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.
14 * chain.c32: support setting alternate config filename for
15 stage2 of GRUB Legacy (Gert Hulselmans).
16 * whichsys.c32: execute specific command, based on Syslinux
17 bootloader variant (Gert Hulselmans).
18 * lua.c32: a lot of new bindings added to the "syslinux"
19 namespace (Marcel Ritter, Geert Stappers).
20 * btrfs: print a comprehensive error message if compressed or
21 encrypted files are encountered (neither is currently
23 * SYSLINUX: mtools installer: honor TMPDIR, error out on disk
27 * ISOLINUX: fix initialization on systems which don't zero
29 * SYSLINUX/EXTLINUX: fix handing of disk read retries in
31 * ISOLINUX: change the initialization sequence to avoid
32 problems with certain (old) BIOSes. Special thanks to
33 Helmut Hullen for invaluable debugging support.
34 * ifplop.c32: new module which detects if the PLoP Boot Loader
35 already has booted a CDROM or USB drive (Gert Hulselmans).
36 * Correct a severe memory overwrite bug, triggered primarily
37 when selecting a very long command line in the menu system.
38 * lua.c32: Lua script interpreter, currently experimental.
39 * PXELINUX: new option IPAPPEND 4 to append the system UUID to
40 the kernel command line.
41 * PXELINUX: display BOOTIF and SYSUUID at startup time, and
42 when Ctrl-N is pressed on the command line.
45 * Major code base changes; all filesystem rewritten in C.
46 This work was done primarily by Liu Aleaxander (Yuanhan Liu).
47 * EXTLINUX: btrfs and ext4 support. btrfs support was done by
49 * EXTLINUX is no longer a separate derivative; extlinux and
50 syslinux both install the same loader (ldlinux.sys); for the
51 Linux-based installers the extlinux binary is used for a
52 mounted filesystem; the syslinux binary for an unmounted
54 * When loading a new configuration file with the CONFIG
55 command, one can now also specify a new current directory
56 with an APPEND statement.
57 * Full ADV support for Syslinux, to boot-once and MENU SAVE
59 * Full support of GPT-partitioned disks, including disks
60 and/or parititions larger than 2 TiB (if supported by BIOS.)
61 * The GPT handover protocol adjusted to the current T13
62 committee draft; see doc/gpt.txt.
63 * HDT: code cleanup, small bugfixes
64 * The "linux" syslinux installer (syslinux-nomtools) now has a
65 command-line syntax closer to the extlinux installer. The
66 mtools, dos and win32 installers will get this new syntax
67 eventually, but it is not implemented yet.
68 * chain.c32: support booting GPT partitions by index, GUID, label.
69 * chain.c32: support booting the Syslinux partition with "fs".
70 * chain.c32: implement gpt.txt hand-over protocol.
71 * chain.c32: support for chainloading Grub stage 2.
72 * PXELINUX: TFTP URL syntax (tftp://) supported even when not
73 running gPXE/gpxelinux.
74 * New ls.c32 module to display the contents of the disk from
75 the command line, and pwd.c32 to display the current
77 * rosh.c32 (read only shell) updated and hopefully usable.
78 * PXELINUX: Support "localboot -1", just like the other
80 * gfxboot.com removed in favor of gfxboot.c32.
81 * New MENU HELP statement to display fullscreen help text as a
82 result of a menu selection.
83 * memdiskfind utility that can be used with the phram driver
84 in the Linux kernel to mount a memdisk.
85 * ifcpu.c32: Adding usage when no parameters are given,
87 * ifcpu.c32, ifcpu64.c32: handle more than one argument per
89 * isohybrid: C version which does not require Perl.
90 * New command MENU IMMEDIATE to permit hotkeys to activate
91 immediately without needing Enter.
92 * mdiskchk.com supports a --no-sequential (or -n) option to
93 suppress the classic all-drive-probing heuristic. Useful
94 on BIOSes who crash/hang when certain drive numbers are
96 * ElTorito.Sys DOS driver now scans drive numbers upwards
97 instead of downwards, in order to avoid a fairly common
98 bug on some BIOSes where probing drive 0xFF causes a
100 * NASM 2.03 or later required to build. 2.07 or later
104 * chain.c32: fix chainloading the MBR of a hard disk (broken
106 * mboot.c32: report the boot loader name in the information
108 * com32: set argv[0] in a com32 module.
109 * core: add a workaround for a bug in Xen HVM older than
110 version 3.3: disable halt on those platforms.
111 * Fix problems where certain operations in com32 modules would
112 cause the core to believe the system was idle.
113 * MEMDISK: fix MBR detection when used with a DOSEMU header or
115 * MEMDISK: generate the mBFT checksum correctly.
118 * gPXELINUX: updated to gPXE 1.0.0. gPXELINUX can now do NBP
119 chainloading, and does not require a second DHCP.
120 * vesamenu.c32: unbreak the default "grey hole" background.
121 * We no longer have a built-in default of "linux auto".
122 Instead, if no DEFAULT or UI statement is found, or the
123 configuration file is missing entirely, we drop to the boot:
124 prompt with an error message (if NOESCAPE is set, we stop
125 with a "boot failed" message; this is also the case for
126 PXELINUX if the configuration file is not found.)
127 * chain.c32: support chainloading Grub4DOS; patch by Gert
129 * New tool: sysdump.c32, can be used to produce system
130 information for debugging via tftp or ymodem (serial port).
131 * "vga=current" on the Linux command line is now supported.
132 * chain.c32: support for Windows Recovery Console, via the
134 * chain.c32: should now support loading NTLDR from different
135 type media than loaded from.
136 * chain.c32: support chainloading to a FAT/NTFS partition with
137 invalid "hidden sectors" via the "sethidden" option.
138 * memdisk: fix the mBFT ACPI table.
139 * vesamenu.c32: if the image is smaller than the screen, tile
140 it across the whole screen.
141 * mkdiskimage: -s option for producing a sparse image.
142 * vesamenu.c32: support arbitrary resolution setting (beyond
143 BIOS support) on some Intel-based video chipsets. This code
144 is a modified version of the "915resolution" tool by
145 Steve Tomljenovic; your mileage might vary.
148 * SYSLINUX: make the DOS installer work for MS-DOS 7.x/8.x
150 * HDT: updated to version 0.3.6 (numerous changes.)
151 * mboot.c32: now supports video mode setting if requested by
153 * MEMDISK: Fix floppy images of PC-DOS.
154 * MEMDISK: Add support for emulation of CD-ROM images; patch
156 * MEMDISK: Comply with the Win9x "safe hook" standard,
157 allowing a protected-mode driver.
158 * MEMDISK: New "mBFT" ACPI table, by analogy with the iSCSI
159 iBFT table. This allows detection from a protected-mode
160 operating system without EDD support.
161 * 32-bit version of the gfxboot loader (gfxboot.c32), so far
162 experimental. This will replace gfxboot.com in the future.
163 * vesamenu.c32: new MENU RESOLUTION directive to set a screen
164 resolution other than 640x480.
165 * chain.c32: add support for loading isolinux.bin.
166 * chain.c32: make sure to always return to text mode.
167 * eltorito.sys: DOS driver for generic CD-ROMs; by Gary Tong
171 * PXELINUX: clear memory before handing over to a chainloaded
172 NBP. This may help avoid a bug in Windows RIS.
173 * PXELINUX: fix localboot after NBP chainloading on certain
174 BIOSes (including ASUS A8N-E, but possibly others.)
175 * chain.c32: support chainloaded bootloaders on ISOLINUX.
176 * PXELINUX: allow filenames up to 251 characters.
177 * MEMDISK: fix problems booting from USB on Thinkpads, and
178 possibly other machines or hardware combinations.
179 * isohybrid: fix the -id option.
180 * HDT: updated to version 0.3.4.
181 * MEMDISK: the stack size is now configurable, with the stack=
183 * Simple menu: fix Ctrl-W (word erase) in command-line edit.
184 * Simple menu: fix crash on some platforms.
185 * Gfxboot: fixes to the configuration file parsing.
186 * PXELINUX: add a tool to override specific DHCP options via
187 values hardcoded in the pxelinux.0 file. These hardcoded
188 values can be either "before DHCP" (defaults if DHCP do not
189 provide values), or "after DHCP" (overrides DHCP). The tool
190 pxelinux-options can be used to set these options. This
191 feature does not apply to gpxelinux.0; when used with gPXE
192 this is better handled by modifying the embedded script.
195 * isohybrid: fix the -partok logic for loading from a partition.
196 * ISOLINUX: deal with systems which return from INT 13h with
198 * Do not invoke the idle handler during large file loads.
199 * Simple menu: make ONTIMEOUT work with MENU HIDDEN.
200 * PXELINUX: handle TFTP servers which have extra NULs at the
201 end of an OACK packet.
204 * Shuffler: fix bug in real-mode entry. This affected a
205 number of modules, probably in relatively unimportant ways,
206 but it completely broke linux.c32.
207 * Improved performance.
208 * Attempt to halt the processor while idle. This can cause
209 bad reponsiveness when using a serial console especially for
210 automated input; if that ends up being a problem, use the
211 new "NOHALT 1" configuration command.
212 * linux.c32 now suppresses all messages if the "quiet" flag is
214 * isohybrid: add a variety of options, and a help message.
215 * ISOLINUX: fix booting in hybrid mode when CBIOS is used.
216 This unfortunately means that the isohybrid handoff protocol
217 has changed, so the isohybrid utility must version-match
219 * Drop support for ACPI 3 extended memory flags.
220 * Menu system: don't set the autocr flag on the serial
222 * altmbr: fix handling of logical partitions.
223 * altmbr: cap at 439 bytes so the partition select byte isn't
227 * New shuffler mechanism and API.
228 * Rewritten mboot.c32 module.
229 * The syslinux_boot_linux() function has been simplified.
230 * Don't hang trying to boot a "menu quit" label from the CLI.
231 * Fix problem with boot-once "sticking" on some BIOSes.
232 * isohybrid: fix problem with images over 2 GB in size.
233 * APM poweroff module (poweroff.com) by Sebastian Herbszt.
234 * ISOLINUX: fix the handling of large directories. Bug found
235 and fixed by Steffen Winterfeldt.
238 * PXELINUX: fix the "keeppxe" option, which was broken in
240 * MEMDISK: correct the extraction of geometry information from
241 the MBR of a hard disk image, again broken in 3.74.
242 * extlinux(1) man page from Brian Pellin.
243 * Simple menu: MENU SAVE is now controllable on a menu-by-menu
244 or entry-by-entry basis.
245 * gPXELINUX: fix interrupt-disabling bug.
246 * HDT: fix lockup on machines with certain PCI configurations.
249 * New UI directive, which allows a more natural way to specify
250 a menu system (or not.) With the UI directive specifying
251 the menu system, the DEFAULT directive can be used to select
252 the default entry inside the menus.
253 * kbdmap.c32: new module to load a new keyboard map
255 * isohybrid: workaround bug in some versions of binutils.
256 * Fix issue with the placement of the initrd on some machines.
257 * ifcpu64: fix handling of less than three arguments.
258 * Fix bug in the shuffle library when dealing with a very
259 large number of fragments.
260 * Documentation fixes by Vicente Jimenez Aguilar.
261 * gPXE updated to version 0.9.7.
262 * hdt.c32: Hardware Detection Tool, an interactive hardware
263 analyzer module by Erwan Velu.
264 * MEMDISK: enable automatic determination of the disk geometry
265 for a large floppy disk image if (and only if) it is
266 formatted with a FAT filesystem.
267 * SYSLINUX: fix the handling of .bss files on FAT12/16.
268 * Suppress the Loading ... message if "quiet" is specified on
269 the kernel command line.
270 * Fix the use of "CONSOLE 0" with menu.c32.
271 * Allow COM32 modules to be aware of all memory even in the
272 presence of a memory hole. The "linux.c32" module can be
273 used to load a kernel (or memdisk) plus large initrd on
275 * MBR: produce alternate MBR variants which force the drive
276 number to hd0 (_f variants), or force the drive number to
277 hd0 if the Ctrl key is pressed (_c variants.) Furthermore,
278 add an MBR variant (altmbr*.bin) which ignores the active
279 flag and instead boots the partition number specified in the
280 byte at offset 439 decimal.
281 * Add IPAPPEND strings to com32 modules, especially needed for
283 * New MENU SAVE directive which saves the latest menu
284 selection until the next boot. Currently only implemented for
286 * gfxboot.com: *experimental* interface module to Steffen
287 Winterfeldt's "gfxboot" graphical front end
288 (http://gfxboot.sourceforge.net/). Module by Sebastian Herbszt.
291 * Upgrade gPXE to release version 0.9.5.
292 * Fix a number of build errors on various platforms.
293 * Handle systems with E820 "extended attributes" per ACPI 3.
294 Someone "cleverly" decided to change the E820 spec in a
295 backwards-incompatible manner!
296 * MEMDISK: default to "safeint".
297 * Adopt the moniker "The Syslinux Project", standard proper
298 noun capitalization, to refer to the project as a whole.
299 Thus, reserve the all-caps "SYSLINUX" to refer to the FAT
301 * mboot.c32: add "-solaris" option to pass DHCP information to
302 the Solaris kernel; required for automatic Solaris boot
303 without using Solaris' pxeboot program.
304 * config.c32: trivial COM32 module to restart Syslinux with
305 another configuration file from the command line (equivalent
306 to the CONFIG command in the configuratin file.)
309 * Include the pxechain.com module from Jeffery Hutzelman at
310 Carnegie Mellon University. This allows chaining another
311 PXE boot program while changing the DHCP packet passed to
313 * Reorganize the Makefile system.
314 * Major PCI core cleanups and other source cleanup.
316 * Try to avoid memory-snooping attacks on passwords. Note
317 that if someone has root on the box, they generally don't
318 need to compromise the boot loader...
319 * ISOLINUX: fix crash when given a zero-length file.
320 * sdi.c32: support gzipped SDI images.
321 * ISOLINUX: support generating images which can be either
322 a CD-ROM or a hard disk (USB disk, etc.) See
323 doc/isolinux.txt for more information.
324 * Remote gdb support for COM32 modules; patch from Stefan
326 * Support beeps in F-key help in the simple menu system.
327 * Tab display of labels, based on a patch from Sebastian
328 Herbszt. Can be disabled with the NOCOMPLETE configuration
330 * "menu default" can now be specified after "menu begin", to
331 indicate that a specific submenu should be the default entry.
334 * Workaround for a VESA BIOS which tries to make DOS system
336 * Simple menu: fix navigation around disabled entries
337 (or at least try to...)
338 * EXTLINUX: proper error message when confused about mount
340 * MEMDISK: be smarter about incompletely disabled floppies in
341 the BIOS and about being the only floppy.
342 * Optionally allow initrd to be specified on a separate line
343 rather than as part of the "append" line. This is not
344 recommended, but apparently makes life easier for some
346 * SYSLINUX: if no config file is present, set the current
347 directory to the root directory (Sebastian Herbszt).
348 * chain.c32: option "hide" to support hiding and unhiding of
349 primary partitions on the boot drive with DOS, Win, or OS/2
350 partition types (01, 04, 06, 07, 0b, 0c, 0e).
351 * Unbreak the KBDMAP command (broken in 3.70).
352 * EXTLINUX: fix the handling of the ADV when using CBIOS.
353 * ifcpu64.c32: simple COM32 module to select a 32- or 64-bit
354 kernel (and optionally 32-bit kernels with or without PAE.)
355 Eventually we want a scripting language for this
356 kind of stuff; a Lua module is under development.
357 * Fix parsing of the SERIAL command without a baud rate
359 * chain.c32: error out when try to boot an unbootable
361 * SYSLINUX: when building the Win32 installer, search for
362 MinGW under a large number of possible names.
365 * PXELINUX: Support enhanced capabilities when running on top
366 of gPXE (http://www.etherboot.org/). In particular, support
367 URL-style syntax for filenames, and any protocol that gPXE
368 supports (except, currently, iSCSI and AoE.) This feature
369 is currently highly experimental.
370 * Substantial infrastructure changes to support files whose
371 length aren't known at open time (typically network
372 connections.) Please note that the semantics of some of the
373 comboot APIs have changed slightly; please see doc/comboot.txt.
374 * PXELINUX: We no longer require a TFTP server which supports
375 the tsize option for all transfers.
376 * PXELINUX: Integrate with the gPXE source base; unified image
377 now included as "gpxelinux.0".
378 * The source tree has been restructured; files that were
379 previously in the root have moved into the core, dos, gpxe,
380 and utils directories.
381 * "make install", "make netinstall", and "make extbootinstall"
382 have been updated massively. "make install-all" now installs
384 * Change default dir for auxiliary files from
385 /usr/lib/syslinux to /usr/share/syslinux.
386 * SYSLINUX: VFAT long filename support.
387 * MEMDISK: Any image less than 4096K (4 MB) is treated as a
388 floppy disk. The geometry-guessing code will recognize all
389 common extended formats, but it is still possible some very
390 exotic formats need geometry specification. Large floppies
391 and very small harddisks still need explicit specification.
392 * chain.c32: option "swap" to support swapping of BIOS drive
393 numbers. This is necessary to boot certain operating systems
394 (DOS, Windows) from a secondary drive.
395 * chain.c32: option "file=" to support loading a boot file from
396 the SYSLINUX filesystem instead of loading the boot sector
398 * chain.c32: option "seg=" to control the load location.
399 * chain.c32: option "ntldr=" as a shorthand for "seg=0x2000
400 file="; use this to load one of WinNT's loaders:
402 chain.c32 hd0 1 ntldr=/MiniNT/setupldr.bin
404 Note that the file needs to be in the SYSLINUX filesystem.
405 * chain.32: options "freedos=" and "msdos="/"pcdos=" as
406 shorthands for "seg=0x60 file=" and "seg=0x70 file="
407 respectively; use this to load FreeDOS's kernel.sys, MS-DOS's
408 io.sys or PC-DOS's ibmbio.sys.
409 * Change to the A20 algorithm which *MIGHT* help systems that
410 have systems which freeze when Syslinux is used with USB
411 keyboards. Note that this has been hard do verify, so I
412 would greatly appreciate feedback on it.
413 * Complex menu system: unbreak menus which has unnamed
414 submenus, like complex.c.
415 * Fix newline on the serial port for some com32 modules.
416 * chain.c32: support "boot" as the drive specification,
417 indicating the drive from which it was booted
418 (for syslinux/extlinux).
419 * SYSLINUX/EXTLINUX: support "localboot" with the same feature
421 * Add an experimental MBR for GPT partition tables.
422 * Use $(CC) when determining compile flags.
423 * chain.c32: fix booting from logical partitions (Sergey
427 * Fix errors in the PCI and DMI detection modules (Erwan Velu,
429 * Fix host dependencies and other issues in the build system.
430 * PXELINUX: Allow class E addresses as unicast.
431 * sdi.c32: module to load Microsoft System Deployment Images.
432 For additional information, please see:
433 http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms838543.aspx
434 * EXTLINUX: Correct reading directories with deleted entries.
435 * Shuffle library: correct the handling of certain geometries
436 (an upward move with source material blocking the move); as
437 required by sdi.c32 but theoretically possible for other
439 * Add "make netinstall" to install /tftpboot.
440 * Fix some documentation files that didn't get moved/renamed.
443 * Clean up garbage after "aborted." message.
444 * Clean up memdump.com filenames.
445 * Support SHA256 and SHA512 encrypted passwords.
446 * The shuffle library now can generate chained descriptors,
447 thus allowing pretty much arbitrarily complex memory maps.
448 * Handle command lines up to 2047 characters, the current
450 * vesamenu: support systems without linear framebuffer support
451 (sigh, what is this, 1993?) and 15-bit RGB modes.
452 * Move the label storage (for the command-line interface) to
453 high memory, removing the size limit and freeing up 64K of
455 * Get rid of 4096-entry limit in the simple menu system.
456 * New hierarchial submenu support: see MENU BEGIN, MENU END,
457 MENU GOTO in doc/menu.txt.
458 * MENU QUIT allows creating a menu entry for returning to the
460 * ISOLINUX: Work around bug in certain Adaptec BIOSes,
461 patch by Bruce Robson.
462 * pngtopnm dependency removed from samples/ directory.
463 * Text documentation files (in doc/) renamed *.doc -> *.txt.
466 * EXTLINUX: fix crash when accessing an empty file.
467 * elf.c32: If a PHDR segment is present, load it.
468 * Fix SHA-1 and MD5 passwords.
469 * ISOLINUX: fix booting when mastered without
470 mkisofs -boot-info-table (broken since 3.50, sigh...)
471 * Handle BIOSes which emit multiple contiguous valid
472 memory regions in the e820 map.
475 * Support for "auxilliary data vector", a small amount of
476 writable storage. Currently only supported for EXTLINUX,
477 but the infrastructure is there for the other derivatives,
478 assuming a suitable storage location can be found.
479 * EXTLINUX: boot-once support (--once, --clear-once, and
481 * A command is now required to the EXTLINUX installer, i.e. at
482 least one of --install, --update, --once, --clear-once, or
486 * PXELINUX: as per RFC 5071, PXELINUX no longer requires the
487 use of the magic cookie option (208) for unencapsulated
488 options. Currently it does not require it for
489 vendor-encapsulated options (vendor-option-space) either,
490 but that MAY be reverted in the future if it causes
492 * Documentation text files moved to a common "doc" directory;
493 man pages from the Debian project added to the "man"
495 * Correct bug with self-overlapping memory areas when using
496 the shuffle interface.
499 * Add "menu separator", "menu indent", "menu disabled"
501 * vesamenu: fix handing of VESA modes with noncontiguous
502 memory buffers. In particular, Qemu/KVM sets up such a mode
503 when Cirrus Logic emulation is enabled (which is the
505 * Support for calling real mode functions using far calls,
506 with argument on the stack. This was implemented to support
507 the BIOS BBS specification, but subsequent experiments show
508 that the at least one of the most common BIOS cores, Award,
509 passes the presence check but doesn't actually implement the
513 * Fix bugs related to the $PnP BIOS functionality on some
515 * PXELINUX: Fix the "naked" version of :: (suppress prefix.)
516 * elf.c32: better error messages.
517 * Faster operation under Intel VT virtualization.
518 * PXELINUX: Fix DHCP bootfile option.
519 * mkdiskimage: Support more than 1024 cylinders.
520 * (Hopefully) fix installer on non-x86 platforms.
521 * Fix shuffle_and_boot_rm, used by linux.c32.
522 * Fix shuffle_and_boot_pm on 386/486.
523 * ISOLINUX (at least): fix bss memory overwrite hang.
524 * MBR: Fix booting from logical partitions.
528 * Handle capitalized F-key commands in the menu system.
529 * Fix padding error when loading multiple ramdisks.
530 * Workaround for VMware crashing when trying to print a
531 message during early kernel boot (does not seem to work,
533 * chain.c32: add the ability to search for a specific MBR
534 signature at runtime.
535 * Fall back to the server identity option if the siaddr field
536 in the DHCP header isn't set. This seems to match the
537 behaviour of most PXE stacks.
538 * mkdiskimage: give the generated disk image an MBR signature.
539 * MEMDISK: Fix failures on some BIOSes.
540 * Simple menu system: new "MENU HIDDEN" option to not display
541 the menu unless the user presses a key.
542 * Simple menu system: support MD5-encrypted passwords (modern
543 Unix standard style, with "$1$" prefixes.)
544 * pcitest.c32: now functions as a full "lspci". Thanks to
545 Erwan Velu for this work.
546 * MEMDISK: Make EDD actually work.
547 * ISOLINUX: Fix for certain broken CD-ROM BIOSes which
548 randomly corrupted register FS.
549 * Simple menu system: fix memory overwrite bug that caused
550 some systems to lock up or behave weirdly.
551 * Fix building on 64-bit systems without a 32-bit libc installed.
554 * EXTLINUX: Fix failure to find the configuration file.
557 * New keywords allow the type of file to be specified in the
559 * It is now supported to load a different configuration file
560 with the CONFIG keyword.
561 * Fix API call 0x0019 (Read Disk.)
562 * MENU AUTOBOOT, MENU TABMSG, MENU PASSPROMPT allows
563 internationalization of menu messages.
564 * A new feature, TEXT HELP, allows the administrator to set
565 a multi-line help message for individual selections.
566 * Fix API call 0x0012 (Cleanup, shuffle and boot.)
567 * New API call "Cleanup, shuffle and boot to flat protected mode"
568 * New API call "Cleanup, shuffle and boot to real mode",
569 similar to API call 0x0012 but allows arbitrary register setting.
570 * Introduce a library interface for loading arbitrary binary
571 formats with relatively easily understood code. See
572 the elf.c32 module for an example on how to use it.
573 * New module "elf.c32", to load a protected-mode ELF kernel.
574 * MBR (old and new): Fix bug in CHS mode when LBA >
576 * vesamenu: fix decoding of palettized PNG images.
577 * Update the Linux kernel boot protocol.
578 * PXELINUX: Press Ctrl-N at the boot prompt to read out the
580 * Instead of the (non-existent) MAC, use the client identifier
581 for networks like Infiniband and Firewire/1394.
582 * Add a new INCLUDE command to the core syslinux parser.
583 * Allow binding help text to F11 and F12.
584 * F-key help now available in the simple menu system.
585 * Disabled the polling for ARP during idle. It is simply too
586 slow on some (broken!) PXE stacks.
587 * PXELINUX: also try to fetch the config file based on UUID.
588 * SYSLINUX/EXTLINUX: New RAID mode (-r) which calls the BIOS
589 to load the next device (typically the next drive) on boot
593 * MEMDISK: Disable EDD by default on floppy disks. EDD can be
594 enabled with the "edd" option and disabled with "noedd".
595 This (hopefully) should make Ghost work again.
596 * SYSLINUX: "unix" installer now uses Linux ioctls instead of
598 * New MBR which can boot from logical partitions.
599 * SYSLINUX: Fix bug in detecting special extensions which was
600 introduced in 3.35 :(
601 * PXELINUX: Unbreak chainbooting FreeBSD (and possibly others.)
604 * MEMDISK: New "safeint" mode.
605 * MEMDISK: Be more compliant with the PnP BIOS spec.
606 * MEMDISK: Turn on EDD support by default.
607 * MEMDISK: Try to work on some machines on which it would not
608 work when there was no floppy drive in the system.
609 * Simple menu system: fix serial console support (broken in
611 * SYSLINUX: Support subdirectories. Like ISOLINUX, the
612 "current directory" is the directory in which syslinux.cfg
613 is found; this is searched for in the sequence
614 /boot/syslinux, /syslinux, /. As a side benefit, label names
615 like "linux-2.6.18" and "linux-2.6.19" are now supported.
617 To install ldlinux.sys in a subdirectory, pass the -d
618 directory option to the SYSLINUX installer.
620 This work was sponsored by slax.org (thanks, Tomas!)
621 * New API call: read disk.
622 * Invoke ONERROR on initrd load failure.
625 * The simple menu system (menu.c32 and vesamenu.c32) now
626 support loading more than one configuration file at a time,
627 using MENU INCLUDE or by specifying multiple filenames.
628 * The MENU COLOR statement can now control the shadowing mode.
631 * libcom32 extended to support graphics mode and graphical console.
632 * vesamenu.c32, new graphical version of the Simple
633 Menu System, see README.menu.
634 * New com32 modules by Erwan Velu do selection based on CPUID
635 or PCI devices present.
636 * RPM spec: add syslinux-tftpboot module; move syslinux by
637 default to the /usr/share/syslinux directory.
638 * RPM spec: extlinux is now a separate package.
641 * EXTLINUX: New options --install (-i) and --update (-U), to
642 make it clear if a boot loader should be installed or
643 updated. For now, defaults to --install for compatibility;
644 a future version will require one of these options.
645 * New library functions to load and place files in memory.
646 * mboot.c32 bug fixes.
647 * Remove 8 MB kernel size restriction.
648 * Add "klibc" target for building unix/syslinux and
649 extlinux/extlinux with klcc (klibc-1.4.27 or later.)
650 * PXELINUX: Fail (and eventually reboot) if no configuration
652 * COM32 module by Erwan Velu to make decisions based on DMI
654 * Fix issue where going back and forth between menus a lot
656 * ISOLINUX: Fix bug which made "cd boot sectors" not work.
659 * MEMDISK: Fix bug by which accessing the real floppy disk
660 as B: in MS-DOS was broken.
661 * Simple menu system: allow tweaking of the screen layout.
662 * Simple menu system: better command-line editing, correctly
663 handle command lines above 256 characters.
664 * PXELINUX: revert memory allocation change that caused
665 problems on some network cards.
666 * MEMDISK: Try work around a bug on some BIOSes when no
667 physical floppy disk is present in the system.
668 * Enable the 16550A FIFOs, if present, when doing serial
670 * New "totaltimeout" command establishes a timeout without
671 regard for any user input.
672 * Simple menu system: timeout behaviour now more in line with
674 * Simple menu system: "ontimeout" should now work correctly.
677 * gcc 4.0.1 compilation fixes.
678 * Add support for querying the PCI BIOS in libcom32
679 (used by ethersel et al.)
680 * Fix PCI handing (ethersel etc) on several old chipsets (and
682 * Try to deal with systems with broken EBIOS.
683 * New API call to do "localboot".
684 * New API call to query features.
685 * New API call to run kernel image, a lower-level call than
686 "run command". See comboot.doc.
687 * Fix for bug in EBIOS code discovered by Arwin Vosselman.
688 * NOESCAPE security fix.
689 * Comments are now recognized even without a space following #.
690 * Fix incorrect handling of mixes of entries with and without
692 * The idle API call now harmlessly returns failure if it is a
693 no-op. That way the caller can decide whether or not to
694 bother invoking it again.
695 * Temporarily disable the idle API call on PXELINUX, due to
696 some platforms on which the idle API call seems to hang; this
697 problem has not yet been debugged.
698 * MEMDISK: the handling of DOSEMU-headered images was broken;
700 * EXTLINUX: symlinks are now supported.
701 * Simple menu system: N and P now work correctly as hotkeys.
702 * MEMDISK: more BIOS bug workarounds.
705 * gcc4 compilation fix.
706 * <BEL> (Ctrl-G) in message files now causes a beep.
707 * Reduce the command line to 511 characters; 1023 caused
711 * SYSLINUX: Fix performance regression (-s mode always
713 * Add API function for idle loop.
714 * libutil: Add do_idle() function for idle loop, make
716 * libutil: Add SHA-1 and base64 functions.
717 * Simple menu system: add password support.
718 * EXTLINUX: Sparse files now handled correctly.
719 * EXTLINUX: Large directories now handled correctly.
720 * ALL: At the prompt, Ctrl-X now forces text mode.
721 * Fix configuration file parsing error, that could cause
723 * Rewritten advanced menuing system from Murali Ganapathy.
724 * MEMDISK: New "bigraw" mode to work around certain broken
726 * COM32 module to boot Multiboot systems, including Xen. See
727 com32/modules/mboot.doc.
728 * Max command line changed to 1023 characters. Note that the
729 kernel proper still can only handle 255 characters without
730 patching, and COM16 binaries can only handle 125 characters.
733 * Fix chainloading (chain.c32).
734 * Fix zlib build problem.
735 * Use a private copy of <linux/ext2_fs.h>.
738 * Fix typo that caused the ramdisk to load in the wrong place.
741 * New API function "shuffle and boot"; allows COM32 modules to
742 load or construct (almost) arbitrarily complex objects,
743 e.g. a kernel and its initrd/initramfs in pieces, and have
744 the API core reorganize memory for booting. (A library API
745 for this function will be introduced in a later version.)
746 * The initrd= option now supports multiple filenames separated
747 by commas. This is mostly useful for initramfs, which can
748 be composed of multiple separate cpio or cpio.gz archives.
749 (Note: all files except the last one are zero-padded to a 4K
750 page boundary. This should not affect initramfs.)
751 * EXTLINUX: Fix API function 000Ah (get derivative-specific
753 * libcom32/ethersel: Support PCI Config Mechanism #2 on
754 machines still infested with that hideous old hack.
755 * SYSLINUX: Fix directory-parsing bug.
758 * SYSLINUX: The "unix" installer now sets the MS-DOS
759 attributes (hidden, system, readonly.)
760 * COM32 library: build the .lnx (test modules for running
761 under Linux) as architecture native modules, in case
762 i386 devel libraries aren't installed.
763 * EXTLINUX: Hack for systems which don't have BLKGETSIZE64
764 defined in the standard header files.
765 * Simple menu system: minor aestetic improvements, and try to
766 work better over a serial console (speed, and readability on
767 monochrome terminal emulators.)
768 * New CONSOLE directive to control output on the video console
769 (useful for dealing with some broken serial-forwarding
771 * New com32 module "ethersel" for searching for an Ethernet
772 card and selecting the proper version of Etherboot.
773 * EXTLINUX: Allow the user to override the detected geometry.
777 * EXTLINUX, SYSLINUX: Fix compile errors on some systems.
778 * EXTLINUX: Default to zipdrive geometry (64 heads, 32
779 sectors) if no other geometry can be detected.
782 * SYSLINUX: Support FAT32 and EDD. As an unfortunate
783 consequence, LDLINUX.SYS is no longer an ordinary file; it
784 is block-mapped at install time, which means it can only be
785 written using the syslinux installers.
786 * SYSLINUX: Reorganize the source code for the installers;
787 each one of the installers (dos, win32, unix, mtools) is now
788 built in its own subdirectory. In particular, "mtools" is
789 the unprivileged installer which uses mtools; "unix" is the
790 privileged installer which uses system calls.
791 * SYSLINUX: Completely rewritten DOS installer in C.
792 * ALL: "label" statement information is now stored in a
793 compressed format, which means that a lot more labels are
794 permitted (500-1000 in a typical configuration, but depends
796 * EXTLINUX: New derivative, which boots from an ext2/ext3
798 * SYSLINUX: The DOS and Win32 installers can now optionally
799 write the boot sector to a file instead of the real boot
800 sector. This is not supported in the Linux installers,
802 * ALL: New NOESCAPE command, disables the "hold down the Shift
803 key to display the prompt" behaviour.
804 * New simple menu system, as an alternative to the advanced
805 menu system already present. See README.menu for details.
806 * PXELINUX: Filenames can now be prefixed with an IP address
807 or DNS name plus :: (e.g. 192.0.2.1::filename or
808 server.domain.com::filename), which downloads a file from an
809 alternate TFTP server, or just a :: (e.g. ::filename), which
810 suppresses the common pathname prefix. See pxelinux.doc.
811 * SYSLINUX: Add an -m option to the DOS and Win32 installers
812 to write an MBR and -a to mark the partition SYSLINUX is
813 being installed on active.
814 * MEMDISK: Give a way to query the boot loader type while
815 running MEMDISK; see memdisk/memdisk.doc and
817 * mkdiskimage: substantially improved mkdiskimage which, among
818 other things, can now be used to initialize USB keys as
819 zipdrives; see README.usbkey for more information.
822 * MEMDISK: Fix command-line parsing "brown paper bag" class
824 * MEMDISK: Add "raw" mode to support the DOS boot disk from
825 WinME/XP, which seems to deliberately crash the system
826 when someone uses the "INT 15h mover" highmem API.
827 * Make "make install" do something sane for the com32
828 development environment.
829 * In the spec file, create a separate -devel RPM for the com32
830 development environment.
833 * Simple C library, based on klibc, for writing COM32
835 * Fix the handling of file length in loading of COM32
837 * MEMDISK: Work around a linker bug by rearranging the code to
838 not use the linker for the 16-bit code.
839 * SYSLINUX: If we're building on a machine without a Win32
840 (mingw) compiler, just skip building syslinux.exe.
841 * ISOLINUX: Support non-mkisofs mastering programs, at least
842 as long as the image is single-session. For best results,
843 ISOLINUX should be the only boot loader installed.
844 * MEMDISK: Allow the user to specify that the simulated disk
845 should be write-protected.
848 * ALL: Add an API call to get the configuration file name.
849 * SYSLINUX: Fix bug in 2.10 that prevented it from working
850 correctly for a lot of people.
851 * SYSLINUX: In the installer, make mtools a bit less fussy.
852 * Make the menu system compile with newer gcc's.
855 * MEMDISK: Handle images compressed with zip as well as with
856 gzip. Some Windows-based image tools apparently generate
857 these kinds of images by default. Patch by Patrick
859 * Major menu improvement from Murali Ganapathy.
860 * ISOLINUX: Wonderfully sick and brilliant workaround for
861 severe bugs in certain Award BIOSes; from Knut Petersen.
862 * SYSLINUX: Fix for the nomtools installed, from Frederic
864 * PXELINUX: Fix handling of IP numbers in the ranges
866 * ALL: New option "allowoptions" (defaults to 1), which
867 controls if options are allowed on the command line or not.
868 * SYSLINUX: Support building under klibc (see the klibc
869 distribution for details.)
872 * SYSLINUX: Remove residual setuid crap from
874 * Handle video pages correctly when using the API functions.
875 * Handle compiling on an x86-64 platform correctly.
876 * Menu system from Murali Krishnan Ganapathy; see the menu
877 directory for information.
878 * COMBOOT: Allow COMBOOT programs to change screen text mode.
879 * COMBOOT: Correct the documentation of how to detect
880 SYSLINUX from COMBOOT!!!!
881 * COMBOOT: Fix "get key without echo" API function.
882 * SYSLINUX: Fix bug that affected the API open function.
883 * ALL: Improve the E820 memory parser, to work around some
887 * Add new configuration command "ontimeout" to allow timeout
888 to have a different action than just pressing Enter.
889 * Add new configuration command "onerror" to allow a custom
890 command to be executed in case the kernel image is not found.
891 * Fix bugs in the COMBOOT/COM32 command-line parsing. APPEND
892 now works with COMBOOT/COM32 images.
893 * PXELINUX: Poll for ARP requests while sitting at the
894 prompt. This makes some boot servers a lot less unhappy.
895 * PXELINUX: Actually free sockets when we get a failure
896 (including file not found.) This bug would cause us to run
897 out of sockets and thus "go deaf" after a while.
898 * MEMDISK: Add an API to query for the existence of MEMDISK.
899 * SYSLINUX: Fix loading boot sectors (.bs/.bss) from floppy
901 * .c32 is now one of the extensions searched for
903 * PXELINUX: RFBG.exe seems to randomly overwrite memory
904 location 0x5700. Thus, don't use it!
905 * PXELINUX: Change pathname length max from 63 to 127; change
906 max vkernels from 128 to 64.
907 * Support Ctrl-U -> kill entire command line input.
908 * The "samples" directory contains a (barely at all tested)
909 chain loading example, chain.c32, which may be used to
910 chainload local floppy disks and hard disks. Use with
911 "chain fdN" or "chain hdN [partition]"; N = 0 for the first
915 * MEMDISK: Workaround for BIOSes which go into a snit when
916 they get a RESET command for the floppy system when there is
917 no floppy in the system.
918 * PXELINUX: Add "ipappend 2", which passes the hardware
919 address of the boot interface to the kernel as a
921 * mkdiskimage: fix the generation of the end limit.
922 * PXELINUX: Fix multiple bugs in chainloading of other NBPs.
923 * MEMDISK: Fix bug that would occationally cause "ran out of
924 input data" when using compressed disk images.
925 * SYSLINUX: Updates for the win32 installer (from Lars Munch.)
926 * PXELINUX: PXELINUX-specific options are now recognized both
927 in a vendor-option-space (a.k.a. type 43 encapsulated) as
928 well as in a site-option-space (unencapsulated.)
929 * COM32: Don't crash when DS != 0.
930 * COMBOOT/COM32: Make file reading work correctly. Thanks to
931 Phung Chi Kien for submitting a test program.
934 * ALL: Fix problem that would occationally cause a
935 boot failure, depending on the length of the kernel.
936 * ISOLINUX: Fix problem that would occationally cause a
937 boot failure, depending on the length of directories.
938 * SYSLINUX: Win32 installer now flushes buffers.
939 * ppmtolss16: Be fully compliant with the PNM spec;
940 actually process comments in the header and odd
941 alignments of the various parameters, as well as
942 "plain" (not raw) files and PBM and PGM files.
943 * PXELINUX: Lower the default MTU to 1472 in order to deal
944 with systems with slightly nonstandard MTUs, and PXE
945 stacks which don't defragment correctly. Unfortunately this
946 is very hard to test dynamically.
949 * PXELINUX: Add a default query based on the hardware address
950 of the boot device. This is in lower case hexadecimal form
951 separated by dashes and including the hardware type, for
952 example, the Ethernet (type 1) address 88:99:AA:BB:CC:DD
953 would query the file pxelinux.cfg/01-88-99-aa-bb-cc-dd.
954 * PXELINUX: Fix bug involving non-IP-based config file names.
955 * SYSLINUX: New installer for WinNT-based systems, from Lars
957 * MEMDISK: Fix handling of memory region overlap when
958 decompressing. Thanks to Mikhail Kupchik for identifying
962 * ALL: Reclaim even more low memory by observing that
963 comboot_seg == real_mode_seg is perfectly fine, and by the
964 fact that the 1000h segment managed to get unused in all
966 * PXELINUX: Attempt to negotiate full Ethernet-sized blocks
967 (1468 bytes) using the blksize option.
968 * SYSLINUX: Resurrect the old no-mtools version of the
969 installer, although as a root-only tool. Some distributors
970 have indicated that they need a small standalone installer.
971 * MEMDISK: Fix a memory offset computation error when
972 installing compressed disks which generally would cause
973 1 MB of memory to be wasted.
974 * MEMDISK: Fix installing the E820 memory map. Calling
975 INT 15h AX=0E820h with MEMDISK 2.03 loaded would give a
976 completely corrupt memory map.
977 * SYSLINUX: Make libsyslinux a dynamic library, so that it can
978 be updated separately from client programs. The whole idea,
979 after all, is to enable alternate programs to become
981 * Include an rpm spec file in the distribution, so rpmbuild
985 * Actually support comment lines in the configuration file.
986 * PXELINUX: Try to resolve some problems with stack switches.
987 * PXELINUX: Handle PXE stacks with broken routing.
988 With these workarounds, the remote install PXE boot floppy
989 (rbfg.exe) from Argon Technologies should work correctly.
990 * Fix problems with Perl scripts in UTF-8 locales.
991 * You probably need NASM 0.98.34 or later to compile this
992 version. 0.98.36 is recommended.
993 * MEMDISK: Now supports gzip compressed images.
996 * SYSLINUX: Security flaws have been found in the SYSLINUX
997 installer when running setuid root. Rewrite the SYSLINUX
998 installer so it uses mtools instead. It therefore now
999 requires mtools (specifically mcopy and mattrib) to exist on
1000 your system, but it will not require root privileges and
1001 SHOULD NOT be setuid.
1004 * MEMDISK: Fix memory sizing bug when the ramdisk crosses the
1006 * MEMDISK: Add a "pause" option to stop immediately before
1007 booting, to read off the messages.
1008 * MEMDISK: Support disk images with DOSEMU headers.
1009 * Update the mkdiskimage script to handle newer mtools
1010 versions, and be able to generate disk images with DOSEMU
1011 headers (controlled by the -d option).
1012 * Fix the COM32 sample program.
1013 * PXELINUX, ISOLINUX: Fix some COMBOOT API calls.
1014 * PXELINUX: Doc fix.
1015 * Build SYSLINUX into a small library for encapsulation into
1016 other programs (however, please keep in mind this is a GPL'd
1018 * SYSLINUX: Make installer work with "owner" in /etc/fstab.
1019 * SYSLINUX: Fix issue with working on nonpartitioned hard disk
1020 devices. THIS CONFIGURATION IS NOT RECOMMENDED.
1023 * ALL: Add support for "COM32" (32-bit COMBOOT) images.
1024 * ALL: Add an API for COMBOOT/COM32 images. See comboot.doc
1025 for details. There is a C development environment for
1026 COM32 being created; it should be ready at some point in
1028 * Fix mbr.asm so that it actually works.
1029 * SYSLINUX: The syslinux installer *SHOULD* now be safe to
1031 * PXELINUX: Fix bug where PXELINUX would override random
1032 chunks of the UNDI code segment! Thanks to Kevin Tran for
1034 * ISOLINUX: Fix a bug related to slashes in pathnames.
1035 * ISOLINUX: Fix a bug in handling initrds over 128 MB.
1036 * ALL: Make the <Ctrl-V> key print out the version; this is
1038 * Add a small script, mkdiskimage, to create a DOS-formatted
1039 hard disk image using mtools. This may be useful in
1040 conjunction with MEMDISK.
1041 * ISOLINUX: Search for a /boot/isolinux directory as well as
1043 * ALL: Fix a bug related to very long configuration files.
1044 * PXELINUX: Work around a NASM bug which would result in no
1045 delay before reset if an error occurs.
1048 * ISOLINUX: Remove code no longer used which caused hangs on
1049 some Toshiba laptops.
1052 * ALL: NASM 0.98.32 or later is now required to build
1053 SYSLINUX from sources.
1054 * SYSLINUX: put back in the workaround for the BIOS floppy
1055 table. This seems to be a requirement for "extended" floppy
1056 formats to work correctly.
1057 * SYSLINUX: No longer warn if one is trying to boot on a 286
1058 or older. The above BIOS workaround no longer fits if the
1059 requirement to use only 8086-compatible code in the early
1060 boot is maintained. It made sense in 1994, but in 2002 a
1061 286 or older is a museum object.
1062 * SYSLINUX: Use a downright bizarre, stateful algorithm to try
1063 to guess the maximum transfer size. I am *hoping* this will
1064 cut down on the number of systems for which -s is required
1065 to work at any acceptable speed.
1066 * ISOLINUX: Add a few more workarounds for various broken El
1068 * Make sure .depend files aren't accidentally packed...
1069 * ALL: Fix bugs in the extension-detect code; this caused
1070 files like COMBOOT images and CD boot sectors to be
1071 mis-identified as Linux kernels and rejected.
1072 * ALL: Fix the return from COMBOOT.
1073 * ALL: Do some of the early groundwork for supporting DOS
1074 system calls in COMBOOT.
1075 * Get rid of unnecessary "near" directives, making the code
1077 * PXELINUX: Put the PXE stack back in the init state before
1078 invoking a chain-loaded NBP.
1079 * PXELINUX: Actually found the combination of calls that
1080 allows some (most?) PXE 2+ stacks to be unloaded from memory
1082 * PXELINUX: Add "keeppxe" command-line option to disable
1083 the standard unloading of the PXE stack.
1086 * SYSLINUX: fix bug that would cause valid kernel images to be
1090 * Work on removing gratuitous differences between modules.
1091 * Break up the source in common and module-specific files.
1092 * PXELINUX: Allow chaining of other PXE NBPs.
1093 * ISOLINUX: Allow loading "CD-ROM boot sectors".
1094 * ALL: generalize the definition of a boot sector/NBP.
1097 * PXELINUX, ISOLINUX: Fix bugs in the new core code.
1100 * Fix a "brown paper bag" class bug in the new core code.
1103 * Major code restructuring.
1104 * Relax the conventional memory limits somewhat.
1105 * MEMDISK: Set up the "version number string" pointer in the
1107 * SYSLINUX: Fix, again, "the bug that won't die": the use of
1108 the offset parameter with the SYSLINUX installer.
1109 * SYSLINUX: Fix possible superblock corruption problem in the
1113 * Handle bug in the location of initrd.
1116 * MEMDISK: Make compile with newer versions of gcc.
1119 * ISOLINUX: Support booting disk image files (to boot DOS or
1120 other non-Linux operating systems), *IF* the BIOS works
1121 correctly; unfortunately many BIOSes apparently don't.
1122 * Support Linux boot protocol version 2.03 (explicitly
1123 specify the initrd address limit.)
1124 * Handle small "pseudo-kernels"; images that use the Linux
1125 kernel boot protocols but are less than 64K in size.
1126 * MEMDISK: New subsystem; this is a driver which allows
1127 legacy OSes to boot using an in-memory simulated disk.
1128 See memdisk/memdisk.doc for more info.
1129 * PXELINUX, ISOLINUX: Correctly handle files larger than 65535
1130 blocks (32 MB for PXELINUX, 128 MB for ISOLINUX.)
1131 * PXELINUX: Make a best-effort attempt at freeing all memory
1132 claimed. From the looks of it, it will fail on most PXE
1136 * Limited support for hardware flow control when using a
1137 serial port console.
1138 * Support specifying the serial port I/O address explicitly.
1139 * Make DOS installer hopefully behave more nicely when used on
1140 recent Windows versions.
1141 * Fix returning to text mode when a font has been specified.
1142 * Attempt to detect missing serial port hardware and disable
1143 the serial port if there is nothing there.
1146 * Make the ppmtolss16 program handle color conversion more
1148 * Clean up "make install" target, honour INSTALLROOT if it
1150 * SYSLINUX: Fix stack-smash bug identified by Steffen
1152 * Hopefully fix return-to-text-mode on some graphics cards.
1153 * ISOLINUX: Bug workaround for Award BIOS 4.51, and perhaps
1154 other buggy BIOSes as well.
1157 * PXELINUX: Allow the DHCP server to override the
1158 configuration file name and pathname prefix, using
1159 "site-specific" DHCP options.
1160 * PXELINUX: Documentation fixes.
1161 * PXELINUX: Fix the "ipappend" option; the last two values
1162 were reversed vs. what the kernel expected.
1163 * Introduce a way to return to text mode once we are already
1164 in graphics mode. This may be useful for F-key help
1166 * Fix several bugs in the way return to text mode was handled.
1169 * ISOLINUX: Support full pathname searches. Max length for a
1170 pathname is 255 characters. As a result, only 64 "label"
1171 statements are supported in ISOLINUX.
1172 * PXELINUX: Max filename length extended to 63 characters.
1175 * Add support for graphical splash screens.
1176 * Add mode control characters, which allows you to control
1177 message display output depending on output mode (text,
1178 graphics, or serial port.)
1179 * ISOLINUX: New program, which boots Linux from a CD-ROM
1180 without using floppy emulation mode. See isolinux.doc for
1182 * PXELINUX: Don't search for boot sector file types, since
1183 they don't work anyway.
1184 * SYSLINUX: Document the LOCK command for Win9x, and the error
1185 dialog box for WinNT/2K.
1188 * PXELINUX: Fix code for finding !PXE from PXENV+. This was
1189 due to a spec bug; match the most recent spec since that
1190 seems to be what implementations actually do.
1191 * SYSLINUX: Add some smarts to the boot sector, which
1192 hopefully should reduce the number of systems which require
1193 stupid mode ("syslinux -s").
1194 * PXELINUX: Document further some of the pathologies with old
1196 * When specifying a "default" command line, no longer
1197 automatically appent "auto". See the "DEFAULT" command in
1198 syslinux.doc for more information.
1199 * PXELINUX: Clean up the allocation of local socket numbers.
1202 * PXELINUX: Rename pxelinux.bin to pxelinux.0, to match what
1203 most PXE servers seem to expect.
1204 * PXELINUX: Update the DHCP/boot server setup documentation.
1205 * PXELINUX: Support new "localboot" option for "label"
1207 * PXELINUX: More robust parsing of DHCP/boot server packets.
1208 * PXELINUX: Include a small utility program "gethostip" to
1209 compute hexadecimal IP addresses.
1212 * PXELINUX: Fix bugs introduced by new A20 code. (SYSLINUX
1213 has also been changed for code consistency reasons, but I'm
1214 pretty sure the changes are don't care on SYSLINUX.)
1215 * Documentation updates.
1216 * PXELINUX: Add "ipappend" option to generate an ip= option to
1220 * PXELINUX: Not all PXE stacks fill in the IP address for a
1221 type 3 cached info query. Use a type 2 cached info query
1222 for this information (only.)
1223 * Yet another attempt at A20 coding. Now support BIOS call
1224 15:2401 as well, and handle machines which always have A20
1226 * Support memory detection using INT 15h, AX=0E820h. BIOS
1227 manufacturers have apparently gotten sloppy about keeping
1228 INT 15h, AX=0E801h working properly.
1229 * Don't issue <CR><LF> onto the serial port when we're doing
1233 * Yet another A20-code update. It seems some "legacy-free"
1234 machines and embedded gear simply don't have a KBC to talk
1235 to, and that waiting for one will wait forever. Sigh.
1238 * SYSLINUX: Implement a hack for BIOS drivers which hog significant
1239 chunks of low memory during boot. (Note: PXELINUX already
1240 had this modification. SYSLINUX does still require that the
1241 low 512K is available; PXELINUX requires 384K. Machines
1242 with a physical memory hole in the low 640K cannot boot
1243 Linux no matter what.) Depending what the reason is for the
1244 memory hole, a new kernel (2.4.0-test3-pre3 or later) may be
1246 * SYSLINUX: Default installer binary now compiled against
1247 glibc 2.1. If this is inappropriate for your system and you
1248 still want to use the offical version of SYSLINUX, please
1249 follow the instructions in "distrib.doc" to rebuild the
1251 * SYSLINUX: Linux installer program now supports -o <offset>
1252 option which does a loopback mount with the
1253 -o loop,offset=<> option. Useful to run SYSLINUX on an
1254 individual partition of a whole-harddisk image.
1255 * Include the source code to a Master Boot Record (MBR)
1256 functionally equivalent to the one installed DOS except it
1257 includes EBIOS support, and should be resistant to geometry
1258 changes. The MBR code is public domain.
1259 * PXELINUX: Fix "double p" bug: if the tftp prefix was null,
1260 all filenames would get a "p" preprended, e.g.
1261 "ppxelinux.cfg" and "pvmlinux".
1264 * PXELINUX: Workaround for PXE ROMs based on the Intel PXE PDK
1265 3.0 build 071 and earlier: missing !PXE structure pointer.
1266 * PXELINUX: Handle larger BOOTP/DHCP packages.
1267 * PXELINUX: The command line passing was broken; fix.
1268 * PXELINUX: Make COMBOOT images work.
1269 * PXELINUX: Documentation on how to make booting work using
1270 the PDK 3.0-derived clients, which aren't so generous as to
1271 allow booting with only "PXEClient" specified.
1274 * PXELINUX: RFC 1123 states that a TFTP implementation MUST
1275 use adaptive timeout, "at least an exponential backoff of
1276 retransmission timeout is necessary." Implement a very
1277 simple exponential backoff for retransmits.
1278 * PXELINUX: Updated documentation, including pointer to new
1280 * PXELINUX: When sending ERROR due to bad OACK, use the proper
1281 destination port number (why are TFTP port numbers so odd?)
1282 * PXELINUX: If the boot dies in the middle somewhere,
1283 eventually give up and reset the machine (unattended
1287 * New program PXELINUX to do network booting using a
1288 PXE-compliant (Pre-Execution Environment) network booting
1289 PROM. See pxelinux.doc for details.
1292 * Serial console support. See syslinux.doc for details.
1295 * Change HIGHMEM_MAX to 38000000h to (hopefully) avoid the
1296 kernel stepping on it; 3f000000h was apparently a higher
1297 limit than the kernel used!
1300 * Add sys2ansi.pl script to display the contents of a
1301 colorized SYSLINUX file.
1302 * Changed the io_delay once again, after a report that the
1303 old delay port causes hangs on some systems.
1306 * Frob the "fast A20 gate" port as well as the keyboard
1307 controller; will this help systems with problems?
1308 * Be even more paranoid about A20, unfortunately even this
1309 seems to be not paranoid enough... what I don't understand
1310 is that if there is hardware out there *this broken*, how
1311 can it run Linux at all? Report an error message rather
1312 than hang forever if A20 is stuck.
1313 * Include some intermediate files in the distribution, plus
1314 provide a "make installer" target for distributors to relink
1315 the install programs only. I would prefer the syslinux boot
1316 loader proper to be "binary clean" for debuggablity -- use
1317 "make clean ; make installer" to rebuild the installers only.
1320 * Don't get confused by directories, volume labels, or VFAT
1322 * Use INT 15h, AX=0E801h to query memory size before trying
1323 INT 15h, AH=88h. This not only provides more headroom
1324 between the kernel and the initrd on large-memory machines,
1325 but it appears some recent BIOSes actually have started
1326 returning garbage for the AH=88h (older) call.
1327 * Trust high memory beyond the 15 MB mark if the user has
1328 specified it, or if obtained with INT 15h, AH=0E801h (with
1329 no memory holes above 1 MB.)
1332 * Increase A20M delay and put in a test to avoid problems on
1333 certain IBM Thinkpads (thanks to Donnie Barnes of RedHat
1334 for vital info on this one.)
1335 * Support COMBOOT style boot command images.
1336 * Support chain loading (foreign operating systems, e.g. DOS).
1337 * Include a new "copybs" DOS utility to copy a boot sector to
1338 a file (under Linux, use "dd".)
1339 * Fix the DOS installer to work for disks over 32 MB.
1340 * SYSLINUX should now handle disks with more than 65536 tracks.
1343 * Fix a bug that caused "label" statements in syslinux.cfg to
1344 not be handled properly.
1345 * Updated the documentation. Among other things, we now allow
1346 up to 128 "label" statements.
1349 * Fix for booting old (pre-initrd) kernels.
1350 * It seems at least some versions of OS/2 doesn't set up all
1351 the fields in the superblock correctly. Account for that.
1352 * Fix bug that caused boot failure when using the mem= option.
1355 * Loading from partitions now should work properly. (Actually
1356 tested, this time. You should even be able to dd a floppy
1357 to a partition and boot from it.)
1358 * Removed large workaround code for an alleged ancient BIOS
1359 bug I have never actually seen. The -s option should work
1360 on those machines, anyway.
1361 * Support for simple keyboard remappings, same as used by
1362 LILO (once again to support localization.) The program
1363 keytab-lilo.pl from the LILO distribution included to
1365 * Added a "safe, slow and stupid" (-s) option to the
1366 installers. This option will lobotomize the boot sector to
1367 hopefully work on even very buggy BIOSes.
1370 * Ability to load a VGA font on bootup (for localized Linux
1374 * Bug fix in the Linux installer.
1375 * Added a workaround for a bug in certain AMI/Intel BIOSes
1376 when booting from CD-ROM.
1377 * Documentation changes.
1380 * FAT16 filesystems are now supported.
1383 * Now compiles under Linux, using NASM, rather than using
1384 Turbo Assembler under DOS. See http://www.cryogen.com/Nasm
1385 for information about NASM.
1386 * Linux-hosted SYSLINUX installer, as well as a
1387 rewritten DOS installer (now is written in assembler, so we
1388 don't need Turbo C.)
1391 * Added support for loading bzImage and initrd loading, and made
1392 SYSLINUX new-setup-code aware (SYSLINUX 1.30 id=0x31).
1393 * Added LILO-style kernel labels; see the LABEL and IMPLICIT
1394 keywords in README file.
1395 * Added support for colorization of intro and help screens.
1396 * The vga= option is now handled correctly.
1397 * Massive rewrite of large chunks of the code in order to
1398 support the first two new features.
1401 * Added simple online help at the "boot:" prompt.
1402 * Removed 2880K image as I no longer have access to such a
1403 floppy drive. (Donations accepted!!)
1404 * Decided to distribute the source in a subdirectory rather
1405 than in a nested zipfile.
1408 * Removed a sanity check which would cause booting to fail on
1409 Phoenix BIOS version 4.03. Apparently this BIOS is buggy.
1412 * Added configuration file SYSLINUX.CFG. This file contains all
1413 configurable options, and can be edited from any OS which can
1414 access an MS-DOS filesystem; there is no longer a need to run
1415 SYSLINUX.EXE except to write the boot sector.
1416 * Default command line now given by "default" line in config
1418 * LINUXMSG.TXT and BOOTMSG.TXT hard-coded file names replaced by
1419 "display" and "prompt" lines in config file.
1420 * LILO-style option appending now supported ("append" line in
1422 * Prompt timeout is now supported ("timeout" line in config
1423 file). The timeout is cancelled when anything is typed on the
1425 * Pressing <ESC> or <Ctrl-C> at the Loading... stage now aborts
1426 the kernel loading in progress and returns the user to the
1428 * The installer now automatically sets the READONLY flag on
1430 * Added 2880K disk image.
1433 * Fixed bug that would prevent booting from double-density
1434 floppies and other DOS filesystems with multiple sectors per
1436 * Added 720K disk image.
1437 * Changed default kernel name on disk images to LINUX.
1440 * Fixed bug that would garble the command line on recent kernels
1441 with more than 4 sectors of setup code (this wasn't really a
1442 *bug*; rather, a kernel change broke the code. Unfortunately
1443 the Linux boot interface is still sorely undocumented).
1444 * Added BOOTMSG.TXT file support (message file which does not
1445 force display of the boot prompt).
1448 * Fixed bug on some (most?) 386 BIOSes would require two boot
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