README

This is GNU GRUB, the GRand Unified Bootloader.  GRUB is intended to
provide important bootloader features that are missing from typical
personal computer BIOSes:

  - provides fully-featured command line and graphical interfaces
  - recognizes fdisk partitions and BSD disklabels
  - can dynamically read Linux ext2fs, BSD ufs, MS-DOS FAT16 and FAT32,
    and Minix fs filesystems, plus hardcoded blocklists
  - can boot Multiboot-compliant kernels (such as GNU Mach), as well
    as standard Linux and BSD kernels

See the file NEWS for a description of recent changes to GRUB.


You need recent developmental environment to build GRUB. We recommend
you use the following utilities:

* binutils 2.9.1.0.23 or later (Do not use early 2.9.1.0.x!)

  Binutils has changed the behavior of 16bit assembler between 2.9.1
and 2.9.1.0.x, and we support only 2.9.1.0.x and higher. It is available
from ftp.varesearch.com:/pub/support/hjl/binutils.

NOTE: you should check for the version of your binutils by the following
command:

$ gcc -Wl,-v 2>&1 | grep "GNU ld"

This will show two versions, like this:

GNU ld version 2.9.5 (with BFD 2.9.5.0.13)

The latter is what you should see. If you have installed a recent
version of binutils but this version number is not identical with it,
you need to specify the option ``--with-binutils=DIR'' for configure.

* texinfo 4.0 or later

  We use some new macros in the manuals, so you need a recent TeXinfo
release. See http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/texinfo.html, for more
information.


These below are required when you develop GRUB or when you get it from
the CVS:

* automake 19990620 or later

  The new feature, per-executable flags, is required, so you need to get
an unreleased version from the CVS. See
<http://sourceware.cygnus.com/automake/>, for more information.

Caution: The recent versions are quite unstable, so check out a rather
old version from the CVS (1999-10-01 works fine, though it has some
non-critical bugs).

* autoconf 20000116 or later

  Some new macros are required, so you need to get an unreleased version
from the CVS. See <http://sourceware.cygnus.com/autoconf/>, for more
information.

Note: Perhaps a somewhat older CVS version should work well, but I'm not
sure. Using the latest version would be better.


If you are interested in netboot, see the file README.netboot under the
directory netboot.

See the file INSTALL for instructions on how to build and install the
GRUB data and program files. See the GRUB manual for details about
using GRUB as your bootloader.

GNU GRUB has a page on the web. See:

	http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/grub.en.html (English)
	http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/grub.ja.html (Japanese)

If you have any suggestions or ideas, please send electronic mail to the
GRUB mailing list <bug-grub@gnu.org>.

When you encounter any problem or bug, please submit it to
<bug-grub@gnu.org> with information about your computer and what you did
as much as possible. For example, your operating system and the
geometries of your drives are very important.

When you enhance/fix GRUB, please send the patch to <bug-grub@gnu.org>.
Do not forget to write your changes to ChangeLog; That helps us to
understand your changes correctly. And it is preferable that your patch
is the unified format. Just append `-u' option to the command `diff'.

NOTE: you should stick to the GNU Coding Standards. Look at the URL
<http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards_toc.html> to understand it.

DEVELOPERS: to subscribe to the mailing list, send e-mail to
<bug-grub-request@gnu.org>.  You can get the latest GRUB CVS tree from
`:pserver:anoncvs@subversions.gnu.org:/home/cvs', module `grub'.
Just hit enter when CVS prompts you for a password.
See <http://www.gnu.org/software/devel.html#CVS> for more details.

  IMPORTANT SIZE LIMITS:

  - For the FFS stage1.5, if you want to fit into the "bootloader" area
    of an FFS partition, it cannot be larger than 512 * 14 disk sectors,
    or 7168 bytes.