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1 0.6.10 (?/??/2013):
2 -------------------
3
4 - Upgraded LodePNG library from version 20121216 to 20130415 and
5 restructured rEFInd-specific modifications to simplify future upgrades.
6
7 - Replaced hexadecimal error code with description if an error is
8 encountered when saving a screen shot.
9
10 - Enable multiple screen shots: Rather than naming all screen shots
11 "screenshot.bmp", the name is now "screenshot_###.bmp", where "###" is a
12 sequence number, starting with "001".
13
14 0.6.9 (4/25/2013):
15 ------------------
16
17 - Modified default banner to include the new rEFInd icon, provided by Erik
18 Kemperman.
19
20 - Worked around a suspected firmware bug that caused rEFInd 0.6.6 to 0.6.8
21 to hang at startup on some systems (DUET and some Macs).
22
23 - Modified rEFInd to search for gptsync under the names gptsync.efi and
24 gptsync_{arch}.efi, where {arch} is ia32 or x64. (Previous versions
25 searched only for gptsync.efi.)
26
27 - Added gptsync program from rEFIt project, but with some changes to
28 improve flexibility and make it less likely that UEFI users will
29 accidentally trash their systems.
30
31 - Changed timeout code so that the timeout continues if the keyboard is
32 disconnected. This can help in booting a headless server or a system with
33 a bluetooth or other keyboard that's not recognized by the EFI.
34
35 0.6.8 (3/18/2013):
36 ------------------
37
38 - Added workaround for presumed EFI bug that was causing "Invalid
39 Parameter" errors when scanning for boot loaders on some computers.
40
41 - Added search for an EFI shell called shell.efi in the root directory
42 (previously this name was only accepted in EFI\tools).
43
44 - Fixed bug in install.sh that caused it to fail on some systems (Fedora
45 18, for instance) because of a problem identifying the ESP.
46
47 - Fixed bug that caused icons named after boot loaders to not be used.
48
49 0.6.7 (2/3/2013):
50 -----------------
51
52 - Added a more explicit error message summarizing options when a launch of
53 a program results in a Secure Boot failure.
54
55 - Changed MOK tool detection to scan all volumes, not just the rEFInd
56 home volume. This is desirable because the Linux Foundation's HashTool
57 can only scan its own volume, making it desirable to place copies of this
58 program on every volume that holds EFI boot loader binaries.
59
60 - Added support for launching the Linux Foundation HashTool as a means of
61 managing MOKs (or MOK hashes, at any rate).
62
63 - Fixed bug that caused rEFInd to present an entry for itself as a
64 Microsoft OS if it was launched as EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi.
65
66 - Fixed bug that caused dont_scan_volumes option to be added to
67 also_scan_dirs list.
68
69 - Fixed dont_scan_volumes so that it works with OS X boot loaders.
70
71 - Fixed broken mixing of PNG and ICNS icons when using a user-specified
72 icons directory -- previously, an ICNS file in the default directory
73 would override a PNG file in the user-specified directory.
74
75 0.6.6 (1/26/2013):
76 ------------------
77
78 - rEFInd now ignores the fallback boot loader (EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi or
79 EFI/BOOT/bootia32.efi) if it's identical to another boot loader on
80 the same volume. This is intended to help unclutter the display on
81 systems that run Windows, since Windows tends to duplicate its own boot
82 loader under the fallback name.
83
84 - Added new "font" token to refind.conf, which enables specifying a font in
85 the form of a PNG file. This file must contain monospace glyphs for the
86 95 characters from ASCII 32 to 126 (space through tilde), inclusive, plus
87 a glyph to be displayed for characters outside of this range, for a total
88 of 96 glyphs.
89
90 - Replaced the old font (inherited from rEFInd) with an anti-aliased
91 version of Luxi Mono Regular 14 point.
92
93 - Fixed bug that caused rEFInd to ignore manual boot stanzas in files
94 included via the "include" token in refind.conf.
95
96 - Fixed bug that caused ASSERT error on some systems (and conceivably a
97 crash on startup on some) when default_selection line in refind.conf was
98 commented out or empty.
99
100 - Fixed bug that caused "Binary is whitelisted" message to persist on
101 screen after loading MOK-signed drivers in Secure Boot mode.
102
103 - Fixed bug that caused rEFInd to ignore the "icon" token in refind.conf
104 manual boot stanzas.
105
106 - Fixed bug in install.sh that caused the script to fail to update
107 drivers when rEFInd was installed in EFI/BOOT/.
108
109 0.6.5 (1/16/2013):
110 ------------------
111
112 - Improved text color support: rEFInd now uses black text against light
113 backgrounds and white text against dark backgrounds.
114
115 - Added support for PNGs as banners, icons, and selectors.
116
117 - Added icon for ALT Linux.
118
119 - Added "safemode" option to "hideui" token, to hide option to boot into
120 safe mode for OS X ("-v -x" option to boot.efi).
121
122 - Added icon for Haiku (os_haiku.icns).
123
124 - Enable transparency of icons & main-menu text when the banner icon is
125 sized to cover these areas.
126
127 - Fixed bug that could cause rEFInd to crash if fed a banner image that's
128 too big. Note that "too big" can be substantially smaller than the screen
129 resolution!
130
131 0.6.4 (1/8/2013):
132 -----------------
133
134 - Revised install.sh to copy ext2fs driver, rather than ext4fs driver, for
135 ext2/3 filesystems. This can help keep non-functional entries from links
136 from /vmlinuz to /boot/vmlinuz out of the menu if the system uses ext4fs
137 on root and ext2fs or ext3fs on /boot.
138
139 - Fixed a couple of memory management bugs that cause rEFInd to hang at
140 startup on some systems.
141
142 0.6.3 (1/6/2013):
143 -----------------
144
145 - Added the ability to specify a volume name or number in the
146 "dont_scan_dirs" and "also_scan_dirs" tokens.
147
148 - Fixed a bug that caused removable EFI media to not appear in scan lists
149 if rEFInd was installed as EFI/BOOT/boot{arch}.efi on a hard disk.
150
151 - Modified ISO-9660 driver so that it can handle discs with other than
152 2048-byte sectors. This makes it useful for reading "hybrid ISO" images
153 burned to USB flash disks.
154
155 - New mvrefind.sh script to move a rEFInd installation between a standard
156 location (typically EFI/refind) and one of the fallback locations
157 (EFI/BOOT or EFI/Microsoft/Boot). It can also do more exotic locations.
158
159 - The install.sh script now installs to EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi or
160 EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi if it's run in BIOS mode. This is
161 intended to give some chance of producing a bootable installation should
162 a user accidentally install Linux in EFI mode and then install rEFInd
163 from that installation.
164
165 - The install.sh script now tries to find an existing rEFInd installation
166 and upgrade it, even if it's in EFI/BOOT or EFI/Microsoft/Boot rather
167 than in EFI/refind.
168
169 - New "--yes" option to install.sh to help with unattended or automated
170 installations (as from an RPM or Debian package).
171
172 0.6.2 (12/30/2012):
173 -------------------
174
175 - Inclusion of a sample refind.spec file for the benefit of RPM
176 distribution maintainers who might want to include rEFInd. It's a bit
177 rough, but it gets you a good chunk of the way there....
178
179 - The EFI filesystem drivers can now be built with the GNU-EFI toolkit as
180 well as with the TianoCore EDK2. See the BUILDING.txt file for details on
181 how to build them with either toolkit. This improvement doesn't affect
182 users of my binary packages, but it should make it easier for Linux
183 distributions to adopt rEFInd into their package systems.
184
185 - Tweaked refind.inf file for better build results using "native" TianoCore
186 EDK2 build process (vs. the Makefile-based build process that I use under
187 Linux). This won't affect those who use my binary builds or build under
188 Linux with the "make" command.
189
190 - Fixed bug that prevented Secure Boot launches from working when rEFInd
191 was built with GNU-EFI rather than the TianoCore EDK2.
192
193 - Substantial reworking of Secure Boot code, based on James Bottomley's
194 PreLoader program. This new code eliminates the limitation of launching
195 just one driver in Secure Boot mode and is likely to be more reliable
196 with future or obscure boot loaders. It should also work with non-x86-64
197 systems, although this relies on a platform-specific shim program, which
198 to date exists only for x86-64. The basic features are the same as before
199 -- rEFInd relies on shim for authentication functions and will launch
200 programs that are signed by Secure Boot keys, shim keys, or MOKs.
201
202 - Altered default for "textmode" option (when it's commented out) to not
203 adjust the text mode at all. (Prior versions set it to mode 0 by
204 default.)
205
206 0.6.1 (12/21/2012):
207 -------------------
208
209 - Added "--root" option to install.sh, to enable installation of rEFInd
210 to something other than the currently-running OS. This is intended for
211 use on emergency discs.
212
213 - Thanks to Stefan Agner, the ext4fs driver now supports the "meta_bg"
214 filesystem feature, which distributes metadata throughout the disk. This
215 feature isn't used by default, but can be set at filesystem creation time
216 by passing the "-O meta_bg,^resize_inode" option to mke2fs. (Using
217 "^resize_inode" is necessary because meta_bg is incompatible with
218 resize_inode, which IS used by default.) This feature can be used on
219 ext3fs and ext2fs as well as on ext4fs, so the ext4fs driver can now
220 handle some ext3fs and ext2fs partitions that the ext2fs driver can't
221 handle.
222
223 - Fixed some screen resolution-setting bugs.
224
225 - Added the "words" that make up a filesystem's label (delimited by spaces,
226 dashes, or underscores) to the list of bases used to search for OS icons.
227 For instance, if the filesystem's label is "Arch", rEFInd searches for
228 os_Arch.icns; if it's "Fedora 17", it searches for os_Fedora.icns and
229 os_17.icns; and if it's "NEW_GENTOO", it searches for os_NEW.icns and
230 os_GENTOO.icns.
231
232 - Refined hints displays to be more context-sensitive, particularly in text
233 mode.
234
235 - Instead of displaying a blank filesystem label when a filesystem has
236 none, rEFInd now displays the size and/or type of the filesystem, as in
237 "boot EFI\foo\bar.efi from 200 MiB ext3 volume" rather than "boot
238 EFI\foo\bar.efi from".
239
240 - Fixed a bug that caused the screen to clear after displaying an error
241 message but before displaying the "Hit any key to continue" message when
242 a boot loader launch failed.
243
244 0.6.0 (12/16/2012):
245 -------------------
246
247 - Fixed a memory allocation bug that could cause a program crash when
248 specifying certain values with the "also_scan_dirs", "dont_scan_volumes",
249 "dont_scan_dirs", "dont_scan_files", and "scan_driver_dirs" refind.conf
250 options.
251
252 - Modified Linux kernel initrd-finding code so that if an initrd is
253 specified in refind_linux.conf, rEFInd will not add any initrd it finds.
254 This enables an override of the default initrd, and is likely to be
255 particularly helpful to Arch Linux users.
256
257 - Added ext4fs driver!
258
259 - Made "boot" the default value for "also_scan_dirs".
260
261 - Added identifying screen header to line editor.
262
263 - Fixed bug that caused rEFInd's display to be mis-sized upon return
264 from a program that set the resolution itself.
265
266 - Adjusted "resolution" refind.conf parameter so that it can accept EITHER
267 a resolution as width and height OR a single digit as a UEFI mode number
268 (which is system-specific). This is done because some systems present the
269 same mode twice in their mode lists, perhaps varying in refresh rate,
270 monitor output, or some other salient characteristics; specifying the
271 mode number enables selecting the higher-numbered mode, whereas using
272 horizontal and vertical resolution values selects the lowest-numbered
273 mode.
274
275 - Added "textmode" refind.conf parameter to set the text mode used in
276 text-only displays, and for the line editor and boot-time handoff
277 display even in graphics mode.
278
279 - Fixed bug that caused tools (shell, etc.) to launch when they were
280 highlighted and F2 or Insert was pressed.
281
282 - Added "editor" option to the "hideui" token in refind.conf, which
283 disables the boot options editor.
284
285 - Added hints text to rEFInd main menu and sub-menus. This can be disabled
286 by setting the new "hints" option to the "hideui" token in refind.conf.
287
288 - Added "boot with minimal options" entry to refind_linux.conf file
289 generated by install.sh. This entry boots without the options extracted
290 from the /etc/default/grub file.
291
292 - Added keys subdirectory to main distribution, to hold public Secure
293 Boot/shim keys from known sources.
294
295 - Changed install.sh --drivers option to --alldrivers, added new
296 --nodrivers option, and made the default on Linux to install the one
297 driver that's used on /boot (or the root filesystem if /boot isn't a
298 separate partition). Of course, this won't install a non-existent driver,
299 and it also won't work properly if run from an emergency disk unless you
300 mount a separate /boot partition at that location.
301
302 - Fixed bug in install.sh that prevented creation of refind_linux.conf file
303 on Linux systems.
304
305 0.5.1.1 (12/12/2012):
306 ---------------------
307
308 - Fixed bug in install.sh that prevented it from working on OS X.
309
310 0.5.1 (12/11/2012):
311 -------------------
312
313 - Added support for "0" options to "textonly" and "scan_all_linux_kernels"
314 to reverse the usual meaning of these tokens. This is useful for
315 including these options in a secondary configuration file called with the
316 new "include" token to override a setting set in the main file.
317
318 - Added "include" token for refind.conf, to enable including a secondary
319 configuration file from a primary one.
320
321 - Modified install.sh so that it creates a simple refind_linux.conf file in
322 /boot, if that file doesn't already exist and if install.sh is run from
323 Linux. If that directory happens to be on a FAT, HFS+, ext2fs, ext3fs, or
324 ReiserFS volume, and if the necessary drivers are installed, the result
325 is that rEFInd will detect the Linux installation with no further
326 configuration on many systems. (Some may still require tweaking of kernel
327 options, though; for instance, adding "dolvm" on Gentoo systems that use
328 LVM.)
329
330 - Added --shim and --localkeys options to install.sh to help simplify setup
331 on systems with Secure Boot active.
332
333 - Fixed (maybe) bug that caused resolution options to not be displayed on
334 recent Macs with GOP graphics when specifying an invalid resolution in
335 refind.conf.
336
337 - Fixed bug that caused some programs (EFI shells, in particular) to hang
338 when launching on some systems (DUET, in particular).
339
340 - Implemented a fix to enable ELILO to launch with Secure Boot active.
341 This fix might help with some other boot loaders in Secure Boot mode,
342 too, but I don't know of any specifics.
343
344 0.5.0 (12/6/2012):
345 ------------------
346
347 - Added the ability to include quote marks ('"') in refind.conf and
348 refind_linux.conf tokens by doubling them up, as in:
349 "ro root=/dev/sda4 some_value=""this is it"""
350 This example results in the following string being passed as an
351 option:
352 ro root=/dev/sda4 some_value="this is it"
353
354 - Changed refind.conf-sample to uncomment the scan_all_linux_kernels
355 option by default. If this option is deleted or commented out, the
356 program default remains to not scan all Linux kernels; but with
357 increasing numbers of distributions shipping with kernels that include
358 EFI stub loader support, setting the configuration file default to scan
359 for them makes sense.
360
361 - Modified the "resolution" token so that it affects text mode as well
362 as graphics mode. On my systems, though, the actual text area is still
363 restricted to an 80x25 area. (This seems to be a firmware limitation; my
364 EFI shells are also so limited.)
365
366 - Fixed a bug that caused the options line editor to blank out lines that
367 were not actually edited.
368
369 - Added support for using Matthew Garrett's Shim program and its Machine
370 Owner Keys (MOKs) to extend Secure Boot capabilities. If rEFInd is
371 launched from Shim on a computer with Secure Boot active, rEFInd will
372 launch programs signed with either a standard UEFI Secure Boot key or a
373 MOK. For the moment, this feature works only on x86-64 systems.
374
375 - Added new "dont_scan_files" (aka "don't_scan_files") token for
376 refind.conf. The effect is similar to dont_scan_dirs, but it creates a
377 blacklist of filenames within directories rather than directory names.
378 I'm initially using it to place shim.efi and MokManager.efi in the
379 blacklist to keep these programs out of the OS list. (MokManager.efi is
380 scanned separately as a tool; see below.) I've moved checks for
381 ebounce.efi, GraphicsConsole.efi, and TextMode.efi to this list. (These
382 three had previously been blacklisted by hard-coding in ScanLoaderDir().)
383
384 - Added the directory from which rEFInd launched to dont_scan_dirs. This
385 works around a bug in which rEFInd would show itself as a bogus Windows
386 entry if it's installed as EFI/Microsoft/boot/bootmgfw.efi.
387
388 - Added support for launching MokManager.efi for managing the Machine Owner
389 Keys (MOKs) maintained by the shim boot loader developed by Fedora and
390 SUSE. This program is scanned and presented as a second-row tool.
391
392 - Added support for Apple's Recovery HD partition: If it's detected, a new
393 icon appears on the second row. This icon can be removed by explicitly
394 setting the "showtools" option in refind.conf and excluding the
395 "apple_recovery" option from that line.
396
397 - Fixed bug that caused text-mode ("textonly" refind.conf option enabled)
398 menu entries to be right-aligned rather than left-aligned when rEFInd was
399 compiled with the TianoCore EDK2.
400
401 - Added "--usedefault {devicename}" and "--drivers" options to the
402 install.sh script and changed the "esp" option to "--esp".
403
404 0.4.7 (11/6/2012):
405 ------------------
406
407 - Added an icon for gummiboot.
408
409 - Added a boot option editor: Pressing the Insert or F2 key from a boot
410 tag's options menu opens a simple text-mode line editor on which the boot
411 options may be edited for a one-time boot with altered options.
412
413 - Modified the "scan_delay" feature to delay and then perform a re-scan,
414 which may work better than the first attempt at this feature (which I'm
415 told isn't working as planned).
416
417 - Modified rEFInd to add a space after the command-line options only when
418 launching Mac OS X. On some early Macs, the extra space (which had been
419 present by default, as a carryover from rEFIt) causes problems when
420 booting Linux kernels from FAT partitions.
421
422 0.4.6 (10/6/2012):
423 ------------------
424
425 - Fixed some minor memory management issues.
426
427 - Added new "scan_delay" feature to impose a delay before scanning
428 for disks.
429
430 - Changed default "scanfor" option from internal-external-optical to either
431 internal-external-optical-manual (for non-Macs) or
432 internal-hdbios-external-biosexternal-optical-cd-manual (for Macs). I've
433 done this for two reasons:
434 - Many Mac users have been confused by the fact that rEFInd needs
435 reconfiguration to detect Windows (or Linux installed in BIOS mode),
436 since rEFIt scans BIOS devices by default. Adding the BIOS options as
437 default for them should help them.
438 - Adding the "manual" option enables users to simply add manual boot
439 stanzas and have them work, which is more intuitive. Adding the
440 "manual" option will have no effect unless manual stanzas are created
441 or uncommented, so this part of the change won't affect users' working
442 default configurations.
443
444 - Added new legacy (BIOS) boot support for UEFI-based PCs.
445
446 0.4.5 (8/12/2012):
447 ------------------
448
449 - Fixed bug that caused a failure to boot BIOS-based OSes on Macs.
450
451 - Fixed bug in install.sh that caused it to fail to detect rEFItBlesser.
452
453 0.4.4 (6/23/2012):
454 ------------------
455
456 - Fixed bug that caused filesystem labels to be corrupted by rEFInd on
457 32-bit systems.
458
459 - Fixed bug that caused filesystem labels to be truncated in the drivers
460 on 32-bit systems.
461
462 - Fixed bug in use_graphics_for option parsing that caused most options
463 to set graphics mode for OS X and/or Linux but not other boot
464 loaders/OSes.
465
466 - Tweaked install script to better isolate the ESP under OS X.
467
468 0.4.3 (6/21/2012):
469 ------------------
470
471 - rEFInd now supports compilation using the TianoCore UDK2010/EDK2
472 development kit in addition to GNU-EFI.
473
474 - Added new "use_graphics_for" option to control which OSes to boot in
475 graphics mode. (This effect lasts for a fraction of a second on most
476 systems, since the boot loader that rEFInd launches is likely to set
477 graphics or text mode itself.)
478
479 - Graphics-mode booting now clears the screen to the current rEFInd
480 background color (rather than black) and does NOT display boot messages.
481 The intent is for a smoother transition when booting OS X, or perhaps
482 other OSes that don't display boot loader messages. In practice, this
483 effect will be tiny for many OSes, since the boot loader generally clears
484 the screen within a fraction of a second of being launched; but the
485 "flicker" of a rEFInd message in that time can sometimes be distracting.
486
487 - Filesystem drivers now work on EFI 1.x systems, such as Macs.
488
489 - Removed "linux.conf" as a valid alternative name for "refind_linux.conf"
490 for holding Linux kernel options. The kernel developers plan to use
491 "linux.conf" themselves.
492
493 0.4.2 (6/3/2012):
494 -----------------
495
496 - Added a message to install.sh when run on Macs to remind users to update
497 the "scanfor" line in refind.conf if they need to boot BIOS-based OSes
498 via rEFInd.
499
500 - Modified install.sh script to be smarter about running efibootmgr on
501 Linux. It now uses the whole path to the rEFInd binary as a key to
502 determine whether an existing entry exists, rather than just the filename
503 portion. If an entry exists and is the first entry in the boot order, the
504 script does nothing to the NVRAM entries. If such an entry exists but is
505 not the default, the script deletes that entry and creates a new one
506 (implicitly making it the first in the boot order). If such an entry does
507 not exist, the script creates a new one (again, making it the first in
508 the boot order).
509
510 - Added "dont_scan_dirs" configuration file option, which adds directories
511 to a "blacklist" of directories that are NOT scanned for boot loaders.
512
513 0.4.1 (5/25/2012):
514 ------------------
515
516 - Added "scanning for new boot loaders" message to the re-scan function
517 (hitting Esc at the main menu). It usually flashes up too quickly to
518 be of importance, but if the scan function takes a while because of
519 access to a CD that must be spun up, it should make it clear that the
520 system hasn't hung.
521
522 - Modified install.sh script to detect rEFItBlesser on Macs, and if
523 present, to ask the user if it should be removed.
524
525 - Cleaned up the Make.common file for the filesystem drivers.
526
527 - Changed HFS+ driver to return volume label of "HFS+ volume" rather than
528 an empty label. (The driver doesn't currently read the real volume
529 label.)
530
531 - Fixed bug that could cause rEFInd to appear in its own menu after
532 running a shell and then re-scanning for boot loaders.
533
534 0.4.0 (5/20/2012):
535 ------------------
536
537 - Inclusion of drivers for ISO-9660, HFS+, ReiserFS, and ext2fs. Most of
538 these drivers originated with rEFIt, although the HFS+ driver seems to
539 have come from Oracle's VirtualBox, with some files from Apple. I hadn't
540 included these drivers previously because the build process proved
541 challenging. As it is, they don't work on my Mac Mini, I suspect because
542 the build process with the UDK2010 development kit may not work with the
543 EFI 1.x that Apple uses.
544
545 - Addition of support for drivers in the "drivers_{arch}" subdirectory of
546 the main rEFInd binary directory (e.g., "drivers_x64" or "drivers_ia32").
547 Drivers may continue to be placed in the "drivers" subdirectory.
548
549 - Added new feature to eject CDs (and other removable media): Press F12 to
550 eject all such media. This function works only on some Macs, though (it
551 relies on an Apple-specific EFI extension, and this extension isn't even
552 implemented on all Macs, much less on UEFI-based PCs).
553
554 - Fixed a problem that could cause GRUB 2 to fail to read its configuration
555 file when launched from rEFInd.
556
557 0.3.5 (5/15/2012):
558 ------------------
559
560 - Removed the GRUB 2 detection "reciped" added with 0.3.2, since I've
561 received reports that it's not working as intended.
562
563 - Added re-scan feature: Press the Esc key to have rEFInd re-read its
564 configuration file, tell the EFI to scan for new filesystems, and re-scan
565 those filesystems for boot loaders. The main purpose is to enable
566 scanning a new removable medium that you insert after launching rEFInd;
567 however, it can also be used to immediately implement changes to the
568 configuration file or new drivers you load from an EFI shell.
569
570 - Fixed a bug that could cause the scroll-right arrow to be replaced by the
571 scroll-left arrow under some circumstances.
572
573 0.3.4 (5/9/2012):
574 -----------------
575
576 - Added new configuration file option: "icons_dir", which sets the name
577 of the subdirectory in which icons are found. See the documentation or
578 sample configuration file for a full description.
579
580 - Modified Makefile to generate rEFInd binary that includes architecture
581 code -- refind_ia32.efi or refind_x64.efi, rather than the generic
582 refind.efi. This is done mainly to help the install.sh script. The
583 program can be named anything you like on the disk. (The generic name
584 refind.efi is used on unknown architectures.)
585
586 - Improved install.sh script: Fixed bug on OS X 10.7 and enable it to be
587 used after building from source code (or via new "make install" Makefile
588 target).
589
590 - Improved screen redraws to produce less flicker when moving among the
591 second-row tags or to the last tag on the first row.
592
593 0.3.3 (5/6/2012):
594 -----------------
595
596 - Improved menu navigation:
597 - In graphics mode, left & right arrow keys move left & right, while up &
598 down arrows move between rows.
599 - Page Up and Page Down now move through chunks of visible tags (in both
600 text & graphics modes), jumping from one row to another only when at
601 the edge of the row. In text mode, the "rows" are broken down as in
602 graphics mode, but they aren't visibly distinguished on the screen.
603
604 - Improved text-mode use: rEFInd now displays the proper number of entries
605 when first started in text mode and scrolling is done sensibly when too
606 many entries exist to fit on the screen.
607
608 0.3.2 (5/4/2012):
609 -----------------
610
611 - Added the install.sh script to install rEFInd on Linux and Mac OS X
612 systems. This script must be run as root (or via sudo). It requires
613 no options, but on Mac OS X, passing it the "esp" option causes it
614 to install rEFInd on the computer's ESP rather than the default of the
615 currently OS X boot partition. (Under Linux, the default is to install to
616 the ESP.) Note that there may be some unusual cases in which this script
617 will fail to work.
618
619 - Does a better job of clearing the screen when launching OSes in text
620 mode.
621
622 - Added detection "recipe" for GRUB 2's BIOS Boot Partition.
623
624 - Fixed bogus detection of ESPs created by Linux's mkdosfs utility or
625 Windows as bootable partitions when "scanfor" includes BIOS scanning
626 options.
627
628
629 0.3.1 (4/27/2012):
630 ------------------
631
632 - Fixed bug that caused spurious "Unsupported while scanning the root
633 directory" messages under some conitions on Macs.
634
635 - Modified loader scanning code to sort boot loader entries within a
636 directory by modification time, so that the most recently-modified loader
637 is first among those in a given directory. Thus, if you specify a
638 directory name (or volume name, for loaders stored in the root directory
639 of a volume) as the default_selection, the most recent of those loaders
640 will be the default. This is intended to help with Linux kernel
641 maintenance when using the EFI stub loader; set up this way, the most
642 recent kernel copied to your kernel directory will be the default,
643 obviating the need to adjust the refind.conf file when adding a new
644 kernel. If you want to change the default among those in the default
645 directory, you can use "touch" to adjust the modification timestamp.
646
647 - Tweaked code to find loader-specific .icns file so that it finds files
648 for Linux kernels without .efi extensions. In this case, files should be
649 named the same as the kernels they match, but with .icns extensions. For
650 instance, bzImage-3.3.2 should have an icon called bzImage-3.3.2.icns.
651 (The old code would have looked for an icon called bzImage-3.3.icns.)
652
653 - Eliminated bogus OS loader tags for filenames that end in ".icns" when
654 the scan_all_linux_kernels option is set.
655
656 0.3.0 (4/22/2012):
657 ------------------
658
659 - I'm officially upgrading this project's status from "alpha" to "beta" and
660 giving it a bump from 0.2.x to 0.3.0. This doesn't reflect any major
661 milestone with this version; rather, it reflects my sense that rEFInd has
662 been "out there" for a while, and although I've gotten bug reports,
663 they've been minor and/or have been fixed. The program still has known
664 bugs, but my impression is that it is, overall, usable by ordinary users.
665
666 - Added "resolution" option to refind.conf, which enables setting the video
667 resolution. To use it, pass two numeric values, as in "resolution 1024
668 768" to use a 1024x768 video mode. Note that not all modes are supported.
669 If you specify a non-supported video mode on a UEFI system, a message
670 appears listing the supported video modes and you must then press a key
671 to continue, using the default video mode (usually 800x600).
672 Unfortunately, I don't know the calls to get a list of supported video
673 modes on older EFI 1.x systems (including Macs), so on Macs setting an
674 incorrect video mode silently fails (you keep using the default mode).
675 This makes changing your video mode a hit-or-miss proposition on Macs.
676 CAUTION: It's possible to set a legal video mode that your monitor can't
677 handle, in which case you'll get a blank display until you boot an OS
678 that resets the video mode.
679
680 - Fixed (maybe) a bug that caused rEFInd to crash when returning from an
681 EFI shell or other programs on Macs, particularly when rEFInd used
682 graphical mode. I'm not 100% sure this bug is squashed because I still
683 don't understand the cause and I only have one Mac for testing. See
684 comments in the ReinitRefitLib() function in refit/lib.c for more
685 details.
686
687 - Added new refind.conf option: scan_all_linux_kernels, which causes Linux
688 kernels that lack ".efi" extensions to be included in scans for EFI boot
689 loaders. This may help integration with Linux distributions that don't
690 give their kernels such names by default. Beware, though: It can detect
691 unwanted files, such as older non-stub-loader kernels or .icns files used
692 to give kernels with .efi extensions custom icons.
693
694 - Improved EFI boot loader detection on boards with Gigabyte's Hybrid EFI,
695 and perhaps other EFIs with a buggy StriCmp() function. Files with both
696 ".efi" and ".EFI" extensions should now be detected as boot loaders.
697
698 - Fixed a bug that caused rEFInd to fail to scan for drivers if the
699 filesystem driver didn't set a volume name (that is, if the relevant
700 field was set to NULL rather than even an empty string). In such
701 situations, rEFInd now reports the volume name as "Unknown".
702
703 0.2.7 (4/19/2012):
704 ------------------
705
706 - After much trial and tribulation, I've overcome a GNU-EFI limitation and
707 enabled rEFInd to load EFI drivers. This feature was present in the
708 original build of rEFIt but was removed in the versions that could
709 compile under Linux, but now it's back -- and still being compiled under
710 Linux! To use it, you should place your drivers in a convenient directory
711 on the ESP (or whatever partition you use to launch rEFInd) and add a
712 "scan_driver_dirs" entry to refind.conf to tell rEFInd where to look. (As
713 always, you should specify the driver directory relative to the root of
714 the filesystem.) Note that you can't launch drivers from another
715 filesystem; they must be on the same volume that holds rEFInd. Those who
716 compile from source code should note that implementing this feature
717 necessitated using a more recent version of the GNU-EFI library. I'm
718 currently using version 3.0p, and version 3.0i does NOT work. I don't
719 know where the change occurred, but you may need to upgrade your GNU-EFI
720 installation.
721
722 - Fixed bug that caused rEFInd to show up in its own menu sometimes.
723
724 - Added new refind.conf token: also_scan_dirs. When scanning volumes for
725 EFI boot loaders, rEFInd always scans the root directory and every
726 subdirectory of the /EFI directory, but it doesn't recurse into these
727 directories. The also_scan_dirs token adds more directories to the scan
728 list. It defaults to "elilo,boot", but you can set it to any directory or
729 directories you like.
730
731 0.2.6 (4/14/2012):
732 ------------------
733
734 - Added "volume" keyword to configuration file's stanza options. This
735 option changes the volume from which subsequent files (specified by
736 "loader" and "icon") are loaded. You pass "volume" the name/label of the
737 FILESYSTEM you want to use (not the GPT partition name), or a number
738 followed by a colon (e.g., "1:"). The former should reliably identify a
739 filesystem, assuming the name is unique. The latter assigns numbers based
740 on the order in which they're scanned, which may not be as reliable but
741 should work when a volume is unnamed.
742
743 - Fixed bug in 0.2.5 that caused failure of Linux initial RAM disk
744 mapping on some (but not all) systems. Affected computers include at
745 least some Intel motherboards, maybe others.
746
747 0.2.5 (4/9/2012):
748 -----------------
749
750 - Fixed bug that caused an inability to associate initial RAM disks with
751 Linux kernels stored in a volume's root directory.
752
753 - Volume badges (that override default badges) are now stored in
754 .VolumeBadge.icns. Although undocumented, rEFInd formerly loaded custom
755 volume badges from .VolumeIcon.icns. This carryover from rEFIt was a
756 confusing name, given the next (new) feature, so I've changed and
757 documented the name....
758
759 - Added ability to set a default icon for a loader stored in the root
760 directory of a volume: The icon is stored in .VolumeIcon.icns. This icon
761 is also used for Mac OS X volumes booted from the standard location.
762
763 - Fixed bug that caused icons to drop back to generic icons when rEFInd
764 was launched in certain ways (such as from an EFI shell in rEFInd's
765 directory) on certain systems.
766
767 - Fixed bug that caused "unknown disable flag" to be shown (very briefly)
768 instead of "unknown hideui flag" when an improper hideui flag was set.
769
770 0.2.4 (4/5/2012):
771 -----------------
772
773 - Created new refind.conf entry: "showtools". This entry takes options of
774 "shell", "gptsync", "about", "exit", "reboot", and "shutdown". This
775 option is in some respects an affirmative version of portions of the old
776 "disable" and "hideui" options; however, it enables users to specify the
777 order in which these options appear on the screen. Also, the "exit"
778 option is new; it terminates the program. The effect is usually to return
779 to whatever tool launched it or to launch a default OS; however, this is
780 somewhat unpredictable. The default therefore omits the "exit" option, as
781 well as "gptsync", which has always been dangerous (but necessary on most
782 MacOS/Windows dual-boot setups on Macs). As part of this reconfiguration,
783 I've eliminated the "rescue Linux" option, which always seemed pointless
784 to me.
785
786 - Folded "disable" and "hideui" refind.conf entries into one ("disable"),
787 and reduced the number of options to six: "banner", "label",
788 "singleuser", "hwtest", "arrows", and "all". ("arrows" is new and
789 disables the scroll arrows when a system has too many tags to display
790 simultaneously.)
791
792 - Added max_tags option to the refind.conf file, enabling users to reduce
793 the maximum number of OS loader tags that can be displayed at once.
794
795 - Updated rEFIt icon, based on the 128x128 volume label from the rEFIt CD
796 image.
797
798 - Added x86 and x86-64 EFI shells to the CD image version of the binary,
799 but NOT to the binary zip file. The logic is that the CD image is more
800 likely to be used directly as an emergency disc and so may need this
801 feature, even though the source isn't part of the rEFInd project. (The
802 source is readily available from the TianoCore project.)
803
804 - EFI shells may now be stored at /shellx64.efi for x86-64 systems or at
805 /shellia32.efi for x86 systems. The /EFI/tools/shell.efi name is also
806 recognized; however, if both files are present, two EFI shell icons will
807 appear on the main menu. The /efi/{refind-path/apps/shell.efi filename,
808 which was never officially documented but worked as a carryover from
809 rEFIt, is no longer valid.
810
811 0.2.3 (3/26/2012):
812 ------------------
813
814 - Fixed (maybe) a bug that caused hangs when launching a second program
815 after returning from a first. There are some weird system-to-system
816 differences, though, and this fix causes (apparently harmless) error
817 messages about "(re)opening our installation volume" on at least one
818 system (a 32-bit Mac Mini). I'm committing this change because, imperfect
819 though it is, it's preferable to the earlier version, at least on my
820 small sample of computers.
821
822 - Because of news that the Linux kernel developers are planning to use the
823 filename linux.conf to hold Linux kernel configuration data for EFI
824 booting, I'm transitioning rEFInd away from that name and to
825 refind_linux.conf to avoid a conflict. This version can use either name,
826 with refind_linux.conf taking precedence if both are present.
827
828 - Added logo for Arch Linux.
829
830 0.2.2 (3/23/2012):
831 ------------------
832
833 - Fixed bug that caused program failure when Linux kernels with EFI stub
834 support were detected with no associated version numbers. rEFInd now
835 permits automatic linking of *ONE* versionless kernel to *ONE*
836 versionless initrd file.
837
838 - Fixed bug that caused program hangs when a boot loader filename or label
839 was too long. Such names are now properly truncated and program execution
840 continues.
841
842 - Fixed bug that caused no text to appear in submenus on UEFI systems with
843 small screens (800x600). NOTE: Problem still occurs on screens smaller
844 than this, but such systems are very rare.
845
846 0.2.1 (3/19/2012):
847 ------------------
848
849 - Added ability to set a "default_selection" that's a title or a substring
850 of one -- the name given to a stanza in a "menuentry" or the boot
851 loader's filename, in most cases, although "Mac OS X", "Windows XP
852 (XoM)", and "Microsoft EFI boot" are also titles.
853
854 - Added support for semi-automatic scans of Linux kernels with EFI stub
855 loader support. The program auto-detects matching initial RAM disk files
856 and loads additional options from the "linux.conf" file in the same
857 directory as the kernel.
858
859 - Added support for "submenuentry" keyword and associated sub-stanza
860 entries in refind.conf file.
861
862 - Renamed icons/os_mint.icns to icons/os_linuxmint.icns to match the
863 filename Linux Mint ACTUALLY uses for its ESP boot loader directory.
864
865
866 0.2.0 (3/14/2012):
867 ------------------
868
869 - Initial public release