make installer work with "owner" in /etc/fstab.
1006 * SYSLINUX: Fix issue with working on nonpartitioned hard disk
1007 devices. THIS CONFIGURATION IS NOT RECOMMENDED.
1010 * ALL: Add support for "COM32" (32-bit COMBOOT) images.
1011 * ALL: Add an API for COMBOOT/COM32 images. See comboot.doc
1012 for details. There is a C development environment for
1013 COM32 being created; it should be ready at some point in
1015 * Fix mbr.asm so that it actually works.
1016 * SYSLINUX: The syslinux installer *SHOULD* now be safe to
1018 * PXELINUX: Fix bug where PXELINUX would override random
1019 chunks of the UNDI code segment! Thanks to Kevin Tran for
1021 * ISOLINUX: Fix a bug related to slashes in pathnames.
1022 * ISOLINUX: Fix a bug in handling initrds over 128 MB.
1023 * ALL: Make the <Ctrl-V> key print out the version; this is
1025 * Add a small script, mkdiskimage, to create a DOS-formatted
1026 hard disk image using mtools. This may be useful in
1027 conjunction with MEMDISK.
1028 * ISOLINUX: Search for a /boot/isolinux directory as well as
1030 * ALL: Fix a bug related to very long configuration files.
1031 * PXELINUX: Work around a NASM bug which would result in no
1032 delay before reset if an error occurs.
1035 * ISOLINUX: Remove code no longer used which caused hangs on
1036 some Toshiba laptops.
1039 * ALL: NASM 0.98.32 or later is now required to build
1040 SYSLINUX from sources.
1041 * SYSLINUX: put back in the workaround for the BIOS floppy
1042 table. This seems to be a requirement for "extended" floppy
1043 formats to work correctly.
1044 * SYSLINUX: No longer warn if one is trying to boot on a 286
1045 or older. The above BIOS workaround no longer fits if the
1046 requirement to use only 8086-compatible code in the early
1047 boot is maintained. It made sense in 1994, but in 2002 a
1048 286 or older is a museum object.
1049 * SYSLINUX: Use a downright bizarre, stateful algorithm to try
1050 to guess the maximum transfer size. I am *hoping* this will
1051 cut down on the number of systems for which -s is required
1052 to work at any acceptable speed.
1053 * ISOLINUX: Add a few more workarounds for various broken El
1055 * Make sure .depend files aren't accidentally packed...
1056 * ALL: Fix bugs in the extension-detect code; this caused
1057 files like COMBOOT images and CD boot sectors to be
1058 mis-identified as Linux kernels and rejected.
1059 * ALL: Fix the return from COMBOOT.
1060 * ALL: Do some of the early groundwork for supporting DOS
1061 system calls in COMBOOT.
1062 * Get rid of unnecessary "near" directives, making the code
1064 * PXELINUX: Put the PXE stack back in the init state before
1065 invoking a chain-loaded NBP.
1066 * PXELINUX: Actually found the combination of calls that
1067 allows some (most?) PXE 2+ stacks to be unloaded from memory
1069 * PXELINUX: Add "keeppxe" command-line option to disable
1070 the standard unloading of the PXE stack.
1073 * SYSLINUX: fix bug that would cause valid kernel images to be
1077 * Work on removing gratuitous differences between modules.
1078 * Break up the source in common and module-specific files.
1079 * PXELINUX: Allow chaining of other PXE NBPs.
1080 * ISOLINUX: Allow loading "CD-ROM boot sectors".
1081 * ALL: generalize the definition of a boot sector/NBP.
1084 * PXELINUX, ISOLINUX: Fix bugs in the new core code.
1087 * Fix a "brown paper bag" class bug in the new core code.
1090 * Major code restructuring.
1091 * Relax the conventional memory limits somewhat.
1092 * MEMDISK: Set up the "version number string" pointer in the
1094 * SYSLINUX: Fix, again, "the bug that won't die": the use of
1095 the offset parameter with the SYSLINUX installer.
1096 * SYSLINUX: Fix possible superblock corruption problem in the
1100 * Handle bug in the location of initrd.
1103 * MEMDISK: Make compile with newer versions of gcc.
1106 * ISOLINUX: Support booting disk image files (to boot DOS or
1107 other non-Linux operating systems), *IF* the BIOS works
1108 correctly; unfortunately many BIOSes apparently don't.
1109 * Support Linux boot protocol version 2.03 (explicitly
1110 specify the initrd address limit.)
1111 * Handle small "pseudo-kernels"; images that use the Linux
1112 kernel boot protocols but are less than 64K in size.
1113 * MEMDISK: New subsystem; this is a driver which allows
1114 legacy OSes to boot using an in-memory simulated disk.
1115 See memdisk/memdisk.doc for more info.
1116 * PXELINUX, ISOLINUX: Correctly handle files larger than 65535
1117 blocks (32 MB for PXELINUX, 128 MB for ISOLINUX.)
1118 * PXELINUX: Make a best-effort attempt at freeing all memory
1119 claimed. From the looks of it, it will fail on most PXE
1123 * Limited support for hardware flow control when using a
1124 serial port console.
1125 * Support specifying the serial port I/O address explicitly.
1126 * Make DOS installer hopefully behave more nicely when used on
1127 recent Windows versions.
1128 * Fix returning to text mode when a font has been specified.
1129 * Attempt to detect missing serial port hardware and disable
1130 the serial port if there is nothing there.
1133 * Make the ppmtolss16 program handle color conversion more
1135 * Clean up "make install" target, honour INSTALLROOT if it
1137 * SYSLINUX: Fix stack-smash bug identified by Steffen
1139 * Hopefully fix return-to-text-mode on some graphics cards.
1140 * ISOLINUX: Bug workaround for Award BIOS 4.51, and perhaps
1141 other buggy BIOSes as well.
1144 * PXELINUX: Allow the DHCP server to override the
1145 configuration file name and pathname prefix, using
1146 "site-specific" DHCP options.
1147 * PXELINUX: Documentation fixes.
1148 * PXELINUX: Fix the "ipappend" option; the last two values
1149 were reversed vs. what the kernel expected.
1150 * Introduce a way to return to text mode once we are already
1151 in graphics mode. This may be useful for F-key help
1153 * Fix several bugs in the way return to text mode was handled.
1156 * ISOLINUX: Support full pathname searches. Max length for a
1157 pathname is 255 characters. As a result, only 64 "label"
1158 statements are supported in ISOLINUX.
1159 * PXELINUX: Max filename length extended to 63 characters.
1162 * Add support for graphical splash screens.
1163 * Add mode control characters, which allows you to control
1164 message display output depending on output mode (text,
1165 graphics, or serial port.)
1166 * ISOLINUX: New program, which boots Linux from a CD-ROM
1167 without using floppy emulation mode. See isolinux.doc for
1169 * PXELINUX: Don't search for boot sector file types, since
1170 they don't work anyway.
1171 * SYSLINUX: Document the LOCK command for Win9x, and the error
1172 dialog box for WinNT/2K.
1175 * PXELINUX: Fix code for finding !PXE from PXENV+. This was
1176 due to a spec bug; match the most recent spec since that
1177 seems to be what implementations actually do.
1178 * SYSLINUX: Add some smarts to the boot sector, which
1179 hopefully should reduce the number of systems which require
1180 stupid mode ("syslinux -s").
1181 * PXELINUX: Document further some of the pathologies with old
1183 * When specifying a "default" command line, no longer
1184 automatically appent "auto". See the "DEFAULT" command in
1185 syslinux.doc for more information.
1186 * PXELINUX: Clean up the allocation of local socket numbers.
1189 * PXELINUX: Rename pxelinux.bin to pxelinux.0, to match what
1190 most PXE servers seem to expect.
1191 * PXELINUX: Update the DHCP/boot server setup documentation.
1192 * PXELINUX: Support new "localboot" option for "label"
1194 * PXELINUX: More robust parsing of DHCP/boot server packets.
1195 * PXELINUX: Include a small utility program "gethostip" to
1196 compute hexadecimal IP addresses.
1199 * PXELINUX: Fix bugs introduced by new A20 code. (SYSLINUX
1200 has also been changed for code consistency reasons, but I'm
1201 pretty sure the changes are don't care on SYSLINUX.)
1202 * Documentation updates.
1203 * PXELINUX: Add "ipappend" option to generate an ip= option to
1207 * PXELINUX: Not all PXE stacks fill in the IP address for a
1208 type 3 cached info query. Use a type 2 cached info query
1209 for this information (only.)
1210 * Yet another attempt at A20 coding. Now support BIOS call
1211 15:2401 as well, and handle machines which always have A20
1213 * Support memory detection using INT 15h, AX=0E820h. BIOS
1214 manufacturers have apparently gotten sloppy about keeping
1215 INT 15h, AX=0E801h working properly.
1216 * Don't issue <CR><LF> onto the serial port when we're doing
1220 * Yet another A20-code update. It seems some "legacy-free"
1221 machines and embedded gear simply don't have a KBC to talk
1222 to, and that waiting for one will wait forever. Sigh.
1225 * SYSLINUX: Implement a hack for BIOS drivers which hog significant
1226 chunks of low memory during boot. (Note: PXELINUX already
1227 had this modification. SYSLINUX does still require that the
1228 low 512K is available; PXELINUX requires 384K. Machines
1229 with a physical memory hole in the low 640K cannot boot
1230 Linux no matter what.) Depending what the reason is for the
1231 memory hole, a new kernel (2.4.0-test3-pre3 or later) may be
1233 * SYSLINUX: Default installer binary now compiled against
1234 glibc 2.1. If this is inappropriate for your system and you
1235 still want to use the offical version of SYSLINUX, please
1236 follow the instructions in "distrib.doc" to rebuild the
1238 * SYSLINUX: Linux installer program now supports -o <offset>
1239 option which does a loopback mount with the
1240 -o loop,offset=<> option. Useful to run SYSLINUX on an
1241 individual partition of a whole-harddisk image.
1242 * Include the source code to a Master Boot Record (MBR)
1243 functionally equivalent to the one installed DOS except it
1244 includes EBIOS support, and should be resistant to geometry
1245 changes. The MBR code is public domain.
1246 * PXELINUX: Fix "double p" bug: if the tftp prefix was null,
1247 all filenames would get a "p" preprended, e.g.
1248 "ppxelinux.cfg" and "pvmlinux".
1251 * PXELINUX: Workaround for PXE ROMs based on the Intel PXE PDK
1252 3.0 build 071 and earlier: missing !PXE structure pointer.
1253 * PXELINUX: Handle larger BOOTP/DHCP packages.
1254 * PXELINUX: The command line passing was broken; fix.
1255 * PXELINUX: Make COMBOOT images work.
1256 * PXELINUX: Documentation on how to make booting work using
1257 the PDK 3.0-derived clients, which aren't so generous as to
1258 allow booting with only "PXEClient" specified.
1261 * PXELINUX: RFC 1123 states that a TFTP implementation MUST
1262 use adaptive timeout, "at least an exponential backoff of
1263 retransmission timeout is necessary." Implement a very
1264 simple exponential backoff for retransmits.
1265 * PXELINUX: Updated documentation, including pointer to new
1267 * PXELINUX: When sending ERROR due to bad OACK, use the proper
1268 destination port number (why are TFTP port numbers so odd?)
1269 * PXELINUX: If the boot dies in the middle somewhere,
1270 eventually give up and reset the machine (unattended
1274 * New program PXELINUX to do network booting using a
1275 PXE-compliant (Pre-Execution Environment) network booting
1276 PROM. See pxelinux.doc for details.
1279 * Serial console support. See syslinux.doc for details.
1282 * Change HIGHMEM_MAX to 38000000h to (hopefully) avoid the
1283 kernel stepping on it; 3f000000h was apparently a higher
1284 limit than the kernel used!
1287 * Add sys2ansi.pl script to display the contents of a
1288 colorized SYSLINUX file.
1289 * Changed the io_delay once again, after a report that the
1290 old delay port causes hangs on some systems.
1293 * Frob the "fast A20 gate" port as well as the keyboard
1294 controller; will this help systems with problems?
1295 * Be even more paranoid about A20, unfortunately even this
1296 seems to be not paranoid enough... what I don't understand
1297 is that if there is hardware out there *this broken*, how
1298 can it run Linux at all? Report an error message rather
1299 than hang forever if A20 is stuck.
1300 * Include some intermediate files in the distribution, plus
1301 provide a "make installer" target for distributors to relink
1302 the install programs only. I would prefer the syslinux boot
1303 loader proper to be "binary clean" for debuggablity -- use
1304 "make clean ; make installer" to rebuild the installers only.
1307 * Don't get confused by directories, volume labels, or VFAT
1309 * Use INT 15h, AX=0E801h to query memory size before trying
1310 INT 15h, AH=88h. This not only provides more headroom
1311 between the kernel and the initrd on large-memory machines,
1312 but it appears some recent BIOSes actually have started
1313 returning garbage for the AH=88h (older) call.
1314 * Trust high memory beyond the 15 MB mark if the user has
1315 specified it, or if obtained with INT 15h, AH=0E801h (with
1316 no memory holes above 1 MB.)
1319 * Increase A20M delay and put in a test to avoid problems on
1320 certain IBM Thinkpads (thanks to Donnie Barnes of RedHat
1321 for vital info on this one.)
1322 * Support COMBOOT style boot command images.
1323 * Support chain loading (foreign operating systems, e.g. DOS).
1324 * Include a new "copybs" DOS utility to copy a boot sector to
1325 a file (under Linux, use "dd".)
1326 * Fix the DOS installer to work for disks over 32 MB.
1327 * SYSLINUX should now handle disks with more than 65536 tracks.
1330 * Fix a bug that caused "label" statements in syslinux.cfg to
1331 not be handled properly.
1332 * Updated the documentation. Among other things, we now allow
1333 up to 128 "label" statements.
1336 * Fix for booting old (pre-initrd) kernels.
1337 * It seems at least some versions of OS/2 doesn't set up all
1338 the fields in the superblock correctly. Account for that.
1339 * Fix bug that caused boot failure when using the mem= option.
1342 * Loading from partitions now should work properly. (Actually
1343 tested, this time. You should even be able to dd a floppy
1344 to a partition and boot from it.)
1345 * Removed large workaround code for an alleged ancient BIOS
1346 bug I have never actually seen. The -s option should work
1347 on those machines, anyway.
1348 * Support for simple keyboard remappings, same as used by
1349 LILO (once again to support localization.) The program
1350 keytab-lilo.pl from the LILO distribution included to
1352 * Added a "safe, slow and stupid" (-s) option to the
1353 installers. This option will lobotomize the boot sector to
1354 hopefully work on even very buggy BIOSes.
1357 * Ability to load a VGA font on bootup (for localized Linux
1361 * Bug fix in the Linux installer.
1362 * Added a workaround for a bug in certain AMI/Intel BIOSes
1363 when booting from CD-ROM.
1364 * Documentation changes.
1367 * FAT16 filesystems are now supported.
1370 * Now compiles under Linux, using NASM, rather than using
1371 Turbo Assembler under DOS. See http://www.cryogen.com/Nasm
1372 for information about NASM.
1373 * Linux-hosted SYSLINUX installer, as well as a
1374 rewritten DOS installer (now is written in assembler, so we
1375 don't need Turbo C.)
1378 * Added support for loading bzImage and initrd loading, and made
1379 SYSLINUX new-setup-code aware (SYSLINUX 1.30 id=0x31).
1380 * Added LILO-style kernel labels; see the LABEL and IMPLICIT
1381 keywords in README file.
1382 * Added support for colorization of intro and help screens.
1383 * The vga= option is now handled correctly.
1384 * Massive rewrite of large chunks of the code in order to
1385 support the first two new features.
1388 * Added simple online help at the "boot:" prompt.
1389 * Removed 2880K image as I no longer have access to such a
1390 floppy drive. (Donations accepted!!)
1391 * Decided to distribute the source in a subdirectory rather
1392 than in a nested zipfile.
1395 * Removed a sanity check which would cause booting to fail on
1396 Phoenix BIOS version 4.03. Apparently this BIOS is buggy.
1399 * Added configuration file SYSLINUX.CFG. This file contains all
1400 configurable options, and can be edited from any OS which can
1401 access an MS-DOS filesystem; there is no longer a need to run
1402 SYSLINUX.EXE except to write the boot sector.
1403 * Default command line now given by "default" line in config
1405 * LINUXMSG.TXT and BOOTMSG.TXT hard-coded file names replaced by
1406 "display" and "prompt" lines in config file.
1407 * LILO-style option appending now supported ("append" line in
1409 * Prompt timeout is now supported ("timeout" line in config
1410 file). The timeout is cancelled when anything is typed on the
1412 * Pressing <ESC> or <Ctrl-C> at the Loading... stage now aborts
1413 the kernel loading in progress and returns the user to the
1415 * The installer now automatically sets the READONLY flag on
1417 * Added 2880K disk image.
1420 * Fixed bug that would prevent booting from double-density
1421 floppies and other DOS filesystems with multiple sectors per
1423 * Added 720K disk image.
1424 * Changed default kernel name on disk images to LINUX.
1427 * Fixed bug that would garble the command line on recent kernels
1428 with more than 4 sectors of setup code (this wasn't really a
1429 *bug*; rather, a kernel change broke the code. Unfortunately
1430 the Linux boot interface is still sorely undocumented).
1431 * Added BOOTMSG.TXT file support (message file which does not
1432 force display of the boot prompt).
1435 * Fixed bug on some (most?) 386 BIOSes would require two boot