X-Git-Url: https://code.delx.au/refind/blobdiff_plain/83d9696df1452690a2a7cb2c17208feaee3e411f..4cfc89efc08cf488803e93b1356446ac4d34f181:/NEWS.txt diff --git a/NEWS.txt b/NEWS.txt index a493913..2bf51dc 100644 --- a/NEWS.txt +++ b/NEWS.txt @@ -1,11 +1,465 @@ -0.6.7 (?/??/2013): +0.8.1 (5/??/2014): ------------------ +- Added two new bitmap fonts to those distributed with rEFInd: Ubuntu Mono + and Nimbus Mono. Both come in 12-, 14-, 16-, and 24-point sizes. + +- Messages about pauses for scanning and re-scanning of boot loaders are + now suppressed when doing an initial delayed scan when scan_delay is 1 + second. + +- Improved centering of legacy boot option descriptions on some systems' + screens. + +- Fixed bug that could cause a BIOS-mode boot to launch an inappropriate + device if that device had an innately high boot priority (as set by the + firmware). + +- Changed icons from ICNS to PNG form. There are several reasons to do + this, all of them minor; but together they're enough to warrant a change. + PNG is more common, and therefore more accessible to most users -- + particularly those who don't use OS X. The PNG files are smaller than + their ICNS equivalents. PNG supports a wider range of sizes (although I'm + not now using anything that ICNS doesn't support, I might in the future). + The icon-scaling support added a few versions ago makes ICNS's support + for multiple icon sizes relatively unimportant. + +- Reversed order of search for icons by extension: rEFInd now searches + for PNG files before ICNS files, rather than the other way around. This + makes it possible to override a volume icon for rEFInd by giving it the + name .VolumeIcon.png, even when a .VolumeIcon.icns file exists on the + volume and is used by OS X. + +- Fixed bug that caused .VolumeIcon.icns to take higher-than-intended + precedence in icon setting for OS X. + +- Chainloading to BIOS-mode boot loaders now works on UEFI-based PCs when + rEFInd is built with GNU-EFI, not just when built with Tianocore. + +0.8.0 (5/4/2014): +----------------- + +- The "dont_scan_volumes" parameter now also works with legacy-boot + volumes. Unlike with EFI volumes, where the option you pass must exactly + match an entire volume name, when applied to legacy-boot volumes, it + matches any part of the description that appears beneath the item when + you select it in the rEFInd main menu. + +- Can now boot in legacy mode from second (and probably later) hard disks! + +- rEFInd now limits the length of the firmware name string shown in the + system information screen to 65 characters. This is done because at least + one EFI presents a longer string by default, and this causes the entire + information display to come up empty on 800x600 displays. + +- rEFInd now uses the partition's name (as stored in the GPT data + structures) as a fallback for the filesystem's name if the latter can't + be found. Exceptions are if the partition name is one of three generic + names used by GPT fdisk: "Microsoft basic data", "Linux filesystem", or + "Apple HFS/HFS+". These are ignored in favor of the descriptive fallback + (e.g., "20 GiB Btrfs volume") + +- It's now possible to specify a volume by partition GUID number in a + manual boot stanza. This should be more reliable (albeit also more + awkward) than using a filesystem number (such as fs0: or fs1:). + +- Fixed memory-allocation bug that could cause error message displays, + and possibly hangs, when re-scanning boot loaders. + +0.7.9 (4/20/2014): +------------------ + +- Attempt to fix rEFInd perpetually re-scanning after ejecting a disc on + some Macs. + +- Added check to remove redundant (or non-functional if Secure Boot is + active) kernel entries for Ubuntu, which is now including two versions of + kernels, one signed and the other unsigned. + +- Fixed bug in install.sh that could cause it to display error messages + if the dmraid utility was not installed. + +- The HFS+ driver now reports a correct volume name. + +- Fixed some EFI filesystem driver bugs that could cause lockups under + some circumstances. These bugs could affect any of the filesystem + drivers. + +- Added "gdisk" option to the "showtools" configuration file token. When + active, this adds gdisk.efi or gdisk_{arch}.efi, if present in the + EFI\tools directory, to the tools row. + +- Fixed mistaken identification of the MOK utility as the "MOK utility + utility." + + +0.7.8 (3/9/2014): +----------------- + +- Added "debian" directory to source, which facilitates creation of Debian + packages. Packages built in this way are built with GNU-EFI and don't run + any post-installation script, so although the rEFInd binaries are on the + hard disk, they aren't installed to be bootable; you must manually run + install.sh. Also, at least on Ubuntu, the Make.common file's /usr/lib64 + references must be changed to /usr/lib. This is more of a proof of + concept and a "leg up" for distribution maintainers than anything else. + +- Two new options, big_icon_size and small_icon_size, set the size of + the first-row OS icons and of the second-row tool icons, respectively. + The big_icon_size option also indirectly sets the size of disk-type + badges; they're 1/4 the size of the big icons. Default values are 128 and + 48, respectively, to match the actual icon files provided with rEFInd. If + the icon you're using is of a different size than you've specified, + rEFInd scales it. For best quality, you should both provide icons drawn + to the right size and set the icon sizes in refind.conf. + +- rEFInd now automatically scales icons to fit the standard icon sizes. + This won't have any effect with the icons that come with rEFInd, but it + can help if you want to use another icon, since you needn't scale it in a + graphics program before using it. Note that rEFInd uses bitmap icons, so + scaling by a huge amount (say, a 16x16 icon to fit the standard 128x128 + OS icon) is not likely to look good. + +- Added new option, banner_scale, that tells rEFInd how to handle banners: + Set to "noscale" (the default), banners are not scaled, although they'll + be cropped if they're too big for the display. This is the same as the + behavior in previous versions. Set to "fillscreen", rEFInd now scales the + banner image (larger or smaller) to fill the display. + +- Adjusted the post-installation script in refind.spec (used to generate + RPMs, and therefore also indirectly Debian packages) to search for + existing shim program files under the filesnames shim.efi and shimx64.efi + rather than just shim.efi. Ubuntu uses shimx64.efi, so Debian packages + were failing to detect Ubuntu's shim in previous versions. (Note, + however, that Ubuntu's early shim 0.1 is unsuitable for use with rEFInd + The newer 0.4 version that's in the repositories now should work fine; + it's only when installing on an older system that's NOT been updated that + problems might arise. + +0.7.7 (1/3/2014): +----------------- + +- Can now specify complete paths, optionally including volumes, in + dont_scan_files. + +- Added shimx64.efi to the default dont_scan_files list. + +- Added windows_recovery_files token, to specify what program(s) launch a + Windows recovery utility; and the "windows_recovery" option to + "showtools," to control whether or not to display the Windows recovery + utility on the second row of icons. + +- The use_graphics_for, also_scan_dirs, dont_scan_dirs, dont_scan_files, + and scan_driver_dirs tokens in refind.conf now support "+" as the first + option, which causes the remaining options to be added to the default + value rather than replacing that value. (This has no practical effect for + scan_driver_dirs, though, since it has a null default value.) + +- Added support for specifying the configuration file at program launch, + via the "-c" parameter, as in "refind_x64.efi -c foo.conf" to use the + foo.conf file as the main configuration file. + +- Scans of ext2/3/4fs and ReiserFS partitions now omit partitions with + duplicate filesystem UUIDs. These are likely parts of RAID arrays and so + would have the same boot loaders or kernels as the first one with a given + UUID. + +- Added feature in install.sh: Script now tries to locate and mount an ESP + in Linux, if it's currently unmounted. + +- Fixed bug in mkrlconf.sh and install.sh that caused a stray line break + and PARTUUID= specification to appear in generated refind_linux.conf file + under some circumstances. + +0.7.6 (12/15/2013): +------------------- + +- Added support for multiple "default_selection" targets. These MUST be + comma-separated AND enclosed in quotes, as in: + default_selection "fred,ginger" + This example will launch "fred" by default if it's available; and if + it's not, rEFInd will attempt to launch "ginger" as the default. + +- Added support for time-sensitive "default_selection" setting. This token + may now have either one or three options. If one, it's interpreted as it + has been in the past, as setting a default that's independent of times. + If you follow this default by two times, however, those are interpreted + as the start and end times (in 24-hour format) for a default setting. For + instance, "default_selection foo 8:00 17:00" causes foo to be the default + from 8:00 (AM) to 17:00 (aka 5:00 PM). You can include multiple + "default_selection" lines to set different defaults for a variety of + times. If they're in conflict, the last one takes precedence. Note that + times are hardware clock's native value, which may be local time or UTC, + depending on your computer. + +- Added support for a blank-screen startup: Set "screensaver -1" and the + screen saver will be initialized when rEFInd starts. If you set a low + "timeout" value, the result will be a boot straight to the default OS + unless you hit a key soon after rEFInd starts. Once you hit a key, the + screensaver will be disabled. + +- Added --ownhfs {target} option to install.sh. This option causes rEFInd + to install to an HFS+ partition in a way that's more consistent with the + way the Mac's native boot loader is installed. Note that you should NOT + install to an already-bootable partition with this option, since it will + overwrite the existing boot loader, which would render OS X unbootable. + +0.7.5 (11/10/2013): +------------------- + +- Fixed bug that caused unbootable exFAT partitions to show up as + bootable on Macs with BIOS/CSM/legacy boot options enabled. + +- Fixed bug in install.sh that caused installs to the ESP on recent + versions of OS X to fail. + +- Fixed bug that caused rEFInd to hang on some Macs when multiple EFI + drivers were present. + +- Fixed bug that caused clear to default gray screen when launching OSes + with 'use_graphics_for' enabled, even when the rEFInd background is not + gray. Now rEFInd clears to the same background color used in its menu. + When launching OS X, though, the OS X boot loader will itself clear to + gray a second or so later; and when launching Linux, it will clear to + black a second or so later. + +0.7.4.1 (8/25/2013): +-------------------- + +- My initial 0.7.4 release broke legacy-boot ability on Macs, so I quickly + released this version using the original 0.7.4 filenames to fix the + problem. + +0.7.4 (8/25/2013): +------------------ + +- Fixed options passing to loader to include loader's filename as the first + option. This omission had no effect on most boot loaders, but caused + VMware's mboot64.efi to fail. + +- Added support for memtest86 as second-row option. Program must be + stored in EFI/tools, EFI/tools/memtest, EFI/tools/memtest86, EFI/memtest, + or EFI/memtest86; and must use the name memtest86.efi, memtest86_x64.efi, + memtest86x64.efi, or bootx64.efi (changing "x64" to "ia32" on IA-32 + systems). The memtest86 program is scanned for when the "showtools" + option includes the "memtest" or "memtest86" token, which it does by + default. + +- Added space to end of "Boot %s from %s" string; enables adding a space + to the end of the "default_selection" item (in quotes) to set a default + that matches a volume name that's identical to another one except for + extra characters at the end of the non-wanted volume's name. + +- Fixed bug that could cause rEFInd to hang when launching boot loaders + under some conditions. (Launching from Firewire drives on Macs is the + known case, but there may be others.) + +0.7.3 (8/7/2013): +----------------- + +- Fixed bug that caused missing media-type badges on BIOS-mode boot + loaders on Macs. + +- Fixed bug that caused failure when launching BIOS-mode OSes on Macs. + +0.7.2 (8/6/2013): +----------------- + +- Fixed bug that caused display glitches in the final entry on the first + row of icons if the second row of icons was empty. + +- Fixed bug that could cause incorrect scanning or even a rEFInd crash when + using volume specification in also_scan_dirs token. + +- Added protection against loading invalid drivers and other EFI programs. + (Some EFIs crash when attempting to load such drivers and programs.) + +- Added PreLoader.efi and shim-fedora.efi to default dont_scan_files list; + it's now "shim.efi, shim-fedora.efi, PreLoader.efi, TextMode.efi, + ebounce.efi, GraphicsConsole.efi, MokManager.efi, HashTool.efi, + HashTool-signed.efi". + +- Added icon for Funtoo Linux. + +- Fixed reading of volume badges from user-specified icons directory, which + was broken. + +- Fixed handling of /.VolumeBadge.icns (or /.VolumeBadge.png) files, which + was broken. + +0.7.1 (7/8/2013): +----------------- + +- Fixed build problem with recent development versions of EDK2. + +- Added scan for Boot Repair's backup of the Windows boot loader + (bkpbootmgfw.efi). If found, give separate entries for it and for + bootmgfw.efi, each with its own descriptive text label. + +- Fixed also_scan_dirs; used to have bug that caused it to ignore + volume specification, if present. + +- Fixed bug in driver cache that caused Btrfs driver to hang sometimes. + +0.7.0 (6/27/2013): +------------------ + +- Added Btrfs signature to rEFInd, so that it can identify the filesystem + type for volumes that lack labels. + +- Changed some critical filesystem driver pointers from 32-bit to 64-bit. + This *SHOULD* enable use of over-2TiB filesystems (for those filesystems + that support such large volumes). This capability is largely untested, + though. + +- Added a cache to the filesystem driver core, and therefore to all the + filesystem drivers. This cache greatly improves performance in + VirtualBox, and offers modest performance improvements on a few "real" + computers. The most dramatic improvement is on ext2/3fs under VirtualBox: + Loading a kernel and initrd used to take ~200 seconds on my system, but + now takes ~3 seconds! On most "real" hardware, the improvement is much + less dramatic -- an improvement of a second or less, presumably because + of cacheing within the EFI or on the hard disk itself. + +- Filter boot loaders based on a test of their validity; keeps out Linux + kernels without EFI stub loader code, loaders for the wrong architecture, + non-EFI loaders, etc. + +- New Btrfs driver, contributed by Samuel Liao based on GRUB 2.00 Btrfs + code. + +0.6.12 (6/18/2013): +------------------- + +- Changed the 64-bit EFI shell included in the CD-R and USB flash drive + images to a version 2 shell that should support the "bcfg" command. + +- Added support for PreBootloader to refind.spec's built-in installation + script. + +- Added support for the Linux Foundation's PreLoader to install.sh. It's + treated just like shim, including using the --shim option (or, now, + --preloader); but it searches for and copies HashTool.efi rather than + MokManager.efi, and filenames are adjusted appropriately. + +- Added code to determine Linux root filesystem from /etc/fstab file, if + it's on the same partition as the kernel and if the refind_linux.conf + file is not available. This enables rEFInd to boot Linux without any + rEFInd-specific configuration files on some (but not all) systems. + +0.6.11 (5/13/2013): +------------------- + +- New feature: rEFInd now ignores symbolic links to files on filesystems + that support them. This prevents the "vmlinuz" symbolic link that some + distributions create in the root directory from appearing in the loader + list. Note that this does NOT affect symbolic links to directories. + +- Added icons for Lubuntu and Kubuntu. + +- Improved the install.sh script so that it does a better job dealing with + directory names that contain spaces. + +- rEFInd now tries to guess the Linux distribution type based on the kernel + filename (Fedora and RHEL only) or the "ID" or "NAME" variables in + /etc/os-release on the kernel's partition. None of these is guaranteed to + work. A fallback of the Tux penguin icon remains in place in case rEFInd + can't find anything substantive enough for a guess. + +- Added "EFI\opensuse" to the locations searched for MOK utilities, since + OpenSUSE now uses that name. + +- Renamed "Reboot to Firmware User Interface" to "Reboot to Computer Setup + Utility" in menu. + +- Fixed bug in gptsync that caused it to hang if the disk had too few GPT + partitions to fill the MBR. + +0.6.10 (5/5/2013): +------------------ + +- Added support for "screensaver" token. If set to a positive integer, this + causes the screen to blank after the specified number of seconds of + inactivity. Pressing most keys (unfortunately NOT including Shift, Alt, + or Ctrl) will restore the display and restart the screen saver timeout. + +- Added icon for ChromeOS (os_chrome.icns in the icons subdirectory). + ChromeBooks reportedly boots using the fallback filename, but if a user + wants to install rEFInd on a ChromeBook, renaming the original EFI/BOOT + directory to EFI/chrome and then installing rEFInd in the fallback + filename will bring up this new icon for ChromeOS. + +- Added new option to reboot the computer into the firmware's user + interface. This option is active by default, or can be set via the + "firmware" option to the "showtools" token in refind.conf. It works + on only some computers, though; older computers lack this feature, and + when rEFInd is told to use this feature on such computers, the directive + is quietly ignored. + +- Upgraded LodePNG library from version 20121216 to 20130415 and + restructured rEFInd-specific modifications to simplify future upgrades. + +- Replaced hexadecimal error code with description if an error is + encountered when saving a screen shot. + +- Enable multiple screen shots: Rather than naming all screen shots + "screenshot.bmp", the name is now "screenshot_###.bmp", where "###" is a + sequence number, starting with "001". + +0.6.9 (4/25/2013): +------------------ + +- Modified default banner to include the new rEFInd icon, provided by Erik + Kemperman. + +- Worked around a suspected firmware bug that caused rEFInd 0.6.6 to 0.6.8 + to hang at startup on some systems (DUET and some Macs). + +- Modified rEFInd to search for gptsync under the names gptsync.efi and + gptsync_{arch}.efi, where {arch} is ia32 or x64. (Previous versions + searched only for gptsync.efi.) + +- Added gptsync program from rEFIt project, but with some changes to + improve flexibility and make it less likely that UEFI users will + accidentally trash their systems. + +- Changed timeout code so that the timeout continues if the keyboard is + disconnected. This can help in booting a headless server or a system with + a bluetooth or other keyboard that's not recognized by the EFI. + +0.6.8 (3/18/2013): +------------------ + +- Added workaround for presumed EFI bug that was causing "Invalid + Parameter" errors when scanning for boot loaders on some computers. + +- Added search for an EFI shell called shell.efi in the root directory + (previously this name was only accepted in EFI\tools). + +- Fixed bug in install.sh that caused it to fail on some systems (Fedora + 18, for instance) because of a problem identifying the ESP. + +- Fixed bug that caused icons named after boot loaders to not be used. + +0.6.7 (2/3/2013): +----------------- + +- Added a more explicit error message summarizing options when a launch of + a program results in a Secure Boot failure. + +- Changed MOK tool detection to scan all volumes, not just the rEFInd + home volume. This is desirable because the Linux Foundation's HashTool + can only scan its own volume, making it desirable to place copies of this + program on every volume that holds EFI boot loader binaries. + +- Added support for launching the Linux Foundation HashTool as a means of + managing MOKs (or MOK hashes, at any rate). + - Fixed bug that caused rEFInd to present an entry for itself as a Microsoft OS if it was launched as EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi. - Fixed bug that caused dont_scan_volumes option to be added to - also_scan_dirst list. + also_scan_dirs list. - Fixed dont_scan_volumes so that it works with OS X boot loaders.