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: VESA, PCI, DMI, kernel loading (Marcel Ritter).
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
25 * Handle fallbacks from EDD to CHS, to deal with systems which
26 announce EDD support but don't actually have it.
29 * ISOLINUX: fix initialization on systems which don't zero
31 * SYSLINUX/EXTLINUX: fix handing of disk read retries in
33 * ISOLINUX: change the initialization sequence to avoid
34 problems with certain (old) BIOSes. Special thanks to
35 Helmut Hullen for invaluable debugging support.
36 * ifplop.c32: new module which detects if the PLoP Boot Loader
37 already has booted a CDROM or USB drive (Gert Hulselmans).
38 * Correct a severe memory overwrite bug, triggered primarily
39 when selecting a very long command line in the menu system.
40 * lua.c32: Lua script interpreter, currently experimental
41 (Alexey Zaytsev, Marcel Ritter, Geert Stappers).
42 * PXELINUX: new option IPAPPEND 4 to append the system UUID to
43 the kernel command line.
44 * PXELINUX: display BOOTIF and SYSUUID at startup time, and
45 when Ctrl-N is pressed on the command line.
48 * Major code base changes; all filesystem rewritten in C.
49 This work was done primarily by Liu Aleaxander (Yuanhan Liu).
50 * EXTLINUX: btrfs and ext4 support. btrfs support was done by
52 * EXTLINUX is no longer a separate derivative; extlinux and
53 syslinux both install the same loader (ldlinux.sys); for the
54 Linux-based installers the extlinux binary is used for a
55 mounted filesystem; the syslinux binary for an unmounted
57 * When loading a new configuration file with the CONFIG
58 command, one can now also specify a new current directory
59 with an APPEND statement.
60 * Full ADV support for Syslinux, to boot-once and MENU SAVE
62 * Full support of GPT-partitioned disks, including disks
63 and/or parititions larger than 2 TiB (if supported by BIOS.)
64 * The GPT handover protocol adjusted to the current T13
65 committee draft; see doc/gpt.txt.
66 * HDT: code cleanup, small bugfixes
67 * The "linux" syslinux installer (syslinux-nomtools) now has a
68 command-line syntax closer to the extlinux installer. The
69 mtools, dos and win32 installers will get this new syntax
70 eventually, but it is not implemented yet.
71 * chain.c32: support booting GPT partitions by index, GUID, label.
72 * chain.c32: support booting the Syslinux partition with "fs".
73 * chain.c32: implement gpt.txt hand-over protocol.
74 * chain.c32: support for chainloading Grub stage 2.
75 * PXELINUX: TFTP URL syntax (tftp://) supported even when not
76 running gPXE/gpxelinux.
77 * New ls.c32 module to display the contents of the disk from
78 the command line, and pwd.c32 to display the current
80 * rosh.c32 (read only shell) updated and hopefully usable.
81 * PXELINUX: Support "localboot -1", just like the other
83 * gfxboot.com removed in favor of gfxboot.c32.
84 * New MENU HELP statement to display fullscreen help text as a
85 result of a menu selection.
86 * memdiskfind utility that can be used with the phram driver
87 in the Linux kernel to mount a memdisk.
88 * ifcpu.c32: Adding usage when no parameters are given,
90 * ifcpu.c32, ifcpu64.c32: handle more than one argument per
92 * isohybrid: C version which does not require Perl.
93 * New command MENU IMMEDIATE to permit hotkeys to activate
94 immediately without needing Enter.
95 * mdiskchk.com supports a --no-sequential (or -n) option to
96 suppress the classic all-drive-probing heuristic. Useful
97 on BIOSes who crash/hang when certain drive numbers are
99 * ElTorito.Sys DOS driver now scans drive numbers upwards
100 instead of downwards, in order to avoid a fairly common
101 bug on some BIOSes where probing drive 0xFF causes a
103 * NASM 2.03 or later required to build. 2.07 or later
107 * chain.c32: fix chainloading the MBR of a hard disk (broken
109 * mboot.c32: report the boot loader name in the information
111 * com32: set argv[0] in a com32 module.
112 * core: add a workaround for a bug in Xen HVM older than
113 version 3.3: disable halt on those platforms.
114 * Fix problems where certain operations in com32 modules would
115 cause the core to believe the system was idle.
116 * MEMDISK: fix MBR detection when used with a DOSEMU header or
118 * MEMDISK: generate the mBFT checksum correctly.
121 * gPXELINUX: updated to gPXE 1.0.0. gPXELINUX can now do NBP
122 chainloading, and does not require a second DHCP.
123 * vesamenu.c32: unbreak the default "grey hole" background.
124 * We no longer have a built-in default of "linux auto".
125 Instead, if no DEFAULT or UI statement is found, or the
126 configuration file is missing entirely, we drop to the boot:
127 prompt with an error message (if NOESCAPE is set, we stop
128 with a "boot failed" message; this is also the case for
129 PXELINUX if the configuration file is not found.)
130 * chain.c32: support chainloading Grub4DOS; patch by Gert
132 * New tool: sysdump.c32, can be used to produce system
133 information for debugging via tftp or ymodem (serial port).
134 * "vga=current" on the Linux command line is now supported.
135 * chain.c32: support for Windows Recovery Console, via the
137 * chain.c32: should now support loading NTLDR from different
138 type media than loaded from.
139 * chain.c32: support chainloading to a FAT/NTFS partition with
140 invalid "hidden sectors" via the "sethidden" option.
141 * memdisk: fix the mBFT ACPI table.
142 * vesamenu.c32: if the image is smaller than the screen, tile
143 it across the whole screen.
144 * mkdiskimage: -s option for producing a sparse image.
145 * vesamenu.c32: support arbitrary resolution setting (beyond
146 BIOS support) on some Intel-based video chipsets. This code
147 is a modified version of the "915resolution" tool by
148 Steve Tomljenovic; your mileage might vary.
151 * SYSLINUX: make the DOS installer work for MS-DOS 7.x/8.x
153 * HDT: updated to version 0.3.6 (numerous changes.)
154 * mboot.c32: now supports video mode setting if requested by
156 * MEMDISK: Fix floppy images of PC-DOS.
157 * MEMDISK: Add support for emulation of CD-ROM images; patch
159 * MEMDISK: Comply with the Win9x "safe hook" standard,
160 allowing a protected-mode driver.
161 * MEMDISK: New "mBFT" ACPI table, by analogy with the iSCSI
162 iBFT table. This allows detection from a protected-mode
163 operating system without EDD support.
164 * 32-bit version of the gfxboot loader (gfxboot.c32), so far
165 experimental. This will replace gfxboot.com in the future.
166 * vesamenu.c32: new MENU RESOLUTION directive to set a screen
167 resolution other than 640x480.
168 * chain.c32: add support for loading isolinux.bin.
169 * chain.c32: make sure to always return to text mode.
170 * eltorito.sys: DOS driver for generic CD-ROMs; by Gary Tong
174 * PXELINUX: clear memory before handing over to a chainloaded
175 NBP. This may help avoid a bug in Windows RIS.
176 * PXELINUX: fix localboot after NBP chainloading on certain
177 BIOSes (including ASUS A8N-E, but possibly others.)
178 * chain.c32: support chainloaded bootloaders on ISOLINUX.
179 * PXELINUX: allow filenames up to 251 characters.
180 * MEMDISK: fix problems booting from USB on Thinkpads, and
181 possibly other machines or hardware combinations.
182 * isohybrid: fix the -id option.
183 * HDT: updated to version 0.3.4.
184 * MEMDISK: the stack size is now configurable, with the stack=
186 * Simple menu: fix Ctrl-W (word erase) in command-line edit.
187 * Simple menu: fix crash on some platforms.
188 * Gfxboot: fixes to the configuration file parsing.
189 * PXELINUX: add a tool to override specific DHCP options via
190 values hardcoded in the pxelinux.0 file. These hardcoded
191 values can be either "before DHCP" (defaults if DHCP do not
192 provide values), or "after DHCP" (overrides DHCP). The tool
193 pxelinux-options can be used to set these options. This
194 feature does not apply to gpxelinux.0; when used with gPXE
195 this is better handled by modifying the embedded script.
198 * isohybrid: fix the -partok logic for loading from a partition.
199 * ISOLINUX: deal with systems which return from INT 13h with
201 * Do not invoke the idle handler during large file loads.
202 * Simple menu: make ONTIMEOUT work with MENU HIDDEN.
203 * PXELINUX: handle TFTP servers which have extra NULs at the
204 end of an OACK packet.
207 * Shuffler: fix bug in real-mode entry. This affected a
208 number of modules, probably in relatively unimportant ways,
209 but it completely broke linux.c32.
210 * Improved performance.
211 * Attempt to halt the processor while idle. This can cause
212 bad reponsiveness when using a serial console especially for
213 automated input; if that ends up being a problem, use the
214 new "NOHALT 1" configuration command.
215 * linux.c32 now suppresses all messages if the "quiet" flag is
217 * isohybrid: add a variety of options, and a help message.
218 * ISOLINUX: fix booting in hybrid mode when CBIOS is used.
219 This unfortunately means that the isohybrid handoff protocol
220 has changed, so the isohybrid utility must version-match
222 * Drop support for ACPI 3 extended memory flags.
223 * Menu system: don't set the autocr flag on the serial
225 * altmbr: fix handling of logical partitions.
226 * altmbr: cap at 439 bytes so the partition select byte isn't
230 * New shuffler mechanism and API.
231 * Rewritten mboot.c32 module.
232 * The syslinux_boot_linux() function has been simplified.
233 * Don't hang trying to boot a "menu quit" label from the CLI.
234 * Fix problem with boot-once "sticking" on some BIOSes.
235 * isohybrid: fix problem with images over 2 GB in size.
236 * APM poweroff module (poweroff.com) by Sebastian Herbszt.
237 * ISOLINUX: fix the handling of large directories. Bug found
238 and fixed by Steffen Winterfeldt.
241 * PXELINUX: fix the "keeppxe" option, which was broken in
243 * MEMDISK: correct the extraction of geometry information from
244 the MBR of a hard disk image, again broken in 3.74.
245 * extlinux(1) man page from Brian Pellin.
246 * Simple menu: MENU SAVE is now controllable on a menu-by-menu
247 or entry-by-entry basis.
248 * gPXELINUX: fix interrupt-disabling bug.
249 * HDT: fix lockup on machines with certain PCI configurations.
252 * New UI directive, which allows a more natural way to specify
253 a menu system (or not.) With the UI directive specifying
254 the menu system, the DEFAULT directive can be used to select
255 the default entry inside the menus.
256 * kbdmap.c32: new module to load a new keyboard map
258 * isohybrid: workaround bug in some versions of binutils.
259 * Fix issue with the placement of the initrd on some machines.
260 * ifcpu64: fix handling of less than three arguments.
261 * Fix bug in the shuffle library when dealing with a very
262 large number of fragments.
263 * Documentation fixes by Vicente Jimenez Aguilar.
264 * gPXE updated to version 0.9.7.
265 * hdt.c32: Hardware Detection Tool, an interactive hardware
266 analyzer module by Erwan Velu.
267 * MEMDISK: enable automatic determination of the disk geometry
268 for a large floppy disk image if (and only if) it is
269 formatted with a FAT filesystem.
270 * SYSLINUX: fix the handling of .bss files on FAT12/16.
271 * Suppress the Loading ... message if "quiet" is specified on
272 the kernel command line.
273 * Fix the use of "CONSOLE 0" with menu.c32.
274 * Allow COM32 modules to be aware of all memory even in the
275 presence of a memory hole. The "linux.c32" module can be
276 used to load a kernel (or memdisk) plus large initrd on
278 * MBR: produce alternate MBR variants which force the drive
279 number to hd0 (_f variants), or force the drive number to
280 hd0 if the Ctrl key is pressed (_c variants.) Furthermore,
281 add an MBR variant (altmbr*.bin) which ignores the active
282 flag and instead boots the partition number specified in the
283 byte at offset 439 decimal.
284 * Add IPAPPEND strings to com32 modules, especially needed for
286 * New MENU SAVE directive which saves the latest menu
287 selection until the next boot. Currently only implemented for
289 * gfxboot.com: *experimental* interface module to Steffen
290 Winterfeldt's "gfxboot" graphical front end
291 (http://gfxboot.sourceforge.net/). Module by Sebastian Herbszt.
294 * Upgrade gPXE to release version 0.9.5.
295 * Fix a number of build errors on various platforms.
296 * Handle systems with E820 "extended attributes" per ACPI 3.
297 Someone "cleverly" decided to change the E820 spec in a
298 backwards-incompatible manner!
299 * MEMDISK: default to "safeint".
300 * Adopt the moniker "The Syslinux Project", standard proper
301 noun capitalization, to refer to the project as a whole.
302 Thus, reserve the all-caps "SYSLINUX" to refer to the FAT
304 * mboot.c32: add "-solaris" option to pass DHCP information to
305 the Solaris kernel; required for automatic Solaris boot
306 without using Solaris' pxeboot program.
307 * config.c32: trivial COM32 module to restart Syslinux with
308 another configuration file from the command line (equivalent
309 to the CONFIG command in the configuratin file.)
312 * Include the pxechain.com module from Jeffery Hutzelman at
313 Carnegie Mellon University. This allows chaining another
314 PXE boot program while changing the DHCP packet passed to
316 * Reorganize the Makefile system.
317 * Major PCI core cleanups and other source cleanup.
319 * Try to avoid memory-snooping attacks on passwords. Note
320 that if someone has root on the box, they generally don't
321 need to compromise the boot loader...
322 * ISOLINUX: fix crash when given a zero-length file.
323 * sdi.c32: support gzipped SDI images.
324 * ISOLINUX: support generating images which can be either
325 a CD-ROM or a hard disk (USB disk, etc.) See
326 doc/isolinux.txt for more information.
327 * Remote gdb support for COM32 modules; patch from Stefan
329 * Support beeps in F-key help in the simple menu system.
330 * Tab display of labels, based on a patch from Sebastian
331 Herbszt. Can be disabled with the NOCOMPLETE configuration
333 * "menu default" can now be specified after "menu begin", to
334 indicate that a specific submenu should be the default entry.
337 * Workaround for a VESA BIOS which tries to make DOS system
339 * Simple menu: fix navigation around disabled entries
340 (or at least try to...)
341 * EXTLINUX: proper error message when confused about mount
343 * MEMDISK: be smarter about incompletely disabled floppies in
344 the BIOS and about being the only floppy.
345 * Optionally allow initrd to be specified on a separate line
346 rather than as part of the "append" line. This is not
347 recommended, but apparently makes life easier for some
349 * SYSLINUX: if no config file is present, set the current
350 directory to the root directory (Sebastian Herbszt).
351 * chain.c32: option "hide" to support hiding and unhiding of
352 primary partitions on the boot drive with DOS, Win, or OS/2
353 partition types (01, 04, 06, 07, 0b, 0c, 0e).
354 * Unbreak the KBDMAP command (broken in 3.70).
355 * EXTLINUX: fix the handling of the ADV when using CBIOS.
356 * ifcpu64.c32: simple COM32 module to select a 32- or 64-bit
357 kernel (and optionally 32-bit kernels with or without PAE.)
358 Eventually we want a scripting language for this
359 kind of stuff; a Lua module is under development.
360 * Fix parsing of the SERIAL command without a baud rate
362 * chain.c32: error out when try to boot an unbootable
364 * SYSLINUX: when building the Win32 installer, search for
365 MinGW under a large number of possible names.
368 * PXELINUX: Support enhanced capabilities when running on top
369 of gPXE (http://www.etherboot.org/). In particular, support
370 URL-style syntax for filenames, and any protocol that gPXE
371 supports (except, currently, iSCSI and AoE.) This feature
372 is currently highly experimental.
373 * Substantial infrastructure changes to support files whose
374 length aren't known at open time (typically network
375 connections.) Please note that the semantics of some of the
376 comboot APIs have changed slightly; please see doc/comboot.txt.
377 * PXELINUX: We no longer require a TFTP server which supports
378 the tsize option for all transfers.
379 * PXELINUX: Integrate with the gPXE source base; unified image
380 now included as "gpxelinux.0".
381 * The source tree has been restructured; files that were
382 previously in the root have moved into the core, dos, gpxe,
383 and utils directories.
384 * "make install", "make netinstall", and "make extbootinstall"
385 have been updated massively. "make install-all" now installs
387 * Change default dir for auxiliary files from
388 /usr/lib/syslinux to /usr/share/syslinux.
389 * SYSLINUX: VFAT long filename support.
390 * MEMDISK: Any image less than 4096K (4 MB) is treated as a
391 floppy disk. The geometry-guessing code will recognize all
392 common extended formats, but it is still possible some very
393 exotic formats need geometry specification. Large floppies
394 and very small harddisks still need explicit specification.
395 * chain.c32: option "swap" to support swapping of BIOS drive
396 numbers. This is necessary to boot certain operating systems
397 (DOS, Windows) from a secondary drive.
398 * chain.c32: option "file=" to support loading a boot file from
399 the SYSLINUX filesystem instead of loading the boot sector
401 * chain.c32: option "seg=" to control the load location.
402 * chain.c32: option "ntldr=" as a shorthand for "seg=0x2000
403 file="; use this to load one of WinNT's loaders:
405 chain.c32 hd0 1 ntldr=/MiniNT/setupldr.bin
407 Note that the file needs to be in the SYSLINUX filesystem.
408 * chain.32: options "freedos=" and "msdos="/"pcdos=" as
409 shorthands for "seg=0x60 file=" and "seg=0x70 file="
410 respectively; use this to load FreeDOS's kernel.sys, MS-DOS's
411 io.sys or PC-DOS's ibmbio.sys.
412 * Change to the A20 algorithm which *MIGHT* help systems that
413 have systems which freeze when Syslinux is used with USB
414 keyboards. Note that this has been hard do verify, so I
415 would greatly appreciate feedback on it.
416 * Complex menu system: unbreak menus which has unnamed
417 submenus, like complex.c.
418 * Fix newline on the serial port for some com32 modules.
419 * chain.c32: support "boot" as the drive specification,
420 indicating the drive from which it was booted
421 (for syslinux/extlinux).
422 * SYSLINUX/EXTLINUX: support "localboot" with the same feature
424 * Add an experimental MBR for GPT partition tables.
425 * Use $(CC) when determining compile flags.
426 * chain.c32: fix booting from logical partitions (Sergey
430 * Fix errors in the PCI and DMI detection modules (Erwan Velu,
432 * Fix host dependencies and other issues in the build system.
433 * PXELINUX: Allow class E addresses as unicast.
434 * sdi.c32: module to load Microsoft System Deployment Images.
435 For additional information, please see:
436 http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms838543.aspx
437 * EXTLINUX: Correct reading directories with deleted entries.
438 * Shuffle library: correct the handling of certain geometries
439 (an upward move with source material blocking the move); as
440 required by sdi.c32 but theoretically possible for other
442 * Add "make netinstall" to install /tftpboot.
443 * Fix some documentation files that didn't get moved/renamed.
446 * Clean up garbage after "aborted." message.
447 * Clean up memdump.com filenames.
448 * Support SHA256 and SHA512 encrypted passwords.
449 * The shuffle library now can generate chained descriptors,
450 thus allowing pretty much arbitrarily complex memory maps.
451 * Handle command lines up to 2047 characters, the current
453 * vesamenu: support systems without linear framebuffer support
454 (sigh, what is this, 1993?) and 15-bit RGB modes.
455 * Move the label storage (for the command-line interface) to
456 high memory, removing the size limit and freeing up 64K of
458 * Get rid of 4096-entry limit in the simple menu system.
459 * New hierarchial submenu support: see MENU BEGIN, MENU END,
460 MENU GOTO in doc/menu.txt.
461 * MENU QUIT allows creating a menu entry for returning to the
463 * ISOLINUX: Work around bug in certain Adaptec BIOSes,
464 patch by Bruce Robson.
465 * pngtopnm dependency removed from samples/ directory.
466 * Text documentation files (in doc/) renamed *.doc -> *.txt.
469 * EXTLINUX: fix crash when accessing an empty file.
470 * elf.c32: If a PHDR segment is present, load it.
471 * Fix SHA-1 and MD5 passwords.
472 * ISOLINUX: fix booting when mastered without
473 mkisofs -boot-info-table (broken since 3.50, sigh...)
474 * Handle BIOSes which emit multiple contiguous valid
475 memory regions in the e820 map.
478 * Support for "auxilliary data vector", a small amount of
479 writable storage. Currently only supported for EXTLINUX,
480 but the infrastructure is there for the other derivatives,
481 assuming a suitable storage location can be found.
482 * EXTLINUX: boot-once support (--once, --clear-once, and
484 * A command is now required to the EXTLINUX installer, i.e. at
485 least one of --install, --update, --once, --clear-once, or
489 * PXELINUX: as per RFC 5071, PXELINUX no longer requires the
490 use of the magic cookie option (208) for unencapsulated
491 options. Currently it does not require it for
492 vendor-encapsulated options (vendor-option-space) either,
493 but that MAY be reverted in the future if it causes
495 * Documentation text files moved to a common "doc" directory;
496 man pages from the Debian project added to the "man"
498 * Correct bug with self-overlapping memory areas when using
499 the shuffle interface.
502 * Add "menu separator", "menu indent", "menu disabled"
504 * vesamenu: fix handing of VESA modes with noncontiguous
505 memory buffers. In particular, Qemu/KVM sets up such a mode
506 when Cirrus Logic emulation is enabled (which is the
508 * Support for calling real mode functions using far calls,
509 with argument on the stack. This was implemented to support
510 the BIOS BBS specification, but subsequent experiments show
511 that the at least one of the most common BIOS cores, Award,
512 passes the presence check but doesn't actually implement the
516 * Fix bugs related to the $PnP BIOS functionality on some
518 * PXELINUX: Fix the "naked" version of :: (suppress prefix.)
519 * elf.c32: better error messages.
520 * Faster operation under Intel VT virtualization.
521 * PXELINUX: Fix DHCP bootfile option.
522 * mkdiskimage: Support more than 1024 cylinders.
523 * (Hopefully) fix installer on non-x86 platforms.
524 * Fix shuffle_and_boot_rm, used by linux.c32.
525 * Fix shuffle_and_boot_pm on 386/486.
526 * ISOLINUX (at least): fix bss memory overwrite hang.
527 * MBR: Fix booting from logical partitions.
531 * Handle capitalized F-key commands in the menu system.
532 * Fix padding error when loading multiple ramdisks.
533 * Workaround for VMware crashing when trying to print a
534 message during early kernel boot (does not seem to work,
536 * chain.c32: add the ability to search for a specific MBR
537 signature at runtime.
538 * Fall back to the server identity option if the siaddr field
539 in the DHCP header isn't set. This seems to match the
540 behaviour of most PXE stacks.
541 * mkdiskimage: give the generated disk image an MBR signature.
542 * MEMDISK: Fix failures on some BIOSes.
543 * Simple menu system: new "MENU HIDDEN" option to not display
544 the menu unless the user presses a key.
545 * Simple menu system: support MD5-encrypted passwords (modern
546 Unix standard style, with "$1$" prefixes.)
547 * pcitest.c32: now functions as a full "lspci". Thanks to
548 Erwan Velu for this work.
549 * MEMDISK: Make EDD actually work.
550 * ISOLINUX: Fix for certain broken CD-ROM BIOSes which
551 randomly corrupted register FS.
552 * Simple menu system: fix memory overwrite bug that caused
553 some systems to lock up or behave weirdly.
554 * Fix building on 64-bit systems without a 32-bit libc installed.
557 * EXTLINUX: Fix failure to find the configuration file.
560 * New keywords allow the type of file to be specified in the
562 * It is now supported to load a different configuration file
563 with the CONFIG keyword.
564 * Fix API call 0x0019 (Read Disk.)
565 * MENU AUTOBOOT, MENU TABMSG, MENU PASSPROMPT allows
566 internationalization of menu messages.
567 * A new feature, TEXT HELP, allows the administrator to set
568 a multi-line help message for individual selections.
569 * Fix API call 0x0012 (Cleanup, shuffle and boot.)
570 * New API call "Cleanup, shuffle and boot to flat protected mode"
571 * New API call "Cleanup, shuffle and boot to real mode",
572 similar to API call 0x0012 but allows arbitrary register setting.
573 * Introduce a library interface for loading arbitrary binary
574 formats with relatively easily understood code. See
575 the elf.c32 module for an example on how to use it.
576 * New module "elf.c32", to load a protected-mode ELF kernel.
577 * MBR (old and new): Fix bug in CHS mode when LBA >
579 * vesamenu: fix decoding of palettized PNG images.
580 * Update the Linux kernel boot protocol.
581 * PXELINUX: Press Ctrl-N at the boot prompt to read out the
583 * Instead of the (non-existent) MAC, use the client identifier
584 for networks like Infiniband and Firewire/1394.
585 * Add a new INCLUDE command to the core syslinux parser.
586 * Allow binding help text to F11 and F12.
587 * F-key help now available in the simple menu system.
588 * Disabled the polling for ARP during idle. It is simply too
589 slow on some (broken!) PXE stacks.
590 * PXELINUX: also try to fetch the config file based on UUID.
591 * SYSLINUX/EXTLINUX: New RAID mode (-r) which calls the BIOS
592 to load the next device (typically the next drive) on boot
596 * MEMDISK: Disable EDD by default on floppy disks. EDD can be
597 enabled with the "edd" option and disabled with "noedd".
598 This (hopefully) should make Ghost work again.
599 * SYSLINUX: "unix" installer now uses Linux ioctls instead of
601 * New MBR which can boot from logical partitions.
602 * SYSLINUX: Fix bug in detecting special extensions which was
603 introduced in 3.35 :(
604 * PXELINUX: Unbreak chainbooting FreeBSD (and possibly others.)
607 * MEMDISK: New "safeint" mode.
608 * MEMDISK: Be more compliant with the PnP BIOS spec.
609 * MEMDISK: Turn on EDD support by default.
610 * MEMDISK: Try to work on some machines on which it would not
611 work when there was no floppy drive in the system.
612 * Simple menu system: fix serial console support (broken in
614 * SYSLINUX: Support subdirectories. Like ISOLINUX, the
615 "current directory" is the directory in which syslinux.cfg
616 is found; this is searched for in the sequence
617 /boot/syslinux, /syslinux, /. As a side benefit, label names
618 like "linux-2.6.18" and "linux-2.6.19" are now supported.
620 To install ldlinux.sys in a subdirectory, pass the -d
621 directory option to the SYSLINUX installer.
623 This work was sponsored by slax.org (thanks, Tomas!)
624 * New API call: read disk.
625 * Invoke ONERROR on initrd load failure.
628 * The simple menu system (menu.c32 and vesamenu.c32) now
629 support loading more than one configuration file at a time,
630 using MENU INCLUDE or by specifying multiple filenames.
631 * The MENU COLOR statement can now control the shadowing mode.
634 * libcom32 extended to support graphics mode and graphical console.
635 * vesamenu.c32, new graphical version of the Simple
636 Menu System, see README.menu.
637 * New com32 modules by Erwan Velu do selection based on CPUID
638 or PCI devices present.
639 * RPM spec: add syslinux-tftpboot module; move syslinux by
640 default to the /usr/share/syslinux directory.
641 * RPM spec: extlinux is now a separate package.
644 * EXTLINUX: New options --install (-i) and --update (-U), to
645 make it clear if a boot loader should be installed or
646 updated. For now, defaults to --install for compatibility;
647 a future version will require one of these options.
648 * New library functions to load and place files in memory.
649 * mboot.c32 bug fixes.
650 * Remove 8 MB kernel size restriction.
651 * Add "klibc" target for building unix/syslinux and
652 extlinux/extlinux with klcc (klibc-1.4.27 or later.)
653 * PXELINUX: Fail (and eventually reboot) if no configuration
655 * COM32 module by Erwan Velu to make decisions based on DMI
657 * Fix issue where going back and forth between menus a lot
659 * ISOLINUX: Fix bug which made "cd boot sectors" not work.
662 * MEMDISK: Fix bug by which accessing the real floppy disk
663 as B: in MS-DOS was broken.
664 * Simple menu system: allow tweaking of the screen layout.
665 * Simple menu system: better command-line editing, correctly
666 handle command lines above 256 characters.
667 * PXELINUX: revert memory allocation change that caused
668 problems on some network cards.
669 * MEMDISK: Try work around a bug on some BIOSes when no
670 physical floppy disk is present in the system.
671 * Enable the 16550A FIFOs, if present, when doing serial
673 * New "totaltimeout" command establishes a timeout without
674 regard for any user input.
675 * Simple menu system: timeout behaviour now more in line with
677 * Simple menu system: "ontimeout" should now work correctly.
680 * gcc 4.0.1 compilation fixes.
681 * Add support for querying the PCI BIOS in libcom32
682 (used by ethersel et al.)
683 * Fix PCI handing (ethersel etc) on several old chipsets (and
685 * Try to deal with systems with broken EBIOS.
686 * New API call to do "localboot".
687 * New API call to query features.
688 * New API call to run kernel image, a lower-level call than
689 "run command". See comboot.doc.
690 * Fix for bug in EBIOS code discovered by Arwin Vosselman.
691 * NOESCAPE security fix.
692 * Comments are now recognized even without a space following #.
693 * Fix incorrect handling of mixes of entries with and without
695 * The idle API call now harmlessly returns failure if it is a
696 no-op. That way the caller can decide whether or not to
697 bother invoking it again.
698 * Temporarily disable the idle API call on PXELINUX, due to
699 some platforms on which the idle API call seems to hang; this
700 problem has not yet been debugged.
701 * MEMDISK: the handling of DOSEMU-headered images was broken;
703 * EXTLINUX: symlinks are now supported.
704 * Simple menu system: N and P now work correctly as hotkeys.
705 * MEMDISK: more BIOS bug workarounds.
708 * gcc4 compilation fix.
709 * <BEL> (Ctrl-G) in message files now causes a beep.
710 * Reduce the command line to 511 characters; 1023 caused
714 * SYSLINUX: Fix performance regression (-s mode always
716 * Add API function for idle loop.
717 * libutil: Add do_idle() function for idle loop, make
719 * libutil: Add SHA-1 and base64 functions.
720 * Simple menu system: add password support.
721 * EXTLINUX: Sparse files now handled correctly.
722 * EXTLINUX: Large directories now handled correctly.
723 * ALL: At the prompt, Ctrl-X now forces text mode.
724 * Fix configuration file parsing error, that could cause
726 * Rewritten advanced menuing system from Murali Ganapathy.
727 * MEMDISK: New "bigraw" mode to work around certain broken
729 * COM32 module to boot Multiboot systems, including Xen. See
730 com32/modules/mboot.doc.
731 * Max command line changed to 1023 characters. Note that the
732 kernel proper still can only handle 255 characters without
733 patching, and COM16 binaries can only handle 125 characters.
736 * Fix chainloading (chain.c32).
737 * Fix zlib build problem.
738 * Use a private copy of <linux/ext2_fs.h>.
741 * Fix typo that caused the ramdisk to load in the wrong place.
744 * New API function "shuffle and boot"; allows COM32 modules to
745 load or construct (almost) arbitrarily complex objects,
746 e.g. a kernel and its initrd/initramfs in pieces, and have
747 the API core reorganize memory for booting. (A library API
748 for this function will be introduced in a later version.)
749 * The initrd= option now supports multiple filenames separated
750 by commas. This is mostly useful for initramfs, which can
751 be composed of multiple separate cpio or cpio.gz archives.
752 (Note: all files except the last one are zero-padded to a 4K
753 page boundary. This should not affect initramfs.)
754 * EXTLINUX: Fix API function 000Ah (get derivative-specific
756 * libcom32/ethersel: Support PCI Config Mechanism #2 on
757 machines still infested with that hideous old hack.
758 * SYSLINUX: Fix directory-parsing bug.
761 * SYSLINUX: The "unix" installer now sets the MS-DOS
762 attributes (hidden, system, readonly.)
763 * COM32 library: build the .lnx (test modules for running
764 under Linux) as architecture native modules, in case
765 i386 devel libraries aren't installed.
766 * EXTLINUX: Hack for systems which don't have BLKGETSIZE64
767 defined in the standard header files.
768 * Simple menu system: minor aestetic improvements, and try to
769 work better over a serial console (speed, and readability on
770 monochrome terminal emulators.)
771 * New CONSOLE directive to control output on the video console
772 (useful for dealing with some broken serial-forwarding
774 * New com32 module "ethersel" for searching for an Ethernet
775 card and selecting the proper version of Etherboot.
776 * EXTLINUX: Allow the user to override the detected geometry.
780 * EXTLINUX, SYSLINUX: Fix compile errors on some systems.
781 * EXTLINUX: Default to zipdrive geometry (64 heads, 32
782 sectors) if no other geometry can be detected.
785 * SYSLINUX: Support FAT32 and EDD. As an unfortunate
786 consequence, LDLINUX.SYS is no longer an ordinary file; it
787 is block-mapped at install time, which means it can only be
788 written using the syslinux installers.
789 * SYSLINUX: Reorganize the source code for the installers;
790 each one of the installers (dos, win32, unix, mtools) is now
791 built in its own subdirectory. In particular, "mtools" is
792 the unprivileged installer which uses mtools; "unix" is the
793 privileged installer which uses system calls.
794 * SYSLINUX: Completely rewritten DOS installer in C.
795 * ALL: "label" statement information is now stored in a
796 compressed format, which means that a lot more labels are
797 permitted (500-1000 in a typical configuration, but depends
799 * EXTLINUX: New derivative, which boots from an ext2/ext3
801 * SYSLINUX: The DOS and Win32 installers can now optionally
802 write the boot sector to a file instead of the real boot
803 sector. This is not supported in the Linux installers,
805 * ALL: New NOESCAPE command, disables the "hold down the Shift
806 key to display the prompt" behaviour.
807 * New simple menu system, as an alternative to the advanced
808 menu system already present. See README.menu for details.
809 * PXELINUX: Filenames can now be prefixed with an IP address
810 or DNS name plus :: (e.g. 192.0.2.1::filename or
811 server.domain.com::filename), which downloads a file from an
812 alternate TFTP server, or just a :: (e.g. ::filename), which
813 suppresses the common pathname prefix. See pxelinux.doc.
814 * SYSLINUX: Add an -m option to the DOS and Win32 installers
815 to write an MBR and -a to mark the partition SYSLINUX is
816 being installed on active.
817 * MEMDISK: Give a way to query the boot loader type while
818 running MEMDISK; see memdisk/memdisk.doc and
820 * mkdiskimage: substantially improved mkdiskimage which, among
821 other things, can now be used to initialize USB keys as
822 zipdrives; see README.usbkey for more information.
825 * MEMDISK: Fix command-line parsing "brown paper bag" class
827 * MEMDISK: Add "raw" mode to support the DOS boot disk from
828 WinME/XP, which seems to deliberately crash the system
829 when someone uses the "INT 15h mover" highmem API.
830 * Make "make install" do something sane for the com32
831 development environment.
832 * In the spec file, create a separate -devel RPM for the com32
833 development environment.
836 * Simple C library, based on klibc, for writing COM32
838 * Fix the handling of file length in loading of COM32
840 * MEMDISK: Work around a linker bug by rearranging the code to
841 not use the linker for the 16-bit code.
842 * SYSLINUX: If we're building on a machine without a Win32
843 (mingw) compiler, just skip building syslinux.exe.
844 * ISOLINUX: Support non-mkisofs mastering programs, at least
845 as long as the image is single-session. For best results,
846 ISOLINUX should be the only boot loader installed.
847 * MEMDISK: Allow the user to specify that the simulated disk
848 should be write-protected.
851 * ALL: Add an API call to get the configuration file name.
852 * SYSLINUX: Fix bug in 2.10 that prevented it from working
853 correctly for a lot of people.
854 * SYSLINUX: In the installer, make mtools a bit less fussy.
855 * Make the menu system compile with newer gcc's.
858 * MEMDISK: Handle images compressed with zip as well as with
859 gzip. Some Windows-based image tools apparently generate
860 these kinds of images by default. Patch by Patrick
862 * Major menu improvement from Murali Ganapathy.
863 * ISOLINUX: Wonderfully sick and brilliant workaround for
864 severe bugs in certain Award BIOSes; from Knut Petersen.
865 * SYSLINUX: Fix for the nomtools installed, from Frederic
867 * PXELINUX: Fix handling of IP numbers in the ranges
869 * ALL: New option "allowoptions" (defaults to 1), which
870 controls if options are allowed on the command line or not.
871 * SYSLINUX: Support building under klibc (see the klibc
872 distribution for details.)
875 * SYSLINUX: Remove residual setuid crap from
877 * Handle video pages correctly when using the API functions.
878 * Handle compiling on an x86-64 platform correctly.
879 * Menu system from Murali Krishnan Ganapathy; see the menu
880 directory for information.
881 * COMBOOT: Allow COMBOOT programs to change screen text mode.
882 * COMBOOT: Correct the documentation of how to detect
883 SYSLINUX from COMBOOT!!!!
884 * COMBOOT: Fix "get key without echo" API function.
885 * SYSLINUX: Fix bug that affected the API open function.
886 * ALL: Improve the E820 memory parser, to work around some
890 * Add new configuration command "ontimeout" to allow timeout
891 to have a different action than just pressing Enter.
892 * Add new configuration command "onerror" to allow a custom
893 command to be executed in case the kernel image is not found.
894 * Fix bugs in the COMBOOT/COM32 command-line parsing. APPEND
895 now works with COMBOOT/COM32 images.
896 * PXELINUX: Poll for ARP requests while sitting at the
897 prompt. This makes some boot servers a lot less unhappy.
898 * PXELINUX: Actually free sockets when we get a failure
899 (including file not found.) This bug would cause us to run
900 out of sockets and thus "go deaf" after a while.
901 * MEMDISK: Add an API to query for the existence of MEMDISK.
902 * SYSLINUX: Fix loading boot sectors (.bs/.bss) from floppy
904 * .c32 is now one of the extensions searched for
906 * PXELINUX: RFBG.exe seems to randomly overwrite memory
907 location 0x5700. Thus, don't use it!
908 * PXELINUX: Change pathname length max from 63 to 127; change
909 max vkernels from 128 to 64.
910 * Support Ctrl-U -> kill entire command line input.
911 * The "samples" directory contains a (barely at all tested)
912 chain loading example, chain.c32, which may be used to
913 chainload local floppy disks and hard disks. Use with
914 "chain fdN" or "chain hdN [partition]"; N = 0 for the first
918 * MEMDISK: Workaround for BIOSes which go into a snit when
919 they get a RESET command for the floppy system when there is
920 no floppy in the system.
921 * PXELINUX: Add "ipappend 2", which passes the hardware
922 address of the boot interface to the kernel as a
924 * mkdiskimage: fix the generation of the end limit.
925 * PXELINUX: Fix multiple bugs in chainloading of other NBPs.
926 * MEMDISK: Fix bug that would occationally cause "ran out of
927 input data" when using compressed disk images.
928 * SYSLINUX: Updates for the win32 installer (from Lars Munch.)
929 * PXELINUX: PXELINUX-specific options are now recognized both
930 in a vendor-option-space (a.k.a. type 43 encapsulated) as
931 well as in a site-option-space (unencapsulated.)
932 * COM32: Don't crash when DS != 0.
933 * COMBOOT/COM32: Make file reading work correctly. Thanks to
934 Phung Chi Kien for submitting a test program.
937 * ALL: Fix problem that would occationally cause a
938 boot failure, depending on the length of the kernel.
939 * ISOLINUX: Fix problem that would occationally cause a
940 boot failure, depending on the length of directories.
941 * SYSLINUX: Win32 installer now flushes buffers.
942 * ppmtolss16: Be fully compliant with the PNM spec;
943 actually process comments in the header and odd
944 alignments of the various parameters, as well as
945 "plain" (not raw) files and PBM and PGM files.
946 * PXELINUX: Lower the default MTU to 1472 in order to deal
947 with systems with slightly nonstandard MTUs, and PXE
948 stacks which don't defragment correctly. Unfortunately this
949 is very hard to test dynamically.
952 * PXELINUX: Add a default query based on the hardware address
953 of the boot device. This is in lower case hexadecimal form
954 separated by dashes and including the hardware type, for
955 example, the Ethernet (type 1) address 88:99:AA:BB:CC:DD
956 would query the file pxelinux.cfg/01-88-99-aa-bb-cc-dd.
957 * PXELINUX: Fix bug involving non-IP-based config file names.
958 * SYSLINUX: New installer for WinNT-based systems, from Lars
960 * MEMDISK: Fix handling of memory region overlap when
961 decompressing. Thanks to Mikhail Kupchik for identifying
965 * ALL: Reclaim even more low memory by observing that
966 comboot_seg == real_mode_seg is perfectly fine, and by the
967 fact that the 1000h segment managed to get unused in all
969 * PXELINUX: Attempt to negotiate full Ethernet-sized blocks
970 (1468 bytes) using the blksize option.
971 * SYSLINUX: Resurrect the old no-mtools version of the
972 installer, although as a root-only tool. Some distributors
973 have indicated that they need a small standalone installer.
974 * MEMDISK: Fix a memory offset computation error when
975 installing compressed disks which generally would cause
976 1 MB of memory to be wasted.
977 * MEMDISK: Fix installing the E820 memory map. Calling
978 INT 15h AX=0E820h with MEMDISK 2.03 loaded would give a
979 completely corrupt memory map.
980 * SYSLINUX: Make libsyslinux a dynamic library, so that it can
981 be updated separately from client programs. The whole idea,
982 after all, is to enable alternate programs to become
984 * Include an rpm spec file in the distribution, so rpmbuild
988 * Actually support comment lines in the configuration file.
989 * PXELINUX: Try to resolve some problems with stack switches.
990 * PXELINUX: Handle PXE stacks with broken routing.
991 With these workarounds, the remote install PXE boot floppy
992 (rbfg.exe) from Argon Technologies should work correctly.
993 * Fix problems with Perl scripts in UTF-8 locales.
994 * You probably need NASM 0.98.34 or later to compile this
995 version. 0.98.36 is recommended.
996 * MEMDISK: Now supports gzip compressed images.
999 * SYSLINUX: Security flaws have been found in the SYSLINUX
1000 installer when running setuid root. Rewrite the SYSLINUX
1001 installer so it uses mtools instead. It therefore now
1002 requires mtools (specifically mcopy and mattrib) to exist on
1003 your system, but it will not require root privileges and
1004 SHOULD NOT be setuid.
1007 * MEMDISK: Fix memory sizing bug when the ramdisk crosses the
1009 * MEMDISK: Add a "pause" option to stop immediately before
1010 booting, to read off the messages.
1011 * MEMDISK: Support disk images with DOSEMU headers.
1012 * Update the mkdiskimage script to handle newer mtools
1013 versions, and be able to generate disk images with DOSEMU
1014 headers (controlled by the -d option).
1015 * Fix the COM32 sample program.
1016 * PXELINUX, ISOLINUX: Fix some COMBOOT API calls.
1017 * PXELINUX: Doc fix.
1018 * Build SYSLINUX into a small library for encapsulation into
1019 other programs (however, please keep in mind this is a GPL'd
1021 * SYSLINUX: Make installer work with "owner" in /etc/fstab.
1022 * SYSLINUX: Fix issue with working on nonpartitioned hard disk
1023 devices. THIS CONFIGURATION IS NOT RECOMMENDED.
1026 * ALL: Add support for "COM32" (32-bit COMBOOT) images.
1027 * ALL: Add an API for COMBOOT/COM32 images. See comboot.doc
1028 for details. There is a C development environment for
1029 COM32 being created; it should be ready at some point in
1031 * Fix mbr.asm so that it actually works.
1032 * SYSLINUX: The syslinux installer *SHOULD* now be safe to
1034 * PXELINUX: Fix bug where PXELINUX would override random
1035 chunks of the UNDI code segment! Thanks to Kevin Tran for
1037 * ISOLINUX: Fix a bug related to slashes in pathnames.
1038 * ISOLINUX: Fix a bug in handling initrds over 128 MB.
1039 * ALL: Make the <Ctrl-V> key print out the version; this is
1041 * Add a small script, mkdiskimage, to create a DOS-formatted
1042 hard disk image using mtools. This may be useful in
1043 conjunction with MEMDISK.
1044 * ISOLINUX: Search for a /boot/isolinux directory as well as
1046 * ALL: Fix a bug related to very long configuration files.
1047 * PXELINUX: Work around a NASM bug which would result in no
1048 delay before reset if an error occurs.
1051 * ISOLINUX: Remove code no longer used which caused hangs on
1052 some Toshiba laptops.
1055 * ALL: NASM 0.98.32 or later is now required to build
1056 SYSLINUX from sources.
1057 * SYSLINUX: put back in the workaround for the BIOS floppy
1058 table. This seems to be a requirement for "extended" floppy
1059 formats to work correctly.
1060 * SYSLINUX: No longer warn if one is trying to boot on a 286
1061 or older. The above BIOS workaround no longer fits if the
1062 requirement to use only 8086-compatible code in the early
1063 boot is maintained. It made sense in 1994, but in 2002 a
1064 286 or older is a museum object.
1065 * SYSLINUX: Use a downright bizarre, stateful algorithm to try
1066 to guess the maximum transfer size. I am *hoping* this will
1067 cut down on the number of systems for which -s is required
1068 to work at any acceptable speed.
1069 * ISOLINUX: Add a few more workarounds for various broken El
1071 * Make sure .depend files aren't accidentally packed...
1072 * ALL: Fix bugs in the extension-detect code; this caused
1073 files like COMBOOT images and CD boot sectors to be
1074 mis-identified as Linux kernels and rejected.
1075 * ALL: Fix the return from COMBOOT.
1076 * ALL: Do some of the early groundwork for supporting DOS
1077 system calls in COMBOOT.
1078 * Get rid of unnecessary "near" directives, making the code
1080 * PXELINUX: Put the PXE stack back in the init state before
1081 invoking a chain-loaded NBP.
1082 * PXELINUX: Actually found the combination of calls that
1083 allows some (most?) PXE 2+ stacks to be unloaded from memory
1085 * PXELINUX: Add "keeppxe" command-line option to disable
1086 the standard unloading of the PXE stack.
1089 * SYSLINUX: fix bug that would cause valid kernel images to be
1093 * Work on removing gratuitous differences between modules.
1094 * Break up the source in common and module-specific files.
1095 * PXELINUX: Allow chaining of other PXE NBPs.
1096 * ISOLINUX: Allow loading "CD-ROM boot sectors".
1097 * ALL: generalize the definition of a boot sector/NBP.
1100 * PXELINUX, ISOLINUX: Fix bugs in the new core code.
1103 * Fix a "brown paper bag" class bug in the new core code.
1106 * Major code restructuring.
1107 * Relax the conventional memory limits somewhat.
1108 * MEMDISK: Set up the "version number string" pointer in the
1110 * SYSLINUX: Fix, again, "the bug that won't die": the use of
1111 the offset parameter with the SYSLINUX installer.
1112 * SYSLINUX: Fix possible superblock corruption problem in the
1116 * Handle bug in the location of initrd.
1119 * MEMDISK: Make compile with newer versions of gcc.
1122 * ISOLINUX: Support booting disk image files (to boot DOS or
1123 other non-Linux operating systems), *IF* the BIOS works
1124 correctly; unfortunately many BIOSes apparently don't.
1125 * Support Linux boot protocol version 2.03 (explicitly
1126 specify the initrd address limit.)
1127 * Handle small "pseudo-kernels"; images that use the Linux
1128 kernel boot protocols but are less than 64K in size.
1129 * MEMDISK: New subsystem; this is a driver which allows
1130 legacy OSes to boot using an in-memory simulated disk.
1131 See memdisk/memdisk.doc for more info.
1132 * PXELINUX, ISOLINUX: Correctly handle files larger than 65535
1133 blocks (32 MB for PXELINUX, 128 MB for ISOLINUX.)
1134 * PXELINUX: Make a best-effort attempt at freeing all memory
1135 claimed. From the looks of it, it will fail on most PXE
1139 * Limited support for hardware flow control when using a
1140 serial port console.
1141 * Support specifying the serial port I/O address explicitly.
1142 * Make DOS installer hopefully behave more nicely when used on
1143 recent Windows versions.
1144 * Fix returning to text mode when a font has been specified.
1145 * Attempt to detect missing serial port hardware and disable
1146 the serial port if there is nothing there.
1149 * Make the ppmtolss16 program handle color conversion more
1151 * Clean up "make install" target, honour INSTALLROOT if it
1153 * SYSLINUX: Fix stack-smash bug identified by Steffen
1155 * Hopefully fix return-to-text-mode on some graphics cards.
1156 * ISOLINUX: Bug workaround for Award BIOS 4.51, and perhaps
1157 other buggy BIOSes as well.
1160 * PXELINUX: Allow the DHCP server to override the
1161 configuration file name and pathname prefix, using
1162 "site-specific" DHCP options.
1163 * PXELINUX: Documentation fixes.
1164 * PXELINUX: Fix the "ipappend" option; the last two values
1165 were reversed vs. what the kernel expected.
1166 * Introduce a way to return to text mode once we are already
1167 in graphics mode. This may be useful for F-key help
1169 * Fix several bugs in the way return to text mode was handled.
1172 * ISOLINUX: Support full pathname searches. Max length for a
1173 pathname is 255 characters. As a result, only 64 "label"
1174 statements are supported in ISOLINUX.
1175 * PXELINUX: Max filename length extended to 63 characters.
1178 * Add support for graphical splash screens.
1179 * Add mode control characters, which allows you to control
1180 message display output depending on output mode (text,
1181 graphics, or serial port.)
1182 * ISOLINUX: New program, which boots Linux from a CD-ROM
1183 without using floppy emulation mode. See isolinux.doc for
1185 * PXELINUX: Don't search for boot sector file types, since
1186 they don't work anyway.
1187 * SYSLINUX: Document the LOCK command for Win9x, and the error
1188 dialog box for WinNT/2K.
1191 * PXELINUX: Fix code for finding !PXE from PXENV+. This was
1192 due to a spec bug; match the most recent spec since that
1193 seems to be what implementations actually do.
1194 * SYSLINUX: Add some smarts to the boot sector, which
1195 hopefully should reduce the number of systems which require
1196 stupid mode ("syslinux -s").
1197 * PXELINUX: Document further some of the pathologies with old
1199 * When specifying a "default" command line, no longer
1200 automatically appent "auto". See the "DEFAULT" command in
1201 syslinux.doc for more information.
1202 * PXELINUX: Clean up the allocation of local socket numbers.
1205 * PXELINUX: Rename pxelinux.bin to pxelinux.0, to match what
1206 most PXE servers seem to expect.
1207 * PXELINUX: Update the DHCP/boot server setup documentation.
1208 * PXELINUX: Support new "localboot" option for "label"
1210 * PXELINUX: More robust parsing of DHCP/boot server packets.
1211 * PXELINUX: Include a small utility program "gethostip" to
1212 compute hexadecimal IP addresses.
1215 * PXELINUX: Fix bugs introduced by new A20 code. (SYSLINUX
1216 has also been changed for code consistency reasons, but I'm
1217 pretty sure the changes are don't care on SYSLINUX.)
1218 * Documentation updates.
1219 * PXELINUX: Add "ipappend" option to generate an ip= option to
1223 * PXELINUX: Not all PXE stacks fill in the IP address for a
1224 type 3 cached info query. Use a type 2 cached info query
1225 for this information (only.)
1226 * Yet another attempt at A20 coding. Now support BIOS call
1227 15:2401 as well, and handle machines which always have A20
1229 * Support memory detection using INT 15h, AX=0E820h. BIOS
1230 manufacturers have apparently gotten sloppy about keeping
1231 INT 15h, AX=0E801h working properly.
1232 * Don't issue <CR><LF> onto the serial port when we're doing
1236 * Yet another A20-code update. It seems some "legacy-free"
1237 machines and embedded gear simply don't have a KBC to talk
1238 to, and that waiting for one will wait forever. Sigh.
1241 * SYSLINUX: Implement a hack for BIOS drivers which hog significant
1242 chunks of low memory during boot. (Note: PXELINUX already
1243 had this modification. SYSLINUX does still require that the
1244 low 512K is available; PXELINUX requires 384K. Machines
1245 with a physical memory hole in the low 640K cannot boot
1246 Linux no matter what.) Depending what the reason is for the
1247 memory hole, a new kernel (2.4.0-test3-pre3 or later) may be
1249 * SYSLINUX: Default installer binary now compiled against
1250 glibc 2.1. If this is inappropriate for your system and you
1251 still want to use the offical version of SYSLINUX, please
1252 follow the instructions in "distrib.doc" to rebuild the
1254 * SYSLINUX: Linux installer program now supports -o <offset>
1255 option which does a loopback mount with the
1256 -o loop,offset=<> option. Useful to run SYSLINUX on an
1257 individual partition of a whole-harddisk image.
1258 * Include the source code to a Master Boot Record (MBR)
1259 functionally equivalent to the one installed DOS except it
1260 includes EBIOS support, and should be resistant to geometry
1261 changes. The MBR code is public domain.
1262 * PXELINUX: Fix "double p" bug: if the tftp prefix was null,
1263 all filenames would get a "p" preprended, e.g.
1264 "ppxelinux.cfg" and "pvmlinux".
1267 * PXELINUX: Workaround for PXE ROMs based on the Intel PXE PDK
1268 3.0 build 071 and earlier: missing !PXE structure pointer.
1269 * PXELINUX: Handle larger BOOTP/DHCP packages.
1270 * PXELINUX: The command line passing was broken; fix.
1271 * PXELINUX: Make COMBOOT images work.
1272 * PXELINUX: Documentation on how to make booting work using
1273 the PDK 3.0-derived clients, which aren't so generous as to
1274 allow booting with only "PXEClient" specified.
1277 * PXELINUX: RFC 1123 states that a TFTP implementation MUST
1278 use adaptive timeout, "at least an exponential backoff of
1279 retransmission timeout is necessary." Implement a very
1280 simple exponential backoff for retransmits.
1281 * PXELINUX: Updated documentation, including pointer to new
1283 * PXELINUX: When sending ERROR due to bad OACK, use the proper
1284 destination port number (why are TFTP port numbers so odd?)
1285 * PXELINUX: If the boot dies in the middle somewhere,
1286 eventually give up and reset the machine (unattended
1290 * New program PXELINUX to do network booting using a
1291 PXE-compliant (Pre-Execution Environment) network booting
1292 PROM. See pxelinux.doc for details.
1295 * Serial console support. See syslinux.doc for details.
1298 * Change HIGHMEM_MAX to 38000000h to (hopefully) avoid the
1299 kernel stepping on it; 3f000000h was apparently a higher
1300 limit than the kernel used!
1303 * Add sys2ansi.pl script to display the contents of a
1304 colorized SYSLINUX file.
1305 * Changed the io_delay once again, after a report that the
1306 old delay port causes hangs on some systems.
1309 * Frob the "fast A20 gate" port as well as the keyboard
1310 controller; will this help systems with problems?
1311 * Be even more paranoid about A20, unfortunately even this
1312 seems to be not paranoid enough... what I don't understand
1313 is that if there is hardware out there *this broken*, how
1314 can it run Linux at all? Report an error message rather
1315 than hang forever if A20 is stuck.
1316 * Include some intermediate files in the distribution, plus
1317 provide a "make installer" target for distributors to relink
1318 the install programs only. I would prefer the syslinux boot
1319 loader proper to be "binary clean" for debuggablity -- use
1320 "make clean ; make installer" to rebuild the installers only.
1323 * Don't get confused by directories, volume labels, or VFAT
1325 * Use INT 15h, AX=0E801h to query memory size before trying
1326 INT 15h, AH=88h. This not only provides more headroom
1327 between the kernel and the initrd on large-memory machines,
1328 but it appears some recent BIOSes actually have started
1329 returning garbage for the AH=88h (older) call.
1330 * Trust high memory beyond the 15 MB mark if the user has
1331 specified it, or if obtained with INT 15h, AH=0E801h (with
1332 no memory holes above 1 MB.)
1335 * Increase A20M delay and put in a test to avoid problems on
1336 certain IBM Thinkpads (thanks to Donnie Barnes of RedHat
1337 for vital info on this one.)
1338 * Support COMBOOT style boot command images.
1339 * Support chain loading (foreign operating systems, e.g. DOS).
1340 * Include a new "copybs" DOS utility to copy a boot sector to
1341 a file (under Linux, use "dd".)
1342 * Fix the DOS installer to work for disks over 32 MB.
1343 * SYSLINUX should now handle disks with more than 65536 tracks.
1346 * Fix a bug that caused "label" statements in syslinux.cfg to
1347 not be handled properly.
1348 * Updated the documentation. Among other things, we now allow
1349 up to 128 "label" statements.
1352 * Fix for booting old (pre-initrd) kernels.
1353 * It seems at least some versions of OS/2 doesn't set up all
1354 the fields in the superblock correctly. Account for that.
1355 * Fix bug that caused boot failure when using the mem= option.
1358 * Loading from partitions now should work properly. (Actually
1359 tested, this time. You should even be able to dd a floppy
1360 to a partition and boot from it.)
1361 * Removed large workaround code for an alleged ancient BIOS
1362 bug I have never actually seen. The -s option should work
1363 on those machines, anyway.
1364 * Support for simple keyboard remappings, same as used by
1365 LILO (once again to support localization.) The program
1366 keytab-lilo.pl from the LILO distribution included to
1368 * Added a "safe, slow and stupid" (-s) option to the
1369 installers. This option will lobotomize the boot sector to
1370 hopefully work on even very buggy BIOSes.
1373 * Ability to load a VGA font on bootup (for localized Linux
1377 * Bug fix in the Linux installer.
1378 * Added a workaround for a bug in certain AMI/Intel BIOSes
1379 when booting from CD-ROM.
1380 * Documentation changes.
1383 * FAT16 filesystems are now supported.
1386 * Now compiles under Linux, using NASM, rather than using
1387 Turbo Assembler under DOS. See http://www.cryogen.com/Nasm
1388 for information about NASM.
1389 * Linux-hosted SYSLINUX installer, as well as a
1390 rewritten DOS installer (now is written in assembler, so we
1391 don't need Turbo C.)
1394 * Added support for loading bzImage and initrd loading, and made
1395 SYSLINUX new-setup-code aware (SYSLINUX 1.30 id=0x31).
1396 * Added LILO-style kernel labels; see the LABEL and IMPLICIT
1397 keywords in README file.
1398 * Added support for colorization of intro and help screens.
1399 * The vga= option is now handled correctly.
1400 * Massive rewrite of large chunks of the code in order to
1401 support the first two new features.
1404 * Added simple online help at the "boot:" prompt.
1405 * Removed 2880K image as I no longer have access to such a
1406 floppy drive. (Donations accepted!!)
1407 * Decided to distribute the source in a subdirectory rather
1408 than in a nested zipfile.
1411 * Removed a sanity check which would cause booting to fail on
1412 Phoenix BIOS version 4.03. Apparently this BIOS is buggy.
1415 * Added configuration file SYSLINUX.CFG. This file contains all
1416 configurable options, and can be edited from any OS which can
1417 access an MS-DOS filesystem; there is no longer a need to run
1418 SYSLINUX.EXE except to write the boot sector.
1419 * Default command line now given by "default" line in config
1421 * LINUXMSG.TXT and BOOTMSG.TXT hard-coded file names replaced by
1422 "display" and "prompt" lines in config file.
1423 * LILO-style option appending now supported ("append" line in
1425 * Prompt timeout is now supported ("timeout" line in config
1426 file). The timeout is cancelled when anything is typed on the
1428 * Pressing <ESC> or <Ctrl-C> at the Loading... stage now aborts
1429 the kernel loading in progress and returns the user to the
1431 * The installer now automatically sets the READONLY flag on
1433 * Added 2880K disk image.
1436 * Fixed bug that would prevent booting from double-density
1437 floppies and other DOS filesystems with multiple sectors per
1439 * Added 720K disk image.
1440 * Changed default kernel name on disk images to LINUX.
1443 * Fixed bug that would garble the command line on recent kernels
1444 with more than 4 sectors of setup code (this wasn't really a
1445 *bug*; rather, a kernel change broke the code. Unfortunately
1446 the Linux boot interface is still sorely undocumented).
1447 * Added BOOTMSG.TXT file support (message file which does not
1448 force display of the boot prompt).
1451 * Fixed bug on some (most?) 386 BIOSes would require two boot