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 * Handle capitalized F-key commands in the menu system.
7 * Fix padding error when loading multiple ramdisks.
8 * Workaround for VMware crashing when trying to print a
9 message during early kernel boot (does not seem to work,
11 * chain.c32: add the ability to search for a specific MBR
13 * Fall back to the server identity option if the siaddr field
14 in the DHCP header isn't set. This seems to match the
15 behaviour of most PXE stacks.
16 * mkdiskimage: give the generated disk image an MBR signature.
17 * MEMDISK: Fix failures on some BIOSes.
18 * Simple menu system: new "MENU HIDDEN" option to not display
19 the menu unless the user presses a key.
20 * Simple menu system: support MD5-encrypted passwords (modern
21 Unix standard style, with "$1$" prefixes.)
24 * EXTLINUX: Fix failure to find the configuration file.
27 * New keywords allow the type of file to be specified in the
29 * It is now supported to load a different configuration file
30 with the CONFIG keyword.
31 * Fix API call 0x0019 (Read Disk.)
32 * MENU AUTOBOOT, MENU TABMSG, MENU PASSPROMPT allows
33 internationalization of menu messages.
34 * A new feature, TEXT HELP, allows the administrator to set
35 a multi-line help message for individual selections.
36 * Fix API call 0x0012 (Cleanup, shuffle and boot.)
37 * New API call "Cleanup, shuffle and boot to flat protected mode"
38 * New API call "Cleanup, shuffle and boot to real mode",
39 similar to API call 0x0012 but allows arbitrary register setting.
40 * Introduce a library interface for loading arbitrary binary
41 formats with relatively easily understood code. See
42 the elf.c32 module for an example on how to use it.
43 * New module "elf.c32", to load a protected-mode ELF kernel.
44 * MBR (old and new): Fix bug in CHS mode when LBA >
46 * vesamenu: fix decoding of palettized PNG images.
47 * Update the Linux kernel boot protocol.
48 * PXELINUX: Press Ctrl-N at the boot prompt to read out the
50 * Instead of the (non-existent) MAC, use the client identifier
51 for networks like Infiniband and Firewire/1394.
52 * Add a new INCLUDE command to the core syslinux parser.
53 * Allow binding help text to F11 and F12.
54 * F-key help now available in the simple menu system.
55 * Disabled the polling for ARP during idle. It is simply too
56 slow on some (broken!) PXE stacks.
57 * PXELINUX: also try to fetch the config file based on UUID.
58 * SYSLINUX/EXTLINUX: New RAID mode (-r) which calls the BIOS
59 to load the next device (typically the next drive) on boot
63 * MEMDISK: Disable EDD by default on floppy disks. EDD can be
64 enabled with the "edd" option and disabled with "noedd".
65 This (hopefully) should make Ghost work again.
66 * SYSLINUX: "unix" installer now uses Linux ioctls instead of
68 * New MBR which can boot from logical partitions.
69 * SYSLINUX: Fix bug in detecting special extensions which was
71 * PXELINUX: Unbreak chainbooting FreeBSD (and possibly others.)
74 * MEMDISK: New "safeint" mode.
75 * MEMDISK: Be more compliant with the PnP BIOS spec.
76 * MEMDISK: Turn on EDD support by default.
77 * MEMDISK: Try to work on some machines on which it would not
78 work when there was no floppy drive in the system.
79 * Simple menu system: fix serial console support (broken in
81 * SYSLINUX: Support subdirectories. Like ISOLINUX, the
82 "current directory" is the directory in which syslinux.cfg
83 is found; this is searched for in the sequence
84 /boot/syslinux, /syslinux, /. As a side benefit, label names
85 like "linux-2.6.18" and "linux-2.6.19" are now supported.
87 To install ldlinux.sys in a subdirectory, pass the -d
88 directory option to the SYSLINUX installer.
90 This work was sponsored by slax.org (thanks, Tomas!)
91 * New API call: read disk.
92 * Invoke ONERROR on initrd load failure.
95 * The simple menu system (menu.c32 and vesamenu.c32) now
96 support loading more than one configuration file at a time,
97 using MENU INCLUDE or by specifying multiple filenames.
98 * The MENU COLOR statement can now control the shadowing mode.
101 * libcom32 extended to support graphics mode and graphical console.
102 * vesamenu.c32, new graphical version of the Simple
103 Menu System, see README.menu.
104 * New com32 modules by Erwan Velu do selection based on CPUID
105 or PCI devices present.
106 * RPM spec: add syslinux-tftpboot module; move syslinux by
107 default to the /usr/share/syslinux directory.
108 * RPM spec: extlinux is now a separate package.
111 * EXTLINUX: New options --install (-i) and --update (-U), to
112 make it clear if a boot loader should be installed or
113 updated. For now, defaults to --install for compatibility;
114 a future version will require one of these options.
115 * New library functions to load and place files in memory.
116 * mboot.c32 bug fixes.
117 * Remove 8 MB kernel size restriction.
118 * Add "klibc" target for building unix/syslinux and
119 extlinux/extlinux with klcc (klibc-1.4.27 or later.)
120 * PXELINUX: Fail (and eventually reboot) if no configuration
122 * COM32 module by Erwan Velu to make decisions based on DMI
124 * Fix issue where going back and forth between menus a lot
126 * ISOLINUX: Fix bug which made "cd boot sectors" not work.
129 * MEMDISK: Fix bug by which accessing the real floppy disk
130 as B: in MS-DOS was broken.
131 * Simple menu system: allow tweaking of the screen layout.
132 * Simple menu system: better command-line editing, correctly
133 handle command lines above 256 characters.
134 * PXELINUX: revert memory allocation change that caused
135 problems on some network cards.
136 * MEMDISK: Try work around a bug on some BIOSes when no
137 physical floppy disk is present in the system.
138 * Enable the 16550A FIFOs, if present, when doing serial
140 * New "totaltimeout" command establishes a timeout without
141 regard for any user input.
142 * Simple menu system: timeout behaviour now more in line with
144 * Simple menu system: "ontimeout" should now work correctly.
147 * gcc 4.0.1 compilation fixes.
148 * Add support for querying the PCI BIOS in libcom32
149 (used by ethersel et al.)
150 * Fix PCI handing (ethersel etc) on several old chipsets (and
152 * Try to deal with systems with broken EBIOS.
153 * New API call to do "localboot".
154 * New API call to query features.
155 * New API call to run kernel image, a lower-level call than
156 "run command". See comboot.doc.
157 * Fix for bug in EBIOS code discovered by Arwin Vosselman.
158 * NOESCAPE security fix.
159 * Comments are now recognized even without a space following #.
160 * Fix incorrect handling of mixes of entries with and without
162 * The idle API call now harmlessly returns failure if it is a
163 no-op. That way the caller can decide whether or not to
164 bother invoking it again.
165 * Temporarily disable the idle API call on PXELINUX, due to
166 some platforms on which the idle API call seems to hang; this
167 problem has not yet been debugged.
168 * MEMDISK: the handling of DOSEMU-headered images was broken;
170 * EXTLINUX: symlinks are now supported.
171 * Simple menu system: N and P now work correctly as hotkeys.
172 * MEMDISK: more BIOS bug workarounds.
175 * gcc4 compilation fix.
176 * <BEL> (Ctrl-G) in message files now causes a beep.
177 * Reduce the command line to 511 characters; 1023 caused
181 * SYSLINUX: Fix performance regression (-s mode always
183 * Add API function for idle loop.
184 * libutil: Add do_idle() function for idle loop, make
186 * libutil: Add SHA-1 and base64 functions.
187 * Simple menu system: add password support.
188 * EXTLINUX: Sparse files now handled correctly.
189 * EXTLINUX: Large directories now handled correctly.
190 * ALL: At the prompt, Ctrl-X now forces text mode.
191 * Fix configuration file parsing error, that could cause
193 * Rewritten advanced menuing system from Murali Ganapathy.
194 * MEMDISK: New "bigraw" mode to work around certain broken
196 * COM32 module to boot Multiboot systems, including Xen. See
197 com32/modules/mboot.doc.
198 * Max command line changed to 1023 characters. Note that the
199 kernel proper still can only handle 255 characters without
200 patching, and COM16 binaries can only handle 125 characters.
203 * Fix chainloading (chain.c32).
204 * Fix zlib build problem.
205 * Use a private copy of <linux/ext2_fs.h>.
208 * Fix typo that caused the ramdisk to load in the wrong place.
211 * New API function "shuffle and boot"; allows COM32 modules to
212 load or construct (almost) arbitrarily complex objects,
213 e.g. a kernel and its initrd/initramfs in pieces, and have
214 the API core reorganize memory for booting. (A library API
215 for this function will be introduced in a later version.)
216 * The initrd= option now supports multiple filenames separated
217 by commas. This is mostly useful for initramfs, which can
218 be composed of multiple separate cpio or cpio.gz archives.
219 (Note: all files except the last one are zero-padded to a 4K
220 page boundary. This should not affect initramfs.)
221 * EXTLINUX: Fix API function 000Ah (get derivative-specific
223 * libcom32/ethersel: Support PCI Config Mechanism #2 on
224 machines still infested with that hideous old hack.
225 * SYSLINUX: Fix directory-parsing bug.
228 * SYSLINUX: The "unix" installer now sets the MS-DOS
229 attributes (hidden, system, readonly.)
230 * COM32 library: build the .lnx (test modules for running
231 under Linux) as architecture native modules, in case
232 i386 devel libraries aren't installed.
233 * EXTLINUX: Hack for systems which don't have BLKGETSIZE64
234 defined in the standard header files.
235 * Simple menu system: minor aestetic improvements, and try to
236 work better over a serial console (speed, and readability on
237 monochrome terminal emulators.)
238 * New CONSOLE directive to control output on the video console
239 (useful for dealing with some broken serial-forwarding
241 * New com32 module "ethersel" for searching for an Ethernet
242 card and selecting the proper version of Etherboot.
243 * EXTLINUX: Allow the user to override the detected geometry.
247 * EXTLINUX, SYSLINUX: Fix compile errors on some systems.
248 * EXTLINUX: Default to zipdrive geometry (64 heads, 32
249 sectors) if no other geometry can be detected.
252 * SYSLINUX: Support FAT32 and EDD. As an unfortunate
253 consequence, LDLINUX.SYS is no longer an ordinary file; it
254 is block-mapped at install time, which means it can only be
255 written using the syslinux installers.
256 * SYSLINUX: Reorganize the source code for the installers;
257 each one of the installers (dos, win32, unix, mtools) is now
258 built in its own subdirectory. In particular, "mtools" is
259 the unprivileged installer which uses mtools; "unix" is the
260 privileged installer which uses system calls.
261 * SYSLINUX: Completely rewritten DOS installer in C.
262 * ALL: "label" statement information is now stored in a
263 compressed format, which means that a lot more labels are
264 permitted (500-1000 in a typical configuration, but depends
266 * EXTLINUX: New derivative, which boots from an ext2/ext3
268 * SYSLINUX: The DOS and Win32 installers can now optionally
269 write the boot sector to a file instead of the real boot
270 sector. This is not supported in the Linux installers,
272 * ALL: New NOESCAPE command, disables the "hold down the Shift
273 key to display the prompt" behaviour.
274 * New simple menu system, as an alternative to the advanced
275 menu system already present. See README.menu for details.
276 * PXELINUX: Filenames can now be prefixed with an IP address
277 or DNS name plus :: (e.g. 192.0.2.1::filename or
278 server.domain.com::filename), which downloads a file from an
279 alternate TFTP server, or just a :: (e.g. ::filename), which
280 suppresses the common pathname prefix. See pxelinux.doc.
281 * SYSLINUX: Add an -m option to the DOS and Win32 installers
282 to write an MBR and -a to mark the partition SYSLINUX is
283 being installed on active.
284 * MEMDISK: Give a way to query the boot loader type while
285 running MEMDISK; see memdisk/memdisk.doc and
287 * mkdiskimage: substantially improved mkdiskimage which, among
288 other things, can now be used to initialize USB keys as
289 zipdrives; see README.usbkey for more information.
292 * MEMDISK: Fix command-line parsing "brown paper bag" class
294 * MEMDISK: Add "raw" mode to support the DOS boot disk from
295 WinME/XP, which seems to deliberately crash the system
296 when someone uses the "INT 15h mover" highmem API.
297 * Make "make install" do something sane for the com32
298 development environment.
299 * In the spec file, create a separate -devel RPM for the com32
300 development environment.
303 * Simple C library, based on klibc, for writing COM32
305 * Fix the handling of file length in loading of COM32
307 * MEMDISK: Work around a linker bug by rearranging the code to
308 not use the linker for the 16-bit code.
309 * SYSLINUX: If we're building on a machine without a Win32
310 (mingw) compiler, just skip building syslinux.exe.
311 * ISOLINUX: Support non-mkisofs mastering programs, at least
312 as long as the image is single-session. For best results,
313 ISOLINUX should be the only boot loader installed.
314 * MEMDISK: Allow the user to specify that the simulated disk
315 should be write-protected.
318 * ALL: Add an API call to get the configuration file name.
319 * SYSLINUX: Fix bug in 2.10 that prevented it from working
320 correctly for a lot of people.
321 * SYSLINUX: In the installer, make mtools a bit less fussy.
322 * Make the menu system compile with newer gcc's.
325 * MEMDISK: Handle images compressed with zip as well as with
326 gzip. Some Windows-based image tools apparently generate
327 these kinds of images by default. Patch by Patrick
329 * Major menu improvement from Murali Ganapathy.
330 * ISOLINUX: Wonderfully sick and brilliant workaround for
331 severe bugs in certain Award BIOSes; from Knut Petersen.
332 * SYSLINUX: Fix for the nomtools installed, from Frederic
334 * PXELINUX: Fix handling of IP numbers in the ranges
336 * ALL: New option "allowoptions" (defaults to 1), which
337 controls if options are allowed on the command line or not.
338 * SYSLINUX: Support building under klibc (see the klibc
339 distribution for details.)
342 * SYSLINUX: Remove residual setuid crap from
344 * Handle video pages correctly when using the API functions.
345 * Handle compiling on an x86-64 platform correctly.
346 * Menu system from Murali Krishnan Ganapathy; see the menu
347 directory for information.
348 * COMBOOT: Allow COMBOOT programs to change screen text mode.
349 * COMBOOT: Correct the documentation of how to detect
350 SYSLINUX from COMBOOT!!!!
351 * COMBOOT: Fix "get key without echo" API function.
352 * SYSLINUX: Fix bug that affected the API open function.
353 * ALL: Improve the E820 memory parser, to work around some
357 * Add new configuration command "ontimeout" to allow timeout
358 to have a different action than just pressing Enter.
359 * Add new configuration command "onerror" to allow a custom
360 command to be executed in case the kernel image is not found.
361 * Fix bugs in the COMBOOT/COM32 command-line parsing. APPEND
362 now works with COMBOOT/COM32 images.
363 * PXELINUX: Poll for ARP requests while sitting at the
364 prompt. This makes some boot servers a lot less unhappy.
365 * PXELINUX: Actually free sockets when we get a failure
366 (including file not found.) This bug would cause us to run
367 out of sockets and thus "go deaf" after a while.
368 * MEMDISK: Add an API to query for the existence of MEMDISK.
369 * SYSLINUX: Fix loading boot sectors (.bs/.bss) from floppy
371 * .c32 is now one of the extensions searched for
373 * PXELINUX: RFBG.exe seems to randomly overwrite memory
374 location 0x5700. Thus, don't use it!
375 * PXELINUX: Change pathname length max from 63 to 127; change
376 max vkernels from 128 to 64.
377 * Support Ctrl-U -> kill entire command line input.
378 * The "samples" directory contains a (barely at all tested)
379 chain loading example, chain.c32, which may be used to
380 chainload local floppy disks and hard disks. Use with
381 "chain fdN" or "chain hdN [partition]"; N = 0 for the first
385 * MEMDISK: Workaround for BIOSes which go into a snit when
386 they get a RESET command for the floppy system when there is
387 no floppy in the system.
388 * PXELINUX: Add "ipappend 2", which passes the hardware
389 address of the boot interface to the kernel as a
391 * mkdiskimage: fix the generation of the end limit.
392 * PXELINUX: Fix multiple bugs in chainloading of other NBPs.
393 * MEMDISK: Fix bug that would occationally cause "ran out of
394 input data" when using compressed disk images.
395 * SYSLINUX: Updates for the win32 installer (from Lars Munch.)
396 * PXELINUX: PXELINUX-specific options are now recognized both
397 in a vendor-option-space (a.k.a. type 43 encapsulated) as
398 well as in a site-option-space (unencapsulated.)
399 * COM32: Don't crash when DS != 0.
400 * COMBOOT/COM32: Make file reading work correctly. Thanks to
401 Phung Chi Kien for submitting a test program.
404 * ALL: Fix problem that would occationally cause a
405 boot failure, depending on the length of the kernel.
406 * ISOLINUX: Fix problem that would occationally cause a
407 boot failure, depending on the length of directories.
408 * SYSLINUX: Win32 installer now flushes buffers.
409 * ppmtolss16: Be fully compliant with the PNM spec;
410 actually process comments in the header and odd
411 alignments of the various parameters, as well as
412 "plain" (not raw) files and PBM and PGM files.
413 * PXELINUX: Lower the default MTU to 1472 in order to deal
414 with systems with slightly nonstandard MTUs, and PXE
415 stacks which don't defragment correctly. Unfortunately this
416 is very hard to test dynamically.
419 * PXELINUX: Add a default query based on the hardware address
420 of the boot device. This is in lower case hexadecimal form
421 separated by dashes and including the hardware type, for
422 example, the Ethernet (type 1) address 88:99:AA:BB:CC:DD
423 would query the file pxelinux.cfg/01-88-99-aa-bb-cc-dd.
424 * PXELINUX: Fix bug involving non-IP-based config file names.
425 * SYSLINUX: New installer for WinNT-based systems, from Lars
427 * MEMDISK: Fix handling of memory region overlap when
428 decompressing. Thanks to Mikhail Kupchik for identifying
432 * ALL: Reclaim even more low memory by observing that
433 comboot_seg == real_mode_seg is perfectly fine, and by the
434 fact that the 1000h segment managed to get unused in all
436 * PXELINUX: Attempt to negotiate full Ethernet-sized blocks
437 (1468 bytes) using the blksize option.
438 * SYSLINUX: Resurrect the old no-mtools version of the
439 installer, although as a root-only tool. Some distributors
440 have indicated that they need a small standalone installer.
441 * MEMDISK: Fix a memory offset computation error when
442 installing compressed disks which generally would cause
443 1 MB of memory to be wasted.
444 * MEMDISK: Fix installing the E820 memory map. Calling
445 INT 15h AX=0E820h with MEMDISK 2.03 loaded would give a
446 completely corrupt memory map.
447 * SYSLINUX: Make libsyslinux a dynamic library, so that it can
448 be updated separately from client programs. The whole idea,
449 after all, is to enable alternate programs to become
451 * Include an rpm spec file in the distribution, so rpmbuild
455 * Actually support comment lines in the configuration file.
456 * PXELINUX: Try to resolve some problems with stack switches.
457 * PXELINUX: Handle PXE stacks with broken routing.
458 With these workarounds, the remote install PXE boot floppy
459 (rbfg.exe) from Argon Technologies should work correctly.
460 * Fix problems with Perl scripts in UTF-8 locales.
461 * You probably need NASM 0.98.34 or later to compile this
462 version. 0.98.36 is recommended.
463 * MEMDISK: Now supports gzip compressed images.
466 * SYSLINUX: Security flaws have been found in the SYSLINUX
467 installer when running setuid root. Rewrite the SYSLINUX
468 installer so it uses mtools instead. It therefore now
469 requires mtools (specifically mcopy and mattrib) to exist on
470 your system, but it will not require root privileges and
471 SHOULD NOT be setuid.
474 * MEMDISK: Fix memory sizing bug when the ramdisk crosses the
476 * MEMDISK: Add a "pause" option to stop immediately before
477 booting, to read off the messages.
478 * MEMDISK: Support disk images with DOSEMU headers.
479 * Update the mkdiskimage script to handle newer mtools
480 versions, and be able to generate disk images with DOSEMU
481 headers (controlled by the -d option).
482 * Fix the COM32 sample program.
483 * PXELINUX, ISOLINUX: Fix some COMBOOT API calls.
485 * Build SYSLINUX into a small library for encapsulation into
486 other programs (however, please keep in mind this is a GPL'd
488 * SYSLINUX: Make installer work with "owner" in /etc/fstab.
489 * SYSLINUX: Fix issue with working on nonpartitioned hard disk
490 devices. THIS CONFIGURATION IS NOT RECOMMENDED.
493 * ALL: Add support for "COM32" (32-bit COMBOOT) images.
494 * ALL: Add an API for COMBOOT/COM32 images. See comboot.doc
495 for details. There is a C development environment for
496 COM32 being created; it should be ready at some point in
498 * Fix mbr.asm so that it actually works.
499 * SYSLINUX: The syslinux installer *SHOULD* now be safe to
501 * PXELINUX: Fix bug where PXELINUX would override random
502 chunks of the UNDI code segment! Thanks to Kevin Tran for
504 * ISOLINUX: Fix a bug related to slashes in pathnames.
505 * ISOLINUX: Fix a bug in handling initrds over 128 MB.
506 * ALL: Make the <Ctrl-V> key print out the version; this is
508 * Add a small script, mkdiskimage, to create a DOS-formatted
509 hard disk image using mtools. This may be useful in
510 conjunction with MEMDISK.
511 * ISOLINUX: Search for a /boot/isolinux directory as well as
513 * ALL: Fix a bug related to very long configuration files.
514 * PXELINUX: Work around a NASM bug which would result in no
515 delay before reset if an error occurs.
518 * ISOLINUX: Remove code no longer used which caused hangs on
519 some Toshiba laptops.
522 * ALL: NASM 0.98.32 or later is now required to build
523 SYSLINUX from sources.
524 * SYSLINUX: put back in the workaround for the BIOS floppy
525 table. This seems to be a requirement for "extended" floppy
526 formats to work correctly.
527 * SYSLINUX: No longer warn if one is trying to boot on a 286
528 or older. The above BIOS workaround no longer fits if the
529 requirement to use only 8086-compatible code in the early
530 boot is maintained. It made sense in 1994, but in 2002 a
531 286 or older is a museum object.
532 * SYSLINUX: Use a downright bizarre, stateful algorithm to try
533 to guess the maximum transfer size. I am *hoping* this will
534 cut down on the number of systems for which -s is required
535 to work at any acceptable speed.
536 * ISOLINUX: Add a few more workarounds for various broken El
538 * Make sure .depend files aren't accidentally packed...
539 * ALL: Fix bugs in the extension-detect code; this caused
540 files like COMBOOT images and CD boot sectors to be
541 mis-identified as Linux kernels and rejected.
542 * ALL: Fix the return from COMBOOT.
543 * ALL: Do some of the early groundwork for supporting DOS
544 system calls in COMBOOT.
545 * Get rid of unnecessary "near" directives, making the code
547 * PXELINUX: Put the PXE stack back in the init state before
548 invoking a chain-loaded NBP.
549 * PXELINUX: Actually found the combination of calls that
550 allows some (most?) PXE 2+ stacks to be unloaded from memory
552 * PXELINUX: Add "keeppxe" command-line option to disable
553 the standard unloading of the PXE stack.
556 * SYSLINUX: fix bug that would cause valid kernel images to be
560 * Work on removing gratuitous differences between modules.
561 * Break up the source in common and module-specific files.
562 * PXELINUX: Allow chaining of other PXE NBPs.
563 * ISOLINUX: Allow loading "CD-ROM boot sectors".
564 * ALL: generalize the definition of a boot sector/NBP.
567 * PXELINUX, ISOLINUX: Fix bugs in the new core code.
570 * Fix a "brown paper bag" class bug in the new core code.
573 * Major code restructuring.
574 * Relax the conventional memory limits somewhat.
575 * MEMDISK: Set up the "version number string" pointer in the
577 * SYSLINUX: Fix, again, "the bug that won't die": the use of
578 the offset parameter with the SYSLINUX installer.
579 * SYSLINUX: Fix possible superblock corruption problem in the
583 * Handle bug in the location of initrd.
586 * MEMDISK: Make compile with newer versions of gcc.
589 * ISOLINUX: Support booting disk image files (to boot DOS or
590 other non-Linux operating systems), *IF* the BIOS works
591 correctly; unfortunately many BIOSes apparently don't.
592 * Support Linux boot protocol version 2.03 (explicitly
593 specify the initrd address limit.)
594 * Handle small "pseudo-kernels"; images that use the Linux
595 kernel boot protocols but are less than 64K in size.
596 * MEMDISK: New subsystem; this is a driver which allows
597 legacy OSes to boot using an in-memory simulated disk.
598 See memdisk/memdisk.doc for more info.
599 * PXELINUX, ISOLINUX: Correctly handle files larger than 65535
600 blocks (32 MB for PXELINUX, 128 MB for ISOLINUX.)
601 * PXELINUX: Make a best-effort attempt at freeing all memory
602 claimed. From the looks of it, it will fail on most PXE
606 * Limited support for hardware flow control when using a
608 * Support specifying the serial port I/O address explicitly.
609 * Make DOS installer hopefully behave more nicely when used on
610 recent Windows versions.
611 * Fix returning to text mode when a font has been specified.
612 * Attempt to detect missing serial port hardware and disable
613 the serial port if there is nothing there.
616 * Make the ppmtolss16 program handle color conversion more
618 * Clean up "make install" target, honour INSTALLROOT if it
620 * SYSLINUX: Fix stack-smash bug identified by Steffen
622 * Hopefully fix return-to-text-mode on some graphics cards.
623 * ISOLINUX: Bug workaround for Award BIOS 4.51, and perhaps
624 other buggy BIOSes as well.
627 * PXELINUX: Allow the DHCP server to override the
628 configuration file name and pathname prefix, using
629 "site-specific" DHCP options.
630 * PXELINUX: Documentation fixes.
631 * PXELINUX: Fix the "ipappend" option; the last two values
632 were reversed vs. what the kernel expected.
633 * Introduce a way to return to text mode once we are already
634 in graphics mode. This may be useful for F-key help
636 * Fix several bugs in the way return to text mode was handled.
639 * ISOLINUX: Support full pathname searches. Max length for a
640 pathname is 255 characters. As a result, only 64 "label"
641 statements are supported in ISOLINUX.
642 * PXELINUX: Max filename length extended to 63 characters.
645 * Add support for graphical splash screens.
646 * Add mode control characters, which allows you to control
647 message display output depending on output mode (text,
648 graphics, or serial port.)
649 * ISOLINUX: New program, which boots Linux from a CD-ROM
650 without using floppy emulation mode. See isolinux.doc for
652 * PXELINUX: Don't search for boot sector file types, since
653 they don't work anyway.
654 * SYSLINUX: Document the LOCK command for Win9x, and the error
655 dialog box for WinNT/2K.
658 * PXELINUX: Fix code for finding !PXE from PXENV+. This was
659 due to a spec bug; match the most recent spec since that
660 seems to be what implementations actually do.
661 * SYSLINUX: Add some smarts to the boot sector, which
662 hopefully should reduce the number of systems which require
663 stupid mode ("syslinux -s").
664 * PXELINUX: Document further some of the pathologies with old
666 * When specifying a "default" command line, no longer
667 automatically appent "auto". See the "DEFAULT" command in
668 syslinux.doc for more information.
669 * PXELINUX: Clean up the allocation of local socket numbers.
672 * PXELINUX: Rename pxelinux.bin to pxelinux.0, to match what
673 most PXE servers seem to expect.
674 * PXELINUX: Update the DHCP/boot server setup documentation.
675 * PXELINUX: Support new "localboot" option for "label"
677 * PXELINUX: More robust parsing of DHCP/boot server packets.
678 * PXELINUX: Include a small utility program "gethostip" to
679 compute hexadecimal IP addresses.
682 * PXELINUX: Fix bugs introduced by new A20 code. (SYSLINUX
683 has also been changed for code consistency reasons, but I'm
684 pretty sure the changes are don't care on SYSLINUX.)
685 * Documentation updates.
686 * PXELINUX: Add "ipappend" option to generate an ip= option to
690 * PXELINUX: Not all PXE stacks fill in the IP address for a
691 type 3 cached info query. Use a type 2 cached info query
692 for this information (only.)
693 * Yet another attempt at A20 coding. Now support BIOS call
694 15:2401 as well, and handle machines which always have A20
696 * Support memory detection using INT 15h, AX=0E820h. BIOS
697 manufacturers have apparently gotten sloppy about keeping
698 INT 15h, AX=0E801h working properly.
699 * Don't issue <CR><LF> onto the serial port when we're doing
703 * Yet another A20-code update. It seems some "legacy-free"
704 machines and embedded gear simply don't have a KBC to talk
705 to, and that waiting for one will wait forever. Sigh.
708 * SYSLINUX: Implement a hack for BIOS drivers which hog significant
709 chunks of low memory during boot. (Note: PXELINUX already
710 had this modification. SYSLINUX does still require that the
711 low 512K is available; PXELINUX requires 384K. Machines
712 with a physical memory hole in the low 640K cannot boot
713 Linux no matter what.) Depending what the reason is for the
714 memory hole, a new kernel (2.4.0-test3-pre3 or later) may be
716 * SYSLINUX: Default installer binary now compiled against
717 glibc 2.1. If this is inappropriate for your system and you
718 still want to use the offical version of SYSLINUX, please
719 follow the instructions in "distrib.doc" to rebuild the
721 * SYSLINUX: Linux installer program now supports -o <offset>
722 option which does a loopback mount with the
723 -o loop,offset=<> option. Useful to run SYSLINUX on an
724 individual partition of a whole-harddisk image.
725 * Include the source code to a Master Boot Record (MBR)
726 functionally equivalent to the one installed DOS except it
727 includes EBIOS support, and should be resistant to geometry
728 changes. The MBR code is public domain.
729 * PXELINUX: Fix "double p" bug: if the tftp prefix was null,
730 all filenames would get a "p" preprended, e.g.
731 "ppxelinux.cfg" and "pvmlinux".
734 * PXELINUX: Workaround for PXE ROMs based on the Intel PXE PDK
735 3.0 build 071 and earlier: missing !PXE structure pointer.
736 * PXELINUX: Handle larger BOOTP/DHCP packages.
737 * PXELINUX: The command line passing was broken; fix.
738 * PXELINUX: Make COMBOOT images work.
739 * PXELINUX: Documentation on how to make booting work using
740 the PDK 3.0-derived clients, which aren't so generous as to
741 allow booting with only "PXEClient" specified.
744 * PXELINUX: RFC 1123 states that a TFTP implementation MUST
745 use adaptive timeout, "at least an exponential backoff of
746 retransmission timeout is necessary." Implement a very
747 simple exponential backoff for retransmits.
748 * PXELINUX: Updated documentation, including pointer to new
750 * PXELINUX: When sending ERROR due to bad OACK, use the proper
751 destination port number (why are TFTP port numbers so odd?)
752 * PXELINUX: If the boot dies in the middle somewhere,
753 eventually give up and reset the machine (unattended
757 * New program PXELINUX to do network booting using a
758 PXE-compliant (Pre-Execution Environment) network booting
759 PROM. See pxelinux.doc for details.
762 * Serial console support. See syslinux.doc for details.
765 * Change HIGHMEM_MAX to 38000000h to (hopefully) avoid the
766 kernel stepping on it; 3f000000h was apparently a higher
767 limit than the kernel used!
770 * Add sys2ansi.pl script to display the contents of a
771 colorized SYSLINUX file.
772 * Changed the io_delay once again, after a report that the
773 old delay port causes hangs on some systems.
776 * Frob the "fast A20 gate" port as well as the keyboard
777 controller; will this help systems with problems?
778 * Be even more paranoid about A20, unfortunately even this
779 seems to be not paranoid enough... what I don't understand
780 is that if there is hardware out there *this broken*, how
781 can it run Linux at all? Report an error message rather
782 than hang forever if A20 is stuck.
783 * Include some intermediate files in the distribution, plus
784 provide a "make installer" target for distributors to relink
785 the install programs only. I would prefer the syslinux boot
786 loader proper to be "binary clean" for debuggablity -- use
787 "make clean ; make installer" to rebuild the installers only.
790 * Don't get confused by directories, volume labels, or VFAT
792 * Use INT 15h, AX=0E801h to query memory size before trying
793 INT 15h, AH=88h. This not only provides more headroom
794 between the kernel and the initrd on large-memory machines,
795 but it appears some recent BIOSes actually have started
796 returning garbage for the AH=88h (older) call.
797 * Trust high memory beyond the 15 MB mark if the user has
798 specified it, or if obtained with INT 15h, AH=0E801h (with
799 no memory holes above 1 MB.)
802 * Increase A20M delay and put in a test to avoid problems on
803 certain IBM Thinkpads (thanks to Donnie Barnes of RedHat
804 for vital info on this one.)
805 * Support COMBOOT style boot command images.
806 * Support chain loading (foreign operating systems, e.g. DOS).
807 * Include a new "copybs" DOS utility to copy a boot sector to
808 a file (under Linux, use "dd".)
809 * Fix the DOS installer to work for disks over 32 MB.
810 * SYSLINUX should now handle disks with more than 65536 tracks.
813 * Fix a bug that caused "label" statements in syslinux.cfg to
814 not be handled properly.
815 * Updated the documentation. Among other things, we now allow
816 up to 128 "label" statements.
819 * Fix for booting old (pre-initrd) kernels.
820 * It seems at least some versions of OS/2 doesn't set up all
821 the fields in the superblock correctly. Account for that.
822 * Fix bug that caused boot failure when using the mem= option.
825 * Loading from partitions now should work properly. (Actually
826 tested, this time. You should even be able to dd a floppy
827 to a partition and boot from it.)
828 * Removed large workaround code for an alleged ancient BIOS
829 bug I have never actually seen. The -s option should work
830 on those machines, anyway.
831 * Support for simple keyboard remappings, same as used by
832 LILO (once again to support localization.) The program
833 keytab-lilo.pl from the LILO distribution included to
835 * Added a "safe, slow and stupid" (-s) option to the
836 installers. This option will lobotomize the boot sector to
837 hopefully work on even very buggy BIOSes.
840 * Ability to load a VGA font on bootup (for localized Linux
844 * Bug fix in the Linux installer.
845 * Added a workaround for a bug in certain AMI/Intel BIOSes
846 when booting from CD-ROM.
847 * Documentation changes.
850 * FAT16 filesystems are now supported.
853 * Now compiles under Linux, using NASM, rather than using
854 Turbo Assembler under DOS. See http://www.cryogen.com/Nasm
855 for information about NASM.
856 * Linux-hosted SYSLINUX installer, as well as a
857 rewritten DOS installer (now is written in assembler, so we
861 * Added support for loading bzImage and initrd loading, and made
862 SYSLINUX new-setup-code aware (SYSLINUX 1.30 id=0x31).
863 * Added LILO-style kernel labels; see the LABEL and IMPLICIT
864 keywords in README file.
865 * Added support for colorization of intro and help screens.
866 * The vga= option is now handled correctly.
867 * Massive rewrite of large chunks of the code in order to
868 support the first two new features.
871 * Added simple online help at the "boot:" prompt.
872 * Removed 2880K image as I no longer have access to such a
873 floppy drive. (Donations accepted!!)
874 * Decided to distribute the source in a subdirectory rather
875 than in a nested zipfile.
878 * Removed a sanity check which would cause booting to fail on
879 Phoenix BIOS version 4.03. Apparently this BIOS is buggy.
882 * Added configuration file SYSLINUX.CFG. This file contains all
883 configurable options, and can be edited from any OS which can
884 access an MS-DOS filesystem; there is no longer a need to run
885 SYSLINUX.EXE except to write the boot sector.
886 * Default command line now given by "default" line in config
888 * LINUXMSG.TXT and BOOTMSG.TXT hard-coded file names replaced by
889 "display" and "prompt" lines in config file.
890 * LILO-style option appending now supported ("append" line in
892 * Prompt timeout is now supported ("timeout" line in config
893 file). The timeout is cancelled when anything is typed on the
895 * Pressing <ESC> or <Ctrl-C> at the Loading... stage now aborts
896 the kernel loading in progress and returns the user to the
898 * The installer now automatically sets the READONLY flag on
900 * Added 2880K disk image.
903 * Fixed bug that would prevent booting from double-density
904 floppies and other DOS filesystems with multiple sectors per
906 * Added 720K disk image.
907 * Changed default kernel name on disk images to LINUX.
910 * Fixed bug that would garble the command line on recent kernels
911 with more than 4 sectors of setup code (this wasn't really a
912 *bug*; rather, a kernel change broke the code. Unfortunately
913 the Linux boot interface is still sorely undocumented).
914 * Added BOOTMSG.TXT file support (message file which does not
915 force display of the boot prompt).
918 * Fixed bug on some (most?) 386 BIOSes would require two boot