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.
22 * EXTLINUX: Fix failure to find the configuration file.
25 * New keywords allow the type of file to be specified in the
27 * It is now supported to load a different configuration file
28 with the CONFIG keyword.
29 * Fix API call 0x0019 (Read Disk.)
30 * MENU AUTOBOOT, MENU TABMSG, MENU PASSPROMPT allows
31 internationalization of menu messages.
32 * A new feature, TEXT HELP, allows the administrator to set
33 a multi-line help message for individual selections.
34 * Fix API call 0x0012 (Cleanup, shuffle and boot.)
35 * New API call "Cleanup, shuffle and boot to flat protected mode"
36 * New API call "Cleanup, shuffle and boot to real mode",
37 similar to API call 0x0012 but allows arbitrary register setting.
38 * Introduce a library interface for loading arbitrary binary
39 formats with relatively easily understood code. See
40 the elf.c32 module for an example on how to use it.
41 * New module "elf.c32", to load a protected-mode ELF kernel.
42 * MBR (old and new): Fix bug in CHS mode when LBA >
44 * vesamenu: fix decoding of palettized PNG images.
45 * Update the Linux kernel boot protocol.
46 * PXELINUX: Press Ctrl-N at the boot prompt to read out the
48 * Instead of the (non-existent) MAC, use the client identifier
49 for networks like Infiniband and Firewire/1394.
50 * Add a new INCLUDE command to the core syslinux parser.
51 * Allow binding help text to F11 and F12.
52 * F-key help now available in the simple menu system.
53 * Disabled the polling for ARP during idle. It is simply too
54 slow on some (broken!) PXE stacks.
55 * PXELINUX: also try to fetch the config file based on UUID.
56 * SYSLINUX/EXTLINUX: New RAID mode (-r) which calls the BIOS
57 to load the next device (typically the next drive) on boot
61 * MEMDISK: Disable EDD by default on floppy disks. EDD can be
62 enabled with the "edd" option and disabled with "noedd".
63 This (hopefully) should make Ghost work again.
64 * SYSLINUX: "unix" installer now uses Linux ioctls instead of
66 * New MBR which can boot from logical partitions.
67 * SYSLINUX: Fix bug in detecting special extensions which was
69 * PXELINUX: Unbreak chainbooting FreeBSD (and possibly others.)
72 * MEMDISK: New "safeint" mode.
73 * MEMDISK: Be more compliant with the PnP BIOS spec.
74 * MEMDISK: Turn on EDD support by default.
75 * MEMDISK: Try to work on some machines on which it would not
76 work when there was no floppy drive in the system.
77 * Simple menu system: fix serial console support (broken in
79 * SYSLINUX: Support subdirectories. Like ISOLINUX, the
80 "current directory" is the directory in which syslinux.cfg
81 is found; this is searched for in the sequence
82 /boot/syslinux, /syslinux, /. As a side benefit, label names
83 like "linux-2.6.18" and "linux-2.6.19" are now supported.
85 To install ldlinux.sys in a subdirectory, pass the -d
86 directory option to the SYSLINUX installer.
88 This work was sponsored by slax.org (thanks, Tomas!)
89 * New API call: read disk.
90 * Invoke ONERROR on initrd load failure.
93 * The simple menu system (menu.c32 and vesamenu.c32) now
94 support loading more than one configuration file at a time,
95 using MENU INCLUDE or by specifying multiple filenames.
96 * The MENU COLOR statement can now control the shadowing mode.
99 * libcom32 extended to support graphics mode and graphical console.
100 * vesamenu.c32, new graphical version of the Simple
101 Menu System, see README.menu.
102 * New com32 modules by Erwan Velu do selection based on CPUID
103 or PCI devices present.
104 * RPM spec: add syslinux-tftpboot module; move syslinux by
105 default to the /usr/share/syslinux directory.
106 * RPM spec: extlinux is now a separate package.
109 * EXTLINUX: New options --install (-i) and --update (-U), to
110 make it clear if a boot loader should be installed or
111 updated. For now, defaults to --install for compatibility;
112 a future version will require one of these options.
113 * New library functions to load and place files in memory.
114 * mboot.c32 bug fixes.
115 * Remove 8 MB kernel size restriction.
116 * Add "klibc" target for building unix/syslinux and
117 extlinux/extlinux with klcc (klibc-1.4.27 or later.)
118 * PXELINUX: Fail (and eventually reboot) if no configuration
120 * COM32 module by Erwan Velu to make decisions based on DMI
122 * Fix issue where going back and forth between menus a lot
124 * ISOLINUX: Fix bug which made "cd boot sectors" not work.
127 * MEMDISK: Fix bug by which accessing the real floppy disk
128 as B: in MS-DOS was broken.
129 * Simple menu system: allow tweaking of the screen layout.
130 * Simple menu system: better command-line editing, correctly
131 handle command lines above 256 characters.
132 * PXELINUX: revert memory allocation change that caused
133 problems on some network cards.
134 * MEMDISK: Try work around a bug on some BIOSes when no
135 physical floppy disk is present in the system.
136 * Enable the 16550A FIFOs, if present, when doing serial
138 * New "totaltimeout" command establishes a timeout without
139 regard for any user input.
140 * Simple menu system: timeout behaviour now more in line with
142 * Simple menu system: "ontimeout" should now work correctly.
145 * gcc 4.0.1 compilation fixes.
146 * Add support for querying the PCI BIOS in libcom32
147 (used by ethersel et al.)
148 * Fix PCI handing (ethersel etc) on several old chipsets (and
150 * Try to deal with systems with broken EBIOS.
151 * New API call to do "localboot".
152 * New API call to query features.
153 * New API call to run kernel image, a lower-level call than
154 "run command". See comboot.doc.
155 * Fix for bug in EBIOS code discovered by Arwin Vosselman.
156 * NOESCAPE security fix.
157 * Comments are now recognized even without a space following #.
158 * Fix incorrect handling of mixes of entries with and without
160 * The idle API call now harmlessly returns failure if it is a
161 no-op. That way the caller can decide whether or not to
162 bother invoking it again.
163 * Temporarily disable the idle API call on PXELINUX, due to
164 some platforms on which the idle API call seems to hang; this
165 problem has not yet been debugged.
166 * MEMDISK: the handling of DOSEMU-headered images was broken;
168 * EXTLINUX: symlinks are now supported.
169 * Simple menu system: N and P now work correctly as hotkeys.
170 * MEMDISK: more BIOS bug workarounds.
173 * gcc4 compilation fix.
174 * <BEL> (Ctrl-G) in message files now causes a beep.
175 * Reduce the command line to 511 characters; 1023 caused
179 * SYSLINUX: Fix performance regression (-s mode always
181 * Add API function for idle loop.
182 * libutil: Add do_idle() function for idle loop, make
184 * libutil: Add SHA-1 and base64 functions.
185 * Simple menu system: add password support.
186 * EXTLINUX: Sparse files now handled correctly.
187 * EXTLINUX: Large directories now handled correctly.
188 * ALL: At the prompt, Ctrl-X now forces text mode.
189 * Fix configuration file parsing error, that could cause
191 * Rewritten advanced menuing system from Murali Ganapathy.
192 * MEMDISK: New "bigraw" mode to work around certain broken
194 * COM32 module to boot Multiboot systems, including Xen. See
195 com32/modules/mboot.doc.
196 * Max command line changed to 1023 characters. Note that the
197 kernel proper still can only handle 255 characters without
198 patching, and COM16 binaries can only handle 125 characters.
201 * Fix chainloading (chain.c32).
202 * Fix zlib build problem.
203 * Use a private copy of <linux/ext2_fs.h>.
206 * Fix typo that caused the ramdisk to load in the wrong place.
209 * New API function "shuffle and boot"; allows COM32 modules to
210 load or construct (almost) arbitrarily complex objects,
211 e.g. a kernel and its initrd/initramfs in pieces, and have
212 the API core reorganize memory for booting. (A library API
213 for this function will be introduced in a later version.)
214 * The initrd= option now supports multiple filenames separated
215 by commas. This is mostly useful for initramfs, which can
216 be composed of multiple separate cpio or cpio.gz archives.
217 (Note: all files except the last one are zero-padded to a 4K
218 page boundary. This should not affect initramfs.)
219 * EXTLINUX: Fix API function 000Ah (get derivative-specific
221 * libcom32/ethersel: Support PCI Config Mechanism #2 on
222 machines still infested with that hideous old hack.
223 * SYSLINUX: Fix directory-parsing bug.
226 * SYSLINUX: The "unix" installer now sets the MS-DOS
227 attributes (hidden, system, readonly.)
228 * COM32 library: build the .lnx (test modules for running
229 under Linux) as architecture native modules, in case
230 i386 devel libraries aren't installed.
231 * EXTLINUX: Hack for systems which don't have BLKGETSIZE64
232 defined in the standard header files.
233 * Simple menu system: minor aestetic improvements, and try to
234 work better over a serial console (speed, and readability on
235 monochrome terminal emulators.)
236 * New CONSOLE directive to control output on the video console
237 (useful for dealing with some broken serial-forwarding
239 * New com32 module "ethersel" for searching for an Ethernet
240 card and selecting the proper version of Etherboot.
241 * EXTLINUX: Allow the user to override the detected geometry.
245 * EXTLINUX, SYSLINUX: Fix compile errors on some systems.
246 * EXTLINUX: Default to zipdrive geometry (64 heads, 32
247 sectors) if no other geometry can be detected.
250 * SYSLINUX: Support FAT32 and EDD. As an unfortunate
251 consequence, LDLINUX.SYS is no longer an ordinary file; it
252 is block-mapped at install time, which means it can only be
253 written using the syslinux installers.
254 * SYSLINUX: Reorganize the source code for the installers;
255 each one of the installers (dos, win32, unix, mtools) is now
256 built in its own subdirectory. In particular, "mtools" is
257 the unprivileged installer which uses mtools; "unix" is the
258 privileged installer which uses system calls.
259 * SYSLINUX: Completely rewritten DOS installer in C.
260 * ALL: "label" statement information is now stored in a
261 compressed format, which means that a lot more labels are
262 permitted (500-1000 in a typical configuration, but depends
264 * EXTLINUX: New derivative, which boots from an ext2/ext3
266 * SYSLINUX: The DOS and Win32 installers can now optionally
267 write the boot sector to a file instead of the real boot
268 sector. This is not supported in the Linux installers,
270 * ALL: New NOESCAPE command, disables the "hold down the Shift
271 key to display the prompt" behaviour.
272 * New simple menu system, as an alternative to the advanced
273 menu system already present. See README.menu for details.
274 * PXELINUX: Filenames can now be prefixed with an IP address
275 or DNS name plus :: (e.g. 192.0.2.1::filename or
276 server.domain.com::filename), which downloads a file from an
277 alternate TFTP server, or just a :: (e.g. ::filename), which
278 suppresses the common pathname prefix. See pxelinux.doc.
279 * SYSLINUX: Add an -m option to the DOS and Win32 installers
280 to write an MBR and -a to mark the partition SYSLINUX is
281 being installed on active.
282 * MEMDISK: Give a way to query the boot loader type while
283 running MEMDISK; see memdisk/memdisk.doc and
285 * mkdiskimage: substantially improved mkdiskimage which, among
286 other things, can now be used to initialize USB keys as
287 zipdrives; see README.usbkey for more information.
290 * MEMDISK: Fix command-line parsing "brown paper bag" class
292 * MEMDISK: Add "raw" mode to support the DOS boot disk from
293 WinME/XP, which seems to deliberately crash the system
294 when someone uses the "INT 15h mover" highmem API.
295 * Make "make install" do something sane for the com32
296 development environment.
297 * In the spec file, create a separate -devel RPM for the com32
298 development environment.
301 * Simple C library, based on klibc, for writing COM32
303 * Fix the handling of file length in loading of COM32
305 * MEMDISK: Work around a linker bug by rearranging the code to
306 not use the linker for the 16-bit code.
307 * SYSLINUX: If we're building on a machine without a Win32
308 (mingw) compiler, just skip building syslinux.exe.
309 * ISOLINUX: Support non-mkisofs mastering programs, at least
310 as long as the image is single-session. For best results,
311 ISOLINUX should be the only boot loader installed.
312 * MEMDISK: Allow the user to specify that the simulated disk
313 should be write-protected.
316 * ALL: Add an API call to get the configuration file name.
317 * SYSLINUX: Fix bug in 2.10 that prevented it from working
318 correctly for a lot of people.
319 * SYSLINUX: In the installer, make mtools a bit less fussy.
320 * Make the menu system compile with newer gcc's.
323 * MEMDISK: Handle images compressed with zip as well as with
324 gzip. Some Windows-based image tools apparently generate
325 these kinds of images by default. Patch by Patrick
327 * Major menu improvement from Murali Ganapathy.
328 * ISOLINUX: Wonderfully sick and brilliant workaround for
329 severe bugs in certain Award BIOSes; from Knut Petersen.
330 * SYSLINUX: Fix for the nomtools installed, from Frederic
332 * PXELINUX: Fix handling of IP numbers in the ranges
334 * ALL: New option "allowoptions" (defaults to 1), which
335 controls if options are allowed on the command line or not.
336 * SYSLINUX: Support building under klibc (see the klibc
337 distribution for details.)
340 * SYSLINUX: Remove residual setuid crap from
342 * Handle video pages correctly when using the API functions.
343 * Handle compiling on an x86-64 platform correctly.
344 * Menu system from Murali Krishnan Ganapathy; see the menu
345 directory for information.
346 * COMBOOT: Allow COMBOOT programs to change screen text mode.
347 * COMBOOT: Correct the documentation of how to detect
348 SYSLINUX from COMBOOT!!!!
349 * COMBOOT: Fix "get key without echo" API function.
350 * SYSLINUX: Fix bug that affected the API open function.
351 * ALL: Improve the E820 memory parser, to work around some
355 * Add new configuration command "ontimeout" to allow timeout
356 to have a different action than just pressing Enter.
357 * Add new configuration command "onerror" to allow a custom
358 command to be executed in case the kernel image is not found.
359 * Fix bugs in the COMBOOT/COM32 command-line parsing. APPEND
360 now works with COMBOOT/COM32 images.
361 * PXELINUX: Poll for ARP requests while sitting at the
362 prompt. This makes some boot servers a lot less unhappy.
363 * PXELINUX: Actually free sockets when we get a failure
364 (including file not found.) This bug would cause us to run
365 out of sockets and thus "go deaf" after a while.
366 * MEMDISK: Add an API to query for the existence of MEMDISK.
367 * SYSLINUX: Fix loading boot sectors (.bs/.bss) from floppy
369 * .c32 is now one of the extensions searched for
371 * PXELINUX: RFBG.exe seems to randomly overwrite memory
372 location 0x5700. Thus, don't use it!
373 * PXELINUX: Change pathname length max from 63 to 127; change
374 max vkernels from 128 to 64.
375 * Support Ctrl-U -> kill entire command line input.
376 * The "samples" directory contains a (barely at all tested)
377 chain loading example, chain.c32, which may be used to
378 chainload local floppy disks and hard disks. Use with
379 "chain fdN" or "chain hdN [partition]"; N = 0 for the first
383 * MEMDISK: Workaround for BIOSes which go into a snit when
384 they get a RESET command for the floppy system when there is
385 no floppy in the system.
386 * PXELINUX: Add "ipappend 2", which passes the hardware
387 address of the boot interface to the kernel as a
389 * mkdiskimage: fix the generation of the end limit.
390 * PXELINUX: Fix multiple bugs in chainloading of other NBPs.
391 * MEMDISK: Fix bug that would occationally cause "ran out of
392 input data" when using compressed disk images.
393 * SYSLINUX: Updates for the win32 installer (from Lars Munch.)
394 * PXELINUX: PXELINUX-specific options are now recognized both
395 in a vendor-option-space (a.k.a. type 43 encapsulated) as
396 well as in a site-option-space (unencapsulated.)
397 * COM32: Don't crash when DS != 0.
398 * COMBOOT/COM32: Make file reading work correctly. Thanks to
399 Phung Chi Kien for submitting a test program.
402 * ALL: Fix problem that would occationally cause a
403 boot failure, depending on the length of the kernel.
404 * ISOLINUX: Fix problem that would occationally cause a
405 boot failure, depending on the length of directories.
406 * SYSLINUX: Win32 installer now flushes buffers.
407 * ppmtolss16: Be fully compliant with the PNM spec;
408 actually process comments in the header and odd
409 alignments of the various parameters, as well as
410 "plain" (not raw) files and PBM and PGM files.
411 * PXELINUX: Lower the default MTU to 1472 in order to deal
412 with systems with slightly nonstandard MTUs, and PXE
413 stacks which don't defragment correctly. Unfortunately this
414 is very hard to test dynamically.
417 * PXELINUX: Add a default query based on the hardware address
418 of the boot device. This is in lower case hexadecimal form
419 separated by dashes and including the hardware type, for
420 example, the Ethernet (type 1) address 88:99:AA:BB:CC:DD
421 would query the file pxelinux.cfg/01-88-99-aa-bb-cc-dd.
422 * PXELINUX: Fix bug involving non-IP-based config file names.
423 * SYSLINUX: New installer for WinNT-based systems, from Lars
425 * MEMDISK: Fix handling of memory region overlap when
426 decompressing. Thanks to Mikhail Kupchik for identifying
430 * ALL: Reclaim even more low memory by observing that
431 comboot_seg == real_mode_seg is perfectly fine, and by the
432 fact that the 1000h segment managed to get unused in all
434 * PXELINUX: Attempt to negotiate full Ethernet-sized blocks
435 (1468 bytes) using the blksize option.
436 * SYSLINUX: Resurrect the old no-mtools version of the
437 installer, although as a root-only tool. Some distributors
438 have indicated that they need a small standalone installer.
439 * MEMDISK: Fix a memory offset computation error when
440 installing compressed disks which generally would cause
441 1 MB of memory to be wasted.
442 * MEMDISK: Fix installing the E820 memory map. Calling
443 INT 15h AX=0E820h with MEMDISK 2.03 loaded would give a
444 completely corrupt memory map.
445 * SYSLINUX: Make libsyslinux a dynamic library, so that it can
446 be updated separately from client programs. The whole idea,
447 after all, is to enable alternate programs to become
449 * Include an rpm spec file in the distribution, so rpmbuild
453 * Actually support comment lines in the configuration file.
454 * PXELINUX: Try to resolve some problems with stack switches.
455 * PXELINUX: Handle PXE stacks with broken routing.
456 With these workarounds, the remote install PXE boot floppy
457 (rbfg.exe) from Argon Technologies should work correctly.
458 * Fix problems with Perl scripts in UTF-8 locales.
459 * You probably need NASM 0.98.34 or later to compile this
460 version. 0.98.36 is recommended.
461 * MEMDISK: Now supports gzip compressed images.
464 * SYSLINUX: Security flaws have been found in the SYSLINUX
465 installer when running setuid root. Rewrite the SYSLINUX
466 installer so it uses mtools instead. It therefore now
467 requires mtools (specifically mcopy and mattrib) to exist on
468 your system, but it will not require root privileges and
469 SHOULD NOT be setuid.
472 * MEMDISK: Fix memory sizing bug when the ramdisk crosses the
474 * MEMDISK: Add a "pause" option to stop immediately before
475 booting, to read off the messages.
476 * MEMDISK: Support disk images with DOSEMU headers.
477 * Update the mkdiskimage script to handle newer mtools
478 versions, and be able to generate disk images with DOSEMU
479 headers (controlled by the -d option).
480 * Fix the COM32 sample program.
481 * PXELINUX, ISOLINUX: Fix some COMBOOT API calls.
483 * Build SYSLINUX into a small library for encapsulation into
484 other programs (however, please keep in mind this is a GPL'd
486 * SYSLINUX: Make installer work with "owner" in /etc/fstab.
487 * SYSLINUX: Fix issue with working on nonpartitioned hard disk
488 devices. THIS CONFIGURATION IS NOT RECOMMENDED.
491 * ALL: Add support for "COM32" (32-bit COMBOOT) images.
492 * ALL: Add an API for COMBOOT/COM32 images. See comboot.doc
493 for details. There is a C development environment for
494 COM32 being created; it should be ready at some point in
496 * Fix mbr.asm so that it actually works.
497 * SYSLINUX: The syslinux installer *SHOULD* now be safe to
499 * PXELINUX: Fix bug where PXELINUX would override random
500 chunks of the UNDI code segment! Thanks to Kevin Tran for
502 * ISOLINUX: Fix a bug related to slashes in pathnames.
503 * ISOLINUX: Fix a bug in handling initrds over 128 MB.
504 * ALL: Make the <Ctrl-V> key print out the version; this is
506 * Add a small script, mkdiskimage, to create a DOS-formatted
507 hard disk image using mtools. This may be useful in
508 conjunction with MEMDISK.
509 * ISOLINUX: Search for a /boot/isolinux directory as well as
511 * ALL: Fix a bug related to very long configuration files.
512 * PXELINUX: Work around a NASM bug which would result in no
513 delay before reset if an error occurs.
516 * ISOLINUX: Remove code no longer used which caused hangs on
517 some Toshiba laptops.
520 * ALL: NASM 0.98.32 or later is now required to build
521 SYSLINUX from sources.
522 * SYSLINUX: put back in the workaround for the BIOS floppy
523 table. This seems to be a requirement for "extended" floppy
524 formats to work correctly.
525 * SYSLINUX: No longer warn if one is trying to boot on a 286
526 or older. The above BIOS workaround no longer fits if the
527 requirement to use only 8086-compatible code in the early
528 boot is maintained. It made sense in 1994, but in 2002 a
529 286 or older is a museum object.
530 * SYSLINUX: Use a downright bizarre, stateful algorithm to try
531 to guess the maximum transfer size. I am *hoping* this will
532 cut down on the number of systems for which -s is required
533 to work at any acceptable speed.
534 * ISOLINUX: Add a few more workarounds for various broken El
536 * Make sure .depend files aren't accidentally packed...
537 * ALL: Fix bugs in the extension-detect code; this caused
538 files like COMBOOT images and CD boot sectors to be
539 mis-identified as Linux kernels and rejected.
540 * ALL: Fix the return from COMBOOT.
541 * ALL: Do some of the early groundwork for supporting DOS
542 system calls in COMBOOT.
543 * Get rid of unnecessary "near" directives, making the code
545 * PXELINUX: Put the PXE stack back in the init state before
546 invoking a chain-loaded NBP.
547 * PXELINUX: Actually found the combination of calls that
548 allows some (most?) PXE 2+ stacks to be unloaded from memory
550 * PXELINUX: Add "keeppxe" command-line option to disable
551 the standard unloading of the PXE stack.
554 * SYSLINUX: fix bug that would cause valid kernel images to be
558 * Work on removing gratuitous differences between modules.
559 * Break up the source in common and module-specific files.
560 * PXELINUX: Allow chaining of other PXE NBPs.
561 * ISOLINUX: Allow loading "CD-ROM boot sectors".
562 * ALL: generalize the definition of a boot sector/NBP.
565 * PXELINUX, ISOLINUX: Fix bugs in the new core code.
568 * Fix a "brown paper bag" class bug in the new core code.
571 * Major code restructuring.
572 * Relax the conventional memory limits somewhat.
573 * MEMDISK: Set up the "version number string" pointer in the
575 * SYSLINUX: Fix, again, "the bug that won't die": the use of
576 the offset parameter with the SYSLINUX installer.
577 * SYSLINUX: Fix possible superblock corruption problem in the
581 * Handle bug in the location of initrd.
584 * MEMDISK: Make compile with newer versions of gcc.
587 * ISOLINUX: Support booting disk image files (to boot DOS or
588 other non-Linux operating systems), *IF* the BIOS works
589 correctly; unfortunately many BIOSes apparently don't.
590 * Support Linux boot protocol version 2.03 (explicitly
591 specify the initrd address limit.)
592 * Handle small "pseudo-kernels"; images that use the Linux
593 kernel boot protocols but are less than 64K in size.
594 * MEMDISK: New subsystem; this is a driver which allows
595 legacy OSes to boot using an in-memory simulated disk.
596 See memdisk/memdisk.doc for more info.
597 * PXELINUX, ISOLINUX: Correctly handle files larger than 65535
598 blocks (32 MB for PXELINUX, 128 MB for ISOLINUX.)
599 * PXELINUX: Make a best-effort attempt at freeing all memory
600 claimed. From the looks of it, it will fail on most PXE
604 * Limited support for hardware flow control when using a
606 * Support specifying the serial port I/O address explicitly.
607 * Make DOS installer hopefully behave more nicely when used on
608 recent Windows versions.
609 * Fix returning to text mode when a font has been specified.
610 * Attempt to detect missing serial port hardware and disable
611 the serial port if there is nothing there.
614 * Make the ppmtolss16 program handle color conversion more
616 * Clean up "make install" target, honour INSTALLROOT if it
618 * SYSLINUX: Fix stack-smash bug identified by Steffen
620 * Hopefully fix return-to-text-mode on some graphics cards.
621 * ISOLINUX: Bug workaround for Award BIOS 4.51, and perhaps
622 other buggy BIOSes as well.
625 * PXELINUX: Allow the DHCP server to override the
626 configuration file name and pathname prefix, using
627 "site-specific" DHCP options.
628 * PXELINUX: Documentation fixes.
629 * PXELINUX: Fix the "ipappend" option; the last two values
630 were reversed vs. what the kernel expected.
631 * Introduce a way to return to text mode once we are already
632 in graphics mode. This may be useful for F-key help
634 * Fix several bugs in the way return to text mode was handled.
637 * ISOLINUX: Support full pathname searches. Max length for a
638 pathname is 255 characters. As a result, only 64 "label"
639 statements are supported in ISOLINUX.
640 * PXELINUX: Max filename length extended to 63 characters.
643 * Add support for graphical splash screens.
644 * Add mode control characters, which allows you to control
645 message display output depending on output mode (text,
646 graphics, or serial port.)
647 * ISOLINUX: New program, which boots Linux from a CD-ROM
648 without using floppy emulation mode. See isolinux.doc for
650 * PXELINUX: Don't search for boot sector file types, since
651 they don't work anyway.
652 * SYSLINUX: Document the LOCK command for Win9x, and the error
653 dialog box for WinNT/2K.
656 * PXELINUX: Fix code for finding !PXE from PXENV+. This was
657 due to a spec bug; match the most recent spec since that
658 seems to be what implementations actually do.
659 * SYSLINUX: Add some smarts to the boot sector, which
660 hopefully should reduce the number of systems which require
661 stupid mode ("syslinux -s").
662 * PXELINUX: Document further some of the pathologies with old
664 * When specifying a "default" command line, no longer
665 automatically appent "auto". See the "DEFAULT" command in
666 syslinux.doc for more information.
667 * PXELINUX: Clean up the allocation of local socket numbers.
670 * PXELINUX: Rename pxelinux.bin to pxelinux.0, to match what
671 most PXE servers seem to expect.
672 * PXELINUX: Update the DHCP/boot server setup documentation.
673 * PXELINUX: Support new "localboot" option for "label"
675 * PXELINUX: More robust parsing of DHCP/boot server packets.
676 * PXELINUX: Include a small utility program "gethostip" to
677 compute hexadecimal IP addresses.
680 * PXELINUX: Fix bugs introduced by new A20 code. (SYSLINUX
681 has also been changed for code consistency reasons, but I'm
682 pretty sure the changes are don't care on SYSLINUX.)
683 * Documentation updates.
684 * PXELINUX: Add "ipappend" option to generate an ip= option to
688 * PXELINUX: Not all PXE stacks fill in the IP address for a
689 type 3 cached info query. Use a type 2 cached info query
690 for this information (only.)
691 * Yet another attempt at A20 coding. Now support BIOS call
692 15:2401 as well, and handle machines which always have A20
694 * Support memory detection using INT 15h, AX=0E820h. BIOS
695 manufacturers have apparently gotten sloppy about keeping
696 INT 15h, AX=0E801h working properly.
697 * Don't issue <CR><LF> onto the serial port when we're doing
701 * Yet another A20-code update. It seems some "legacy-free"
702 machines and embedded gear simply don't have a KBC to talk
703 to, and that waiting for one will wait forever. Sigh.
706 * SYSLINUX: Implement a hack for BIOS drivers which hog significant
707 chunks of low memory during boot. (Note: PXELINUX already
708 had this modification. SYSLINUX does still require that the
709 low 512K is available; PXELINUX requires 384K. Machines
710 with a physical memory hole in the low 640K cannot boot
711 Linux no matter what.) Depending what the reason is for the
712 memory hole, a new kernel (2.4.0-test3-pre3 or later) may be
714 * SYSLINUX: Default installer binary now compiled against
715 glibc 2.1. If this is inappropriate for your system and you
716 still want to use the offical version of SYSLINUX, please
717 follow the instructions in "distrib.doc" to rebuild the
719 * SYSLINUX: Linux installer program now supports -o <offset>
720 option which does a loopback mount with the
721 -o loop,offset=<> option. Useful to run SYSLINUX on an
722 individual partition of a whole-harddisk image.
723 * Include the source code to a Master Boot Record (MBR)
724 functionally equivalent to the one installed DOS except it
725 includes EBIOS support, and should be resistant to geometry
726 changes. The MBR code is public domain.
727 * PXELINUX: Fix "double p" bug: if the tftp prefix was null,
728 all filenames would get a "p" preprended, e.g.
729 "ppxelinux.cfg" and "pvmlinux".
732 * PXELINUX: Workaround for PXE ROMs based on the Intel PXE PDK
733 3.0 build 071 and earlier: missing !PXE structure pointer.
734 * PXELINUX: Handle larger BOOTP/DHCP packages.
735 * PXELINUX: The command line passing was broken; fix.
736 * PXELINUX: Make COMBOOT images work.
737 * PXELINUX: Documentation on how to make booting work using
738 the PDK 3.0-derived clients, which aren't so generous as to
739 allow booting with only "PXEClient" specified.
742 * PXELINUX: RFC 1123 states that a TFTP implementation MUST
743 use adaptive timeout, "at least an exponential backoff of
744 retransmission timeout is necessary." Implement a very
745 simple exponential backoff for retransmits.
746 * PXELINUX: Updated documentation, including pointer to new
748 * PXELINUX: When sending ERROR due to bad OACK, use the proper
749 destination port number (why are TFTP port numbers so odd?)
750 * PXELINUX: If the boot dies in the middle somewhere,
751 eventually give up and reset the machine (unattended
755 * New program PXELINUX to do network booting using a
756 PXE-compliant (Pre-Execution Environment) network booting
757 PROM. See pxelinux.doc for details.
760 * Serial console support. See syslinux.doc for details.
763 * Change HIGHMEM_MAX to 38000000h to (hopefully) avoid the
764 kernel stepping on it; 3f000000h was apparently a higher
765 limit than the kernel used!
768 * Add sys2ansi.pl script to display the contents of a
769 colorized SYSLINUX file.
770 * Changed the io_delay once again, after a report that the
771 old delay port causes hangs on some systems.
774 * Frob the "fast A20 gate" port as well as the keyboard
775 controller; will this help systems with problems?
776 * Be even more paranoid about A20, unfortunately even this
777 seems to be not paranoid enough... what I don't understand
778 is that if there is hardware out there *this broken*, how
779 can it run Linux at all? Report an error message rather
780 than hang forever if A20 is stuck.
781 * Include some intermediate files in the distribution, plus
782 provide a "make installer" target for distributors to relink
783 the install programs only. I would prefer the syslinux boot
784 loader proper to be "binary clean" for debuggablity -- use
785 "make clean ; make installer" to rebuild the installers only.
788 * Don't get confused by directories, volume labels, or VFAT
790 * Use INT 15h, AX=0E801h to query memory size before trying
791 INT 15h, AH=88h. This not only provides more headroom
792 between the kernel and the initrd on large-memory machines,
793 but it appears some recent BIOSes actually have started
794 returning garbage for the AH=88h (older) call.
795 * Trust high memory beyond the 15 MB mark if the user has
796 specified it, or if obtained with INT 15h, AH=0E801h (with
797 no memory holes above 1 MB.)
800 * Increase A20M delay and put in a test to avoid problems on
801 certain IBM Thinkpads (thanks to Donnie Barnes of RedHat
802 for vital info on this one.)
803 * Support COMBOOT style boot command images.
804 * Support chain loading (foreign operating systems, e.g. DOS).
805 * Include a new "copybs" DOS utility to copy a boot sector to
806 a file (under Linux, use "dd".)
807 * Fix the DOS installer to work for disks over 32 MB.
808 * SYSLINUX should now handle disks with more than 65536 tracks.
811 * Fix a bug that caused "label" statements in syslinux.cfg to
812 not be handled properly.
813 * Updated the documentation. Among other things, we now allow
814 up to 128 "label" statements.
817 * Fix for booting old (pre-initrd) kernels.
818 * It seems at least some versions of OS/2 doesn't set up all
819 the fields in the superblock correctly. Account for that.
820 * Fix bug that caused boot failure when using the mem= option.
823 * Loading from partitions now should work properly. (Actually
824 tested, this time. You should even be able to dd a floppy
825 to a partition and boot from it.)
826 * Removed large workaround code for an alleged ancient BIOS
827 bug I have never actually seen. The -s option should work
828 on those machines, anyway.
829 * Support for simple keyboard remappings, same as used by
830 LILO (once again to support localization.) The program
831 keytab-lilo.pl from the LILO distribution included to
833 * Added a "safe, slow and stupid" (-s) option to the
834 installers. This option will lobotomize the boot sector to
835 hopefully work on even very buggy BIOSes.
838 * Ability to load a VGA font on bootup (for localized Linux
842 * Bug fix in the Linux installer.
843 * Added a workaround for a bug in certain AMI/Intel BIOSes
844 when booting from CD-ROM.
845 * Documentation changes.
848 * FAT16 filesystems are now supported.
851 * Now compiles under Linux, using NASM, rather than using
852 Turbo Assembler under DOS. See http://www.cryogen.com/Nasm
853 for information about NASM.
854 * Linux-hosted SYSLINUX installer, as well as a
855 rewritten DOS installer (now is written in assembler, so we
859 * Added support for loading bzImage and initrd loading, and made
860 SYSLINUX new-setup-code aware (SYSLINUX 1.30 id=0x31).
861 * Added LILO-style kernel labels; see the LABEL and IMPLICIT
862 keywords in README file.
863 * Added support for colorization of intro and help screens.
864 * The vga= option is now handled correctly.
865 * Massive rewrite of large chunks of the code in order to
866 support the first two new features.
869 * Added simple online help at the "boot:" prompt.
870 * Removed 2880K image as I no longer have access to such a
871 floppy drive. (Donations accepted!!)
872 * Decided to distribute the source in a subdirectory rather
873 than in a nested zipfile.
876 * Removed a sanity check which would cause booting to fail on
877 Phoenix BIOS version 4.03. Apparently this BIOS is buggy.
880 * Added configuration file SYSLINUX.CFG. This file contains all
881 configurable options, and can be edited from any OS which can
882 access an MS-DOS filesystem; there is no longer a need to run
883 SYSLINUX.EXE except to write the boot sector.
884 * Default command line now given by "default" line in config
886 * LINUXMSG.TXT and BOOTMSG.TXT hard-coded file names replaced by
887 "display" and "prompt" lines in config file.
888 * LILO-style option appending now supported ("append" line in
890 * Prompt timeout is now supported ("timeout" line in config
891 file). The timeout is cancelled when anything is typed on the
893 * Pressing <ESC> or <Ctrl-C> at the Loading... stage now aborts
894 the kernel loading in progress and returns the user to the
896 * The installer now automatically sets the READONLY flag on
898 * Added 2880K disk image.
901 * Fixed bug that would prevent booting from double-density
902 floppies and other DOS filesystems with multiple sectors per
904 * Added 720K disk image.
905 * Changed default kernel name on disk images to LINUX.
908 * Fixed bug that would garble the command line on recent kernels
909 with more than 4 sectors of setup code (this wasn't really a
910 *bug*; rather, a kernel change broke the code. Unfortunately
911 the Linux boot interface is still sorely undocumented).
912 * Added BOOTMSG.TXT file support (message file which does not
913 force display of the boot prompt).
916 * Fixed bug on some (most?) 386 BIOSes would require two boot
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