1 Starting with 1.47, changes marked with SYSLINUX/PXELINUX/ISOLINUX
2 apply to that specific program only; other changes apply to all of
6 * Clean up garbage after "aborted." message.
7 * Clean up memdump.com filenames.
8 * Support SHA256 and SHA512 encrypted passwords.
9 * The shuffle library now can generate chained descriptors,
10 thus allowing pretty much arbitrarily complex memory maps.
11 * Handle command lines up to 2047 characters, the current
13 * vesamenu: support systems without linear framebuffer support
14 (sigh, what is this, 1993?) and 15-bit RGB modes.
17 * EXTLINUX: fix crash when accessing an empty file.
18 * elf.c32: If a PHDR segment is present, load it.
19 * Fix SHA-1 and MD5 passwords.
20 * ISOLINUX: fix booting when mastered without
21 mkisofs -boot-info-table (broken since 3.50, sigh...)
22 * Handle BIOSes which emit multiple contiguous valid
23 memory regions in the e820 map.
26 * Support for "auxilliary data vector", a small amount of
27 writable storage. Currently only supported for EXTLINUX,
28 but the infrastructure is there for the other derivatives,
29 assuming a suitable storage location can be found.
30 * EXTLINUX: boot-once support (--once, --clear-once, and
32 * A command is now required to the EXTLINUX installer, i.e. at
33 least one of --install, --update, --once, --clear-once, or
37 * PXELINUX: as per RFC 5071, PXELINUX no longer requires the
38 use of the magic cookie option (208) for unencapsulated
39 options. Currently it does not require it for
40 vendor-encapsulated options (vendor-option-space) either,
41 but that MAY be reverted in the future if it causes
43 * Documentation text files moved to a common "doc" directory;
44 man pages from the Debian project added to the "man"
46 * Correct bug with self-overlapping memory areas when using
47 the shuffle interface.
50 * Add "menu separator", "menu indent", "menu disabled"
52 * vesamenu: fix handing of VESA modes with noncontiguous
53 memory buffers. In particular, Qemu/KVM sets up such a mode
54 when Cirrus Logic emulation is enabled (which is the
56 * Support for calling real mode functions using far calls,
57 with argument on the stack. This was implemented to support
58 the BIOS BBS specification, but subsequent experiments show
59 that the at least one of the most common BIOS cores, Award,
60 passes the presence check but doesn't actually implement the
64 * Fix bugs related to the $PnP BIOS functionality on some
66 * PXELINUX: Fix the "naked" version of :: (suppress prefix.)
67 * elf.c32: better error messages.
68 * Faster operation under Intel VT virtualization.
69 * PXELINUX: Fix DHCP bootfile option.
70 * mkdiskimage: Support more than 1024 cylinders.
71 * (Hopefully) fix installer on non-x86 platforms.
72 * Fix shuffle_and_boot_rm, used by linux.c32.
73 * Fix shuffle_and_boot_pm on 386/486.
74 * ISOLINUX (at least): fix bss memory overwrite hang.
75 * MBR: Fix booting from logical partitions.
79 * Handle capitalized F-key commands in the menu system.
80 * Fix padding error when loading multiple ramdisks.
81 * Workaround for VMware crashing when trying to print a
82 message during early kernel boot (does not seem to work,
84 * chain.c32: add the ability to search for a specific MBR
86 * Fall back to the server identity option if the siaddr field
87 in the DHCP header isn't set. This seems to match the
88 behaviour of most PXE stacks.
89 * mkdiskimage: give the generated disk image an MBR signature.
90 * MEMDISK: Fix failures on some BIOSes.
91 * Simple menu system: new "MENU HIDDEN" option to not display
92 the menu unless the user presses a key.
93 * Simple menu system: support MD5-encrypted passwords (modern
94 Unix standard style, with "$1$" prefixes.)
95 * pcitest.c32: now functions as a full "lspci". Thanks to
96 Erwan Velu for this work.
97 * MEMDISK: Make EDD actually work.
98 * ISOLINUX: Fix for certain broken CD-ROM BIOSes which
99 randomly corrupted register FS.
100 * Simple menu system: fix memory overwrite bug that caused
101 some systems to lock up or behave weirdly.
102 * Fix building on 64-bit systems without a 32-bit libc installed.
105 * EXTLINUX: Fix failure to find the configuration file.
108 * New keywords allow the type of file to be specified in the
110 * It is now supported to load a different configuration file
111 with the CONFIG keyword.
112 * Fix API call 0x0019 (Read Disk.)
113 * MENU AUTOBOOT, MENU TABMSG, MENU PASSPROMPT allows
114 internationalization of menu messages.
115 * A new feature, TEXT HELP, allows the administrator to set
116 a multi-line help message for individual selections.
117 * Fix API call 0x0012 (Cleanup, shuffle and boot.)
118 * New API call "Cleanup, shuffle and boot to flat protected mode"
119 * New API call "Cleanup, shuffle and boot to real mode",
120 similar to API call 0x0012 but allows arbitrary register setting.
121 * Introduce a library interface for loading arbitrary binary
122 formats with relatively easily understood code. See
123 the elf.c32 module for an example on how to use it.
124 * New module "elf.c32", to load a protected-mode ELF kernel.
125 * MBR (old and new): Fix bug in CHS mode when LBA >
127 * vesamenu: fix decoding of palettized PNG images.
128 * Update the Linux kernel boot protocol.
129 * PXELINUX: Press Ctrl-N at the boot prompt to read out the
131 * Instead of the (non-existent) MAC, use the client identifier
132 for networks like Infiniband and Firewire/1394.
133 * Add a new INCLUDE command to the core syslinux parser.
134 * Allow binding help text to F11 and F12.
135 * F-key help now available in the simple menu system.
136 * Disabled the polling for ARP during idle. It is simply too
137 slow on some (broken!) PXE stacks.
138 * PXELINUX: also try to fetch the config file based on UUID.
139 * SYSLINUX/EXTLINUX: New RAID mode (-r) which calls the BIOS
140 to load the next device (typically the next drive) on boot
144 * MEMDISK: Disable EDD by default on floppy disks. EDD can be
145 enabled with the "edd" option and disabled with "noedd".
146 This (hopefully) should make Ghost work again.
147 * SYSLINUX: "unix" installer now uses Linux ioctls instead of
149 * New MBR which can boot from logical partitions.
150 * SYSLINUX: Fix bug in detecting special extensions which was
151 introduced in 3.35 :(
152 * PXELINUX: Unbreak chainbooting FreeBSD (and possibly others.)
155 * MEMDISK: New "safeint" mode.
156 * MEMDISK: Be more compliant with the PnP BIOS spec.
157 * MEMDISK: Turn on EDD support by default.
158 * MEMDISK: Try to work on some machines on which it would not
159 work when there was no floppy drive in the system.
160 * Simple menu system: fix serial console support (broken in
162 * SYSLINUX: Support subdirectories. Like ISOLINUX, the
163 "current directory" is the directory in which syslinux.cfg
164 is found; this is searched for in the sequence
165 /boot/syslinux, /syslinux, /. As a side benefit, label names
166 like "linux-2.6.18" and "linux-2.6.19" are now supported.
168 To install ldlinux.sys in a subdirectory, pass the -d
169 directory option to the SYSLINUX installer.
171 This work was sponsored by slax.org (thanks, Tomas!)
172 * New API call: read disk.
173 * Invoke ONERROR on initrd load failure.
176 * The simple menu system (menu.c32 and vesamenu.c32) now
177 support loading more than one configuration file at a time,
178 using MENU INCLUDE or by specifying multiple filenames.
179 * The MENU COLOR statement can now control the shadowing mode.
182 * libcom32 extended to support graphics mode and graphical console.
183 * vesamenu.c32, new graphical version of the Simple
184 Menu System, see README.menu.
185 * New com32 modules by Erwan Velu do selection based on CPUID
186 or PCI devices present.
187 * RPM spec: add syslinux-tftpboot module; move syslinux by
188 default to the /usr/share/syslinux directory.
189 * RPM spec: extlinux is now a separate package.
192 * EXTLINUX: New options --install (-i) and --update (-U), to
193 make it clear if a boot loader should be installed or
194 updated. For now, defaults to --install for compatibility;
195 a future version will require one of these options.
196 * New library functions to load and place files in memory.
197 * mboot.c32 bug fixes.
198 * Remove 8 MB kernel size restriction.
199 * Add "klibc" target for building unix/syslinux and
200 extlinux/extlinux with klcc (klibc-1.4.27 or later.)
201 * PXELINUX: Fail (and eventually reboot) if no configuration
203 * COM32 module by Erwan Velu to make decisions based on DMI
205 * Fix issue where going back and forth between menus a lot
207 * ISOLINUX: Fix bug which made "cd boot sectors" not work.
210 * MEMDISK: Fix bug by which accessing the real floppy disk
211 as B: in MS-DOS was broken.
212 * Simple menu system: allow tweaking of the screen layout.
213 * Simple menu system: better command-line editing, correctly
214 handle command lines above 256 characters.
215 * PXELINUX: revert memory allocation change that caused
216 problems on some network cards.
217 * MEMDISK: Try work around a bug on some BIOSes when no
218 physical floppy disk is present in the system.
219 * Enable the 16550A FIFOs, if present, when doing serial
221 * New "totaltimeout" command establishes a timeout without
222 regard for any user input.
223 * Simple menu system: timeout behaviour now more in line with
225 * Simple menu system: "ontimeout" should now work correctly.
228 * gcc 4.0.1 compilation fixes.
229 * Add support for querying the PCI BIOS in libcom32
230 (used by ethersel et al.)
231 * Fix PCI handing (ethersel etc) on several old chipsets (and
233 * Try to deal with systems with broken EBIOS.
234 * New API call to do "localboot".
235 * New API call to query features.
236 * New API call to run kernel image, a lower-level call than
237 "run command". See comboot.doc.
238 * Fix for bug in EBIOS code discovered by Arwin Vosselman.
239 * NOESCAPE security fix.
240 * Comments are now recognized even without a space following #.
241 * Fix incorrect handling of mixes of entries with and without
243 * The idle API call now harmlessly returns failure if it is a
244 no-op. That way the caller can decide whether or not to
245 bother invoking it again.
246 * Temporarily disable the idle API call on PXELINUX, due to
247 some platforms on which the idle API call seems to hang; this
248 problem has not yet been debugged.
249 * MEMDISK: the handling of DOSEMU-headered images was broken;
251 * EXTLINUX: symlinks are now supported.
252 * Simple menu system: N and P now work correctly as hotkeys.
253 * MEMDISK: more BIOS bug workarounds.
256 * gcc4 compilation fix.
257 * <BEL> (Ctrl-G) in message files now causes a beep.
258 * Reduce the command line to 511 characters; 1023 caused
262 * SYSLINUX: Fix performance regression (-s mode always
264 * Add API function for idle loop.
265 * libutil: Add do_idle() function for idle loop, make
267 * libutil: Add SHA-1 and base64 functions.
268 * Simple menu system: add password support.
269 * EXTLINUX: Sparse files now handled correctly.
270 * EXTLINUX: Large directories now handled correctly.
271 * ALL: At the prompt, Ctrl-X now forces text mode.
272 * Fix configuration file parsing error, that could cause
274 * Rewritten advanced menuing system from Murali Ganapathy.
275 * MEMDISK: New "bigraw" mode to work around certain broken
277 * COM32 module to boot Multiboot systems, including Xen. See
278 com32/modules/mboot.doc.
279 * Max command line changed to 1023 characters. Note that the
280 kernel proper still can only handle 255 characters without
281 patching, and COM16 binaries can only handle 125 characters.
284 * Fix chainloading (chain.c32).
285 * Fix zlib build problem.
286 * Use a private copy of <linux/ext2_fs.h>.
289 * Fix typo that caused the ramdisk to load in the wrong place.
292 * New API function "shuffle and boot"; allows COM32 modules to
293 load or construct (almost) arbitrarily complex objects,
294 e.g. a kernel and its initrd/initramfs in pieces, and have
295 the API core reorganize memory for booting. (A library API
296 for this function will be introduced in a later version.)
297 * The initrd= option now supports multiple filenames separated
298 by commas. This is mostly useful for initramfs, which can
299 be composed of multiple separate cpio or cpio.gz archives.
300 (Note: all files except the last one are zero-padded to a 4K
301 page boundary. This should not affect initramfs.)
302 * EXTLINUX: Fix API function 000Ah (get derivative-specific
304 * libcom32/ethersel: Support PCI Config Mechanism #2 on
305 machines still infested with that hideous old hack.
306 * SYSLINUX: Fix directory-parsing bug.
309 * SYSLINUX: The "unix" installer now sets the MS-DOS
310 attributes (hidden, system, readonly.)
311 * COM32 library: build the .lnx (test modules for running
312 under Linux) as architecture native modules, in case
313 i386 devel libraries aren't installed.
314 * EXTLINUX: Hack for systems which don't have BLKGETSIZE64
315 defined in the standard header files.
316 * Simple menu system: minor aestetic improvements, and try to
317 work better over a serial console (speed, and readability on
318 monochrome terminal emulators.)
319 * New CONSOLE directive to control output on the video console
320 (useful for dealing with some broken serial-forwarding
322 * New com32 module "ethersel" for searching for an Ethernet
323 card and selecting the proper version of Etherboot.
324 * EXTLINUX: Allow the user to override the detected geometry.
328 * EXTLINUX, SYSLINUX: Fix compile errors on some systems.
329 * EXTLINUX: Default to zipdrive geometry (64 heads, 32
330 sectors) if no other geometry can be detected.
333 * SYSLINUX: Support FAT32 and EDD. As an unfortunate
334 consequence, LDLINUX.SYS is no longer an ordinary file; it
335 is block-mapped at install time, which means it can only be
336 written using the syslinux installers.
337 * SYSLINUX: Reorganize the source code for the installers;
338 each one of the installers (dos, win32, unix, mtools) is now
339 built in its own subdirectory. In particular, "mtools" is
340 the unprivileged installer which uses mtools; "unix" is the
341 privileged installer which uses system calls.
342 * SYSLINUX: Completely rewritten DOS installer in C.
343 * ALL: "label" statement information is now stored in a
344 compressed format, which means that a lot more labels are
345 permitted (500-1000 in a typical configuration, but depends
347 * EXTLINUX: New derivative, which boots from an ext2/ext3
349 * SYSLINUX: The DOS and Win32 installers can now optionally
350 write the boot sector to a file instead of the real boot
351 sector. This is not supported in the Linux installers,
353 * ALL: New NOESCAPE command, disables the "hold down the Shift
354 key to display the prompt" behaviour.
355 * New simple menu system, as an alternative to the advanced
356 menu system already present. See README.menu for details.
357 * PXELINUX: Filenames can now be prefixed with an IP address
358 or DNS name plus :: (e.g. 192.0.2.1::filename or
359 server.domain.com::filename), which downloads a file from an
360 alternate TFTP server, or just a :: (e.g. ::filename), which
361 suppresses the common pathname prefix. See pxelinux.doc.
362 * SYSLINUX: Add an -m option to the DOS and Win32 installers
363 to write an MBR and -a to mark the partition SYSLINUX is
364 being installed on active.
365 * MEMDISK: Give a way to query the boot loader type while
366 running MEMDISK; see memdisk/memdisk.doc and
368 * mkdiskimage: substantially improved mkdiskimage which, among
369 other things, can now be used to initialize USB keys as
370 zipdrives; see README.usbkey for more information.
373 * MEMDISK: Fix command-line parsing "brown paper bag" class
375 * MEMDISK: Add "raw" mode to support the DOS boot disk from
376 WinME/XP, which seems to deliberately crash the system
377 when someone uses the "INT 15h mover" highmem API.
378 * Make "make install" do something sane for the com32
379 development environment.
380 * In the spec file, create a separate -devel RPM for the com32
381 development environment.
384 * Simple C library, based on klibc, for writing COM32
386 * Fix the handling of file length in loading of COM32
388 * MEMDISK: Work around a linker bug by rearranging the code to
389 not use the linker for the 16-bit code.
390 * SYSLINUX: If we're building on a machine without a Win32
391 (mingw) compiler, just skip building syslinux.exe.
392 * ISOLINUX: Support non-mkisofs mastering programs, at least
393 as long as the image is single-session. For best results,
394 ISOLINUX should be the only boot loader installed.
395 * MEMDISK: Allow the user to specify that the simulated disk
396 should be write-protected.
399 * ALL: Add an API call to get the configuration file name.
400 * SYSLINUX: Fix bug in 2.10 that prevented it from working
401 correctly for a lot of people.
402 * SYSLINUX: In the installer, make mtools a bit less fussy.
403 * Make the menu system compile with newer gcc's.
406 * MEMDISK: Handle images compressed with zip as well as with
407 gzip. Some Windows-based image tools apparently generate
408 these kinds of images by default. Patch by Patrick
410 * Major menu improvement from Murali Ganapathy.
411 * ISOLINUX: Wonderfully sick and brilliant workaround for
412 severe bugs in certain Award BIOSes; from Knut Petersen.
413 * SYSLINUX: Fix for the nomtools installed, from Frederic
415 * PXELINUX: Fix handling of IP numbers in the ranges
417 * ALL: New option "allowoptions" (defaults to 1), which
418 controls if options are allowed on the command line or not.
419 * SYSLINUX: Support building under klibc (see the klibc
420 distribution for details.)
423 * SYSLINUX: Remove residual setuid crap from
425 * Handle video pages correctly when using the API functions.
426 * Handle compiling on an x86-64 platform correctly.
427 * Menu system from Murali Krishnan Ganapathy; see the menu
428 directory for information.
429 * COMBOOT: Allow COMBOOT programs to change screen text mode.
430 * COMBOOT: Correct the documentation of how to detect
431 SYSLINUX from COMBOOT!!!!
432 * COMBOOT: Fix "get key without echo" API function.
433 * SYSLINUX: Fix bug that affected the API open function.
434 * ALL: Improve the E820 memory parser, to work around some
438 * Add new configuration command "ontimeout" to allow timeout
439 to have a different action than just pressing Enter.
440 * Add new configuration command "onerror" to allow a custom
441 command to be executed in case the kernel image is not found.
442 * Fix bugs in the COMBOOT/COM32 command-line parsing. APPEND
443 now works with COMBOOT/COM32 images.
444 * PXELINUX: Poll for ARP requests while sitting at the
445 prompt. This makes some boot servers a lot less unhappy.
446 * PXELINUX: Actually free sockets when we get a failure
447 (including file not found.) This bug would cause us to run
448 out of sockets and thus "go deaf" after a while.
449 * MEMDISK: Add an API to query for the existence of MEMDISK.
450 * SYSLINUX: Fix loading boot sectors (.bs/.bss) from floppy
452 * .c32 is now one of the extensions searched for
454 * PXELINUX: RFBG.exe seems to randomly overwrite memory
455 location 0x5700. Thus, don't use it!
456 * PXELINUX: Change pathname length max from 63 to 127; change
457 max vkernels from 128 to 64.
458 * Support Ctrl-U -> kill entire command line input.
459 * The "samples" directory contains a (barely at all tested)
460 chain loading example, chain.c32, which may be used to
461 chainload local floppy disks and hard disks. Use with
462 "chain fdN" or "chain hdN [partition]"; N = 0 for the first
466 * MEMDISK: Workaround for BIOSes which go into a snit when
467 they get a RESET command for the floppy system when there is
468 no floppy in the system.
469 * PXELINUX: Add "ipappend 2", which passes the hardware
470 address of the boot interface to the kernel as a
472 * mkdiskimage: fix the generation of the end limit.
473 * PXELINUX: Fix multiple bugs in chainloading of other NBPs.
474 * MEMDISK: Fix bug that would occationally cause "ran out of
475 input data" when using compressed disk images.
476 * SYSLINUX: Updates for the win32 installer (from Lars Munch.)
477 * PXELINUX: PXELINUX-specific options are now recognized both
478 in a vendor-option-space (a.k.a. type 43 encapsulated) as
479 well as in a site-option-space (unencapsulated.)
480 * COM32: Don't crash when DS != 0.
481 * COMBOOT/COM32: Make file reading work correctly. Thanks to
482 Phung Chi Kien for submitting a test program.
485 * ALL: Fix problem that would occationally cause a
486 boot failure, depending on the length of the kernel.
487 * ISOLINUX: Fix problem that would occationally cause a
488 boot failure, depending on the length of directories.
489 * SYSLINUX: Win32 installer now flushes buffers.
490 * ppmtolss16: Be fully compliant with the PNM spec;
491 actually process comments in the header and odd
492 alignments of the various parameters, as well as
493 "plain" (not raw) files and PBM and PGM files.
494 * PXELINUX: Lower the default MTU to 1472 in order to deal
495 with systems with slightly nonstandard MTUs, and PXE
496 stacks which don't defragment correctly. Unfortunately this
497 is very hard to test dynamically.
500 * PXELINUX: Add a default query based on the hardware address
501 of the boot device. This is in lower case hexadecimal form
502 separated by dashes and including the hardware type, for
503 example, the Ethernet (type 1) address 88:99:AA:BB:CC:DD
504 would query the file pxelinux.cfg/01-88-99-aa-bb-cc-dd.
505 * PXELINUX: Fix bug involving non-IP-based config file names.
506 * SYSLINUX: New installer for WinNT-based systems, from Lars
508 * MEMDISK: Fix handling of memory region overlap when
509 decompressing. Thanks to Mikhail Kupchik for identifying
513 * ALL: Reclaim even more low memory by observing that
514 comboot_seg == real_mode_seg is perfectly fine, and by the
515 fact that the 1000h segment managed to get unused in all
517 * PXELINUX: Attempt to negotiate full Ethernet-sized blocks
518 (1468 bytes) using the blksize option.
519 * SYSLINUX: Resurrect the old no-mtools version of the
520 installer, although as a root-only tool. Some distributors
521 have indicated that they need a small standalone installer.
522 * MEMDISK: Fix a memory offset computation error when
523 installing compressed disks which generally would cause
524 1 MB of memory to be wasted.
525 * MEMDISK: Fix installing the E820 memory map. Calling
526 INT 15h AX=0E820h with MEMDISK 2.03 loaded would give a
527 completely corrupt memory map.
528 * SYSLINUX: Make libsyslinux a dynamic library, so that it can
529 be updated separately from client programs. The whole idea,
530 after all, is to enable alternate programs to become
532 * Include an rpm spec file in the distribution, so rpmbuild
536 * Actually support comment lines in the configuration file.
537 * PXELINUX: Try to resolve some problems with stack switches.
538 * PXELINUX: Handle PXE stacks with broken routing.
539 With these workarounds, the remote install PXE boot floppy
540 (rbfg.exe) from Argon Technologies should work correctly.
541 * Fix problems with Perl scripts in UTF-8 locales.
542 * You probably need NASM 0.98.34 or later to compile this
543 version. 0.98.36 is recommended.
544 * MEMDISK: Now supports gzip compressed images.
547 * SYSLINUX: Security flaws have been found in the SYSLINUX
548 installer when running setuid root. Rewrite the SYSLINUX
549 installer so it uses mtools instead. It therefore now
550 requires mtools (specifically mcopy and mattrib) to exist on
551 your system, but it will not require root privileges and
552 SHOULD NOT be setuid.
555 * MEMDISK: Fix memory sizing bug when the ramdisk crosses the
557 * MEMDISK: Add a "pause" option to stop immediately before
558 booting, to read off the messages.
559 * MEMDISK: Support disk images with DOSEMU headers.
560 * Update the mkdiskimage script to handle newer mtools
561 versions, and be able to generate disk images with DOSEMU
562 headers (controlled by the -d option).
563 * Fix the COM32 sample program.
564 * PXELINUX, ISOLINUX: Fix some COMBOOT API calls.
566 * Build SYSLINUX into a small library for encapsulation into
567 other programs (however, please keep in mind this is a GPL'd
569 * SYSLINUX: Make installer work with "owner" in /etc/fstab.
570 * SYSLINUX: Fix issue with working on nonpartitioned hard disk
571 devices. THIS CONFIGURATION IS NOT RECOMMENDED.
574 * ALL: Add support for "COM32" (32-bit COMBOOT) images.
575 * ALL: Add an API for COMBOOT/COM32 images. See comboot.doc
576 for details. There is a C development environment for
577 COM32 being created; it should be ready at some point in
579 * Fix mbr.asm so that it actually works.
580 * SYSLINUX: The syslinux installer *SHOULD* now be safe to
582 * PXELINUX: Fix bug where PXELINUX would override random
583 chunks of the UNDI code segment! Thanks to Kevin Tran for
585 * ISOLINUX: Fix a bug related to slashes in pathnames.
586 * ISOLINUX: Fix a bug in handling initrds over 128 MB.
587 * ALL: Make the <Ctrl-V> key print out the version; this is
589 * Add a small script, mkdiskimage, to create a DOS-formatted
590 hard disk image using mtools. This may be useful in
591 conjunction with MEMDISK.
592 * ISOLINUX: Search for a /boot/isolinux directory as well as
594 * ALL: Fix a bug related to very long configuration files.
595 * PXELINUX: Work around a NASM bug which would result in no
596 delay before reset if an error occurs.
599 * ISOLINUX: Remove code no longer used which caused hangs on
600 some Toshiba laptops.
603 * ALL: NASM 0.98.32 or later is now required to build
604 SYSLINUX from sources.
605 * SYSLINUX: put back in the workaround for the BIOS floppy
606 table. This seems to be a requirement for "extended" floppy
607 formats to work correctly.
608 * SYSLINUX: No longer warn if one is trying to boot on a 286
609 or older. The above BIOS workaround no longer fits if the
610 requirement to use only 8086-compatible code in the early
611 boot is maintained. It made sense in 1994, but in 2002 a
612 286 or older is a museum object.
613 * SYSLINUX: Use a downright bizarre, stateful algorithm to try
614 to guess the maximum transfer size. I am *hoping* this will
615 cut down on the number of systems for which -s is required
616 to work at any acceptable speed.
617 * ISOLINUX: Add a few more workarounds for various broken El
619 * Make sure .depend files aren't accidentally packed...
620 * ALL: Fix bugs in the extension-detect code; this caused
621 files like COMBOOT images and CD boot sectors to be
622 mis-identified as Linux kernels and rejected.
623 * ALL: Fix the return from COMBOOT.
624 * ALL: Do some of the early groundwork for supporting DOS
625 system calls in COMBOOT.
626 * Get rid of unnecessary "near" directives, making the code
628 * PXELINUX: Put the PXE stack back in the init state before
629 invoking a chain-loaded NBP.
630 * PXELINUX: Actually found the combination of calls that
631 allows some (most?) PXE 2+ stacks to be unloaded from memory
633 * PXELINUX: Add "keeppxe" command-line option to disable
634 the standard unloading of the PXE stack.
637 * SYSLINUX: fix bug that would cause valid kernel images to be
641 * Work on removing gratuitous differences between modules.
642 * Break up the source in common and module-specific files.
643 * PXELINUX: Allow chaining of other PXE NBPs.
644 * ISOLINUX: Allow loading "CD-ROM boot sectors".
645 * ALL: generalize the definition of a boot sector/NBP.
648 * PXELINUX, ISOLINUX: Fix bugs in the new core code.
651 * Fix a "brown paper bag" class bug in the new core code.
654 * Major code restructuring.
655 * Relax the conventional memory limits somewhat.
656 * MEMDISK: Set up the "version number string" pointer in the
658 * SYSLINUX: Fix, again, "the bug that won't die": the use of
659 the offset parameter with the SYSLINUX installer.
660 * SYSLINUX: Fix possible superblock corruption problem in the
664 * Handle bug in the location of initrd.
667 * MEMDISK: Make compile with newer versions of gcc.
670 * ISOLINUX: Support booting disk image files (to boot DOS or
671 other non-Linux operating systems), *IF* the BIOS works
672 correctly; unfortunately many BIOSes apparently don't.
673 * Support Linux boot protocol version 2.03 (explicitly
674 specify the initrd address limit.)
675 * Handle small "pseudo-kernels"; images that use the Linux
676 kernel boot protocols but are less than 64K in size.
677 * MEMDISK: New subsystem; this is a driver which allows
678 legacy OSes to boot using an in-memory simulated disk.
679 See memdisk/memdisk.doc for more info.
680 * PXELINUX, ISOLINUX: Correctly handle files larger than 65535
681 blocks (32 MB for PXELINUX, 128 MB for ISOLINUX.)
682 * PXELINUX: Make a best-effort attempt at freeing all memory
683 claimed. From the looks of it, it will fail on most PXE
687 * Limited support for hardware flow control when using a
689 * Support specifying the serial port I/O address explicitly.
690 * Make DOS installer hopefully behave more nicely when used on
691 recent Windows versions.
692 * Fix returning to text mode when a font has been specified.
693 * Attempt to detect missing serial port hardware and disable
694 the serial port if there is nothing there.
697 * Make the ppmtolss16 program handle color conversion more
699 * Clean up "make install" target, honour INSTALLROOT if it
701 * SYSLINUX: Fix stack-smash bug identified by Steffen
703 * Hopefully fix return-to-text-mode on some graphics cards.
704 * ISOLINUX: Bug workaround for Award BIOS 4.51, and perhaps
705 other buggy BIOSes as well.
708 * PXELINUX: Allow the DHCP server to override the
709 configuration file name and pathname prefix, using
710 "site-specific" DHCP options.
711 * PXELINUX: Documentation fixes.
712 * PXELINUX: Fix the "ipappend" option; the last two values
713 were reversed vs. what the kernel expected.
714 * Introduce a way to return to text mode once we are already
715 in graphics mode. This may be useful for F-key help
717 * Fix several bugs in the way return to text mode was handled.
720 * ISOLINUX: Support full pathname searches. Max length for a
721 pathname is 255 characters. As a result, only 64 "label"
722 statements are supported in ISOLINUX.
723 * PXELINUX: Max filename length extended to 63 characters.
726 * Add support for graphical splash screens.
727 * Add mode control characters, which allows you to control
728 message display output depending on output mode (text,
729 graphics, or serial port.)
730 * ISOLINUX: New program, which boots Linux from a CD-ROM
731 without using floppy emulation mode. See isolinux.doc for
733 * PXELINUX: Don't search for boot sector file types, since
734 they don't work anyway.
735 * SYSLINUX: Document the LOCK command for Win9x, and the error
736 dialog box for WinNT/2K.
739 * PXELINUX: Fix code for finding !PXE from PXENV+. This was
740 due to a spec bug; match the most recent spec since that
741 seems to be what implementations actually do.
742 * SYSLINUX: Add some smarts to the boot sector, which
743 hopefully should reduce the number of systems which require
744 stupid mode ("syslinux -s").
745 * PXELINUX: Document further some of the pathologies with old
747 * When specifying a "default" command line, no longer
748 automatically appent "auto". See the "DEFAULT" command in
749 syslinux.doc for more information.
750 * PXELINUX: Clean up the allocation of local socket numbers.
753 * PXELINUX: Rename pxelinux.bin to pxelinux.0, to match what
754 most PXE servers seem to expect.
755 * PXELINUX: Update the DHCP/boot server setup documentation.
756 * PXELINUX: Support new "localboot" option for "label"
758 * PXELINUX: More robust parsing of DHCP/boot server packets.
759 * PXELINUX: Include a small utility program "gethostip" to
760 compute hexadecimal IP addresses.
763 * PXELINUX: Fix bugs introduced by new A20 code. (SYSLINUX
764 has also been changed for code consistency reasons, but I'm
765 pretty sure the changes are don't care on SYSLINUX.)
766 * Documentation updates.
767 * PXELINUX: Add "ipappend" option to generate an ip= option to
771 * PXELINUX: Not all PXE stacks fill in the IP address for a
772 type 3 cached info query. Use a type 2 cached info query
773 for this information (only.)
774 * Yet another attempt at A20 coding. Now support BIOS call
775 15:2401 as well, and handle machines which always have A20
777 * Support memory detection using INT 15h, AX=0E820h. BIOS
778 manufacturers have apparently gotten sloppy about keeping
779 INT 15h, AX=0E801h working properly.
780 * Don't issue <CR><LF> onto the serial port when we're doing
784 * Yet another A20-code update. It seems some "legacy-free"
785 machines and embedded gear simply don't have a KBC to talk
786 to, and that waiting for one will wait forever. Sigh.
789 * SYSLINUX: Implement a hack for BIOS drivers which hog significant
790 chunks of low memory during boot. (Note: PXELINUX already
791 had this modification. SYSLINUX does still require that the
792 low 512K is available; PXELINUX requires 384K. Machines
793 with a physical memory hole in the low 640K cannot boot
794 Linux no matter what.) Depending what the reason is for the
795 memory hole, a new kernel (2.4.0-test3-pre3 or later) may be
797 * SYSLINUX: Default installer binary now compiled against
798 glibc 2.1. If this is inappropriate for your system and you
799 still want to use the offical version of SYSLINUX, please
800 follow the instructions in "distrib.doc" to rebuild the
802 * SYSLINUX: Linux installer program now supports -o <offset>
803 option which does a loopback mount with the
804 -o loop,offset=<> option. Useful to run SYSLINUX on an
805 individual partition of a whole-harddisk image.
806 * Include the source code to a Master Boot Record (MBR)
807 functionally equivalent to the one installed DOS except it
808 includes EBIOS support, and should be resistant to geometry
809 changes. The MBR code is public domain.
810 * PXELINUX: Fix "double p" bug: if the tftp prefix was null,
811 all filenames would get a "p" preprended, e.g.
812 "ppxelinux.cfg" and "pvmlinux".
815 * PXELINUX: Workaround for PXE ROMs based on the Intel PXE PDK
816 3.0 build 071 and earlier: missing !PXE structure pointer.
817 * PXELINUX: Handle larger BOOTP/DHCP packages.
818 * PXELINUX: The command line passing was broken; fix.
819 * PXELINUX: Make COMBOOT images work.
820 * PXELINUX: Documentation on how to make booting work using
821 the PDK 3.0-derived clients, which aren't so generous as to
822 allow booting with only "PXEClient" specified.
825 * PXELINUX: RFC 1123 states that a TFTP implementation MUST
826 use adaptive timeout, "at least an exponential backoff of
827 retransmission timeout is necessary." Implement a very
828 simple exponential backoff for retransmits.
829 * PXELINUX: Updated documentation, including pointer to new
831 * PXELINUX: When sending ERROR due to bad OACK, use the proper
832 destination port number (why are TFTP port numbers so odd?)
833 * PXELINUX: If the boot dies in the middle somewhere,
834 eventually give up and reset the machine (unattended
838 * New program PXELINUX to do network booting using a
839 PXE-compliant (Pre-Execution Environment) network booting
840 PROM. See pxelinux.doc for details.
843 * Serial console support. See syslinux.doc for details.
846 * Change HIGHMEM_MAX to 38000000h to (hopefully) avoid the
847 kernel stepping on it; 3f000000h was apparently a higher
848 limit than the kernel used!
851 * Add sys2ansi.pl script to display the contents of a
852 colorized SYSLINUX file.
853 * Changed the io_delay once again, after a report that the
854 old delay port causes hangs on some systems.
857 * Frob the "fast A20 gate" port as well as the keyboard
858 controller; will this help systems with problems?
859 * Be even more paranoid about A20, unfortunately even this
860 seems to be not paranoid enough... what I don't understand
861 is that if there is hardware out there *this broken*, how
862 can it run Linux at all? Report an error message rather
863 than hang forever if A20 is stuck.
864 * Include some intermediate files in the distribution, plus
865 provide a "make installer" target for distributors to relink
866 the install programs only. I would prefer the syslinux boot
867 loader proper to be "binary clean" for debuggablity -- use
868 "make clean ; make installer" to rebuild the installers only.
871 * Don't get confused by directories, volume labels, or VFAT
873 * Use INT 15h, AX=0E801h to query memory size before trying
874 INT 15h, AH=88h. This not only provides more headroom
875 between the kernel and the initrd on large-memory machines,
876 but it appears some recent BIOSes actually have started
877 returning garbage for the AH=88h (older) call.
878 * Trust high memory beyond the 15 MB mark if the user has
879 specified it, or if obtained with INT 15h, AH=0E801h (with
880 no memory holes above 1 MB.)
883 * Increase A20M delay and put in a test to avoid problems on
884 certain IBM Thinkpads (thanks to Donnie Barnes of RedHat
885 for vital info on this one.)
886 * Support COMBOOT style boot command images.
887 * Support chain loading (foreign operating systems, e.g. DOS).
888 * Include a new "copybs" DOS utility to copy a boot sector to
889 a file (under Linux, use "dd".)
890 * Fix the DOS installer to work for disks over 32 MB.
891 * SYSLINUX should now handle disks with more than 65536 tracks.
894 * Fix a bug that caused "label" statements in syslinux.cfg to
895 not be handled properly.
896 * Updated the documentation. Among other things, we now allow
897 up to 128 "label" statements.
900 * Fix for booting old (pre-initrd) kernels.
901 * It seems at least some versions of OS/2 doesn't set up all
902 the fields in the superblock correctly. Account for that.
903 * Fix bug that caused boot failure when using the mem= option.
906 * Loading from partitions now should work properly. (Actually
907 tested, this time. You should even be able to dd a floppy
908 to a partition and boot from it.)
909 * Removed large workaround code for an alleged ancient BIOS
910 bug I have never actually seen. The -s option should work
911 on those machines, anyway.
912 * Support for simple keyboard remappings, same as used by
913 LILO (once again to support localization.) The program
914 keytab-lilo.pl from the LILO distribution included to
916 * Added a "safe, slow and stupid" (-s) option to the
917 installers. This option will lobotomize the boot sector to
918 hopefully work on even very buggy BIOSes.
921 * Ability to load a VGA font on bootup (for localized Linux
925 * Bug fix in the Linux installer.
926 * Added a workaround for a bug in certain AMI/Intel BIOSes
927 when booting from CD-ROM.
928 * Documentation changes.
931 * FAT16 filesystems are now supported.
934 * Now compiles under Linux, using NASM, rather than using
935 Turbo Assembler under DOS. See http://www.cryogen.com/Nasm
936 for information about NASM.
937 * Linux-hosted SYSLINUX installer, as well as a
938 rewritten DOS installer (now is written in assembler, so we
942 * Added support for loading bzImage and initrd loading, and made
943 SYSLINUX new-setup-code aware (SYSLINUX 1.30 id=0x31).
944 * Added LILO-style kernel labels; see the LABEL and IMPLICIT
945 keywords in README file.
946 * Added support for colorization of intro and help screens.
947 * The vga= option is now handled correctly.
948 * Massive rewrite of large chunks of the code in order to
949 support the first two new features.
952 * Added simple online help at the "boot:" prompt.
953 * Removed 2880K image as I no longer have access to such a
954 floppy drive. (Donations accepted!!)
955 * Decided to distribute the source in a subdirectory rather
956 than in a nested zipfile.
959 * Removed a sanity check which would cause booting to fail on
960 Phoenix BIOS version 4.03. Apparently this BIOS is buggy.
963 * Added configuration file SYSLINUX.CFG. This file contains all
964 configurable options, and can be edited from any OS which can
965 access an MS-DOS filesystem; there is no longer a need to run
966 SYSLINUX.EXE except to write the boot sector.
967 * Default command line now given by "default" line in config
969 * LINUXMSG.TXT and BOOTMSG.TXT hard-coded file names replaced by
970 "display" and "prompt" lines in config file.
971 * LILO-style option appending now supported ("append" line in
973 * Prompt timeout is now supported ("timeout" line in config
974 file). The timeout is cancelled when anything is typed on the
976 * Pressing <ESC> or <Ctrl-C> at the Loading... stage now aborts
977 the kernel loading in progress and returns the user to the
979 * The installer now automatically sets the READONLY flag on
981 * Added 2880K disk image.
984 * Fixed bug that would prevent booting from double-density
985 floppies and other DOS filesystems with multiple sectors per
987 * Added 720K disk image.
988 * Changed default kernel name on disk images to LINUX.
991 * Fixed bug that would garble the command line on recent kernels
992 with more than 4 sectors of setup code (this wasn't really a
993 *bug*; rather, a kernel change broke the code. Unfortunately
994 the Linux boot interface is still sorely undocumented).
995 * Added BOOTMSG.TXT file support (message file which does not
996 force display of the boot prompt).
999 * Fixed bug on some (most?) 386 BIOSes would require two boot