code.delx.au - refind/blob - NEWS.txt

   1 0.2.8 (?/??/2012):
   2 ------------------
   3
   4 - Fixed (maybe) a bug that caused rEFInd to crash when returning from an
   5   EFI shell or other programs on Macs, particularly when rEFInd used
   6   graphical mode. I'm not 100% sure this bug is squashed because I still
   7   don't understand the cause and I only have one Mac for testing. See
   8   comments in the ReinitRefitLib() function in refit/lib.c for more
   9   details.
  10
  11 - Added new refind.conf option: scan_all_linux_kernels, which causes Linux
  12   kernels that lack ".efi" extensions to be included in scans for EFI boot
  13   loaders. This may help integration with Linux distributions that don't
  14   give their kernels such names by default. Beware, though: It can detect
  15   unwanted files, such as older non-stub-loader kernels or .icns files used
  16   to give kernels with .efi extensions custom icons.
  17
  18 - Improved EFI boot loader detection on boards with Gigabyte's Hybrid EFI,
  19   and perhaps other EFIs with a buggy StriCmp() function. Files with both
  20   ".efi" and ".EFI" extensions should now be detected as boot loaders.
  21
  22 - Fixed a bug that caused rEFInd to fail to scan for drivers if the
  23   filesystem driver didn't set a volume name (that is, if the relevant
  24   field was set to NULL rather than even an empty string). In such
  25   situations, rEFInd now reports the volume name as "Unknown".
  26
  27 0.2.7 (4/19/2012):
  28 ------------------
  29
  30 - After much trial and tribulation, I've overcome a GNU-EFI limitation and
  31   enabled rEFInd to load EFI drivers. This feature was present in the
  32   original build of rEFIt but was removed in the versions that could
  33   compile under Linux, but now it's back -- and still being compiled under
  34   Linux! To use it, you should place your drivers in a convenient directory
  35   on the ESP (or whatever partition you use to launch rEFInd) and add a
  36   "scan_driver_dirs" entry to refind.conf to tell rEFInd where to look. (As
  37   always, you should specify the driver directory relative to the root of
  38   the filesystem.) Note that you can't launch drivers from another
  39   filesystem; they must be on the same volume that holds rEFInd. Those who
  40   compile from source code should note that implementing this feature
  41   necessitated using a more recent version of the GNU-EFI library. I'm
  42   currently using version 3.0p, and version 3.0i does NOT work. I don't
  43   know where the change occurred, but you may need to upgrade your GNU-EFI
  44   installation.
  45
  46 - Fixed bug that caused rEFInd to show up in its own menu sometimes.
  47
  48 - Added new refind.conf token: also_scan_dirs. When scanning volumes for
  49   EFI boot loaders, rEFInd always scans the root directory and every
  50   subdirectory of the /EFI directory, but it doesn't recurse into these
  51   directories. The also_scan_dirs token adds more directories to the scan
  52   list. It defaults to "elilo,boot", but you can set it to any directory or
  53   directories you like.
  54
  55 0.2.6 (4/14/2012):
  56 ------------------
  57
  58 - Added "volume" keyword to configuration file's stanza options. This
  59   option changes the volume from which subsequent files (specified by
  60   "loader" and "icon") are loaded. You pass "volume" the name/label of the
  61   FILESYSTEM you want to use (not the GPT partition name), or a number
  62   followed by a colon (e.g., "1:"). The former should reliably identify a
  63   filesystem, assuming the name is unique. The latter assigns numbers based
  64   on the order in which they're scanned, which may not be as reliable but
  65   should work when a volume is unnamed.
  66
  67 - Fixed bug in 0.2.5 that caused failure of Linux initial RAM disk
  68   mapping on some (but not all) systems. Affected computers include at
  69   least some Intel motherboards, maybe others.
  70
  71 0.2.5 (4/9/2012):
  72 -----------------
  73
  74 - Fixed bug that caused an inability to associate initial RAM disks with
  75   Linux kernels stored in a volume's root directory.
  76
  77 - Volume badges (that override default badges) are now stored in
  78   .VolumeBadge.icns. Although undocumented, rEFInd formerly loaded custom
  79   volume badges from .VolumeIcon.icns. This carryover from rEFIt was a
  80   confusing name, given the next (new) feature, so I've changed and
  81   documented the name....
  82
  83 - Added ability to set a default icon for a loader stored in the root
  84   directory of a volume: The icon is stored in .VolumeIcon.icns. This icon
  85   is also used for Mac OS X volumes booted from the standard location.
  86
  87 - Fixed bug that caused icons to drop back to generic icons when rEFInd
  88   was launched in certain ways (such as from an EFI shell in rEFInd's
  89   directory) on certain systems.
  90
  91 - Fixed bug that caused "unknown disable flag" to be shown (very briefly)
  92   instead of "unknown hideui flag" when an improper hideui flag was set.
  93
  94 0.2.4 (4/5/2012):
  95 -----------------
  96
  97 - Created new refind.conf entry: "showtools". This entry takes options of
  98   "shell", "gptsync", "about", "exit", "reboot", and "shutdown". This
  99   option is in some respects an affirmative version of portions of the old
 100   "disable" and "hideui" options; however, it enables users to specify the
 101   order in which these options appear on the screen. Also, the "exit"
 102   option is new; it terminates the program. The effect is usually to return
 103   to whatever tool launched it or to launch a default OS; however, this is
 104   somewhat unpredictable. The default therefore omits the "exit" option, as
 105   well as "gptsync", which has always been dangerous (but necessary on most
 106   MacOS/Windows dual-boot setups on Macs). As part of this reconfiguration,
 107   I've eliminated the "rescue Linux" option, which always seemed pointless
 108   to me.
 109
 110 - Folded "disable" and "hideui" refind.conf entries into one ("disable"),
 111   and reduced the number of options to six: "banner", "label",
 112   "singleuser", "hwtest", "arrows", and "all". ("arrows" is new and
 113   disables the scroll arrows when a system has too many tags to display
 114   simultaneously.)
 115
 116 - Added max_tags option to the refind.conf file, enabling users to reduce
 117   the maximum number of OS loader tags that can be displayed at once.
 118
 119 - Updated rEFIt icon, based on the 128x128 volume label from the rEFIt CD
 120   image.
 121
 122 - Added x86 and x86-64 EFI shells to the CD image version of the binary,
 123   but NOT to the binary zip file. The logic is that the CD image is more
 124   likely to be used directly as an emergency disc and so may need this
 125   feature, even though the source isn't part of the rEFInd project. (The
 126   source is readily available from the TianoCore project.)
 127
 128 - EFI shells may now be stored at /shellx64.efi for x86-64 systems or at
 129   /shellia32.efi for x86 systems. The /EFI/tools/shell.efi name is also
 130   recognized; however, if both files are present, two EFI shell icons will
 131   appear on the main menu. The /efi/{refind-path/apps/shell.efi filename,
 132   which was never officially documented but worked as a carryover from
 133   rEFIt, is no longer valid.
 134
 135 0.2.3 (3/26/2012):
 136 ------------------
 137
 138 - Fixed (maybe) a bug that caused hangs when launching a second program
 139   after returning from a first. There are some weird system-to-system
 140   differences, though, and this fix causes (apparently harmless) error
 141   messages about "(re)opening our installation volume" on at least one
 142   system (a 32-bit Mac Mini). I'm committing this change because, imperfect
 143   though it is, it's preferable to the earlier version, at least on my
 144   small sample of computers.
 145
 146 - Because of news that the Linux kernel developers are planning to use the
 147   filename linux.conf to hold Linux kernel configuration data for EFI
 148   booting, I'm transitioning rEFInd away from that name and to
 149   refind_linux.conf to avoid a conflict. This version can use either name,
 150   with refind_linux.conf taking precedence if both are present.
 151
 152 - Added logo for Arch Linux.
 153
 154 0.2.2 (3/23/2012):
 155 ------------------
 156
 157 - Fixed bug that caused program failure when Linux kernels with EFI stub
 158   support were detected with no associated version numbers. rEFInd now
 159   permits automatic linking of *ONE* versionless kernel to *ONE*
 160   versionless initrd file.
 161
 162 - Fixed bug that caused program hangs when a boot loader filename or label
 163   was too long. Such names are now properly truncated and program execution
 164   continues.
 165
 166 - Fixed bug that caused no text to appear in submenus on UEFI systems with
 167   small screens (800x600). NOTE: Problem still occurs on screens smaller
 168   than this, but such systems are very rare.
 169
 170 0.2.1 (3/19/2012):
 171 ------------------
 172
 173 - Added ability to set a "default_selection" that's a title or a substring
 174   of one -- the name given to a stanza in a "menuentry" or the boot
 175   loader's filename, in most cases, although "Mac OS X", "Windows XP
 176   (XoM)", and "Microsoft EFI boot" are also titles.
 177
 178 - Added support for semi-automatic scans of Linux kernels with EFI stub
 179   loader support. The program auto-detects matching initial RAM disk files
 180   and loads additional options from the "linux.conf" file in the same
 181   directory as the kernel.
 182
 183 - Added support for "submenuentry" keyword and associated sub-stanza
 184   entries in refind.conf file.
 185
 186 - Renamed icons/os_mint.icns to icons/os_linuxmint.icns to match the
 187   filename Linux Mint ACTUALLY uses for its ESP boot loader directory.
 188
 189
 190 0.2.0 (3/14/2012):
 191 ------------------
 192
 193 - Initial public release