1 Starting with 1.47, changes marked with SYSLINUX, PXELINUX, ISOLINUX
2 or EXTLINUX apply to that specific program only; other changes apply
6 * Support for NTFS, by Paulo Alcantara.
7 * EXTLINUX: more robust device detection, allow user to override.
8 * kontron_wdt.c32: Adding a new module to enable the hardware
9 watchdog of some Kontron boards. It allow enabling the watchdog
10 and then booting a given image.
11 * HDT updated, and now can display images regarding some detection
12 steps. Adding postexec command to run a particular entry after
13 HDT's execution, adding silent option and various fixes.
16 * HDT updated, and now supports uploading data to a TFTP
18 * ISOLINUX: remove the .img file support; it has been broken
19 on virtually all systems since the beginning, and has been
20 totally broken since 4.00 at least. Use MEMDISK instead.
21 * chain.c32: Support chaining ReactOS' FreeLdr (Shao Miller)
22 * isohybrid: -m option to add support for Mac EFI booting.
23 * ifmemdsk.c32: Choose boot option based on presence of
25 * Remove bogus distributed mk-lba-img binary.
26 * The Syslinux project has a new, cool logo by Abi
27 "ixxvil" Rasheed (doc/logo/*).
30 * PXELINUX: Fix handling of unqualified DNS names.
31 * PXELINUX: Fix timer bug when PXELINUX might be unloaded
33 * core/writedec.inc: Fix duplicate declaration and overflow
36 * sample directory: Fix Makefile include (Gene Cumm).
37 * ver.com: New universal DOS/COMBOOT application to display
38 version information (includes DRMK) (Gene Cumm).
39 * rosh.c32: updated; Using getopt() for internal commands to aid
40 parsing options; Fix bugs in ls; add warm reboot and echo
42 * com32: fix a file descriptor leak.
43 * gfxboot.c32: handle TEXT..ENDTEXT; error out on no LABELs
44 found (Sebastian Herbszt).
45 * Fix booting on non-partitioned devices.
46 * MBR, isohybrid: Workaround for a BIOS issue on Acer
47 Travelmate and possibly other machines.
48 * COM32: Adding ACPI parsing libary
49 * HDT: Release 0.4.1 to support ACPI parsing,
50 improved mutli-core/cpu reporting
51 * LUA: Updating to 5.1.4-2
52 * SYSLINUX: core/diskstart.inc: Reset DS after checksum in case
53 it isn't 0 (Gene Cumm).
54 * win64: Script update for additional mingw compiler names
56 * diag: New directory for diagnostic-related tools. Add a
57 handoff MBR/VBR and geometry display images (Gene Cumm).
58 * MEMDISK: use "mem=" parameter to mark available memory above
59 this point as reserved (core already does alignment) (Gene Cumm).
60 * MEMDISK: Additional disk probe checks and debug output
61 (Shao Miller, Gene Cumm).
62 * gpxe: add gpxelinuxk.0, based off of undionly.kpxe + new
64 * isohybrid: install the isohdpfx*.bin/isohdppx*.bin files to
65 make isohybrid images in one step with GNU xorriso.
66 * PXELINUX: disable a hack that would make localboot work on
67 some machines, but break just about as many. Some machines
68 which worked with "localboot 0" in previous versions may
69 need "localboot -1" in this one. If you have a machine
70 which requires "localboot -1", a copy of the dmidecode
71 or sysdump output would be appreciated.
72 * Include a set of diagnostics by Gene Cumm.
73 * Fixes for gcc 4.6 and binutils 2.21.51.
74 * chain.c32: Allow "uuid" as a synonym to "guid".
75 * Handle directory names starting with .. for vfat and
77 * New MENU HIDDENKEY command to provide a one-keystroke way to
78 activate a boot option from a hidden menu intro screen.
81 * Don't hang if no configuration file is found.
82 * Better support for booting from MBRs which don't pass
84 * EXTLINUX: Try to be smarter about finding the partition
86 * chain.c32: support chainloading Dell Real Mode Kernel (Gene
88 * chain.c32: fix booting in CHS mode.
89 * rosh.c32 updated (Gene Cumm).
90 * Fix the -s option to the syslinux/extlinux installer (Arwin
92 * isohybrid: fix padding of large images (PJ Pandit).
95 * SYSLINUX: correctly handle the case where the -d option is
96 specified with a non-absolute path, i.e. "syslinux -d
97 syslinux" instead of "syslinux -d /syslinux".
98 * ISOLINUX: recognize the directory names /boot/syslinux and
99 /syslinux, and the filename syslinux.cfg in addition to the
100 isolinux-specific names. Thus, "syslinux.cfg" is now a
101 generic name, whereas "isolinux.cfg" or "extlinux.conf" is
102 specific to different derivative.
103 * chain.c32: support setting alternate config filename for
104 stage2 of GRUB Legacy (Gert Hulselmans).
105 * whichsys.c32: execute specific command, based on Syslinux
106 bootloader variant (Gert Hulselmans).
107 * lua.c32: a lot of new bindings added to the "syslinux"
108 namespace: VESA, PCI, DMI, kernel loading (Marcel Ritter).
109 * btrfs: print a comprehensive error message if compressed or
110 encrypted files are encountered (neither is currently
112 * SYSLINUX: mtools installer: honor TMPDIR, error out on disk
114 * Handle fallbacks from EDD to CHS, to deal with systems which
115 announce EDD support but don't actually have it.
116 * SYSLINUX: the mtools, DOS and win32 installers now use the new
117 command line options.
118 * PXELINUX: fix the use of IP addresses in TFTP :: or tftp://
120 * SYSLINUX: experimental Win64 installer (syslinux64.exe).
123 * ISOLINUX: fix initialization on systems which don't zero
125 * SYSLINUX/EXTLINUX: fix handing of disk read retries in
127 * ISOLINUX: change the initialization sequence to avoid
128 problems with certain (old) BIOSes. Special thanks to
129 Helmut Hullen for invaluable debugging support.
130 * ifplop.c32: new module which detects if the PLoP Boot Loader
131 already has booted a CDROM or USB drive (Gert Hulselmans).
132 * Correct a severe memory overwrite bug, triggered primarily
133 when selecting a very long command line in the menu system.
134 * lua.c32: Lua script interpreter, currently experimental
135 (Alexey Zaytsev, Marcel Ritter, Geert Stappers).
136 * PXELINUX: new option IPAPPEND 4 to append the system UUID to
137 the kernel command line.
138 * PXELINUX: display BOOTIF and SYSUUID at startup time, and
139 when Ctrl-N is pressed on the command line.
142 * Major code base changes; all filesystem rewritten in C.
143 This work was done primarily by Liu Aleaxander (Yuanhan Liu).
144 * EXTLINUX: btrfs and ext4 support. btrfs support was done by
146 * EXTLINUX is no longer a separate derivative; extlinux and
147 syslinux both install the same loader (ldlinux.sys); for the
148 Linux-based installers the extlinux binary is used for a
149 mounted filesystem; the syslinux binary for an unmounted
151 * When loading a new configuration file with the CONFIG
152 command, one can now also specify a new current directory
153 with an APPEND statement.
154 * Full ADV support for Syslinux, to boot-once and MENU SAVE
156 * Full support of GPT-partitioned disks, including disks
157 and/or parititions larger than 2 TiB (if supported by BIOS.)
158 * The GPT handover protocol adjusted to the current T13
159 committee draft; see doc/gpt.txt.
160 * HDT: code cleanup, small bugfixes
161 * The "linux" syslinux installer (syslinux-nomtools) now has a
162 command-line syntax closer to the extlinux installer. The
163 mtools, dos and win32 installers will get this new syntax
164 eventually, but it is not implemented yet.
165 * chain.c32: support booting GPT partitions by index, GUID, label.
166 * chain.c32: support booting the Syslinux partition with "fs".
167 * chain.c32: implement gpt.txt hand-over protocol.
168 * chain.c32: support for chainloading Grub stage 2.
169 * PXELINUX: TFTP URL syntax (tftp://) supported even when not
170 running gPXE/gpxelinux.
171 * New ls.c32 module to display the contents of the disk from
172 the command line, and pwd.c32 to display the current
174 * rosh.c32 (read only shell) updated and hopefully usable.
175 * PXELINUX: Support "localboot -1", just like the other
177 * gfxboot.com removed in favor of gfxboot.c32.
178 * New MENU HELP statement to display fullscreen help text as a
179 result of a menu selection.
180 * memdiskfind utility that can be used with the phram driver
181 in the Linux kernel to mount a memdisk.
182 * ifcpu.c32: Adding usage when no parameters are given,
184 * ifcpu.c32, ifcpu64.c32: handle more than one argument per
186 * isohybrid: C version which does not require Perl.
187 * New command MENU IMMEDIATE to permit hotkeys to activate
188 immediately without needing Enter.
189 * mdiskchk.com supports a --no-sequential (or -n) option to
190 suppress the classic all-drive-probing heuristic. Useful
191 on BIOSes who crash/hang when certain drive numbers are
193 * ElTorito.Sys DOS driver now scans drive numbers upwards
194 instead of downwards, in order to avoid a fairly common
195 bug on some BIOSes where probing drive 0xFF causes a
197 * NASM 2.03 or later required to build. 2.07 or later
201 * chain.c32: fix chainloading the MBR of a hard disk (broken
203 * mboot.c32: report the boot loader name in the information
205 * com32: set argv[0] in a com32 module.
206 * core: add a workaround for a bug in Xen HVM older than
207 version 3.3: disable halt on those platforms.
208 * Fix problems where certain operations in com32 modules would
209 cause the core to believe the system was idle.
210 * MEMDISK: fix MBR detection when used with a DOSEMU header or
212 * MEMDISK: generate the mBFT checksum correctly.
215 * gPXELINUX: updated to gPXE 1.0.0. gPXELINUX can now do NBP
216 chainloading, and does not require a second DHCP.
217 * vesamenu.c32: unbreak the default "grey hole" background.
218 * We no longer have a built-in default of "linux auto".
219 Instead, if no DEFAULT or UI statement is found, or the
220 configuration file is missing entirely, we drop to the boot:
221 prompt with an error message (if NOESCAPE is set, we stop
222 with a "boot failed" message; this is also the case for
223 PXELINUX if the configuration file is not found.)
224 * chain.c32: support chainloading Grub4DOS; patch by Gert
226 * New tool: sysdump.c32, can be used to produce system
227 information for debugging via tftp or ymodem (serial port).
228 * "vga=current" on the Linux command line is now supported.
229 * chain.c32: support for Windows Recovery Console, via the
231 * chain.c32: should now support loading NTLDR from different
232 type media than loaded from.
233 * chain.c32: support chainloading to a FAT/NTFS partition with
234 invalid "hidden sectors" via the "sethidden" option.
235 * memdisk: fix the mBFT ACPI table.
236 * vesamenu.c32: if the image is smaller than the screen, tile
237 it across the whole screen.
238 * mkdiskimage: -s option for producing a sparse image.
239 * vesamenu.c32: support arbitrary resolution setting (beyond
240 BIOS support) on some Intel-based video chipsets. This code
241 is a modified version of the "915resolution" tool by
242 Steve Tomljenovic; your mileage might vary.
245 * SYSLINUX: make the DOS installer work for MS-DOS 7.x/8.x
247 * HDT: updated to version 0.3.6 (numerous changes.)
248 * mboot.c32: now supports video mode setting if requested by
250 * MEMDISK: Fix floppy images of PC-DOS.
251 * MEMDISK: Add support for emulation of CD-ROM images; patch
253 * MEMDISK: Comply with the Win9x "safe hook" standard,
254 allowing a protected-mode driver.
255 * MEMDISK: New "mBFT" ACPI table, by analogy with the iSCSI
256 iBFT table. This allows detection from a protected-mode
257 operating system without EDD support.
258 * 32-bit version of the gfxboot loader (gfxboot.c32), so far
259 experimental. This will replace gfxboot.com in the future.
260 * vesamenu.c32: new MENU RESOLUTION directive to set a screen
261 resolution other than 640x480.
262 * chain.c32: add support for loading isolinux.bin.
263 * chain.c32: make sure to always return to text mode.
264 * eltorito.sys: DOS driver for generic CD-ROMs; by Gary Tong
268 * PXELINUX: clear memory before handing over to a chainloaded
269 NBP. This may help avoid a bug in Windows RIS.
270 * PXELINUX: fix localboot after NBP chainloading on certain
271 BIOSes (including ASUS A8N-E, but possibly others.)
272 * chain.c32: support chainloaded bootloaders on ISOLINUX.
273 * PXELINUX: allow filenames up to 251 characters.
274 * MEMDISK: fix problems booting from USB on Thinkpads, and
275 possibly other machines or hardware combinations.
276 * isohybrid: fix the -id option.
277 * HDT: updated to version 0.3.4.
278 * MEMDISK: the stack size is now configurable, with the stack=
280 * Simple menu: fix Ctrl-W (word erase) in command-line edit.
281 * Simple menu: fix crash on some platforms.
282 * Gfxboot: fixes to the configuration file parsing.
283 * PXELINUX: add a tool to override specific DHCP options via
284 values hardcoded in the pxelinux.0 file. These hardcoded
285 values can be either "before DHCP" (defaults if DHCP do not
286 provide values), or "after DHCP" (overrides DHCP). The tool
287 pxelinux-options can be used to set these options. This
288 feature does not apply to gpxelinux.0; when used with gPXE
289 this is better handled by modifying the embedded script.
292 * isohybrid: fix the -partok logic for loading from a partition.
293 * ISOLINUX: deal with systems which return from INT 13h with
295 * Do not invoke the idle handler during large file loads.
296 * Simple menu: make ONTIMEOUT work with MENU HIDDEN.
297 * PXELINUX: handle TFTP servers which have extra NULs at the
298 end of an OACK packet.
301 * Shuffler: fix bug in real-mode entry. This affected a
302 number of modules, probably in relatively unimportant ways,
303 but it completely broke linux.c32.
304 * Improved performance.
305 * Attempt to halt the processor while idle. This can cause
306 bad reponsiveness when using a serial console especially for
307 automated input; if that ends up being a problem, use the
308 new "NOHALT 1" configuration command.
309 * linux.c32 now suppresses all messages if the "quiet" flag is
311 * isohybrid: add a variety of options, and a help message.
312 * ISOLINUX: fix booting in hybrid mode when CBIOS is used.
313 This unfortunately means that the isohybrid handoff protocol
314 has changed, so the isohybrid utility must version-match
316 * Drop support for ACPI 3 extended memory flags.
317 * Menu system: don't set the autocr flag on the serial
319 * altmbr: fix handling of logical partitions.
320 * altmbr: cap at 439 bytes so the partition select byte isn't
324 * New shuffler mechanism and API.
325 * Rewritten mboot.c32 module.
326 * The syslinux_boot_linux() function has been simplified.
327 * Don't hang trying to boot a "menu quit" label from the CLI.
328 * Fix problem with boot-once "sticking" on some BIOSes.
329 * isohybrid: fix problem with images over 2 GB in size.
330 * APM poweroff module (poweroff.com) by Sebastian Herbszt.
331 * ISOLINUX: fix the handling of large directories. Bug found
332 and fixed by Steffen Winterfeldt.
335 * PXELINUX: fix the "keeppxe" option, which was broken in
337 * MEMDISK: correct the extraction of geometry information from
338 the MBR of a hard disk image, again broken in 3.74.
339 * extlinux(1) man page from Brian Pellin.
340 * Simple menu: MENU SAVE is now controllable on a menu-by-menu
341 or entry-by-entry basis.
342 * gPXELINUX: fix interrupt-disabling bug.
343 * HDT: fix lockup on machines with certain PCI configurations.
346 * New UI directive, which allows a more natural way to specify
347 a menu system (or not.) With the UI directive specifying
348 the menu system, the DEFAULT directive can be used to select
349 the default entry inside the menus.
350 * kbdmap.c32: new module to load a new keyboard map
352 * isohybrid: workaround bug in some versions of binutils.
353 * Fix issue with the placement of the initrd on some machines.
354 * ifcpu64: fix handling of less than three arguments.
355 * Fix bug in the shuffle library when dealing with a very
356 large number of fragments.
357 * Documentation fixes by Vicente Jimenez Aguilar.
358 * gPXE updated to version 0.9.7.
359 * hdt.c32: Hardware Detection Tool, an interactive hardware
360 analyzer module by Erwan Velu.
361 * MEMDISK: enable automatic determination of the disk geometry
362 for a large floppy disk image if (and only if) it is
363 formatted with a FAT filesystem.
364 * SYSLINUX: fix the handling of .bss files on FAT12/16.
365 * Suppress the Loading ... message if "quiet" is specified on
366 the kernel command line.
367 * Fix the use of "CONSOLE 0" with menu.c32.
368 * Allow COM32 modules to be aware of all memory even in the
369 presence of a memory hole. The "linux.c32" module can be
370 used to load a kernel (or memdisk) plus large initrd on
372 * MBR: produce alternate MBR variants which force the drive
373 number to hd0 (_f variants), or force the drive number to
374 hd0 if the Ctrl key is pressed (_c variants.) Furthermore,
375 add an MBR variant (altmbr*.bin) which ignores the active
376 flag and instead boots the partition number specified in the
377 byte at offset 439 decimal.
378 * Add IPAPPEND strings to com32 modules, especially needed for
380 * New MENU SAVE directive which saves the latest menu
381 selection until the next boot. Currently only implemented for
383 * gfxboot.com: *experimental* interface module to Steffen
384 Winterfeldt's "gfxboot" graphical front end
385 (http://gfxboot.sourceforge.net/). Module by Sebastian Herbszt.
388 * Upgrade gPXE to release version 0.9.5.
389 * Fix a number of build errors on various platforms.
390 * Handle systems with E820 "extended attributes" per ACPI 3.
391 Someone "cleverly" decided to change the E820 spec in a
392 backwards-incompatible manner!
393 * MEMDISK: default to "safeint".
394 * Adopt the moniker "The Syslinux Project", standard proper
395 noun capitalization, to refer to the project as a whole.
396 Thus, reserve the all-caps "SYSLINUX" to refer to the FAT
398 * mboot.c32: add "-solaris" option to pass DHCP information to
399 the Solaris kernel; required for automatic Solaris boot
400 without using Solaris' pxeboot program.
401 * config.c32: trivial COM32 module to restart Syslinux with
402 another configuration file from the command line (equivalent
403 to the CONFIG command in the configuratin file.)
406 * Include the pxechain.com module from Jeffery Hutzelman at
407 Carnegie Mellon University. This allows chaining another
408 PXE boot program while changing the DHCP packet passed to
410 * Reorganize the Makefile system.
411 * Major PCI core cleanups and other source cleanup.
413 * Try to avoid memory-snooping attacks on passwords. Note
414 that if someone has root on the box, they generally don't
415 need to compromise the boot loader...
416 * ISOLINUX: fix crash when given a zero-length file.
417 * sdi.c32: support gzipped SDI images.
418 * ISOLINUX: support generating images which can be either
419 a CD-ROM or a hard disk (USB disk, etc.) See
420 doc/isolinux.txt for more information.
421 * Remote gdb support for COM32 modules; patch from Stefan
423 * Support beeps in F-key help in the simple menu system.
424 * Tab display of labels, based on a patch from Sebastian
425 Herbszt. Can be disabled with the NOCOMPLETE configuration
427 * "menu default" can now be specified after "menu begin", to
428 indicate that a specific submenu should be the default entry.
431 * Workaround for a VESA BIOS which tries to make DOS system
433 * Simple menu: fix navigation around disabled entries
434 (or at least try to...)
435 * EXTLINUX: proper error message when confused about mount
437 * MEMDISK: be smarter about incompletely disabled floppies in
438 the BIOS and about being the only floppy.
439 * Optionally allow initrd to be specified on a separate line
440 rather than as part of the "append" line. This is not
441 recommended, but apparently makes life easier for some
443 * SYSLINUX: if no config file is present, set the current
444 directory to the root directory (Sebastian Herbszt).
445 * chain.c32: option "hide" to support hiding and unhiding of
446 primary partitions on the boot drive with DOS, Win, or OS/2
447 partition types (01, 04, 06, 07, 0b, 0c, 0e).
448 * Unbreak the KBDMAP command (broken in 3.70).
449 * EXTLINUX: fix the handling of the ADV when using CBIOS.
450 * ifcpu64.c32: simple COM32 module to select a 32- or 64-bit
451 kernel (and optionally 32-bit kernels with or without PAE.)
452 Eventually we want a scripting language for this
453 kind of stuff; a Lua module is under development.
454 * Fix parsing of the SERIAL command without a baud rate
456 * chain.c32: error out when try to boot an unbootable
458 * SYSLINUX: when building the Win32 installer, search for
459 MinGW under a large number of possible names.
462 * PXELINUX: Support enhanced capabilities when running on top
463 of gPXE (http://www.etherboot.org/). In particular, support
464 URL-style syntax for filenames, and any protocol that gPXE
465 supports (except, currently, iSCSI and AoE.) This feature
466 is currently highly experimental.
467 * Substantial infrastructure changes to support files whose
468 length aren't known at open time (typically network
469 connections.) Please note that the semantics of some of the
470 comboot APIs have changed slightly; please see doc/comboot.txt.
471 * PXELINUX: We no longer require a TFTP server which supports
472 the tsize option for all transfers.
473 * PXELINUX: Integrate with the gPXE source base; unified image
474 now included as "gpxelinux.0".
475 * The source tree has been restructured; files that were
476 previously in the root have moved into the core, dos, gpxe,
477 and utils directories.
478 * "make install", "make netinstall", and "make extbootinstall"
479 have been updated massively. "make install-all" now installs
481 * Change default dir for auxiliary files from
482 /usr/lib/syslinux to /usr/share/syslinux.
483 * SYSLINUX: VFAT long filename support.
484 * MEMDISK: Any image less than 4096K (4 MB) is treated as a
485 floppy disk. The geometry-guessing code will recognize all
486 common extended formats, but it is still possible some very
487 exotic formats need geometry specification. Large floppies
488 and very small harddisks still need explicit specification.
489 * chain.c32: option "swap" to support swapping of BIOS drive
490 numbers. This is necessary to boot certain operating systems
491 (DOS, Windows) from a secondary drive.
492 * chain.c32: option "file=" to support loading a boot file from
493 the SYSLINUX filesystem instead of loading the boot sector
495 * chain.c32: option "seg=" to control the load location.
496 * chain.c32: option "ntldr=" as a shorthand for "seg=0x2000
497 file="; use this to load one of WinNT's loaders:
499 chain.c32 hd0 1 ntldr=/MiniNT/setupldr.bin
501 Note that the file needs to be in the SYSLINUX filesystem.
502 * chain.32: options "freedos=" and "msdos="/"pcdos=" as
503 shorthands for "seg=0x60 file=" and "seg=0x70 file="
504 respectively; use this to load FreeDOS's kernel.sys, MS-DOS's
505 io.sys or PC-DOS's ibmbio.sys.
506 * Change to the A20 algorithm which *MIGHT* help systems that
507 have systems which freeze when Syslinux is used with USB
508 keyboards. Note that this has been hard do verify, so I
509 would greatly appreciate feedback on it.
510 * Complex menu system: unbreak menus which has unnamed
511 submenus, like complex.c.
512 * Fix newline on the serial port for some com32 modules.
513 * chain.c32: support "boot" as the drive specification,
514 indicating the drive from which it was booted
515 (for syslinux/extlinux).
516 * SYSLINUX/EXTLINUX: support "localboot" with the same feature
518 * Add an experimental MBR for GPT partition tables.
519 * Use $(CC) when determining compile flags.
520 * chain.c32: fix booting from logical partitions (Sergey
524 * Fix errors in the PCI and DMI detection modules (Erwan Velu,
526 * Fix host dependencies and other issues in the build system.
527 * PXELINUX: Allow class E addresses as unicast.
528 * sdi.c32: module to load Microsoft System Deployment Images.
529 For additional information, please see:
530 http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms838543.aspx
531 * EXTLINUX: Correct reading directories with deleted entries.
532 * Shuffle library: correct the handling of certain geometries
533 (an upward move with source material blocking the move); as
534 required by sdi.c32 but theoretically possible for other
536 * Add "make netinstall" to install /tftpboot.
537 * Fix some documentation files that didn't get moved/renamed.
540 * Clean up garbage after "aborted." message.
541 * Clean up memdump.com filenames.
542 * Support SHA256 and SHA512 encrypted passwords.
543 * The shuffle library now can generate chained descriptors,
544 thus allowing pretty much arbitrarily complex memory maps.
545 * Handle command lines up to 2047 characters, the current
547 * vesamenu: support systems without linear framebuffer support
548 (sigh, what is this, 1993?) and 15-bit RGB modes.
549 * Move the label storage (for the command-line interface) to
550 high memory, removing the size limit and freeing up 64K of
552 * Get rid of 4096-entry limit in the simple menu system.
553 * New hierarchial submenu support: see MENU BEGIN, MENU END,
554 MENU GOTO in doc/menu.txt.
555 * MENU QUIT allows creating a menu entry for returning to the
557 * ISOLINUX: Work around bug in certain Adaptec BIOSes,
558 patch by Bruce Robson.
559 * pngtopnm dependency removed from samples/ directory.
560 * Text documentation files (in doc/) renamed *.doc -> *.txt.
563 * EXTLINUX: fix crash when accessing an empty file.
564 * elf.c32: If a PHDR segment is present, load it.
565 * Fix SHA-1 and MD5 passwords.
566 * ISOLINUX: fix booting when mastered without
567 mkisofs -boot-info-table (broken since 3.50, sigh...)
568 * Handle BIOSes which emit multiple contiguous valid
569 memory regions in the e820 map.
572 * Support for "auxilliary data vector", a small amount of
573 writable storage. Currently only supported for EXTLINUX,
574 but the infrastructure is there for the other derivatives,
575 assuming a suitable storage location can be found.
576 * EXTLINUX: boot-once support (--once, --clear-once, and
578 * A command is now required to the EXTLINUX installer, i.e. at
579 least one of --install, --update, --once, --clear-once, or
583 * PXELINUX: as per RFC 5071, PXELINUX no longer requires the
584 use of the magic cookie option (208) for unencapsulated
585 options. Currently it does not require it for
586 vendor-encapsulated options (vendor-option-space) either,
587 but that MAY be reverted in the future if it causes
589 * Documentation text files moved to a common "doc" directory;
590 man pages from the Debian project added to the "man"
592 * Correct bug with self-overlapping memory areas when using
593 the shuffle interface.
596 * Add "menu separator", "menu indent", "menu disabled"
598 * vesamenu: fix handing of VESA modes with noncontiguous
599 memory buffers. In particular, Qemu/KVM sets up such a mode
600 when Cirrus Logic emulation is enabled (which is the
602 * Support for calling real mode functions using far calls,
603 with argument on the stack. This was implemented to support
604 the BIOS BBS specification, but subsequent experiments show
605 that the at least one of the most common BIOS cores, Award,
606 passes the presence check but doesn't actually implement the
610 * Fix bugs related to the $PnP BIOS functionality on some
612 * PXELINUX: Fix the "naked" version of :: (suppress prefix.)
613 * elf.c32: better error messages.
614 * Faster operation under Intel VT virtualization.
615 * PXELINUX: Fix DHCP bootfile option.
616 * mkdiskimage: Support more than 1024 cylinders.
617 * (Hopefully) fix installer on non-x86 platforms.
618 * Fix shuffle_and_boot_rm, used by linux.c32.
619 * Fix shuffle_and_boot_pm on 386/486.
620 * ISOLINUX (at least): fix bss memory overwrite hang.
621 * MBR: Fix booting from logical partitions.
625 * Handle capitalized F-key commands in the menu system.
626 * Fix padding error when loading multiple ramdisks.
627 * Workaround for VMware crashing when trying to print a
628 message during early kernel boot (does not seem to work,
630 * chain.c32: add the ability to search for a specific MBR
631 signature at runtime.
632 * Fall back to the server identity option if the siaddr field
633 in the DHCP header isn't set. This seems to match the
634 behaviour of most PXE stacks.
635 * mkdiskimage: give the generated disk image an MBR signature.
636 * MEMDISK: Fix failures on some BIOSes.
637 * Simple menu system: new "MENU HIDDEN" option to not display
638 the menu unless the user presses a key.
639 * Simple menu system: support MD5-encrypted passwords (modern
640 Unix standard style, with "$1$" prefixes.)
641 * pcitest.c32: now functions as a full "lspci". Thanks to
642 Erwan Velu for this work.
643 * MEMDISK: Make EDD actually work.
644 * ISOLINUX: Fix for certain broken CD-ROM BIOSes which
645 randomly corrupted register FS.
646 * Simple menu system: fix memory overwrite bug that caused
647 some systems to lock up or behave weirdly.
648 * Fix building on 64-bit systems without a 32-bit libc installed.
651 * EXTLINUX: Fix failure to find the configuration file.
654 * New keywords allow the type of file to be specified in the
656 * It is now supported to load a different configuration file
657 with the CONFIG keyword.
658 * Fix API call 0x0019 (Read Disk.)
659 * MENU AUTOBOOT, MENU TABMSG, MENU PASSPROMPT allows
660 internationalization of menu messages.
661 * A new feature, TEXT HELP, allows the administrator to set
662 a multi-line help message for individual selections.
663 * Fix API call 0x0012 (Cleanup, shuffle and boot.)
664 * New API call "Cleanup, shuffle and boot to flat protected mode"
665 * New API call "Cleanup, shuffle and boot to real mode",
666 similar to API call 0x0012 but allows arbitrary register setting.
667 * Introduce a library interface for loading arbitrary binary
668 formats with relatively easily understood code. See
669 the elf.c32 module for an example on how to use it.
670 * New module "elf.c32", to load a protected-mode ELF kernel.
671 * MBR (old and new): Fix bug in CHS mode when LBA >
673 * vesamenu: fix decoding of palettized PNG images.
674 * Update the Linux kernel boot protocol.
675 * PXELINUX: Press Ctrl-N at the boot prompt to read out the
677 * Instead of the (non-existent) MAC, use the client identifier
678 for networks like Infiniband and Firewire/1394.
679 * Add a new INCLUDE command to the core syslinux parser.
680 * Allow binding help text to F11 and F12.
681 * F-key help now available in the simple menu system.
682 * Disabled the polling for ARP during idle. It is simply too
683 slow on some (broken!) PXE stacks.
684 * PXELINUX: also try to fetch the config file based on UUID.
685 * SYSLINUX/EXTLINUX: New RAID mode (-r) which calls the BIOS
686 to load the next device (typically the next drive) on boot
690 * MEMDISK: Disable EDD by default on floppy disks. EDD can be
691 enabled with the "edd" option and disabled with "noedd".
692 This (hopefully) should make Ghost work again.
693 * SYSLINUX: "unix" installer now uses Linux ioctls instead of
695 * New MBR which can boot from logical partitions.
696 * SYSLINUX: Fix bug in detecting special extensions which was
697 introduced in 3.35 :(
698 * PXELINUX: Unbreak chainbooting FreeBSD (and possibly others.)
701 * MEMDISK: New "safeint" mode.
702 * MEMDISK: Be more compliant with the PnP BIOS spec.
703 * MEMDISK: Turn on EDD support by default.
704 * MEMDISK: Try to work on some machines on which it would not
705 work when there was no floppy drive in the system.
706 * Simple menu system: fix serial console support (broken in
708 * SYSLINUX: Support subdirectories. Like ISOLINUX, the
709 "current directory" is the directory in which syslinux.cfg
710 is found; this is searched for in the sequence
711 /boot/syslinux, /syslinux, /. As a side benefit, label names
712 like "linux-2.6.18" and "linux-2.6.19" are now supported.
714 To install ldlinux.sys in a subdirectory, pass the -d
715 directory option to the SYSLINUX installer.
717 This work was sponsored by slax.org (thanks, Tomas!)
718 * New API call: read disk.
719 * Invoke ONERROR on initrd load failure.
722 * The simple menu system (menu.c32 and vesamenu.c32) now
723 support loading more than one configuration file at a time,
724 using MENU INCLUDE or by specifying multiple filenames.
725 * The MENU COLOR statement can now control the shadowing mode.
728 * libcom32 extended to support graphics mode and graphical console.
729 * vesamenu.c32, new graphical version of the Simple
730 Menu System, see README.menu.
731 * New com32 modules by Erwan Velu do selection based on CPUID
732 or PCI devices present.
733 * RPM spec: add syslinux-tftpboot module; move syslinux by
734 default to the /usr/share/syslinux directory.
735 * RPM spec: extlinux is now a separate package.
738 * EXTLINUX: New options --install (-i) and --update (-U), to
739 make it clear if a boot loader should be installed or
740 updated. For now, defaults to --install for compatibility;
741 a future version will require one of these options.
742 * New library functions to load and place files in memory.
743 * mboot.c32 bug fixes.
744 * Remove 8 MB kernel size restriction.
745 * Add "klibc" target for building unix/syslinux and
746 extlinux/extlinux with klcc (klibc-1.4.27 or later.)
747 * PXELINUX: Fail (and eventually reboot) if no configuration
749 * COM32 module by Erwan Velu to make decisions based on DMI
751 * Fix issue where going back and forth between menus a lot
753 * ISOLINUX: Fix bug which made "cd boot sectors" not work.
756 * MEMDISK: Fix bug by which accessing the real floppy disk
757 as B: in MS-DOS was broken.
758 * Simple menu system: allow tweaking of the screen layout.
759 * Simple menu system: better command-line editing, correctly
760 handle command lines above 256 characters.
761 * PXELINUX: revert memory allocation change that caused
762 problems on some network cards.
763 * MEMDISK: Try work around a bug on some BIOSes when no
764 physical floppy disk is present in the system.
765 * Enable the 16550A FIFOs, if present, when doing serial
767 * New "totaltimeout" command establishes a timeout without
768 regard for any user input.
769 * Simple menu system: timeout behaviour now more in line with
771 * Simple menu system: "ontimeout" should now work correctly.
774 * gcc 4.0.1 compilation fixes.
775 * Add support for querying the PCI BIOS in libcom32
776 (used by ethersel et al.)
777 * Fix PCI handing (ethersel etc) on several old chipsets (and
779 * Try to deal with systems with broken EBIOS.
780 * New API call to do "localboot".
781 * New API call to query features.
782 * New API call to run kernel image, a lower-level call than
783 "run command". See comboot.doc.
784 * Fix for bug in EBIOS code discovered by Arwin Vosselman.
785 * NOESCAPE security fix.
786 * Comments are now recognized even without a space following #.
787 * Fix incorrect handling of mixes of entries with and without
789 * The idle API call now harmlessly returns failure if it is a
790 no-op. That way the caller can decide whether or not to
791 bother invoking it again.
792 * Temporarily disable the idle API call on PXELINUX, due to
793 some platforms on which the idle API call seems to hang; this
794 problem has not yet been debugged.
795 * MEMDISK: the handling of DOSEMU-headered images was broken;
797 * EXTLINUX: symlinks are now supported.
798 * Simple menu system: N and P now work correctly as hotkeys.
799 * MEMDISK: more BIOS bug workarounds.
802 * gcc4 compilation fix.
803 * <BEL> (Ctrl-G) in message files now causes a beep.
804 * Reduce the command line to 511 characters; 1023 caused
808 * SYSLINUX: Fix performance regression (-s mode always
810 * Add API function for idle loop.
811 * libutil: Add do_idle() function for idle loop, make
813 * libutil: Add SHA-1 and base64 functions.
814 * Simple menu system: add password support.
815 * EXTLINUX: Sparse files now handled correctly.
816 * EXTLINUX: Large directories now handled correctly.
817 * ALL: At the prompt, Ctrl-X now forces text mode.
818 * Fix configuration file parsing error, that could cause
820 * Rewritten advanced menuing system from Murali Ganapathy.
821 * MEMDISK: New "bigraw" mode to work around certain broken
823 * COM32 module to boot Multiboot systems, including Xen. See
824 com32/modules/mboot.doc.
825 * Max command line changed to 1023 characters. Note that the
826 kernel proper still can only handle 255 characters without
827 patching, and COM16 binaries can only handle 125 characters.
830 * Fix chainloading (chain.c32).
831 * Fix zlib build problem.
832 * Use a private copy of <linux/ext2_fs.h>.
835 * Fix typo that caused the ramdisk to load in the wrong place.
838 * New API function "shuffle and boot"; allows COM32 modules to
839 load or construct (almost) arbitrarily complex objects,
840 e.g. a kernel and its initrd/initramfs in pieces, and have
841 the API core reorganize memory for booting. (A library API
842 for this function will be introduced in a later version.)
843 * The initrd= option now supports multiple filenames separated
844 by commas. This is mostly useful for initramfs, which can
845 be composed of multiple separate cpio or cpio.gz archives.
846 (Note: all files except the last one are zero-padded to a 4K
847 page boundary. This should not affect initramfs.)
848 * EXTLINUX: Fix API function 000Ah (get derivative-specific
850 * libcom32/ethersel: Support PCI Config Mechanism #2 on
851 machines still infested with that hideous old hack.
852 * SYSLINUX: Fix directory-parsing bug.
855 * SYSLINUX: The "unix" installer now sets the MS-DOS
856 attributes (hidden, system, readonly.)
857 * COM32 library: build the .lnx (test modules for running
858 under Linux) as architecture native modules, in case
859 i386 devel libraries aren't installed.
860 * EXTLINUX: Hack for systems which don't have BLKGETSIZE64
861 defined in the standard header files.
862 * Simple menu system: minor aestetic improvements, and try to
863 work better over a serial console (speed, and readability on
864 monochrome terminal emulators.)
865 * New CONSOLE directive to control output on the video console
866 (useful for dealing with some broken serial-forwarding
868 * New com32 module "ethersel" for searching for an Ethernet
869 card and selecting the proper version of Etherboot.
870 * EXTLINUX: Allow the user to override the detected geometry.
874 * EXTLINUX, SYSLINUX: Fix compile errors on some systems.
875 * EXTLINUX: Default to zipdrive geometry (64 heads, 32
876 sectors) if no other geometry can be detected.
879 * SYSLINUX: Support FAT32 and EDD. As an unfortunate
880 consequence, LDLINUX.SYS is no longer an ordinary file; it
881 is block-mapped at install time, which means it can only be
882 written using the syslinux installers.
883 * SYSLINUX: Reorganize the source code for the installers;
884 each one of the installers (dos, win32, unix, mtools) is now
885 built in its own subdirectory. In particular, "mtools" is
886 the unprivileged installer which uses mtools; "unix" is the
887 privileged installer which uses system calls.
888 * SYSLINUX: Completely rewritten DOS installer in C.
889 * ALL: "label" statement information is now stored in a
890 compressed format, which means that a lot more labels are
891 permitted (500-1000 in a typical configuration, but depends
893 * EXTLINUX: New derivative, which boots from an ext2/ext3
895 * SYSLINUX: The DOS and Win32 installers can now optionally
896 write the boot sector to a file instead of the real boot
897 sector. This is not supported in the Linux installers,
899 * ALL: New NOESCAPE command, disables the "hold down the Shift
900 key to display the prompt" behaviour.
901 * New simple menu system, as an alternative to the advanced
902 menu system already present. See README.menu for details.
903 * PXELINUX: Filenames can now be prefixed with an IP address
904 or DNS name plus :: (e.g. 192.0.2.1::filename or
905 server.domain.com::filename), which downloads a file from an
906 alternate TFTP server, or just a :: (e.g. ::filename), which
907 suppresses the common pathname prefix. See pxelinux.doc.
908 * SYSLINUX: Add an -m option to the DOS and Win32 installers
909 to write an MBR and -a to mark the partition SYSLINUX is
910 being installed on active.
911 * MEMDISK: Give a way to query the boot loader type while
912 running MEMDISK; see memdisk/memdisk.doc and
914 * mkdiskimage: substantially improved mkdiskimage which, among
915 other things, can now be used to initialize USB keys as
916 zipdrives; see README.usbkey for more information.
919 * MEMDISK: Fix command-line parsing "brown paper bag" class
921 * MEMDISK: Add "raw" mode to support the DOS boot disk from
922 WinME/XP, which seems to deliberately crash the system
923 when someone uses the "INT 15h mover" highmem API.
924 * Make "make install" do something sane for the com32
925 development environment.
926 * In the spec file, create a separate -devel RPM for the com32
927 development environment.
930 * Simple C library, based on klibc, for writing COM32
932 * Fix the handling of file length in loading of COM32
934 * MEMDISK: Work around a linker bug by rearranging the code to
935 not use the linker for the 16-bit code.
936 * SYSLINUX: If we're building on a machine without a Win32
937 (mingw) compiler, just skip building syslinux.exe.
938 * ISOLINUX: Support non-mkisofs mastering programs, at least
939 as long as the image is single-session. For best results,
940 ISOLINUX should be the only boot loader installed.
941 * MEMDISK: Allow the user to specify that the simulated disk
942 should be write-protected.
945 * ALL: Add an API call to get the configuration file name.
946 * SYSLINUX: Fix bug in 2.10 that prevented it from working
947 correctly for a lot of people.
948 * SYSLINUX: In the installer, make mtools a bit less fussy.
949 * Make the menu system compile with newer gcc's.
952 * MEMDISK: Handle images compressed with zip as well as with
953 gzip. Some Windows-based image tools apparently generate
954 these kinds of images by default. Patch by Patrick
956 * Major menu improvement from Murali Ganapathy.
957 * ISOLINUX: Wonderfully sick and brilliant workaround for
958 severe bugs in certain Award BIOSes; from Knut Petersen.
959 * SYSLINUX: Fix for the nomtools installed, from Frederic
961 * PXELINUX: Fix handling of IP numbers in the ranges
963 * ALL: New option "allowoptions" (defaults to 1), which
964 controls if options are allowed on the command line or not.
965 * SYSLINUX: Support building under klibc (see the klibc
966 distribution for details.)
969 * SYSLINUX: Remove residual setuid crap from
971 * Handle video pages correctly when using the API functions.
972 * Handle compiling on an x86-64 platform correctly.
973 * Menu system from Murali Krishnan Ganapathy; see the menu
974 directory for information.
975 * COMBOOT: Allow COMBOOT programs to change screen text mode.
976 * COMBOOT: Correct the documentation of how to detect
977 SYSLINUX from COMBOOT!!!!
978 * COMBOOT: Fix "get key without echo" API function.
979 * SYSLINUX: Fix bug that affected the API open function.
980 * ALL: Improve the E820 memory parser, to work around some
984 * Add new configuration command "ontimeout" to allow timeout
985 to have a different action than just pressing Enter.
986 * Add new configuration command "onerror" to allow a custom
987 command to be executed in case the kernel image is not found.
988 * Fix bugs in the COMBOOT/COM32 command-line parsing. APPEND
989 now works with COMBOOT/COM32 images.
990 * PXELINUX: Poll for ARP requests while sitting at the
991 prompt. This makes some boot servers a lot less unhappy.
992 * PXELINUX: Actually free sockets when we get a failure
993 (including file not found.) This bug would cause us to run
994 out of sockets and thus "go deaf" after a while.
995 * MEMDISK: Add an API to query for the existence of MEMDISK.
996 * SYSLINUX: Fix loading boot sectors (.bs/.bss) from floppy
998 * .c32 is now one of the extensions searched for
1000 * PXELINUX: RFBG.exe seems to randomly overwrite memory
1001 location 0x5700. Thus, don't use it!
1002 * PXELINUX: Change pathname length max from 63 to 127; change
1003 max vkernels from 128 to 64.
1004 * Support Ctrl-U -> kill entire command line input.
1005 * The "samples" directory contains a (barely at all tested)
1006 chain loading example, chain.c32, which may be used to
1007 chainload local floppy disks and hard disks. Use with
1008 "chain fdN" or "chain hdN [partition]"; N = 0 for the first
1012 * MEMDISK: Workaround for BIOSes which go into a snit when
1013 they get a RESET command for the floppy system when there is
1014 no floppy in the system.
1015 * PXELINUX: Add "ipappend 2", which passes the hardware
1016 address of the boot interface to the kernel as a
1017 command-line option.
1018 * mkdiskimage: fix the generation of the end limit.
1019 * PXELINUX: Fix multiple bugs in chainloading of other NBPs.
1020 * MEMDISK: Fix bug that would occationally cause "ran out of
1021 input data" when using compressed disk images.
1022 * SYSLINUX: Updates for the win32 installer (from Lars Munch.)
1023 * PXELINUX: PXELINUX-specific options are now recognized both
1024 in a vendor-option-space (a.k.a. type 43 encapsulated) as
1025 well as in a site-option-space (unencapsulated.)
1026 * COM32: Don't crash when DS != 0.
1027 * COMBOOT/COM32: Make file reading work correctly. Thanks to
1028 Phung Chi Kien for submitting a test program.
1031 * ALL: Fix problem that would occationally cause a
1032 boot failure, depending on the length of the kernel.
1033 * ISOLINUX: Fix problem that would occationally cause a
1034 boot failure, depending on the length of directories.
1035 * SYSLINUX: Win32 installer now flushes buffers.
1036 * ppmtolss16: Be fully compliant with the PNM spec;
1037 actually process comments in the header and odd
1038 alignments of the various parameters, as well as
1039 "plain" (not raw) files and PBM and PGM files.
1040 * PXELINUX: Lower the default MTU to 1472 in order to deal
1041 with systems with slightly nonstandard MTUs, and PXE
1042 stacks which don't defragment correctly. Unfortunately this
1043 is very hard to test dynamically.
1046 * PXELINUX: Add a default query based on the hardware address
1047 of the boot device. This is in lower case hexadecimal form
1048 separated by dashes and including the hardware type, for
1049 example, the Ethernet (type 1) address 88:99:AA:BB:CC:DD
1050 would query the file pxelinux.cfg/01-88-99-aa-bb-cc-dd.
1051 * PXELINUX: Fix bug involving non-IP-based config file names.
1052 * SYSLINUX: New installer for WinNT-based systems, from Lars
1054 * MEMDISK: Fix handling of memory region overlap when
1055 decompressing. Thanks to Mikhail Kupchik for identifying
1059 * ALL: Reclaim even more low memory by observing that
1060 comboot_seg == real_mode_seg is perfectly fine, and by the
1061 fact that the 1000h segment managed to get unused in all
1063 * PXELINUX: Attempt to negotiate full Ethernet-sized blocks
1064 (1468 bytes) using the blksize option.
1065 * SYSLINUX: Resurrect the old no-mtools version of the
1066 installer, although as a root-only tool. Some distributors
1067 have indicated that they need a small standalone installer.
1068 * MEMDISK: Fix a memory offset computation error when
1069 installing compressed disks which generally would cause
1070 1 MB of memory to be wasted.
1071 * MEMDISK: Fix installing the E820 memory map. Calling
1072 INT 15h AX=0E820h with MEMDISK 2.03 loaded would give a
1073 completely corrupt memory map.
1074 * SYSLINUX: Make libsyslinux a dynamic library, so that it can
1075 be updated separately from client programs. The whole idea,
1076 after all, is to enable alternate programs to become
1077 syslinux installers.
1078 * Include an rpm spec file in the distribution, so rpmbuild
1082 * Actually support comment lines in the configuration file.
1083 * PXELINUX: Try to resolve some problems with stack switches.
1084 * PXELINUX: Handle PXE stacks with broken routing.
1085 With these workarounds, the remote install PXE boot floppy
1086 (rbfg.exe) from Argon Technologies should work correctly.
1087 * Fix problems with Perl scripts in UTF-8 locales.
1088 * You probably need NASM 0.98.34 or later to compile this
1089 version. 0.98.36 is recommended.
1090 * MEMDISK: Now supports gzip compressed images.
1093 * SYSLINUX: Security flaws have been found in the SYSLINUX
1094 installer when running setuid root. Rewrite the SYSLINUX
1095 installer so it uses mtools instead. It therefore now
1096 requires mtools (specifically mcopy and mattrib) to exist on
1097 your system, but it will not require root privileges and
1098 SHOULD NOT be setuid.
1101 * MEMDISK: Fix memory sizing bug when the ramdisk crosses the
1103 * MEMDISK: Add a "pause" option to stop immediately before
1104 booting, to read off the messages.
1105 * MEMDISK: Support disk images with DOSEMU headers.
1106 * Update the mkdiskimage script to handle newer mtools
1107 versions, and be able to generate disk images with DOSEMU
1108 headers (controlled by the -d option).
1109 * Fix the COM32 sample program.
1110 * PXELINUX, ISOLINUX: Fix some COMBOOT API calls.
1111 * PXELINUX: Doc fix.
1112 * Build SYSLINUX into a small library for encapsulation into
1113 other programs (however, please keep in mind this is a GPL'd
1115 * SYSLINUX: Make installer work with "owner" in /etc/fstab.
1116 * SYSLINUX: Fix issue with working on nonpartitioned hard disk
1117 devices. THIS CONFIGURATION IS NOT RECOMMENDED.
1120 * ALL: Add support for "COM32" (32-bit COMBOOT) images.
1121 * ALL: Add an API for COMBOOT/COM32 images. See comboot.doc
1122 for details. There is a C development environment for
1123 COM32 being created; it should be ready at some point in
1125 * Fix mbr.asm so that it actually works.
1126 * SYSLINUX: The syslinux installer *SHOULD* now be safe to
1128 * PXELINUX: Fix bug where PXELINUX would override random
1129 chunks of the UNDI code segment! Thanks to Kevin Tran for
1131 * ISOLINUX: Fix a bug related to slashes in pathnames.
1132 * ISOLINUX: Fix a bug in handling initrds over 128 MB.
1133 * ALL: Make the <Ctrl-V> key print out the version; this is
1135 * Add a small script, mkdiskimage, to create a DOS-formatted
1136 hard disk image using mtools. This may be useful in
1137 conjunction with MEMDISK.
1138 * ISOLINUX: Search for a /boot/isolinux directory as well as
1140 * ALL: Fix a bug related to very long configuration files.
1141 * PXELINUX: Work around a NASM bug which would result in no
1142 delay before reset if an error occurs.
1145 * ISOLINUX: Remove code no longer used which caused hangs on
1146 some Toshiba laptops.
1149 * ALL: NASM 0.98.32 or later is now required to build
1150 SYSLINUX from sources.
1151 * SYSLINUX: put back in the workaround for the BIOS floppy
1152 table. This seems to be a requirement for "extended" floppy
1153 formats to work correctly.
1154 * SYSLINUX: No longer warn if one is trying to boot on a 286
1155 or older. The above BIOS workaround no longer fits if the
1156 requirement to use only 8086-compatible code in the early
1157 boot is maintained. It made sense in 1994, but in 2002 a
1158 286 or older is a museum object.
1159 * SYSLINUX: Use a downright bizarre, stateful algorithm to try
1160 to guess the maximum transfer size. I am *hoping* this will
1161 cut down on the number of systems for which -s is required
1162 to work at any acceptable speed.
1163 * ISOLINUX: Add a few more workarounds for various broken El
1165 * Make sure .depend files aren't accidentally packed...
1166 * ALL: Fix bugs in the extension-detect code; this caused
1167 files like COMBOOT images and CD boot sectors to be
1168 mis-identified as Linux kernels and rejected.
1169 * ALL: Fix the return from COMBOOT.
1170 * ALL: Do some of the early groundwork for supporting DOS
1171 system calls in COMBOOT.
1172 * Get rid of unnecessary "near" directives, making the code
1174 * PXELINUX: Put the PXE stack back in the init state before
1175 invoking a chain-loaded NBP.
1176 * PXELINUX: Actually found the combination of calls that
1177 allows some (most?) PXE 2+ stacks to be unloaded from memory
1179 * PXELINUX: Add "keeppxe" command-line option to disable
1180 the standard unloading of the PXE stack.
1183 * SYSLINUX: fix bug that would cause valid kernel images to be
1187 * Work on removing gratuitous differences between modules.
1188 * Break up the source in common and module-specific files.
1189 * PXELINUX: Allow chaining of other PXE NBPs.
1190 * ISOLINUX: Allow loading "CD-ROM boot sectors".
1191 * ALL: generalize the definition of a boot sector/NBP.
1194 * PXELINUX, ISOLINUX: Fix bugs in the new core code.
1197 * Fix a "brown paper bag" class bug in the new core code.
1200 * Major code restructuring.
1201 * Relax the conventional memory limits somewhat.
1202 * MEMDISK: Set up the "version number string" pointer in the
1204 * SYSLINUX: Fix, again, "the bug that won't die": the use of
1205 the offset parameter with the SYSLINUX installer.
1206 * SYSLINUX: Fix possible superblock corruption problem in the
1210 * Handle bug in the location of initrd.
1213 * MEMDISK: Make compile with newer versions of gcc.
1216 * ISOLINUX: Support booting disk image files (to boot DOS or
1217 other non-Linux operating systems), *IF* the BIOS works
1218 correctly; unfortunately many BIOSes apparently don't.
1219 * Support Linux boot protocol version 2.03 (explicitly
1220 specify the initrd address limit.)
1221 * Handle small "pseudo-kernels"; images that use the Linux
1222 kernel boot protocols but are less than 64K in size.
1223 * MEMDISK: New subsystem; this is a driver which allows
1224 legacy OSes to boot using an in-memory simulated disk.
1225 See memdisk/memdisk.doc for more info.
1226 * PXELINUX, ISOLINUX: Correctly handle files larger than 65535
1227 blocks (32 MB for PXELINUX, 128 MB for ISOLINUX.)
1228 * PXELINUX: Make a best-effort attempt at freeing all memory
1229 claimed. From the looks of it, it will fail on most PXE
1233 * Limited support for hardware flow control when using a
1234 serial port console.
1235 * Support specifying the serial port I/O address explicitly.
1236 * Make DOS installer hopefully behave more nicely when used on
1237 recent Windows versions.
1238 * Fix returning to text mode when a font has been specified.
1239 * Attempt to detect missing serial port hardware and disable
1240 the serial port if there is nothing there.
1243 * Make the ppmtolss16 program handle color conversion more
1245 * Clean up "make install" target, honour INSTALLROOT if it
1247 * SYSLINUX: Fix stack-smash bug identified by Steffen
1249 * Hopefully fix return-to-text-mode on some graphics cards.
1250 * ISOLINUX: Bug workaround for Award BIOS 4.51, and perhaps
1251 other buggy BIOSes as well.
1254 * PXELINUX: Allow the DHCP server to override the
1255 configuration file name and pathname prefix, using
1256 "site-specific" DHCP options.
1257 * PXELINUX: Documentation fixes.
1258 * PXELINUX: Fix the "ipappend" option; the last two values
1259 were reversed vs. what the kernel expected.
1260 * Introduce a way to return to text mode once we are already
1261 in graphics mode. This may be useful for F-key help
1263 * Fix several bugs in the way return to text mode was handled.
1266 * ISOLINUX: Support full pathname searches. Max length for a
1267 pathname is 255 characters. As a result, only 64 "label"
1268 statements are supported in ISOLINUX.
1269 * PXELINUX: Max filename length extended to 63 characters.
1272 * Add support for graphical splash screens.
1273 * Add mode control characters, which allows you to control
1274 message display output depending on output mode (text,
1275 graphics, or serial port.)
1276 * ISOLINUX: New program, which boots Linux from a CD-ROM
1277 without using floppy emulation mode. See isolinux.doc for
1279 * PXELINUX: Don't search for boot sector file types, since
1280 they don't work anyway.
1281 * SYSLINUX: Document the LOCK command for Win9x, and the error
1282 dialog box for WinNT/2K.
1285 * PXELINUX: Fix code for finding !PXE from PXENV+. This was
1286 due to a spec bug; match the most recent spec since that
1287 seems to be what implementations actually do.
1288 * SYSLINUX: Add some smarts to the boot sector, which
1289 hopefully should reduce the number of systems which require
1290 stupid mode ("syslinux -s").
1291 * PXELINUX: Document further some of the pathologies with old
1293 * When specifying a "default" command line, no longer
1294 automatically appent "auto". See the "DEFAULT" command in
1295 syslinux.doc for more information.
1296 * PXELINUX: Clean up the allocation of local socket numbers.
1299 * PXELINUX: Rename pxelinux.bin to pxelinux.0, to match what
1300 most PXE servers seem to expect.
1301 * PXELINUX: Update the DHCP/boot server setup documentation.
1302 * PXELINUX: Support new "localboot" option for "label"
1304 * PXELINUX: More robust parsing of DHCP/boot server packets.
1305 * PXELINUX: Include a small utility program "gethostip" to
1306 compute hexadecimal IP addresses.
1309 * PXELINUX: Fix bugs introduced by new A20 code. (SYSLINUX
1310 has also been changed for code consistency reasons, but I'm
1311 pretty sure the changes are don't care on SYSLINUX.)
1312 * Documentation updates.
1313 * PXELINUX: Add "ipappend" option to generate an ip= option to
1317 * PXELINUX: Not all PXE stacks fill in the IP address for a
1318 type 3 cached info query. Use a type 2 cached info query
1319 for this information (only.)
1320 * Yet another attempt at A20 coding. Now support BIOS call
1321 15:2401 as well, and handle machines which always have A20
1323 * Support memory detection using INT 15h, AX=0E820h. BIOS
1324 manufacturers have apparently gotten sloppy about keeping
1325 INT 15h, AX=0E801h working properly.
1326 * Don't issue <CR><LF> onto the serial port when we're doing
1330 * Yet another A20-code update. It seems some "legacy-free"
1331 machines and embedded gear simply don't have a KBC to talk
1332 to, and that waiting for one will wait forever. Sigh.
1335 * SYSLINUX: Implement a hack for BIOS drivers which hog significant
1336 chunks of low memory during boot. (Note: PXELINUX already
1337 had this modification. SYSLINUX does still require that the
1338 low 512K is available; PXELINUX requires 384K. Machines
1339 with a physical memory hole in the low 640K cannot boot
1340 Linux no matter what.) Depending what the reason is for the
1341 memory hole, a new kernel (2.4.0-test3-pre3 or later) may be
1343 * SYSLINUX: Default installer binary now compiled against
1344 glibc 2.1. If this is inappropriate for your system and you
1345 still want to use the offical version of SYSLINUX, please
1346 follow the instructions in "distrib.doc" to rebuild the
1348 * SYSLINUX: Linux installer program now supports -o <offset>
1349 option which does a loopback mount with the
1350 -o loop,offset=<> option. Useful to run SYSLINUX on an
1351 individual partition of a whole-harddisk image.
1352 * Include the source code to a Master Boot Record (MBR)
1353 functionally equivalent to the one installed DOS except it
1354 includes EBIOS support, and should be resistant to geometry
1355 changes. The MBR code is public domain.
1356 * PXELINUX: Fix "double p" bug: if the tftp prefix was null,
1357 all filenames would get a "p" preprended, e.g.
1358 "ppxelinux.cfg" and "pvmlinux".
1361 * PXELINUX: Workaround for PXE ROMs based on the Intel PXE PDK
1362 3.0 build 071 and earlier: missing !PXE structure pointer.
1363 * PXELINUX: Handle larger BOOTP/DHCP packages.
1364 * PXELINUX: The command line passing was broken; fix.
1365 * PXELINUX: Make COMBOOT images work.
1366 * PXELINUX: Documentation on how to make booting work using
1367 the PDK 3.0-derived clients, which aren't so generous as to
1368 allow booting with only "PXEClient" specified.
1371 * PXELINUX: RFC 1123 states that a TFTP implementation MUST
1372 use adaptive timeout, "at least an exponential backoff of
1373 retransmission timeout is necessary." Implement a very
1374 simple exponential backoff for retransmits.
1375 * PXELINUX: Updated documentation, including pointer to new
1377 * PXELINUX: When sending ERROR due to bad OACK, use the proper
1378 destination port number (why are TFTP port numbers so odd?)
1379 * PXELINUX: If the boot dies in the middle somewhere,
1380 eventually give up and reset the machine (unattended
1384 * New program PXELINUX to do network booting using a
1385 PXE-compliant (Pre-Execution Environment) network booting
1386 PROM. See pxelinux.doc for details.
1389 * Serial console support. See syslinux.doc for details.
1392 * Change HIGHMEM_MAX to 38000000h to (hopefully) avoid the
1393 kernel stepping on it; 3f000000h was apparently a higher
1394 limit than the kernel used!
1397 * Add sys2ansi.pl script to display the contents of a
1398 colorized SYSLINUX file.
1399 * Changed the io_delay once again, after a report that the
1400 old delay port causes hangs on some systems.
1403 * Frob the "fast A20 gate" port as well as the keyboard
1404 controller; will this help systems with problems?
1405 * Be even more paranoid about A20, unfortunately even this
1406 seems to be not paranoid enough... what I don't understand
1407 is that if there is hardware out there *this broken*, how
1408 can it run Linux at all? Report an error message rather
1409 than hang forever if A20 is stuck.
1410 * Include some intermediate files in the distribution, plus
1411 provide a "make installer" target for distributors to relink
1412 the install programs only. I would prefer the syslinux boot
1413 loader proper to be "binary clean" for debuggablity -- use
1414 "make clean ; make installer" to rebuild the installers only.
1417 * Don't get confused by directories, volume labels, or VFAT
1419 * Use INT 15h, AX=0E801h to query memory size before trying
1420 INT 15h, AH=88h. This not only provides more headroom
1421 between the kernel and the initrd on large-memory machines,
1422 but it appears some recent BIOSes actually have started
1423 returning garbage for the AH=88h (older) call.
1424 * Trust high memory beyond the 15 MB mark if the user has
1425 specified it, or if obtained with INT 15h, AH=0E801h (with
1426 no memory holes above 1 MB.)
1429 * Increase A20M delay and put in a test to avoid problems on
1430 certain IBM Thinkpads (thanks to Donnie Barnes of RedHat
1431 for vital info on this one.)
1432 * Support COMBOOT style boot command images.
1433 * Support chain loading (foreign operating systems, e.g. DOS).
1434 * Include a new "copybs" DOS utility to copy a boot sector to
1435 a file (under Linux, use "dd".)
1436 * Fix the DOS installer to work for disks over 32 MB.
1437 * SYSLINUX should now handle disks with more than 65536 tracks.
1440 * Fix a bug that caused "label" statements in syslinux.cfg to
1441 not be handled properly.
1442 * Updated the documentation. Among other things, we now allow
1443 up to 128 "label" statements.
1446 * Fix for booting old (pre-initrd) kernels.
1447 * It seems at least some versions of OS/2 doesn't set up all
1448 the fields in the superblock correctly. Account for that.
1449 * Fix bug that caused boot failure when using the mem= option.
1452 * Loading from partitions now should work properly. (Actually
1453 tested, this time. You should even be able to dd a floppy
1454 to a partition and boot from it.)
1455 * Removed large workaround code for an alleged ancient BIOS
1456 bug I have never actually seen. The -s option should work
1457 on those machines, anyway.
1458 * Support for simple keyboard remappings, same as used by
1459 LILO (once again to support localization.) The program
1460 keytab-lilo.pl from the LILO distribution included to
1462 * Added a "safe, slow and stupid" (-s) option to the
1463 installers. This option will lobotomize the boot sector to
1464 hopefully work on even very buggy BIOSes.
1467 * Ability to load a VGA font on bootup (for localized Linux
1471 * Bug fix in the Linux installer.
1472 * Added a workaround for a bug in certain AMI/Intel BIOSes
1473 when booting from CD-ROM.
1474 * Documentation changes.
1477 * FAT16 filesystems are now supported.
1480 * Now compiles under Linux, using NASM, rather than using
1481 Turbo Assembler under DOS. See http://www.cryogen.com/Nasm
1482 for information about NASM.
1483 * Linux-hosted SYSLINUX installer, as well as a
1484 rewritten DOS installer (now is written in assembler, so we
1485 don't need Turbo C.)
1488 * Added support for loading bzImage and initrd loading, and made
1489 SYSLINUX new-setup-code aware (SYSLINUX 1.30 id=0x31).
1490 * Added LILO-style kernel labels; see the LABEL and IMPLICIT
1491 keywords in README file.
1492 * Added support for colorization of intro and help screens.
1493 * The vga= option is now handled correctly.
1494 * Massive rewrite of large chunks of the code in order to
1495 support the first two new features.
1498 * Added simple online help at the "boot:" prompt.
1499 * Removed 2880K image as I no longer have access to such a
1500 floppy drive. (Donations accepted!!)
1501 * Decided to distribute the source in a subdirectory rather
1502 than in a nested zipfile.
1505 * Removed a sanity check which would cause booting to fail on
1506 Phoenix BIOS version 4.03. Apparently this BIOS is buggy.
1509 * Added configuration file SYSLINUX.CFG. This file contains all
1510 configurable options, and can be edited from any OS which can
1511 access an MS-DOS filesystem; there is no longer a need to run
1512 SYSLINUX.EXE except to write the boot sector.
1513 * Default command line now given by "default" line in config
1515 * LINUXMSG.TXT and BOOTMSG.TXT hard-coded file names replaced by
1516 "display" and "prompt" lines in config file.
1517 * LILO-style option appending now supported ("append" line in
1519 * Prompt timeout is now supported ("timeout" line in config
1520 file). The timeout is cancelled when anything is typed on the
1522 * Pressing <ESC> or <Ctrl-C> at the Loading... stage now aborts
1523 the kernel loading in progress and returns the user to the
1525 * The installer now automatically sets the READONLY flag on
1527 * Added 2880K disk image.
1530 * Fixed bug that would prevent booting from double-density
1531 floppies and other DOS filesystems with multiple sectors per
1533 * Added 720K disk image.
1534 * Changed default kernel name on disk images to LINUX.
1537 * Fixed bug that would garble the command line on recent kernels
1538 with more than 4 sectors of setup code (this wasn't really a
1539 *bug*; rather, a kernel change broke the code. Unfortunately
1540 the Linux boot interface is still sorely undocumented).
1541 * Added BOOTMSG.TXT file support (message file which does not
1542 force display of the boot prompt).
1545 * Fixed bug on some (most?) 386 BIOSes would require two boot