CHANGES IN THE LINUX v0.97.1 ROOT DISKETTE
Jim Winstead Jr. - 16 August 1992

This file mostly contains info about the changes in the root diskette
from Linux v0.97 to Linux v0.97.1.

CHANGES

With the release of Linux v0.95a, the maintenance of the root diskette
has been assumed by Jim Winstead Jr. (jwinstea@jarthur.Claremont.EDU).

This continues with the release of the Linux 0.97.1 release diskette.
The changes between the Linux 0.97.1 and Linux 0.97 root diskettes are
detailed below, and the changes in earlier releases are summarized
after that:

	-	fixed mount.
		A few hours after releasing 0.97, I figured out why
		mount wasn't working correctly with the MS-DOS
		filesystem.  'mount' now does things correctly, and
		will even pass 'odd' mount options correctly (i.e. the
		conv=something option for the MS-DOS fs).  Thanks to
		Werner Almesberger for providing smount, from which 
		most of my changes to Doug Quale's mount were taken.

	-	made passwd sgid system.
		I forgot to last time, which made /etc/passwd belong to
		whatever group the person who last changed their password
		belonged to. Thanks to Scott Mace (emace@tenet.edu) for 
		spotting this one. 

	-	fixed bug in /etc/termcap.
		The 'is' and 'rs' strings had an extra colon in them,
		and the k? strings were wrong. Special thanks to
		Jaakko.Hyvatti@Helsinki.FI for pointing this out.

	-	fixed pax (some).
		Pax was broken in a few spots, and I've been trying to
		clean it up.  In particular, it would give some false
		errors because it would try to create some directories
		twice.  Duh.  I'm also trying to bring it up to POSIX
		compliance, since it's quite out of date.

	-	fixed problems with GNU fileutilities.
		The GNU fileutilities (cp, du and ls in particular)
		were making some bad assumptions about the blocksize
		on filesystems.  I think I've tracked that all down.
		Also, fixed ls so it recognizes the dir and vdir
		counterparts using argv[0] instead of seperate filenames.
		I was also able to trim some size off a few utilities 
		due to functions available in libc.

	-	compiled GNU text utilities to use getopt/regex from libc.
		I also fixed cat so you can use it with the various
		options (like -v, etc).  This saved over 30k. (Wow!)

	-	compiled GNU shell utilities to use getopt/regex from libc.
		This saved another 30k.  Wow again!

	-	compiled GNU tput to use termcap from shared libs.
		A lot of the changes to be like this, don't they?  :)
		Saved about 4k here.

	-	compiled sed with -N.
		Saved 6k.  :)

	-	added creation of user account to /INSTALL/install.
		The install script now asks for a username to create an
		account for and sets it up.  This should encourage not
		using 'root' all the time.

If you have questions, problems, or complaints about the root
diskette, either post to comp.os.linux, or send mail to me at
jwinstea@jarthur.Claremont.EDU. 

If you have questions, problems, or complaints about the boot diskette
or the kernel itself, post to comp.os.linux or send mail to Linus
Torvalds at torvalds@cc.helsinki.fi.

Remember, the only stupid questions are the ones you don't ask.

SUMMARY

This section very briefly summarizes previous changes.

0.96 -> 0.97
	- many small binaries were added.
	- ps, w, uptime, and related utilities were removed.
	- migrated mount/umount/swapon from /bin to /etc.
	- moved 'rootdev' to /usr/bin and renamed to 'setroot'.
	- removed /lib/libhard.2.2.2 and moved /lib/libsoft.2.2.2 to
	  /lib/libm.2.2.2, instead of using a symlink.
	- upgraded efdisk and renamed to fdisk.
	- fixed compress to work with long filenames.
	- brought device names up to standards.
	- revised /etc/group.
	- revised /etc/passed.
	- changes file permissions and ownerships.
	- fixed up the install script where it was broken.
	- fixed the install documentation to refer to pax.
	- minor gaffes from 0.96 fixed (/etc/getty linked with shared
	  libs, correct file ownerships, etc)

0.95a -> 0.96
	- reintroduced GNU bash as /bin/sh
	- replaced GNU tar (/bin/tar) with POSIX pax utility
	- all-new and improved installation script
	- split /etc/rc into /etc/rc and /etc/rc.local
	- new mount/umount/swapon with auto-mounting - uses /etc/fstab
	- recompiled all utilities with shared libraries (gcc 2.2.2)
	- added /dev/MAKEDEV - device creation script
	- all new /etc/termcap using "tc=con-unk" entries

FUTURE CHANGES

I'm already anticipating some changes for future releases, so here's
a sneak preview:

-	the install script will be improved.  The current one was
	written rather rapidly, so there are parts of it I'm not
	entirely happy with.  Michael K. Johnson (johnsonm@stolaf.edu)
	has said he is working on this and the update script (below).

-	I'd like to write an update script that will allow people who
	have already installed Linux to update their binaries from the
	latest root disk.  The install script could serve as a base
	for this, but is a little destructive at present.  (It would
	simply copy over old binaries, etc.)

-	program to allow the 'intro' login to be more interactive, and
	will also serve more general purposes (it will be a generic
	curses-based file-selector with support for file descriptions).

-	the documentation on disk will be cleaned up, and possibly
	added to.

-	fill in the gaps in the MAKEDEV script.  (SCSI tapes, more pty
	devices.)

-	the release after the extended filesystem is added to the
	Linux kernel, the root disk will use it.  That means v0.98, if
	things go according to current plans.  This is to allow time
	for bugs in the extended filesystem to filter out, and for the
	new mkfs and fsck to stabilize.  (For those that don't know,
	the extended filesystem supports 4 terabyte partitions and long
	filenames, and is currently in testing.)

Again, mail your questions, comments and suggestions about the root
diskette to me at jwinstea@jarthur.Claremont.EDU.
