Changes from version 15 to 16 (26-FEB-1995) ----------------------------- Boot loader ----------- - added register dump boot sector (dump.S) for debugging - chain loaders now clear BP. This might help in some cases where DOS refused to boot. Map installer ------------- - really fixed -R this time - now suggests to "use a DISK section" (instead of disktab) if HDIO_REQ fails - removed incorrect error message when using a disktab - added check to detect CD-ROMs with major numbers of hard disks - no longer complains about corrupt partition table if 3D address is smaller than linear address and (3D) cylinder is 1023 (OS/2 does is this way) - LOADER is now required when booting an operating system from any device than the first hard or floppy disk - changed header protection macros from _xxx_H_ to xxx_H - added (untested) support for 2nd IDE controller (major 22) Documentation and installation ------------------------------ - user.tex is now compatible with LaTeX 2e (\textfont0 problem) - tech.tex now avoids \SetFigFont (LaTeX 2e again) - /sbin/lilo is now optimized and stripped when installing - ASCIIfied "Booting basics" section - removed all references to the old directory structure - added description of LOCK in config file - updated FD TMC-1680 warning - added reminder to re-run /sbin/lilo when modifying partition tables - updated list of kernel options - added detailed description of >2 disks and >1024 cylinders - added description of putting /boot on a DOS partition - reordered sections in "Installation and updates" - updated tech.tex Changes from version 14 to 15 (23-OCT-1994) ----------------------------- General ------- - upon popular demand, a copyright notice has been added Boot loader ----------- - now also drains the keyboard type-ahead buffer - new command-line option "lock" to make the specified command line the default for the following boots too - default command line execution can now be interrupted in prompt mode too Map installer ------------- - fixed -R arguments handling bug - fixed -P argument handling bug - fixed yet another recursion problem with /dev/fd -> /proc/self/fd - added option -D and configuration variable DEFAULT to specify the default image without changing the oder of entries in /etc/lilo.conf - added configuration variable LOCK to make the specified command line the default for the following boots too - added disk geometry configuration in the general configuration file. /etc/disktab is now considered obsolete. - added option -w and configuration variable NOWARN to disable some warnings - added warning when putting the boot sector on a non-boot disk - added warning for possibly inaccessible devices (e.g. third disk) - added warning for disks/partitions with more than 1024 cylinders - added warnings for bad permissions of the configuration file - fixed handling of floppies in geo_open_boot - removed erroneous call to part_verify when booting other systems from files - added support for variable-size setup segments as supported by kernels >= 1.1.43 - restructured verbosity levels - allowed escaping of backslashes in quoted strings (/etc/lilo.conf) - /sbin/lilo -q -v now displays all settings Documentation and installation ------------------------------ - lots of things have been restructured - many changes to describe the current Linux environment - "new" directory structure is now the default - README is now generated from user.tex by a Perl script - lots of minor corrections and clarifications - added a copyright notice and adapted several comments - QuickInst: updated default kernel names - QuickInst: now runs /sbin/lilo -t before trying to install - doc/Makefile: removed extra "Label(s) may have changed" output - disktab: changed header comment and added second example line - /etc/disktab is no longer automatically created by make install - linking /etc/lilo/install -> /sbin/lilo is no longer suggested - removed mkbindist. I don't think anybody used it anyway. Changes from version 13 to 14 ----------------------------- Map installer ------------- - added a few missing closedirs to device.c:scan_dir - added detection of directory loops to device.c:scan_dir and geometry.c:last_dev - fixed handling of dangling links in /dev - new option -u [ device ] to restore boot sector. Unsafe mode with -U - fixed/improved usage message Documentation and installation ------------------------------ - QuickInst: did not write "other" sections to configuration file - QuickInst.new: improved handling of disks without active partitions - QuickInst.new now knows about /etc/disktab (relict from Shoelace, still in some distributions) - QuickInst.new now uses *_d.b chain loaders when configuring non-Linux systems on the second disk Changes from version 12 to 13 ----------------------------- General ------- - BSS is no longer cleared by LILO, because the kernel itself does that now. - added support for the new directory structure. Makefile and QuickInst come in .old and .new versions. See INCOMPAT for details. - removed support for unstripped kernels. Therefore, mkck is no longer part of the distribution. Boot loader ----------- - added missing seg es override to UI_MAGIC check at "input". Map installer ------------- - new options LITERAL and APPEND. - the root setting is no longer being shown on -q -v - the configuration file may now contain quoted strings in which spaces and equal signs do not have to be escaped. Documentation and installation ------------------------------ - fixed bug in QuickInst that prevented correct renaming of the config file when ROOT is set. - added comment to disktab indicating that it is typically not needed. - distributed files are now readable for group and other. - mkdist is now included in the distribution. - changed the name of kernels from "(traditional) boot image" to "kernel image". - changed the name of the string passed to the kernel from "command line" to "parameter line". - removed obsolescent terms "rootimage" and "bootimage". - fixed documentation bug claiming only kernels can be protected by passwords. - fixed some additional minor documentation errors. Changes from version 11 to 12 ----------------------------- Boot loader ---------- - removed accidential swapping of A:/B: when swapping C:/D: from the chain loader. - added new chain loader any_b.b (swaps A:/B:) - fixed incorrect handling of drive number resetting in swapping versions of the chain loader. - now generates diagnostics when failing to load the second stage loader. - new compile-time option NO1STDIAG to disable these diagnostics. Map installer ------------- - fixed stat/fstat when creating temporary devices. - subdirectories of /dev are now recursively searched for disk devices in addition to /dev - devices are now counted by highest device number, not by name. - some minor fixes. Documentation and installation ------------------------------ - QuickInst now warns if there is an obsolete LILO boot sector on the MBR. - QuickInst is now prepared to handle symbolic links hda -> sda - other minor fixes to QuickInst. - removed all references to compound unstripped kernels from the user's guide. - activate is now compiled as a stripped, statically linked, impure executable. - fixed a few minor omissions in the technical overview. Changes from version 10 to 11 ----------------------------- Boot loader ----------- - added on the fly patching of the BIOS disk parameter table to fix the "Error 0x04" observed on some systems. Map installer ------------- - floppy devices are no longer opened at all when using the UNSAFE option in OTHER. - fixed partition table checking. - new option -V to display the version number. - INSTALL = /etc/lilo/boot.b is now the default if INSTALL is omitted. - new compile-time configuration option NOINSTDEF to restore the old semantics of INSTALL. Documentation and installation ------------------------------ - QuickInst no longer asks whether to change the active partition if installing LILO as the MBR. - QuickInst now suggests configuring other operating systems if installing LILO as the MBR. - added a version check to QuickInst. - added de-installation instructions. - fixed a few minor documentation bugs. - added script mkbindist that generates a minimal binary distribution of LILO. Changes from version 9 to 10 ---------------------------- Boot loader ----------- - added support for read-only setting of root. - new chain loader os2.b to load OS/2 from the second disk. - new chain loader any_d.b to load BIOS-based operating systems (e.g. PC/MS-DOS) from the second disk. Map installer ------------- - removed support for old-style configuration. - removed the dump option -D - removed support for not-compound unstripped kernels. - limited partition checking to hard disks and primary partitions. - -C now accepts - for standard input. - -P now has sub-options "fix" and "ignore". New configuration variable "ignore-table" coresponds to "-P ignore" - added automatic backup of the partition table when fixing it. - new configuration variables "readonly" and "read-write" to change read-only mounting of root. - made partition offset field in /etc/lilo/disktab optional. - added tentative support for XT-type hard disks. - improved some error messages. - some minor fixes. Documentation and installation ------------------------------ - changed many "echo"s in QuickInst to "cat"s. - suggesting using a symbolic link to lilo for /etc/lilo/install. - removed the configuration option NOAUTO. - split the documentation in a user's guide and the technical overview. - removed all references to older versions of LILO, the kernel or other programs. - removed all references to old-style configuration and not-compound unstripped kernels. - using the fullpage style. - removed and "ascified" anew the shared sections of README and the LaTeX documentation. - some minor corrections. Changes from version 8 to 9 --------------------------- Boot sector ----------- - can now get the command line from the map file and overwrite that sector. - passes the word "auto" on the command line if booting after a timeout. - new command-line option vga={ask,normal,ext,extended,} to alter the VGA mode on the fly. - image name matching can now be made case-insensitive (default) - added sanity checks for the second stage loader and the descriptor tables. Map installer ------------- - added new compound unstripped kernel format. - -r is now implied if the environment variable ROOT is set. - new option -I to translate a label name (e.g. obtained from BOOT_IMAGE) to the path of the kernel image. - new variable MESSAGE to define a startup message. - new variable UNSAFE to bypass sanity checks and floppy spin-up when defining other operating systems. - new variable ALIAS to define a second label name. - new variable RESTRICTED to confine password protection to invocations with parameters. - added a missing #include to map.c - fixed the BIOS_MAX_* parameters in lilo.h - removed too restrictive cylinder number check. - new option -R to set/clear the default command line in the map file. - added verification of 3D and linear address equality of partition starts (in the partition table). - suppressed outputting the version string when using -D with -v - "vga=extended" can now be abbreviated to "vga=ext". Documentation and installation ------------------------------ - added a test for broken regexp in sed, grep and egrep to QuickInst. Other minor improvements. - now uses build-time configuration variables in Makefile or /etc/lilo/config.defines - copied section "LILO start messages" from doc.tex to README - removed the description of a floppy test installation from README. (doc.tex never contained that part.) - fixed some minor documentation errors and omissions. - fixed some minor Makefile bugs. - included the LaTeX translations of the FIG files. - moved the "Technical overview" to the end. Changes from version 7 to 8 --------------------------- Boot sector ----------- - now supports password protection for boot images. - fixed occasional omission of delays. - passes the name of the boot image to the kernel, which stores it in the environment variable BOOT_IMAGE. - parameters are now preserved when trying to boot the same image again after a media error. - the command line is preserved on error. - can be operated from a serial line. - made timeout handling interrupt-driven to fix time-wrap problems at midnight. - now clears all bytes after text and data of traditional boot images booted from a file. Map installer ------------- - added detection of missing HDIO_REQ support. - added sanity checking for disk parameters. - fixed BIOS code computation for SCSI disks. - command-line settings can now override /etc/lilo/config - defaults for ROOT, VGA, RAMDISK, PASSWORD and OPTIONAL can be set in the options section. - new option PROMPT to unconditionally enter the boot prompt. - new option TIMEOUT to specify an input timeout. - new flag OPTIONAL to specify that an image can be omitted if it isn't present. - new value CURRENT for ROOT to specify the "current" root device. - special characters are now correctly escaped in dumps. - temporary files are now removed on error. - updated the usage output to reflect the changes since 0.6. - added a missing closedir to device.c Documentation and installation ------------------------------ - wrote a quick installation script. - fixed many small documentation errors. - wrote a README for the doc directory. - added descriptions of the configuration parameters passed in the boot sector and of the kernel's command-line interface. - Makefile now explicitly uses /bin/sh - changed echo \c to echo -n in the Makefile - added ability to print the name of the active partition to activate. Changes from version 6 to 7 --------------------------- Boot sector ----------- - supports video mode and RAM disk size settings. - loads original boot sector to make possible additional settings available. - now uses defaults from the boot sector even if the boot sector has been changed after map creation. Map installer ------------- - new configuration based on /etc/lilo/config - can get SCSI geometry without using /etc/lilo/disktab (doesn't work with 0.98pl6) - removed support for BIOS codes (name:code) - removed support for setting the swap device. - new command-line options: -q, -C and -D Documentation ------------- - updated to cover new-style configuration - extended the plain-ASCII README Changes from version 5 to 6 --------------------------- Boot sector ----------- - added command-line argument passing. - now clears BSS of traditional images too. - chain.b is now more careful about register values when invoking the boot sector of the other OS. - added an interface for externally provided command lines. - added experimental recognition of linear addresses. Map installer ------------- - fixed opening the disktab file. (Using -f didn't work.) - fixed use of BIOS codes for the map file: the tilde is now appended before the BIOS code. - added a chdir("/") when using -r - added more sanity checks. - added generation of linear addresses. Documentation ------------- - removed all references to swap device settings in the kernel because recent kernels don't support that any longer. - added a troubleshooting section. - several minor fixes and improvements. Changes from version 4 to 5 --------------------------- Map installer ------------- - added automatic boot sector backup. - fixed variable block size detection. (Didn't work with the 0.97-pl2 kernel.) - added the chroot (-r) option. - made the partition table part of a foreign OS boot descriptor optional. Documentation and installation ------------------------------ - most of README has moved into doc.tex (LaTeX) - added a utility to activate a partition. - make install now reminds the user to update the map. - dd is now used in a more efficient way in the Makefile. (Fewer subshells, etc.) Changes from version 3 to 4 --------------------------- Boot sector ----------- - added a configurable delay. - added a diagnostic title message. Map installer ------------- - fixed all known include file conflicts. - added support for variable block sizes. (Not used yet.) - added some more sanity checks. - added a tool to determine SCSI disk parameters. Documentation and installation ------------------------------ - extended coverage of SCSI disks. - make install now backs up chain.b and boot.b of any older LILO installation. (To say: your system remains bootable even if you forget to run /etc/lilo/install after the update or if this fails for some reason.) - moved the changes section from README into CHANGES. - a set of pre-compiled executables of lilo, boot.b, chain.b and dparam.com is available too. Changes from version 2 to 3 --------------------------- Boot sector ----------- - can initialize BSS of unstripped kernels. - also accepts [Tab] to show the list of known images. Map installer ------------- - fixed parsing of the root device specification. - fixed setting of the root device when the boot image doesn't define it. - reduced the number of installable images from 19 to 16. (Because the descriptors have grown.) Documentation ------------- - added a booting basics section. - many minor changes. Changes from version 1 to 2 --------------------------- Boot sector ----------- - added command-line editing. - added debugging support (-DDEBUG). - added support for compacted maps. - some cosmetic changes. Map installer ------------- - major rewrite. - files that contain "holes" are now handled properly. - added map compaction. - devices are now created on the fly only if they can't be found in /dev. - improved sanity checking. - can now boot other operating systems. - can now boot unstripped kernel executables. - added support for a disk parameter file. - reduced the number of installable images from 21 to 19. - changed the command-line syntax. - root and boot can now be specified on the command line. Documentation ------------- - many changes, including correction of some minor errors. Changes from version 0 to 1 --------------------------- Boot sector ----------- - tested as master boot record. - improved the boot prompt invocation method. - increased the number of installable images to 21. - added a help facility. - improved read error handling and error reporting in the boot loader. - added a second stage boot loader. Map installer ------------- - fixed some minor bugs in the map installer. Removed all compiler warnings. - added labeling of images. - added version checking for the boot sector. - replaced option -r by -m. -r will be available for a while for compatibility. - added booting from device files (that have boot images written on them). - BIOS device codes can now be specified for boot image files too. - added concatenation of images. (This is a test feature that will be changed in the future.) Documentation ------------- - some minor documentation errors have been corrected. - the README now warns that the map has to be rebuilt after the images are replaced or moved. - added a files, a hints and an examples section.