X-Git-Url: https://code.delx.au/refind/blobdiff_plain/12cfc677aad6ab1519212ee74eae05b2d04b8dc6..e623f368c6089696dc99c507834a668fee159fed:/docs/refind/revisions.html

diff --git a/docs/refind/revisions.html b/docs/refind/revisions.html
index 186deab..ab9a37a 100644
--- a/docs/refind/revisions.html
+++ b/docs/refind/revisions.html
@@ -14,8 +14,7 @@
 <p class="subhead">by Roderick W. Smith, <a
 href="mailto:rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">rodsmith@rodsbooks.com</a></p>
 
-<p>Last Web page update: 6/23/2012</p>
-
+<p>Last Web page update: 1/26/2013</p>
 
 <p>I'm a technical writer and consultant specializing in Linux technologies. This Web page is provided free of charge and with no annoying outside ads; however, I did take time to prepare it, and Web hosting does cost money. If you find this Web page useful, please consider making a small donation to help keep this site up and running. Thanks!</p>
 
@@ -93,6 +92,32 @@ href="mailto:rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">rodsmith@rodsbooks.com</a></p>
 
 <ul>
 
+<li><b>0.6.6 (1/26/2013)</b>&mdash;This version includes two new features and a number of minor bug fixes. The first new feature is support for changing rEFInd's font via the <tt>font</tt> token in <tt>refind.conf</tt>. You're limited to monospace fonts that are encoded as PNG files; you can't use variable-width fonts or normal font files like TrueType fonts. The fonts support only ASCII characters. See the <a href="themes.html#fonts">fonts section on the Theming rEFInd page</a> for details. I've also changed the default font to a slightly larger one that's anti-aliased. The second new feature is that rEFInd now detects when the <tt>EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi</tt> (or <tt>EFI/BOOT/bootia32.efi</tt> on 32-bit systems) boot loader is a duplicate of another boot loader, and automatically excludes it from the OS list. This is useful on systems that boot with Windows, since Windows tends to install its boot loader twice, once using the <tt>EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi</tt> filename. Bug fixes are described in the <tt>NEWS.txt</tt> file, and include fixes for bugs that prevented manual boot stanzas in included configuration files from being detected; that caused an <tt>ASSERT</tt> error to appear on the screen on some systems if <tt>default_selection</tt> was not set; the caused <tt>Binary is whitelisted</tt> messages to persist on the screen when loading signed EFI drivers with Secure Boot active; that caused rEFInd to ignore <tt>icon</tt> tokens in <tt>refind.conf</tt> manual boot stanzas; and that caused the <tt>install.sh</tt> script to fail to update drivers when rEFInd was installed to <tt>EFI/BOOT</tt>.</li>
+
+<li><b>0.6.5 (1/16/2013)</b>&mdash;Most of this version's changes relate to icon, graphics, and theming features. The biggest code change is in support for PNG files for banners, icons, and selection backgrounds. I've also fixed bugs that prevented large banners from being used; you can now use banners as big as the screen (or bigger, but they'll be cropped), as illustrated on the <a href="themes.html">Theming rEFInd</a> page. The text color also now automatically switches between black and white depending on the background over which it's displayed. If you don't use these features, you're likely to notice some changes in where certain elements are displayed. Most obviously, the banner appears higher on the screen than it did previously, so as to minimize the chance of overlap with text displays such as the information screen. These text displays should appear correctly even on tiny 640x480 displays (they were blank on such small displays in the past). I've added icons for <a href="https://www.haiku-os.org/">Haiku</a> and <a href="http://www.altlinux.com/">ALT Linux.</a> Finally, the only non-graphics development is the addition of a "safe mode" boot option for OS X, which you can disable by adding <tt>safemode</tt> to the <tt>hideui</tt> option in <tt>refind.conf</tt>.</li>
+
+<li><b>0.6.4 (1/8/2013)</b>&mdash;Bug fixes motivate this release; it corrects a couple of memory management bugs in 0.6.3 that cause rEFInd to hang at startup on some computers (unfortunately not on any of mine, so I missed this). I've also made a small change to the <tt>install.sh</tt> script so that it installs the ext2fs driver rather than the ext4fs driver if the script detects that a Linux kernel is on an ext2fs or ext3fs partition. This can keep rEFInd from scanning ext4fs partitions and picking up non-functional symbolic links to vmlinuz on such partitions.</li>
+
+<li><b>0.6.3 (1/6/2013)</b>&mdash;The installation script and related tools see the biggest changes in this version of the program. The <tt>install.sh</tt> script can now detect a rEFInd installation in <tt>EFI/BOOT</tt> or <tt>EFI/Microsoft/Boot</tt> and update it rather than install to the default location of <tt>EFI/refind</tt>. It will also install to one of these fallback locations if it's run in BIOS mode, thus helping users who want to get a BIOS-mode install of Linux running on an EFI-based computer. A new <tt>mvrefind.sh</tt> script can move the installation between these three locations (or more exotic locations). Outside of scripts, the <tt>dont_scan_dirs</tt> and <tt>also_scan_dirs</tt> tokens can now accept volume specifications, as in <tt>myvol:EFI/bogus</tt> to not scan (or scan) the <tt>EFI/bogus</tt> directory on the <tt>myvol</tt> volume. I've also fixed a bug that caused rEFInd to ignore default boot loaders on removable disks if rEFInd was installed using the fallback filename. I've also modified the ISO-9660 driver so that it works with ISO-9660 images written to non-optical media. This may help with getting "hybrid ISO" images written to USB flash drives to boot.</li>
+
+<li><b>0.6.2 (12/30/2012)</b>&mdash;This version's biggest changes are "behind-the-scenes" improvements. Specifically, I've completely re-worked the shim/MOK Secure Boot code, based largely on an approach used by James Bottomley in his PreLoader boot loader. This fixes some bugs, such as the inability to launch more than one EFI boot loader in Secure Boot mode. The EFI filesystem drivers can now be built with GNU-EFI, which may help distribution maintainers. I'm also providing RPM packages of rEFInd, although I recommend installing from the binary zip file. Finally, I've changed rEFInd's default text-mode setting behavior to not adjust the text mode. (Recent previous versions forced the system to use text mode 0, which cuased problems on some systems.)</li>
+
+<li><b>0.6.1 (12/21/2012)</b>&mdash;(Mayan apocalypse edition!) This version features a number of refinements and minor bug fixes. The <tt>install.sh</tt> script now includes a new <tt>--root</tt> option to enable easier installation of rEFInd to a regular OS installation from an emergency disc. The ext4fs driver now supports the <tt>meta_bg</tt> filesystem feature. I've fixed a number of obscure display resolution-setting bugs and a bug that caused the screen to clear after displaying certain error messages but before prompting you to continue. Instead of displaying a blank filesystem label as the "from" location for a boot loader, rEFInd now describes the filesystem by its type (FAT, ext4fs, etc.) and/or size. rEFInd also now uses the filesystem label as a hint about what type of icon to display for a boot loader.</li>
+
+<li><b>0.6.0 (12/16/2012)</b>&mdash;The donation of a working ext4fs driver from Stefan Agner has prompted another big jump in the rEFInd version number, since this driver will greatly simplify installation on many systems: You may be able to simply run the <tt>install.sh</tt> script to get a working rEFInd that boots your Linux kernels directly, bypassing GRUB or ELILO. Other improvements in this version include bug fixes and minor changes to <tt>install.sh</tt>, the addition of hint text to the rEFInd main menu, the ability to disable the options editor via the <tt>editor</tt> option to <tt>hideui</tt> in <tt>refind.conf</tt>, a new <tt>textmode</tt> option to <tt>refind.conf</tt> to set the size of the text-mode display, a change to the code that adds your initial RAM disk to the boot options so that if you specify one manually (via <tt>refind_linux.conf</tt>), it will take precedence, and assorted obscure bug fixes. The <tt>NEWS.txt</tt> file goes into more details about many of these changes, as do the relevant pages of this HTML documentation.</li>
+
+<li><b>0.5.1.1 (12/12/2012)</b>&mdash;This is a micro-update to fix a bug in the <tt>install.sh</tt> script that prevented it from working under OS X. Aside from that, and a few small documentation changes, this version changes nothing in rEFInd.</li>
+
+<li><b>0.5.1 (12/11/2012)</b>&mdash;The most important changes to this version are to the <tt>install.sh</tt> script. It now supports two options, <tt>--shim</tt> and <tt>--localkeys</tt>, to aid in installation on a Secure Boot system. See the <a href="installing.html">Installing rEFInd</a> and <a href="secureboot.html">Managing Secure Boot</a> pages for details. The script also now creates a sample <tt>/boot/refind_linux.conf</tt> file to assist in setting up boots via the Linux EFI stub loader. All of these <tt>install.sh</tt> improvements work only in Linux. A separate <tt>mkrlconf.sh</tt> script creates a <tt>/boot/refind_linux.conf</tt> file if it doesn't exist, for help in post-installation configuration. In rEFInd itself, I've fixed the bug that caused ELILO to be unable to locate its configuration file when launched in Secure Boot mode and fixed a couple of more obscure bugs. I've also added an <tt>include</tt> token to <tt>refind.conf</tt>, to enable you to create a secondary configuration file (say, one managed by scripts while leaving the main file untouched; or one dedicated to manual boot stanzas).</li>
+
+<li><b>0.5.0 (12/6/2012)</b>&mdash;I've focused on adding support for Matthew J. Garrett's shim program to this version of rEFInd; with this support, rEFInd is capable of launching Linux kernels and other programs signed with a suitable key while the computer is in Secure Boot mode. This initial release, however, requires significant manual configuration and has some known bugs and limitations. See the <a href="secureboot.html">Managing Secure Boot</a> page for details. Beyond this major new feature, this version includes several more minor improvements. These include a change to the <tt>resolution</tt> token so that it applies to text mode as well as to graphics mode; a bug fix that caused the line editor to blank out lines that were left unedited; a new <tt>dont_scan_files</tt> option to blacklist boot programs by filename; support for launching MokManager and Apple's Recovery HD partitions via tools (2nd-row) icons; new <tt>--usedefault</tt> and <tt>--drivers</tt> options to the <tt>install.sh</tt> script; a change of the <tt>esp</tt> installation script option to <tt>--esp</tt>; and the ability to use quote marks inside option strings by doubling them up.</li>
+
+<li><b>0.4.7 (11/6/2012)</b>&mdash;The most important new feature in this version is a boot options editor. From rEFInd's main menu, press Insert or F2 to see the options menu. Select one of the options and press Insert or F2 again and the screen switches to a text-mode display in which you can edit the options that will be passed to the boot loader. A second new feature is a new icon for <a href="http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/gummiboot">gummiboot,</a> which is another EFI boot manager. This version also alters the behavior of the <tt>scan_delay</tt> option, since I've been told that the previous version didn't work; the new one does. Finally, this version omits the space that followed boot options when booting most OSes. This behavior was inherited from rEFIt; a comment in the source code indicates it's needed by OS X, but I've been told it causes boot failures when launching Linux on some Macs. Thus, rEFInd now adds this space only when booting Mac OS X.</li>
+
+<li><b>0.4.6 (10/6/2012)</b>&mdash;Thanks to contributor John Bressler, rEFInd can now boot legacy (BIOS) boot loaders on many UEFI PCs. (Previously, rEFInd could do this only on Macs.) Other changes include a new <tt>scan_delay</tt> option that inserts a delay between rEFInd starting and disk scans (to help detect disks that are slow to appear to the firmware) and a change in the default <tt>scanfor</tt> value so that legacy OSes are detected by default on Macs (but not on PCs). I've also fixed some memory management problems that caused error messages to appear on some systems when rEFInd was compiled with the TianoCore EDK2 toolkit. Finally, I'm now using the TianoCore toolkit to make my primary binary builds, since the new UEFI legacy boot support requires the TianoCore environment. (rEFInd still builds with GNU-EFI, but it doesn't support booting legacy OSes on UEFI systems when built in this way.)</li>
+
+<li><b>0.4.5 (8/12/2012)</b>&mdash;This version fixes a couple of Mac-related bugs. The most important is that version 0.4.3 and 0.4.4 couldn't boot BIOS-based (aka CSM or Boot Camp) OS installations; 0.4.5 restores this important feature. The second bug is in the <tt>install.sh</tt> script, which would often fail to detect rEFItBlesser, thus leaving it enabled and causing rEFInd to fail to start after the first reboot into OS X.</li>
+
 <li><b>0.4.4 (6/23/2012)</b>&mdash;This is a bug-fix release. Most importantly, it fixes a bug in the new <tt>use_graphics_for</tt> feature; in 0.4.3, the options were set incorrectly (they just happened to work as expected on my main test configuration). I've also fixed problems with volume names in the 32-bit versions of both the drivers and the TianoCore EDK2 build of rEFInd itself. Finally, I've tweaked the <tt>install.sh</tt> script to do a better job of identifying the computer's ESP under OS X.</li>
 
 <li><b>0.4.3 (6/21/2012)</b>&mdash;The major user-visible change to this version is the addition of the <tt>use_graphics_for</tt> option, which enables you to specify the OSes that rEFInd launches in graphics mode vs. text mode. This effect is tiny on most systems, but can be important on some, as noted on the <a href="configfile.html">"Configuring the Boot Manager"</a> page. There's also a change to the way graphics-mode boots are handled, to make for a slightly smoother visual transition. This version also fixes the incompatibility between the drivers and the firmware used by Macs (and probably other EFI 1.x systems). I've removed <tt>linux.conf</tt> as a valid alternative name for the <tt>refind_linux.conf</tt> file, so if you're still using the old name, now is the time to rename it! The biggest change is behind the scenes, though: I've added support for compiling rEFInd using the TianoCore EDK2, as well as the GNU-EFI toolkit that I've used up to this point. I have no intention of removing GNU-EFI support, but there's a chance that the TianoCore toolkit will help in implementing some future features or in debugging some problems. You can download either version from the <a href="http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/getting.html">downloads page.</a></li>
@@ -135,7 +160,7 @@ href="mailto:rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">rodsmith@rodsbooks.com</a></p>
 
 <hr />
 
-<p>copyright &copy; 2012 by Roderick W. Smith</p>
+<p>copyright &copy; 2012&ndash;2013 by Roderick W. Smith</p>
 
 <p>This document is licensed under the terms of the <a href="FDL-1.3.txt">GNU Free Documentation License (FDL), version 1.3.</a></p>