Syslinux - Jan 2013 - Syslinux 5.01 released

Hi folks,

Syslinux 5.01 is out, a week later than predicted but that's largely
down to the realloc() bug described below. This release is mainly a
collection of bug fixes for problems reported after people tested
Syslinux 5.00. The NEWS entries are included at the bottom.

There was a pretty nasty realloc() bug that took some time to find and
fix, which resulted in memory corruption. There was a bug in early
ISOLINUX code that broke hybrid mode, various buffer overflows in
ldlinux.c32 and hdt.c32 was placing a rather large object on its stack,
which subsequently smashed the diskcache.

There's also been some improvements to the .c32 modules. Library names
are now restricted to the 8.3 filename format, which allows things to be
built under FreeDOS. Also, all .c32 files are now stripped which
significantly reduces their size.

Lastly, there's new asciidoc documentation from Gene Cumm which we will
be able to use going forward to make the documentation for the project
more comprehensive. The plan is to turn it on by default in the next
release.

---

Changes in 5.01:
        * txt/: A new AsciiDoc documentation set (work-in-progress)
          (Gene Cumm).
        * core: Fix a bug in the realloc() implementation that caused
          machines to appear to run out of free memory.
        * ldlinux: Fix multiple buffer overflows in cmdline parsing
          code that resulted in files failing to run and cmdlines
          being truncated.
        * core: Fix debug build by tagging __bad_SEG() with __export.
        * com32: Restrict library filenames to 8.3 format.
        * EXTLINUX: Fix installation and subdirectory patching.
        * ISOLINUX: Fix booting isohybrid images that are over 32K.
        * com32: Strip modules to reduce their size.
        * XFS: Implement directory block cache and fix
          shortform-directory lookup (Paulo Alcantara).

-- 
Matt Fleming, Intel Open Source Technology Center

--- On Mon, 1/28/13, Matt Fleming <matt at console-pimps.org> wrote:
> From: Matt Fleming <matt at console-pimps.org>
> Subject: [syslinux] Syslinux 5.01 released
> To: "syslinux" <syslinux at zytor.com>
> Date: Monday, January 28, 2013, 11:06 PM
> Hi folks,
> 
> Syslinux 5.01 is out, a week later than predicted but that's
> largely
> down to the realloc() bug described below. This release is
> mainly a
> collection of bug fixes for problems reported after people
> tested
> Syslinux 5.00. The NEWS entries are included at the bottom.
> 
> There was a pretty nasty realloc() bug that took some time
> to find and
> fix, which resulted in memory corruption. There was a bug in
> early
> ISOLINUX code that broke hybrid mode, various buffer
> overflows in
> ldlinux.c32 and hdt.c32 was placing a rather large object on
> its stack,
> which subsequently smashed the diskcache.
> 
> There's also been some improvements to the .c32 modules.
> Library names
> are now restricted to the 8.3 filename format, which allows
> things to be
> built under FreeDOS. Also, all .c32 files are now stripped
> which
> significantly reduces their size.
> 
> Lastly, there's new asciidoc documentation from Gene Cumm
> which we will
> be able to use going forward to make the documentation for
> the project
> more comprehensive. The plan is to turn it on by default in
> the next
> release.
> 
> ---
> 
> Changes in 5.01:
> ? ? ? ? * txt/: A new AsciiDoc
> documentation set (work-in-progress)
> ? ? ? ? ? (Gene Cumm).
> ? ? ? ? * core: Fix a bug in the
> realloc() implementation that caused
> ? ? ? ? ? machines to appear to run
> out of free memory.
> ? ? ? ? * ldlinux: Fix multiple buffer
> overflows in cmdline parsing
> ? ? ? ? ? code that resulted in
> files failing to run and cmdlines
> ? ? ? ? ? being truncated.
> ? ? ? ? * core: Fix debug build by
> tagging __bad_SEG() with __export.
> ? ? ? ? * com32: Restrict library
> filenames to 8.3 format.
> ? ? ? ? * EXTLINUX: Fix installation and
> subdirectory patching.
> ? ? ? ? * ISOLINUX: Fix booting
> isohybrid images that are over 32K.
> ? ? ? ? * com32: Strip modules to reduce
> their size.
> ? ? ? ? * XFS: Implement directory block
> cache and fix
> ? ? ? ? ? shortform-directory
> lookup (Paulo Alcantara).
> 
> -- 
> Matt Fleming, Intel Open Source Technology Center
> Hi,
(smiles) ...

All this while, I thought that the 'pxelinux.0' of v5.xx will have HTTP
support. Sadly it doesn't. (Not a biggie)

I have replaced my existing 4.06 setup with v5.01 and the observations so far:

* I needed to copy a few more modules (libutil.c32, libcom32.c32, ldlinux.c32) I
hope I don't need any more.

* poweroff.com doesn't work (Actually COM support has been removed; ofcourse
it documented ... :) :) ) (will wait for poweroff.c32)

The big thing for me so far is that 'HTTP' booting using
'gpxelinux.0' is somehow working for now. (just copied
'gpxelinux.0' as 'pxelinux.0'.
The weird "hang" while searching down to the file "default"
has not hit so far. (lets hope that one problem has gone away)

Simple TFTP based loading of the kernel/initrd using 'gpxelinux.0' also
seems to be working for now. (fingers crossed)

Cheers and Regards,
Shantanu