X-Git-Url: https://code.delx.au/refind/blobdiff_plain/4f05f12b4a34cfbef8deb341168a212edb225ad4..2a6ed1155086a30aaa01ced44b559183e7521083:/docs/refind/revisions.html

diff --git a/docs/refind/revisions.html b/docs/refind/revisions.html
index 8454ff9..3f73877 100644
--- a/docs/refind/revisions.html
+++ b/docs/refind/revisions.html
@@ -14,9 +14,9 @@
 <p class="subhead">by Roderick W. Smith, <a
 href="mailto:rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">rodsmith@rodsbooks.com</a></p>
 
-<p>Last Web page update: 5/5/2013</p>
+<p>Last Web page update: 5/15/2014</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>
+<p>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>
 
 <table border="1">
 <tr>
@@ -130,6 +130,34 @@ href="mailto:rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">rodsmith@rodsbooks.com</a></p>
 
 <ul>
 
+<li><b>0.8.1 (5/15/2014)</b>&mdash;The biggest code change in this version is that rEFInd's UEFI-style BIOS-mode boot code now works when rEFInd is built with GNU-EFI as well as when built with Tianocore. This change won't affect users of my binary builds, which have long been made with Tianocore, but if your distribution builds rEFInd with GNU-EFI, it might interest you. Some user-noticeable bug fixes include a fix to a bug that could cause rEFInd to omit boot loaders on a partition's root directory, a fix to a bug that caused <tt>.VolumeIcon.icns</tt> to take a higher-than-intended precedence on OS X boot volumes, a fix to a bug that could cause a BIOS-mode boot from the wrong device in UEFI mode, and improved centering of BIOS-mode boot descriptions on the screen. Other changes include two new optional bitmap fonts (Ubuntu Mono and Nimbus Mono), omission of messages about scanning of boot loaders when <tt>scan_delay</tt> is set to <tt>1</tt>, a change to the search order for icons (PNG files now override ICNS files), and a conversion of all the icons in the icons directory from ICNS to PNG format. Note that this last change may necessitate changing manual boot stanzas if you refer to icons in the default icon directory, depending on how you upgrade rEFInd.</li>
+
+<li><b>0.8.0 (5/4/2014)</b>&mdash;The biggest changes with this version relate to BIOS/CSM/legacy support, particularly on UEFI-based PCs. This version can now boot from the second (or later) hard disk on such computers, and is more likely to be able to cope with removable disks. On both Macs and PCs, you can also now use <tt>dont_scan_volumes</tt> to remove a legacy-boot option from the boot list, so long as it has a unique name (as shown in rEFInd's main menu when you highlight the option). This version also introduces the ability to use partition names and partition GUIDs to refer to devices (in <tt>dont_scan_volumes</tt>, displayed in the rEFInd menu, and so on). Note that partition names are stored in GPT data structures. These are different from filesystem names, which are stored in filesystem data structures. rEFInd now limits the length of the firmware identity string shown in the "About" screen, to prevent problems with the string overrunning the space available on an 800x600 display. Finally, I've fixed a memory-allocation bug that caused error message displays on some systems when re-scanning boot loaders. This bug might conceivably have caused some systems to hang when re-scanning, too.</li>
+
+<li><b>0.7.9 (4/20/2014)</b>&mdash;This version includes a number of bug fixes: <tt>install.sh</tt> no longer displays error messages if the <tt>dmraid</tt> utility isn't available; the HFS+ driver now reports a correct volume name; filesystem driver bugs that could cause lockups have been fixed; a redundant "utility" in the MOK utility's description has been removed; and an (as-yet untested) attempt to fix a continuous-rescanning problem after ejecting a disc on some computers has been implemented. In addition, rEFInd now removes redundant kernel entries on Ubuntu systems to keep the menu uncluttered and a new <tt>gdisk</tt> option has been added to the <tt>showtools</tt> item. (An EFI version of my <a href="http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/"><tt>gdisk</tt></a> utility can be built with the help of the <a href="https://sourceforge.net/projects/uefigptfdisk/?source=directory">UEFI GPT fdisk</a> library.)</li>
+
+<li><b>0.7.8 (3/9/2014</b>&mdash;This version emphasizes changes to icon and banner graphics handling. Internally, rEFInd can now scale graphics, which previous versions could not do. To make use of this feature, three new <tt>refind.conf</tt> tokens now exist: <tt>big_icon_size</tt> and <tt>small_icon_size</tt> set the sizes of big (first-row OS) and small (second-row tool) icons; and <tt>banner_scale</tt> tells rEFInd to draw banners to a 1:1 scale (<tt>noscale</tt>, the default) or to scale the banner to fill the screen (<tt>fillscreen</tt>). See <a href="configfile.html#table1">Table 1 on the configuration page of this document</a> for more on these new options. I've also adjusted the post-installation script used by the RPM and Debian packages to search for existing Shim programs called <tt>shimx64.efi</tt>, not just <tt>shim.efi</tt> (as had been done before). This should help when installing a package on distributions that use the <tt>shimx64.efi</tt> filename, such as Ubuntu. Finally, I'm providing a preliminary set of Debian packaging files, which may help distribution maintainers to adopt rEFInd.</li>
+
+<li><b>0.7.7 (1/3/2014)</b>&mdash;A new configuration file token, <tt>windows_recovery_files</tt>, leads this list of changes; you can use it to specify files that boot Windows recovery tools. If you include the <tt>windows_recovery</tt> option on the <tt>showtools</tt> line, these files will then be represented by a small Windows recovery badge on the second row rather than as a full-sized OS loader, thus reducing clutter and making the purpose of this loader clearer. You can also now specify a complete path to <tt>dont_scan_files</tt> items, including a volume specifier. The <tt>use_graphics_for</tt>, <tt>also_scan_dirs</tt>, <tt>dont_scan_dirs</tt>, <tt>dont_scan_files</tt>, <tt>scan_driver_dirs</tt>, and <tt>windows_recovery_files</tt> tokens can all now accept <tt>+</tt> as their first option, which causes subsequent list items to be added to their defaults rather than replacing them. The configuration file can now be specified at program launch by passing a <tt>-c</tt> option, as in <tt>-c myconf.conf</tt>; you can use this feature to set up a manual boot stanza that launches rEFInd with modified boot options. Scans of ext2/3/4fs and ReiserFS partitions now omit partitions with filesystem UUIDs that have already been seen. This is an effort to reduce clutter from such partitions that are components of RAID 1 arrays. The <tt>install.sh</tt> script now attempts to locate and mount an unmounted ESP when run under Linux. Finally, I've fixed a bug in both <tt>install.sh</tt> and <tt>mkrlconf.sh</tt> that caused the generated <tt>refind_linux.conf</tt> file to contain a stray line break and unnecessary <tt>PARTUUID=</tt> specification on some systems.</li>
+
+<li><b>0.7.6 (12/15/2013)</b>&mdash;The biggest changes in this version relate to the <tt>default_selection</tt> setting. You can now provide multiple default selections by listing them <i>within quotes</i> and separated by commas, as in <tt>default_selection "ubuntu,fedora"</tt> which boots <tt>ubuntu</tt> if it's present and <tt>fedora</tt> if <tt>ubuntu</tt> is not present but <tt>fedora</tt> is. This should be helpful with removable disks. You can also include two times, in 24-hour format, following a <tt>default_selection</tt> specification, as in <tt>default_selection Maintenance 1:00 2:00</tt>, which boots <tt>Maintenance</tt> by default between 1:00 and 2:00. If another <tt>default_selection</tt> without a time specification preceded this line, the earlier one will still apply at other times. Another change to the main program is that you can now set <tt>screensaver -1</tt> to have rEFInd come up with its screen blanked. You'll probably want to combine this with a short <tt>timeout</tt> value to have rEFInd boot your default OS quickly unless you press a key first. Finally, I've added a new option to the <tt>install.sh</tt> script: <tt>--ownhfs <i>target_partition</i></tt>. This option is valid only under OS X. It installs rEFInd to an HFS+ volume that does <i><b>not</b></i> currently hold an OS X installation. The installation method differs from the usual rEFInd installation in that the result looks to the firmware more like an OS X installation. This makes rEFInd appear as an option in the firmware's own boot manager and it may help suspend-to-RAM operations.</li>
+
+<li><b>0.7.5 (11/10/2013)</b>&mdash;This version fixes a few bugs, the most important of which is one that caused some Macs to hang when multiple EFI drivers were present. Another squashed bug caused the screen to clear to the default gray rather than the actual background color when launching OSes in graphics mode. rEFInd no longer shows all exFAT partitions as being bootable on Macs when legacy boot options are enabled; now such partitions only show up as bootable if rEFInd spots a known boot loader installed on them. Finally, I've fixed a bug that caused <tt>install.sh</tt> to fail when installing to the ESP with recent versions of OS X.</li>
+
+<li><b>0.7.4 (8/25/2013)</b>&mdash;This version fixes problems in booting VMware's <tt>mboot64.efi</tt> boot loader and when launching boot loaders from some types of Mac drives. These fixes might improve matters for other boot loaders, too. I've also added a space to the end of the <tt>Boot <i>X</i> from <i>Y</i></tt> description, which means you can use <tt><i>Y</i></tt> in the <tt>default_selection</tt> field even if another entry contains the same <tt><i>Y</i></tt> string, but with something added. To do this, you must enclose <tt><i>Y</i></tt> in quotes and add a space to its end, as in <tt>default_selection "Bit "</tt>, which sets the first boot loader on the <tt>Bit</tt> volume as the default, even if you also have a disk called <tt>Bitten</tt>. Finally, this version adds explicit support for the new EFI version of <a href="http://www.memtest86.com/download.htm">Memtest86.</a> See the <a href="installing.html#addons">"Installing Additional Components"</a> section of the <a href="installing.html">Installing rEFInd</a> page for details on this support.</li>
+
+<li><b>0.7.3 (8/7/2013)</b>&mdash;This version fixes a bug that caused boot failures when launching BIOS-mode OSes on Macs. It also fixes a bug that caused such OSes' disk-type icons to disappear.</li>
+
+<li><b>0.7.2 (8/6/2013)</b>&mdash;This version primarily fixes a number of minor bugs: A display glitch when the second row of icons is empty; improper scanning when a volume specification was used in <tt>also_scan_dirs</tt>; improper reading of volume badges from user-specific icons directory or from <tt>.VolumeBadge.icns</tt> files. Also, This version adds protection against loading invalid files as drivers, which can crash some EFIs, adds an icon for Funtoo Linux, and adds <tt>PreLoader.efi</tt> and <tt>shim-fedora.efi</tt> to the default <tt>dont_scan_files</tt> list.</li>
+
+<li><b>0.7.1 (7/8/2013)</b>&mdash;The most important improvement to this version is a bug fix to the filesystem drivers. In version 0.7.0, drivers could hang the system (the Btrfs driver in particular generated problem reports, although the bug could theoretically affect any driver). Version 0.7.1 fixes this problem. I've also fixed a build problem with development versions of the TianoCore EDK2. In rEFInd proper, I've added a scan for <tt>EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bkpbootmgfw.efi</tt>, which is how recent versions of Ubuntu's Boot Repair utility rename the Windows boot loader. This change enables rEFInd to launch Windows even on systems that have been "repaired" by this overzealous tool. I've also fixed a bug that caused volume specifications in <tt>also_scan_dirs</tt> tokens to be ignored.</li>
+
+<li><b>0.7.0 (6/27/2013)</b>&mdash;Improvements to the filesystem drivers dominate this version. The biggest change is a new Btrfs driver, created by Samuel Liao and based in part on the GRUB 2.0 Btrfs support. The drivers also now include a read cache to improve their speed. This has only a tiny effect on most computers, but on some it can speed boot times by a few seconds, and under VirtualBox the effect is dramatic&mdash;the ext2fs driver goes from a sluggish three <i>minutes</i> to load a kernel and initrd to three <i>seconds</i>. I've also changed some critical filesystem driver pointers from 32-bit to 64-bit, which may enable some of them to work with larger filesystems, although this isn't yet tested. The main rEFInd binary sports only two changes: It can now identify Btrfs volumes as such for labelling purposes and it can now filter out invalid loaders (those for the wrong architecture or Linux kernels that lack EFI stub loader support, for instance).</li>
+
+<li><b>0.6.12 (6/18/2013)</b>&mdash;This version changes relatively little code, but it adds one feature that will simplify rEFInd installation for some users: The program can now deduce minimal Linux boot options based on an <tt>/etc/fstab</tt> file <i>if</i> that file is on the same partition as the kernel (in other words, if you do <i>not</i> use a separate <tt>/boot</tt> partition). Put another way, <tt>refind_linux.conf</tt> is no longer required for some installations, although it's still desirable. If you're already using rEFInd, this isn't likely to be important, but it can help when you're just starting out. In addition, this version adds support for the Linux Foundation's PreBootloader in the <tt>install.sh</tt> script. I've also changed the default 64-bit shell included on the CD-R and USB flash drive images to a modified version 2 shell, so as to enable use of the <tt>bcfg</tt> command to help install rEFInd (or make other changes to the firmware's boot manager configuration).</li>
+
+<li><b>0.6.11 (5/13/2013)</b>&mdash;Two new features may have a noticeable affect for many users: First, rEFInd now ignores symbolic links on filesystems that support them. I've implemented this change because I've been receiving too many reports from users who want to remove redundant or non-functional Linux boot entries caused by symbolic links created by distributions. Although this is possible by editing the <tt>dont_scan_dirs</tt> or <tt>dont_scan_files</tt> options in <tt>refind.conf</tt>, telling users how to do this has become tedious. If you <i>want</i> to use links to create multiple entries for one kernel or boot loader, use hard links instead of symbolic links. The second major user-visible change is that rEFInd now tries to guess the distribution type based on the naming of the kernel file (effective only for Fedora and RHEL) or the contents of the <tt>/etc/os-release</tt> file (effective only if the installation does <i>not</i> have a separate </tt>/boot</tt> partition or if <tt>/etc/os-release</tt> is copied to that location on the partition that holds the kernel). There are several other minor cosmetic issues that some users may notice, including icons for Lubuntu and Kubuntu and a change in the name of the "Reboot to Firmware User Interface" option to "Reboot to Computer Setup Utility." I've also fixed a bug in <tt>gptsync</tt> that could cause it to hang if the disk had too few GPT partitions. Finally, I've improved the <tt>install.sh</tt> script so that it works better from a path with directory names that include spaces.</li>
+
 <li><b>0.6.10 (5/5/2013)</b>&mdash;This version adds a number of minor improvements: The ability to create multiple screen shots under a sequence of names rather than using just one name; a new screen saver feature, activated by the <tt>screensaver</tt> token in <tt>refind.conf</tt>; and an option to reboot the computer into the firmware's setup utility on computers that support this feature. I've also added an OS for ChromeOS (<tt>os_chrome.icns</tt>), and I've updated the LodePNG library to the latest version, which might improve rendering of some PNG files.</li>
 
 <li><b>0.6.9 (4/25/2013)</b>&mdash;The most visible change to this version is to the rEFInd banner image, which now includes an icon provided by Erik Kemperman. The biggest change with this version is the inclusion of an updated version of <tt>gptsync</tt>, which is popular on Macs as a means of maintaining the <a href="http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/hybrid.html">hybrid MBR</a> that's required to boot Windows in BIOS mode on that platform. Because hybrid MBRs are ugly and dangerous, though, the rEFInd <tt>install.sh</tt> script installs the program only under OS X, and even then it must be activated by uncommending the <tt>scanfor</tt> line in <tt>refind.conf</tt> and adding <tt>gptsync</tt> to its options list. If you want to use <tt>gptsync</tt> on a PC, you can, but you'll need to copy the program file manually to the ESP's <tt>EFI/tools</tt> directory. Other changes with this version include working around a suspected firmware bug that can cause hangs when rEFInd starts on some systems and changing the timeout code so that rEFInd will launch its default OS even if the computer is started without a keyboard.</li>
@@ -206,7 +234,7 @@ href="mailto:rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">rodsmith@rodsbooks.com</a></p>
 
 <hr />
 
-<p>copyright &copy; 2012&ndash;2013 by Roderick W. Smith</p>
+<p>copyright &copy; 2012&ndash;2014 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>