| NEWS - list of user-visible changes between releases of GRUB |
| |
| New in 0.5.93: |
| * ELF format of FreeBSD kernel is supported. |
| * Support the partition ids for NetBSD and OpenBSD. |
| * Exit from the grub shell just by pushing the key `q' in the menu. |
| * New options for configure can disable some functions in Stage 2. See |
| the output from `configure --help' for more information. |
| * FAT32 support is added. |
| * Minix fs support is added. |
| * New commands "hide" and "unhide". |
| * The character `=' after a command is not necessary any longer, but it |
| is supported for backward compatibility. |
| * The command "help" displays helpful information about builtin |
| commands. |
| * The command "geometry" displays the information of a drive specified |
| and set the geometry to arbitrary C/H/S values if the optional |
| arguments are used. |
| * The command "configfile" loads a configuration file interactively. |
| * The command "device" assigns a BIOS drive to an arbitrary filename in |
| the grub shell. |
| * The option `--no-floppy' force the grub shell to assume that there is |
| no floppy, and the option `--probe-second-floppy' enables the probe of |
| the second floppy drive. |
| * Integrated the netboot support in the Dresden version of GRUB. |
| |
| New in 0.5.92 - 1999-07-26: |
| * Bug fixes (i.e. Stage 1.5 can work fine again). |
| * The /sbin/grub stage2 simulator now works at least on GNU/Linux, and |
| uses the Linux HDIO_GETGEO ioctl to determine hard disk geometry. |
| * TAB not only lists filenames, but also completes a filename when the |
| filename is unique. |
| * Password is not echoed back, put an asterisk for each of input |
| characters. |
| * stage2_debug is removed, and the debugging features are added into |
| stage2. |
| * Color menu support. |
| * New command "quit". |
| * The man page for /sbin/grub. |
| * All documents become Texinfo. |
| * Linux video mode selection is supported. |
| * The new Stage 1 `stage1_lba' supports LBA addressing mode. |
| |
| New in 0.5.91 - 1999-03-14, Gordon Matzigkeit: |
| * LBA and preliminary AWARD BIOS disk extension support. |
| * Started docs/grub.texi. |
| * /sbin/grub GUI now works (but it doesn't yet access disks properly). |
| Run `configure --enable-sbin-grub' to build this program in the grub |
| subdirectory. |
| |
| New in 0.5.90 - 1999-03-01, Gordon Matzigkeit: |
| * Bug fixes. |
| * GRUB understands symlinks on ext2fs (but still not ffs). |
| * Many source code and build cleanups to comply with GNU standards. |
| |
| New in 0.5 - 1998-08-20, Erich Boleyn: |
| |
| * Improved error messages in the stage1 to be strings (easier to read |
| than the previous case of single characters), and removed any |
| display in the case of no error (less confusing). |
| |
| * New document describing error conditions and messages. |
| |
| * Improved configure/build process. |
| |
| * Made the early bootup interrupt-safe. Wasn't doing cli/sti when |
| necessary sometimes. |
| |
| * GRUB now shuts off the floppy before transferring control to any |
| other programs/modules/loaders. (chain-loading doesn't matter here, |
| just loading 32-bit modules/kernels) |
| |
| * Fixed a few stupid bugs, including a several in the ext2fs code. |
| |
| * Linux boot format support extended from just "zImage" to include |
| "bzImage" and initial ramdisk (also called "initrd") support for |
| both. "initrd" support is untested, but the critical parts were |
| taken from a supplied patch and seem OK. |
| |
| * Several new command features. See the command-listing for details. |
| |
| New in 0.4 - 1998-03-19, Erich Boleyn: |
| |
| * GRUB now correctly points ES:SI at a partition descriptor when |
| chain-loading. |
| |
| * Many minor bugs fixed (some in the build scripts). |
| |
| * Intel MPS 1.4 config/check code is totally new, and the "syscmd=" |
| command is completely removed. Check command-listing for details. |
| |
| Version 0.4-pre, Erich Boleyn: |
| |
| * Reorganized docs, moved most "NOTE" items to a FAQ (with new entries |
| as well). |
| |
| * Now supports automatic decompression of any files loaded via the |
| GRUB stage2 filesystem code. Simply compress the file using GNU |
| gzip normally, then when loading, the GRUB internals will see the |
| contents in the decompressed state... i.e. all GRUB functions |
| operate normally as if it is the uncompressed file. An extra |
| version of the "module" loading function has been added which |
| disables this functionality if desired (in all the other cases, not |
| decompressing doesn't make sense). |
| |
| * Changed device strings used in filesystem code to more logical |
| format. Added "relative" disk and partition capability, see |
| command-listing and filesystem syntax description for details. |
| |
| * "install=" command vastly improved. Also moved to non-debug area. |
| Check command-listing and install documentation for details. |
| |
| * Added several new commands: "rootnoverify=", "uppermem=", and a new |
| debug command "displaymem". Check command-listing for details. |
| |
| * Added versioning numbers (and subsequently broke compatibility with |
| some of the previous code, so GRUB should be re-installed!). |
| |
| * Added unattended booting support via new "fallback=" command. |
| |
| * During debug probe of SMP configuration table compatible with Intel |
| MPS 1.4 standard, GRUB now checks for a pointer in the EBDA. |
| |
| * Using a "default=" entry greater than 11 caused the UI to do funny |
| things (it didn't pre-scroll the list to the appropriate place). |
| |
| * Reading files on FAT floppies had yet more problems related by many |
| users of version 0.3 6/17/96. Again, all known problems fixed. |
| |
| * "Extended" partitions now work (still cannot make an extended |
| partition active with "makeactive" command). |
| |
| * The build environment is greatly simplified, now using an |
| autoconf-like "configure" script. |
| |
| New in 0.3-19960617 - 1996-06-17, Erich Boleyn: |
| |
| * Yet more documentation improvements. |
| |
| * Known bugs in floppy operation fixed (12-bit FAT didn't work for |
| most cases, and inserting other floppies didn't flush the filesystem |
| cache). |
| |
| * NASTY uninitialized pointer bug causing "raw" floppy operation to |
| crash on several PCs is now fixed. This seems to have been the root |
| cause of all of the compatibility problems that have currently been |
| observed. |
| |
| * debug-mode command added to automate most difficult step of |
| installation for common cases (new install method #4). |
| |
| * Testing "mini-debugger" now merged with command-line when "DEBUG" |
| defined in compile (no SYSDEBUG option anymore). See description of |
| commands in the command-line for details. |
| |
| New in 0.3-19960602 - 1996-06-02, Erich Boleyn: |
| |
| * Completed initial licenses. |
| |
| * Initial filesystem documentation written. |
| |
| * Block-list and FAT filesystems now work as documented (in |
| particular, for the blocklist filesystem, shortcuts like "+1" for |
| "0+1,512" now work correctly). |
| |
| * Fixed several problems (old and new) in the various filesystems (for |
| example, the ext2fs filesystem code is now much faster, as it caches |
| some mapping blocks where it didn't at all before). Filesystem |
| semantics are much more uniform as well (symbolic links and reading |
| a directory as a file now return errors where it would silently fail |
| before). |
| |
| * "makeactive" now works for standard PC partitions on hard disks (not |
| extended partitions... so any PC partition number above 3 will give |
| a "no such partition" error). If a BSD sub-partition is is used, it |
| will ignore it, and only use the primary PC partition number. |
| |
| New in 0.3-19960520 - 1996-05-20, Erich Boleyn: |
| |
| * Updated instructions (though still very sparse). |
| |
| * New floppy probe (works much like the Linux floppy boot probe) |
| attempts to find the size of a floppy in a drive. Might still need |
| work! Please try on various floppy drives with various media! |
| |
| * New floppy handler will claim a non-existent drive if the floppy |
| disk isn't present in the drive. (for example, it won't be on the |
| list of installed drives unless a floppy is present) |
| |
| * Stage1 now compatible with both a hard disk MBR and the DOS BIOS |
| parameter block (see "install/README" for more details on how this |
| can be used). |
| |
| * Block-list filesystem partially works, as described in the file |
| "NOTES". Loading an a.out or elf kernel won't work with it, but all |
| other filetypes pretty much should. (certainly chain-loading works |
| OK) |
| |
| NOTE: you must use the full format "0+1,512" for just he first |
| block... no parameters can be implicit in this version.. THis is |
| being fixed too. |
| |
| * Linux ext2 filesystem works. (it's very slow for big files, but |
| this is being fixed) |
| |
| * Linux boot type now supported. Use a standard piggybacked image as |
| with LILO. Put in hack to support >64MB via GRUB placing the RAM |
| size as the first item on the command-line automatically. Must pass |
| root partition on command-line using normal Linux syntax... if not, |
| it uses it's builtin root partition. |
| |
| * Supports chain-loading. For details, see "COMMANDS" and the |
| examples directory. (was able to boot DOS and Windows NT on my test |
| box). NOTE that the "root partition" must be set to work right. |
| "makeactive" is currently a no-op. |
| |
| * Several weird bugs fixed. One important note: If you recompile, it |
| will warn about a clash with builtin "strcmp". This is normal... |
| do NOT remove the strcmp definition, as then GCC will possibly put |
| inline code from it's own builtin function in some places. (my |
| strcmp has slightly different functionality, hence the problem) |
| |
| * Mini-debugger is currently broken. |
| |
| New in 0.2 - 1996-04-12, Erich Boleyn: |
| |
| * Completely new menu-based UI. See "COMMANDS" and the examples |
| directory for details. NOTE that the argument to a command must be |
| preceded by a space between it and the '=', in both the config file |
| and the command-line. This will be fixed. |
| |
| New in 0.1 - 1996-03-31, Erich Boleyn: |
| |
| * Newer version of Multiboot Standard (version 0.6) supported. |
| |
| * Autodetects kernel types. Supports Multiboot, FreeBSD, NetBSD |
| (Linux isn't finished). |
| |
| * Stage 1.5 works now. Default setup is now for working with a BSD |
| FFS floppy loading "/grub/stage2" as the main bootloader. |
| |
| * Filesystem support improved. It didn't work on many floppies before |
| (problem with the partition-detection code). |
| |
| * Memory probe now supports arbitrary amounts of RAM (some technical |
| limitations exist, see Multiboot standard version 0.6 for details). |
| |
| * A mini-debugger is included by default, activated by hitting '~' on |
| the command-line (it might interfere with things, but it seems OK |
| for my alpha-testing). The commands are in the function |
| "enter_sysdebug" defined in "common.c". If you have an Intel MPS- |
| compatible machine, there are extra commands enabled for SMP cpu |
| testing. 'q' exits and goes back to what you were doing before. |
| |
| New in 0.0-19960206 - 1996-02-06, Erich Boleyn: |
| |
| * Newer version of Multiboot Standard (version 0.4) supported. |
| |
| New in 0.0-19951210 - 1995-12-10, Erich Boleyn: |
| |
| * You can now perform TAB-based completion listing of any valid |
| partially completed disk/partition/file-name combination. Try it |
| out to see what you like, examples are in the NOTES file under |
| "Device completion". |
| |
| * Fixed a bug causing the memory size routine to sometimes report |
| ridiculous values. |
| |
| * Fixed some documentation (what little there is :-/ and a few |
| assembly bugs in the BIOS access routines that nobody reported yet, |
| so I won't detail it here. |