]> code.delx.au - refind/blob - NEWS.txt
Fixed bug that caused icons named after boot loaders to not be used.
[refind] / NEWS.txt
1 0.6.8 (?/?/2013):
2 -----------------
3
4 - Fixed bug that caused icons named after boot loaders to not be used.
5
6 0.6.7 (2/3/2013):
7 -----------------
8
9 - Added a more explicit error message summarizing options when a launch of
10 a program results in a Secure Boot failure.
11
12 - Changed MOK tool detection to scan all volumes, not just the rEFInd
13 home volume. This is desirable because the Linux Foundation's HashTool
14 can only scan its own volume, making it desirable to place copies of this
15 program on every volume that holds EFI boot loader binaries.
16
17 - Added support for launching the Linux Foundation HashTool as a means of
18 managing MOKs (or MOK hashes, at any rate).
19
20 - Fixed bug that caused rEFInd to present an entry for itself as a
21 Microsoft OS if it was launched as EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi.
22
23 - Fixed bug that caused dont_scan_volumes option to be added to
24 also_scan_dirs list.
25
26 - Fixed dont_scan_volumes so that it works with OS X boot loaders.
27
28 - Fixed broken mixing of PNG and ICNS icons when using a user-specified
29 icons directory -- previously, an ICNS file in the default directory
30 would override a PNG file in the user-specified directory.
31
32 0.6.6 (1/26/2013):
33 ------------------
34
35 - rEFInd now ignores the fallback boot loader (EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi or
36 EFI/BOOT/bootia32.efi) if it's identical to another boot loader on
37 the same volume. This is intended to help unclutter the display on
38 systems that run Windows, since Windows tends to duplicate its own boot
39 loader under the fallback name.
40
41 - Added new "font" token to refind.conf, which enables specifying a font in
42 the form of a PNG file. This file must contain monospace glyphs for the
43 95 characters from ASCII 32 to 126 (space through tilde), inclusive, plus
44 a glyph to be displayed for characters outside of this range, for a total
45 of 96 glyphs.
46
47 - Replaced the old font (inherited from rEFInd) with an anti-aliased
48 version of Luxi Mono Regular 14 point.
49
50 - Fixed bug that caused rEFInd to ignore manual boot stanzas in files
51 included via the "include" token in refind.conf.
52
53 - Fixed bug that caused ASSERT error on some systems (and conceivably a
54 crash on startup on some) when default_selection line in refind.conf was
55 commented out or empty.
56
57 - Fixed bug that caused "Binary is whitelisted" message to persist on
58 screen after loading MOK-signed drivers in Secure Boot mode.
59
60 - Fixed bug that caused rEFInd to ignore the "icon" token in refind.conf
61 manual boot stanzas.
62
63 - Fixed bug in install.sh that caused the script to fail to update
64 drivers when rEFInd was installed in EFI/BOOT/.
65
66 0.6.5 (1/16/2013):
67 ------------------
68
69 - Improved text color support: rEFInd now uses black text against light
70 backgrounds and white text against dark backgrounds.
71
72 - Added support for PNGs as banners, icons, and selectors.
73
74 - Added icon for ALT Linux.
75
76 - Added "safemode" option to "hideui" token, to hide option to boot into
77 safe mode for OS X ("-v -x" option to boot.efi).
78
79 - Added icon for Haiku (os_haiku.icns).
80
81 - Enable transparency of icons & main-menu text when the banner icon is
82 sized to cover these areas.
83
84 - Fixed bug that could cause rEFInd to crash if fed a banner image that's
85 too big. Note that "too big" can be substantially smaller than the screen
86 resolution!
87
88 0.6.4 (1/8/2013):
89 -----------------
90
91 - Revised install.sh to copy ext2fs driver, rather than ext4fs driver, for
92 ext2/3 filesystems. This can help keep non-functional entries from links
93 from /vmlinuz to /boot/vmlinuz out of the menu if the system uses ext4fs
94 on root and ext2fs or ext3fs on /boot.
95
96 - Fixed a couple of memory management bugs that cause rEFInd to hang at
97 startup on some systems.
98
99 0.6.3 (1/6/2013):
100 -----------------
101
102 - Added the ability to specify a volume name or number in the
103 "dont_scan_dirs" and "also_scan_dirs" tokens.
104
105 - Fixed a bug that caused removable EFI media to not appear in scan lists
106 if rEFInd was installed as EFI/BOOT/boot{arch}.efi on a hard disk.
107
108 - Modified ISO-9660 driver so that it can handle discs with other than
109 2048-byte sectors. This makes it useful for reading "hybrid ISO" images
110 burned to USB flash disks.
111
112 - New mvrefind.sh script to move a rEFInd installation between a standard
113 location (typically EFI/refind) and one of the fallback locations
114 (EFI/BOOT or EFI/Microsoft/Boot). It can also do more exotic locations.
115
116 - The install.sh script now installs to EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi or
117 EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi if it's run in BIOS mode. This is
118 intended to give some chance of producing a bootable installation should
119 a user accidentally install Linux in EFI mode and then install rEFInd
120 from that installation.
121
122 - The install.sh script now tries to find an existing rEFInd installation
123 and upgrade it, even if it's in EFI/BOOT or EFI/Microsoft/Boot rather
124 than in EFI/refind.
125
126 - New "--yes" option to install.sh to help with unattended or automated
127 installations (as from an RPM or Debian package).
128
129 0.6.2 (12/30/2012):
130 -------------------
131
132 - Inclusion of a sample refind.spec file for the benefit of RPM
133 distribution maintainers who might want to include rEFInd. It's a bit
134 rough, but it gets you a good chunk of the way there....
135
136 - The EFI filesystem drivers can now be built with the GNU-EFI toolkit as
137 well as with the TianoCore EDK2. See the BUILDING.txt file for details on
138 how to build them with either toolkit. This improvement doesn't affect
139 users of my binary packages, but it should make it easier for Linux
140 distributions to adopt rEFInd into their package systems.
141
142 - Tweaked refind.inf file for better build results using "native" TianoCore
143 EDK2 build process (vs. the Makefile-based build process that I use under
144 Linux). This won't affect those who use my binary builds or build under
145 Linux with the "make" command.
146
147 - Fixed bug that prevented Secure Boot launches from working when rEFInd
148 was built with GNU-EFI rather than the TianoCore EDK2.
149
150 - Substantial reworking of Secure Boot code, based on James Bottomley's
151 PreLoader program. This new code eliminates the limitation of launching
152 just one driver in Secure Boot mode and is likely to be more reliable
153 with future or obscure boot loaders. It should also work with non-x86-64
154 systems, although this relies on a platform-specific shim program, which
155 to date exists only for x86-64. The basic features are the same as before
156 -- rEFInd relies on shim for authentication functions and will launch
157 programs that are signed by Secure Boot keys, shim keys, or MOKs.
158
159 - Altered default for "textmode" option (when it's commented out) to not
160 adjust the text mode at all. (Prior versions set it to mode 0 by
161 default.)
162
163 0.6.1 (12/21/2012):
164 -------------------
165
166 - Added "--root" option to install.sh, to enable installation of rEFInd
167 to something other than the currently-running OS. This is intended for
168 use on emergency discs.
169
170 - Thanks to Stefan Agner, the ext4fs driver now supports the "meta_bg"
171 filesystem feature, which distributes metadata throughout the disk. This
172 feature isn't used by default, but can be set at filesystem creation time
173 by passing the "-O meta_bg,^resize_inode" option to mke2fs. (Using
174 "^resize_inode" is necessary because meta_bg is incompatible with
175 resize_inode, which IS used by default.) This feature can be used on
176 ext3fs and ext2fs as well as on ext4fs, so the ext4fs driver can now
177 handle some ext3fs and ext2fs partitions that the ext2fs driver can't
178 handle.
179
180 - Fixed some screen resolution-setting bugs.
181
182 - Added the "words" that make up a filesystem's label (delimited by spaces,
183 dashes, or underscores) to the list of bases used to search for OS icons.
184 For instance, if the filesystem's label is "Arch", rEFInd searches for
185 os_Arch.icns; if it's "Fedora 17", it searches for os_Fedora.icns and
186 os_17.icns; and if it's "NEW_GENTOO", it searches for os_NEW.icns and
187 os_GENTOO.icns.
188
189 - Refined hints displays to be more context-sensitive, particularly in text
190 mode.
191
192 - Instead of displaying a blank filesystem label when a filesystem has
193 none, rEFInd now displays the size and/or type of the filesystem, as in
194 "boot EFI\foo\bar.efi from 200 MiB ext3 volume" rather than "boot
195 EFI\foo\bar.efi from".
196
197 - Fixed a bug that caused the screen to clear after displaying an error
198 message but before displaying the "Hit any key to continue" message when
199 a boot loader launch failed.
200
201 0.6.0 (12/16/2012):
202 -------------------
203
204 - Fixed a memory allocation bug that could cause a program crash when
205 specifying certain values with the "also_scan_dirs", "dont_scan_volumes",
206 "dont_scan_dirs", "dont_scan_files", and "scan_driver_dirs" refind.conf
207 options.
208
209 - Modified Linux kernel initrd-finding code so that if an initrd is
210 specified in refind_linux.conf, rEFInd will not add any initrd it finds.
211 This enables an override of the default initrd, and is likely to be
212 particularly helpful to Arch Linux users.
213
214 - Added ext4fs driver!
215
216 - Made "boot" the default value for "also_scan_dirs".
217
218 - Added identifying screen header to line editor.
219
220 - Fixed bug that caused rEFInd's display to be mis-sized upon return
221 from a program that set the resolution itself.
222
223 - Adjusted "resolution" refind.conf parameter so that it can accept EITHER
224 a resolution as width and height OR a single digit as a UEFI mode number
225 (which is system-specific). This is done because some systems present the
226 same mode twice in their mode lists, perhaps varying in refresh rate,
227 monitor output, or some other salient characteristics; specifying the
228 mode number enables selecting the higher-numbered mode, whereas using
229 horizontal and vertical resolution values selects the lowest-numbered
230 mode.
231
232 - Added "textmode" refind.conf parameter to set the text mode used in
233 text-only displays, and for the line editor and boot-time handoff
234 display even in graphics mode.
235
236 - Fixed bug that caused tools (shell, etc.) to launch when they were
237 highlighted and F2 or Insert was pressed.
238
239 - Added "editor" option to the "hideui" token in refind.conf, which
240 disables the boot options editor.
241
242 - Added hints text to rEFInd main menu and sub-menus. This can be disabled
243 by setting the new "hints" option to the "hideui" token in refind.conf.
244
245 - Added "boot with minimal options" entry to refind_linux.conf file
246 generated by install.sh. This entry boots without the options extracted
247 from the /etc/default/grub file.
248
249 - Added keys subdirectory to main distribution, to hold public Secure
250 Boot/shim keys from known sources.
251
252 - Changed install.sh --drivers option to --alldrivers, added new
253 --nodrivers option, and made the default on Linux to install the one
254 driver that's used on /boot (or the root filesystem if /boot isn't a
255 separate partition). Of course, this won't install a non-existent driver,
256 and it also won't work properly if run from an emergency disk unless you
257 mount a separate /boot partition at that location.
258
259 - Fixed bug in install.sh that prevented creation of refind_linux.conf file
260 on Linux systems.
261
262 0.5.1.1 (12/12/2012):
263 ---------------------
264
265 - Fixed bug in install.sh that prevented it from working on OS X.
266
267 0.5.1 (12/11/2012):
268 -------------------
269
270 - Added support for "0" options to "textonly" and "scan_all_linux_kernels"
271 to reverse the usual meaning of these tokens. This is useful for
272 including these options in a secondary configuration file called with the
273 new "include" token to override a setting set in the main file.
274
275 - Added "include" token for refind.conf, to enable including a secondary
276 configuration file from a primary one.
277
278 - Modified install.sh so that it creates a simple refind_linux.conf file in
279 /boot, if that file doesn't already exist and if install.sh is run from
280 Linux. If that directory happens to be on a FAT, HFS+, ext2fs, ext3fs, or
281 ReiserFS volume, and if the necessary drivers are installed, the result
282 is that rEFInd will detect the Linux installation with no further
283 configuration on many systems. (Some may still require tweaking of kernel
284 options, though; for instance, adding "dolvm" on Gentoo systems that use
285 LVM.)
286
287 - Added --shim and --localkeys options to install.sh to help simplify setup
288 on systems with Secure Boot active.
289
290 - Fixed (maybe) bug that caused resolution options to not be displayed on
291 recent Macs with GOP graphics when specifying an invalid resolution in
292 refind.conf.
293
294 - Fixed bug that caused some programs (EFI shells, in particular) to hang
295 when launching on some systems (DUET, in particular).
296
297 - Implemented a fix to enable ELILO to launch with Secure Boot active.
298 This fix might help with some other boot loaders in Secure Boot mode,
299 too, but I don't know of any specifics.
300
301 0.5.0 (12/6/2012):
302 ------------------
303
304 - Added the ability to include quote marks ('"') in refind.conf and
305 refind_linux.conf tokens by doubling them up, as in:
306 "ro root=/dev/sda4 some_value=""this is it"""
307 This example results in the following string being passed as an
308 option:
309 ro root=/dev/sda4 some_value="this is it"
310
311 - Changed refind.conf-sample to uncomment the scan_all_linux_kernels
312 option by default. If this option is deleted or commented out, the
313 program default remains to not scan all Linux kernels; but with
314 increasing numbers of distributions shipping with kernels that include
315 EFI stub loader support, setting the configuration file default to scan
316 for them makes sense.
317
318 - Modified the "resolution" token so that it affects text mode as well
319 as graphics mode. On my systems, though, the actual text area is still
320 restricted to an 80x25 area. (This seems to be a firmware limitation; my
321 EFI shells are also so limited.)
322
323 - Fixed a bug that caused the options line editor to blank out lines that
324 were not actually edited.
325
326 - Added support for using Matthew Garrett's Shim program and its Machine
327 Owner Keys (MOKs) to extend Secure Boot capabilities. If rEFInd is
328 launched from Shim on a computer with Secure Boot active, rEFInd will
329 launch programs signed with either a standard UEFI Secure Boot key or a
330 MOK. For the moment, this feature works only on x86-64 systems.
331
332 - Added new "dont_scan_files" (aka "don't_scan_files") token for
333 refind.conf. The effect is similar to dont_scan_dirs, but it creates a
334 blacklist of filenames within directories rather than directory names.
335 I'm initially using it to place shim.efi and MokManager.efi in the
336 blacklist to keep these programs out of the OS list. (MokManager.efi is
337 scanned separately as a tool; see below.) I've moved checks for
338 ebounce.efi, GraphicsConsole.efi, and TextMode.efi to this list. (These
339 three had previously been blacklisted by hard-coding in ScanLoaderDir().)
340
341 - Added the directory from which rEFInd launched to dont_scan_dirs. This
342 works around a bug in which rEFInd would show itself as a bogus Windows
343 entry if it's installed as EFI/Microsoft/boot/bootmgfw.efi.
344
345 - Added support for launching MokManager.efi for managing the Machine Owner
346 Keys (MOKs) maintained by the shim boot loader developed by Fedora and
347 SUSE. This program is scanned and presented as a second-row tool.
348
349 - Added support for Apple's Recovery HD partition: If it's detected, a new
350 icon appears on the second row. This icon can be removed by explicitly
351 setting the "showtools" option in refind.conf and excluding the
352 "apple_recovery" option from that line.
353
354 - Fixed bug that caused text-mode ("textonly" refind.conf option enabled)
355 menu entries to be right-aligned rather than left-aligned when rEFInd was
356 compiled with the TianoCore EDK2.
357
358 - Added "--usedefault {devicename}" and "--drivers" options to the
359 install.sh script and changed the "esp" option to "--esp".
360
361 0.4.7 (11/6/2012):
362 ------------------
363
364 - Added an icon for gummiboot.
365
366 - Added a boot option editor: Pressing the Insert or F2 key from a boot
367 tag's options menu opens a simple text-mode line editor on which the boot
368 options may be edited for a one-time boot with altered options.
369
370 - Modified the "scan_delay" feature to delay and then perform a re-scan,
371 which may work better than the first attempt at this feature (which I'm
372 told isn't working as planned).
373
374 - Modified rEFInd to add a space after the command-line options only when
375 launching Mac OS X. On some early Macs, the extra space (which had been
376 present by default, as a carryover from rEFIt) causes problems when
377 booting Linux kernels from FAT partitions.
378
379 0.4.6 (10/6/2012):
380 ------------------
381
382 - Fixed some minor memory management issues.
383
384 - Added new "scan_delay" feature to impose a delay before scanning
385 for disks.
386
387 - Changed default "scanfor" option from internal-external-optical to either
388 internal-external-optical-manual (for non-Macs) or
389 internal-hdbios-external-biosexternal-optical-cd-manual (for Macs). I've
390 done this for two reasons:
391 - Many Mac users have been confused by the fact that rEFInd needs
392 reconfiguration to detect Windows (or Linux installed in BIOS mode),
393 since rEFIt scans BIOS devices by default. Adding the BIOS options as
394 default for them should help them.
395 - Adding the "manual" option enables users to simply add manual boot
396 stanzas and have them work, which is more intuitive. Adding the
397 "manual" option will have no effect unless manual stanzas are created
398 or uncommented, so this part of the change won't affect users' working
399 default configurations.
400
401 - Added new legacy (BIOS) boot support for UEFI-based PCs.
402
403 0.4.5 (8/12/2012):
404 ------------------
405
406 - Fixed bug that caused a failure to boot BIOS-based OSes on Macs.
407
408 - Fixed bug in install.sh that caused it to fail to detect rEFItBlesser.
409
410 0.4.4 (6/23/2012):
411 ------------------
412
413 - Fixed bug that caused filesystem labels to be corrupted by rEFInd on
414 32-bit systems.
415
416 - Fixed bug that caused filesystem labels to be truncated in the drivers
417 on 32-bit systems.
418
419 - Fixed bug in use_graphics_for option parsing that caused most options
420 to set graphics mode for OS X and/or Linux but not other boot
421 loaders/OSes.
422
423 - Tweaked install script to better isolate the ESP under OS X.
424
425 0.4.3 (6/21/2012):
426 ------------------
427
428 - rEFInd now supports compilation using the TianoCore UDK2010/EDK2
429 development kit in addition to GNU-EFI.
430
431 - Added new "use_graphics_for" option to control which OSes to boot in
432 graphics mode. (This effect lasts for a fraction of a second on most
433 systems, since the boot loader that rEFInd launches is likely to set
434 graphics or text mode itself.)
435
436 - Graphics-mode booting now clears the screen to the current rEFInd
437 background color (rather than black) and does NOT display boot messages.
438 The intent is for a smoother transition when booting OS X, or perhaps
439 other OSes that don't display boot loader messages. In practice, this
440 effect will be tiny for many OSes, since the boot loader generally clears
441 the screen within a fraction of a second of being launched; but the
442 "flicker" of a rEFInd message in that time can sometimes be distracting.
443
444 - Filesystem drivers now work on EFI 1.x systems, such as Macs.
445
446 - Removed "linux.conf" as a valid alternative name for "refind_linux.conf"
447 for holding Linux kernel options. The kernel developers plan to use
448 "linux.conf" themselves.
449
450 0.4.2 (6/3/2012):
451 -----------------
452
453 - Added a message to install.sh when run on Macs to remind users to update
454 the "scanfor" line in refind.conf if they need to boot BIOS-based OSes
455 via rEFInd.
456
457 - Modified install.sh script to be smarter about running efibootmgr on
458 Linux. It now uses the whole path to the rEFInd binary as a key to
459 determine whether an existing entry exists, rather than just the filename
460 portion. If an entry exists and is the first entry in the boot order, the
461 script does nothing to the NVRAM entries. If such an entry exists but is
462 not the default, the script deletes that entry and creates a new one
463 (implicitly making it the first in the boot order). If such an entry does
464 not exist, the script creates a new one (again, making it the first in
465 the boot order).
466
467 - Added "dont_scan_dirs" configuration file option, which adds directories
468 to a "blacklist" of directories that are NOT scanned for boot loaders.
469
470 0.4.1 (5/25/2012):
471 ------------------
472
473 - Added "scanning for new boot loaders" message to the re-scan function
474 (hitting Esc at the main menu). It usually flashes up too quickly to
475 be of importance, but if the scan function takes a while because of
476 access to a CD that must be spun up, it should make it clear that the
477 system hasn't hung.
478
479 - Modified install.sh script to detect rEFItBlesser on Macs, and if
480 present, to ask the user if it should be removed.
481
482 - Cleaned up the Make.common file for the filesystem drivers.
483
484 - Changed HFS+ driver to return volume label of "HFS+ volume" rather than
485 an empty label. (The driver doesn't currently read the real volume
486 label.)
487
488 - Fixed bug that could cause rEFInd to appear in its own menu after
489 running a shell and then re-scanning for boot loaders.
490
491 0.4.0 (5/20/2012):
492 ------------------
493
494 - Inclusion of drivers for ISO-9660, HFS+, ReiserFS, and ext2fs. Most of
495 these drivers originated with rEFIt, although the HFS+ driver seems to
496 have come from Oracle's VirtualBox, with some files from Apple. I hadn't
497 included these drivers previously because the build process proved
498 challenging. As it is, they don't work on my Mac Mini, I suspect because
499 the build process with the UDK2010 development kit may not work with the
500 EFI 1.x that Apple uses.
501
502 - Addition of support for drivers in the "drivers_{arch}" subdirectory of
503 the main rEFInd binary directory (e.g., "drivers_x64" or "drivers_ia32").
504 Drivers may continue to be placed in the "drivers" subdirectory.
505
506 - Added new feature to eject CDs (and other removable media): Press F12 to
507 eject all such media. This function works only on some Macs, though (it
508 relies on an Apple-specific EFI extension, and this extension isn't even
509 implemented on all Macs, much less on UEFI-based PCs).
510
511 - Fixed a problem that could cause GRUB 2 to fail to read its configuration
512 file when launched from rEFInd.
513
514 0.3.5 (5/15/2012):
515 ------------------
516
517 - Removed the GRUB 2 detection "reciped" added with 0.3.2, since I've
518 received reports that it's not working as intended.
519
520 - Added re-scan feature: Press the Esc key to have rEFInd re-read its
521 configuration file, tell the EFI to scan for new filesystems, and re-scan
522 those filesystems for boot loaders. The main purpose is to enable
523 scanning a new removable medium that you insert after launching rEFInd;
524 however, it can also be used to immediately implement changes to the
525 configuration file or new drivers you load from an EFI shell.
526
527 - Fixed a bug that could cause the scroll-right arrow to be replaced by the
528 scroll-left arrow under some circumstances.
529
530 0.3.4 (5/9/2012):
531 -----------------
532
533 - Added new configuration file option: "icons_dir", which sets the name
534 of the subdirectory in which icons are found. See the documentation or
535 sample configuration file for a full description.
536
537 - Modified Makefile to generate rEFInd binary that includes architecture
538 code -- refind_ia32.efi or refind_x64.efi, rather than the generic
539 refind.efi. This is done mainly to help the install.sh script. The
540 program can be named anything you like on the disk. (The generic name
541 refind.efi is used on unknown architectures.)
542
543 - Improved install.sh script: Fixed bug on OS X 10.7 and enable it to be
544 used after building from source code (or via new "make install" Makefile
545 target).
546
547 - Improved screen redraws to produce less flicker when moving among the
548 second-row tags or to the last tag on the first row.
549
550 0.3.3 (5/6/2012):
551 -----------------
552
553 - Improved menu navigation:
554 - In graphics mode, left & right arrow keys move left & right, while up &
555 down arrows move between rows.
556 - Page Up and Page Down now move through chunks of visible tags (in both
557 text & graphics modes), jumping from one row to another only when at
558 the edge of the row. In text mode, the "rows" are broken down as in
559 graphics mode, but they aren't visibly distinguished on the screen.
560
561 - Improved text-mode use: rEFInd now displays the proper number of entries
562 when first started in text mode and scrolling is done sensibly when too
563 many entries exist to fit on the screen.
564
565 0.3.2 (5/4/2012):
566 -----------------
567
568 - Added the install.sh script to install rEFInd on Linux and Mac OS X
569 systems. This script must be run as root (or via sudo). It requires
570 no options, but on Mac OS X, passing it the "esp" option causes it
571 to install rEFInd on the computer's ESP rather than the default of the
572 currently OS X boot partition. (Under Linux, the default is to install to
573 the ESP.) Note that there may be some unusual cases in which this script
574 will fail to work.
575
576 - Does a better job of clearing the screen when launching OSes in text
577 mode.
578
579 - Added detection "recipe" for GRUB 2's BIOS Boot Partition.
580
581 - Fixed bogus detection of ESPs created by Linux's mkdosfs utility or
582 Windows as bootable partitions when "scanfor" includes BIOS scanning
583 options.
584
585
586 0.3.1 (4/27/2012):
587 ------------------
588
589 - Fixed bug that caused spurious "Unsupported while scanning the root
590 directory" messages under some conitions on Macs.
591
592 - Modified loader scanning code to sort boot loader entries within a
593 directory by modification time, so that the most recently-modified loader
594 is first among those in a given directory. Thus, if you specify a
595 directory name (or volume name, for loaders stored in the root directory
596 of a volume) as the default_selection, the most recent of those loaders
597 will be the default. This is intended to help with Linux kernel
598 maintenance when using the EFI stub loader; set up this way, the most
599 recent kernel copied to your kernel directory will be the default,
600 obviating the need to adjust the refind.conf file when adding a new
601 kernel. If you want to change the default among those in the default
602 directory, you can use "touch" to adjust the modification timestamp.
603
604 - Tweaked code to find loader-specific .icns file so that it finds files
605 for Linux kernels without .efi extensions. In this case, files should be
606 named the same as the kernels they match, but with .icns extensions. For
607 instance, bzImage-3.3.2 should have an icon called bzImage-3.3.2.icns.
608 (The old code would have looked for an icon called bzImage-3.3.icns.)
609
610 - Eliminated bogus OS loader tags for filenames that end in ".icns" when
611 the scan_all_linux_kernels option is set.
612
613 0.3.0 (4/22/2012):
614 ------------------
615
616 - I'm officially upgrading this project's status from "alpha" to "beta" and
617 giving it a bump from 0.2.x to 0.3.0. This doesn't reflect any major
618 milestone with this version; rather, it reflects my sense that rEFInd has
619 been "out there" for a while, and although I've gotten bug reports,
620 they've been minor and/or have been fixed. The program still has known
621 bugs, but my impression is that it is, overall, usable by ordinary users.
622
623 - Added "resolution" option to refind.conf, which enables setting the video
624 resolution. To use it, pass two numeric values, as in "resolution 1024
625 768" to use a 1024x768 video mode. Note that not all modes are supported.
626 If you specify a non-supported video mode on a UEFI system, a message
627 appears listing the supported video modes and you must then press a key
628 to continue, using the default video mode (usually 800x600).
629 Unfortunately, I don't know the calls to get a list of supported video
630 modes on older EFI 1.x systems (including Macs), so on Macs setting an
631 incorrect video mode silently fails (you keep using the default mode).
632 This makes changing your video mode a hit-or-miss proposition on Macs.
633 CAUTION: It's possible to set a legal video mode that your monitor can't
634 handle, in which case you'll get a blank display until you boot an OS
635 that resets the video mode.
636
637 - Fixed (maybe) a bug that caused rEFInd to crash when returning from an
638 EFI shell or other programs on Macs, particularly when rEFInd used
639 graphical mode. I'm not 100% sure this bug is squashed because I still
640 don't understand the cause and I only have one Mac for testing. See
641 comments in the ReinitRefitLib() function in refit/lib.c for more
642 details.
643
644 - Added new refind.conf option: scan_all_linux_kernels, which causes Linux
645 kernels that lack ".efi" extensions to be included in scans for EFI boot
646 loaders. This may help integration with Linux distributions that don't
647 give their kernels such names by default. Beware, though: It can detect
648 unwanted files, such as older non-stub-loader kernels or .icns files used
649 to give kernels with .efi extensions custom icons.
650
651 - Improved EFI boot loader detection on boards with Gigabyte's Hybrid EFI,
652 and perhaps other EFIs with a buggy StriCmp() function. Files with both
653 ".efi" and ".EFI" extensions should now be detected as boot loaders.
654
655 - Fixed a bug that caused rEFInd to fail to scan for drivers if the
656 filesystem driver didn't set a volume name (that is, if the relevant
657 field was set to NULL rather than even an empty string). In such
658 situations, rEFInd now reports the volume name as "Unknown".
659
660 0.2.7 (4/19/2012):
661 ------------------
662
663 - After much trial and tribulation, I've overcome a GNU-EFI limitation and
664 enabled rEFInd to load EFI drivers. This feature was present in the
665 original build of rEFIt but was removed in the versions that could
666 compile under Linux, but now it's back -- and still being compiled under
667 Linux! To use it, you should place your drivers in a convenient directory
668 on the ESP (or whatever partition you use to launch rEFInd) and add a
669 "scan_driver_dirs" entry to refind.conf to tell rEFInd where to look. (As
670 always, you should specify the driver directory relative to the root of
671 the filesystem.) Note that you can't launch drivers from another
672 filesystem; they must be on the same volume that holds rEFInd. Those who
673 compile from source code should note that implementing this feature
674 necessitated using a more recent version of the GNU-EFI library. I'm
675 currently using version 3.0p, and version 3.0i does NOT work. I don't
676 know where the change occurred, but you may need to upgrade your GNU-EFI
677 installation.
678
679 - Fixed bug that caused rEFInd to show up in its own menu sometimes.
680
681 - Added new refind.conf token: also_scan_dirs. When scanning volumes for
682 EFI boot loaders, rEFInd always scans the root directory and every
683 subdirectory of the /EFI directory, but it doesn't recurse into these
684 directories. The also_scan_dirs token adds more directories to the scan
685 list. It defaults to "elilo,boot", but you can set it to any directory or
686 directories you like.
687
688 0.2.6 (4/14/2012):
689 ------------------
690
691 - Added "volume" keyword to configuration file's stanza options. This
692 option changes the volume from which subsequent files (specified by
693 "loader" and "icon") are loaded. You pass "volume" the name/label of the
694 FILESYSTEM you want to use (not the GPT partition name), or a number
695 followed by a colon (e.g., "1:"). The former should reliably identify a
696 filesystem, assuming the name is unique. The latter assigns numbers based
697 on the order in which they're scanned, which may not be as reliable but
698 should work when a volume is unnamed.
699
700 - Fixed bug in 0.2.5 that caused failure of Linux initial RAM disk
701 mapping on some (but not all) systems. Affected computers include at
702 least some Intel motherboards, maybe others.
703
704 0.2.5 (4/9/2012):
705 -----------------
706
707 - Fixed bug that caused an inability to associate initial RAM disks with
708 Linux kernels stored in a volume's root directory.
709
710 - Volume badges (that override default badges) are now stored in
711 .VolumeBadge.icns. Although undocumented, rEFInd formerly loaded custom
712 volume badges from .VolumeIcon.icns. This carryover from rEFIt was a
713 confusing name, given the next (new) feature, so I've changed and
714 documented the name....
715
716 - Added ability to set a default icon for a loader stored in the root
717 directory of a volume: The icon is stored in .VolumeIcon.icns. This icon
718 is also used for Mac OS X volumes booted from the standard location.
719
720 - Fixed bug that caused icons to drop back to generic icons when rEFInd
721 was launched in certain ways (such as from an EFI shell in rEFInd's
722 directory) on certain systems.
723
724 - Fixed bug that caused "unknown disable flag" to be shown (very briefly)
725 instead of "unknown hideui flag" when an improper hideui flag was set.
726
727 0.2.4 (4/5/2012):
728 -----------------
729
730 - Created new refind.conf entry: "showtools". This entry takes options of
731 "shell", "gptsync", "about", "exit", "reboot", and "shutdown". This
732 option is in some respects an affirmative version of portions of the old
733 "disable" and "hideui" options; however, it enables users to specify the
734 order in which these options appear on the screen. Also, the "exit"
735 option is new; it terminates the program. The effect is usually to return
736 to whatever tool launched it or to launch a default OS; however, this is
737 somewhat unpredictable. The default therefore omits the "exit" option, as
738 well as "gptsync", which has always been dangerous (but necessary on most
739 MacOS/Windows dual-boot setups on Macs). As part of this reconfiguration,
740 I've eliminated the "rescue Linux" option, which always seemed pointless
741 to me.
742
743 - Folded "disable" and "hideui" refind.conf entries into one ("disable"),
744 and reduced the number of options to six: "banner", "label",
745 "singleuser", "hwtest", "arrows", and "all". ("arrows" is new and
746 disables the scroll arrows when a system has too many tags to display
747 simultaneously.)
748
749 - Added max_tags option to the refind.conf file, enabling users to reduce
750 the maximum number of OS loader tags that can be displayed at once.
751
752 - Updated rEFIt icon, based on the 128x128 volume label from the rEFIt CD
753 image.
754
755 - Added x86 and x86-64 EFI shells to the CD image version of the binary,
756 but NOT to the binary zip file. The logic is that the CD image is more
757 likely to be used directly as an emergency disc and so may need this
758 feature, even though the source isn't part of the rEFInd project. (The
759 source is readily available from the TianoCore project.)
760
761 - EFI shells may now be stored at /shellx64.efi for x86-64 systems or at
762 /shellia32.efi for x86 systems. The /EFI/tools/shell.efi name is also
763 recognized; however, if both files are present, two EFI shell icons will
764 appear on the main menu. The /efi/{refind-path/apps/shell.efi filename,
765 which was never officially documented but worked as a carryover from
766 rEFIt, is no longer valid.
767
768 0.2.3 (3/26/2012):
769 ------------------
770
771 - Fixed (maybe) a bug that caused hangs when launching a second program
772 after returning from a first. There are some weird system-to-system
773 differences, though, and this fix causes (apparently harmless) error
774 messages about "(re)opening our installation volume" on at least one
775 system (a 32-bit Mac Mini). I'm committing this change because, imperfect
776 though it is, it's preferable to the earlier version, at least on my
777 small sample of computers.
778
779 - Because of news that the Linux kernel developers are planning to use the
780 filename linux.conf to hold Linux kernel configuration data for EFI
781 booting, I'm transitioning rEFInd away from that name and to
782 refind_linux.conf to avoid a conflict. This version can use either name,
783 with refind_linux.conf taking precedence if both are present.
784
785 - Added logo for Arch Linux.
786
787 0.2.2 (3/23/2012):
788 ------------------
789
790 - Fixed bug that caused program failure when Linux kernels with EFI stub
791 support were detected with no associated version numbers. rEFInd now
792 permits automatic linking of *ONE* versionless kernel to *ONE*
793 versionless initrd file.
794
795 - Fixed bug that caused program hangs when a boot loader filename or label
796 was too long. Such names are now properly truncated and program execution
797 continues.
798
799 - Fixed bug that caused no text to appear in submenus on UEFI systems with
800 small screens (800x600). NOTE: Problem still occurs on screens smaller
801 than this, but such systems are very rare.
802
803 0.2.1 (3/19/2012):
804 ------------------
805
806 - Added ability to set a "default_selection" that's a title or a substring
807 of one -- the name given to a stanza in a "menuentry" or the boot
808 loader's filename, in most cases, although "Mac OS X", "Windows XP
809 (XoM)", and "Microsoft EFI boot" are also titles.
810
811 - Added support for semi-automatic scans of Linux kernels with EFI stub
812 loader support. The program auto-detects matching initial RAM disk files
813 and loads additional options from the "linux.conf" file in the same
814 directory as the kernel.
815
816 - Added support for "submenuentry" keyword and associated sub-stanza
817 entries in refind.conf file.
818
819 - Renamed icons/os_mint.icns to icons/os_linuxmint.icns to match the
820 filename Linux Mint ACTUALLY uses for its ESP boot loader directory.
821
822
823 0.2.0 (3/14/2012):
824 ------------------
825
826 - Initial public release