upx/NEWS

==================================================================
User visible changes for UPX
==================================================================

Changes in 1.12 beta (XX Jan 2001):
  * UNSTABLE BETA VERSION - DO NOT USE EXCEPT FOR TESTING
  * implemented several new options for finer compression control:
      `--all-methods', `--all-filters' and `--brute'
  * linux/386: added the option `--force-execve'
  * vmlinuz/386: better kernel detection and sanity checks
  * documentation updates

Changes in 1.11 beta (20 Dec 2000):
  * UNSTABLE BETA VERSION - DO NOT USE EXCEPT FOR TESTING
  * vmlinuz/386: new format - UPX now supports bootable linux kernels
  * linux/elf386: added the new ELF direct-to-memory executable format - no
    more temp files are needed for decompression!
  * linux/sh386: added the new shell direct-to-memory executable format - no
    more temp files are needed for decompression!
  * reduced overall memory requirements during packing
  * quite a number of internal source code rearrangements

Changes in 1.07 (20 Feb 2001)
  * win32/pe: corrected the TLS callback check
  * win32/pe: really fixed that rare bug in relocation handling
  * win32/pe: experimental support for SizeOfHeaders > 0x1000
  * win32/pe: check for superfluous data between sections
  * win32/pe: compressing screensavers (.scr) should finally work

Changes in 1.06 (27 Jan 2001)
  * win32/pe: the check for TLS callbacks introduced in 1.05
      was too strict - disabled for now
  * dos/com: decreased the decompressor stack size a little bit

Changes in 1.05 (24 Jan 2001)
  * win32/pe: refuse to compress programs with TLS callbacks
  * win32/pe: stub changes to avoid slowdowns with some virus monitors
  * win32/pe: reverted the relocation handling changes in 1.04
  * linux/386: dont try to compress Linux kernel images (have a look
      at the unstable UPX 1.1x beta versions for that)

Changes in 1.04 (19 Dec 2000)
  * dos/exe: fixed an internal error when using `--no-reloc'
  * win32/pe: fixed a rare bug in the relocation handling code
  * some tunings for the default compression level

Changes in 1.03 (30 Nov 2000)
  * linked with a new version of the NRV compression library:
      - improved compression ratio a little bit
      - overall significantly faster compression
      - much faster when using high compression levels like `-9' or `--best'
      - much faster with large files
  * atari/tos: added support for FreeMiNT
  * the 32-bit DOS version now uses the new CWSDSTUB extender

Changes in 1.02 (13 Sep 2000)
  * watcom/le: fixed a problem with the Causeway extender
  * win32/pe: don't automatically strip relocs if they seem needed
  * support multiple backup generations when using `-k'
  * updated the console screen driver

Changes in 1.01 (09 Apr 2000)
  * win32/pe: fixed an uncompression problem in DLLs with empty
    fixup sections
  * win32/pe: fixed another rare uncompression problem - a field in the
    PE header was set incorrectly

Changes in 1.00 (26 Mar 2000)
  * documentation updates
  * watcom/le: do not duplicate the non-resident name table
  * win32/pe: fixed an import handling problem: sometimes too much data
    could be deleted from a file -> the uncompressed file would not work
    anymore

Changes in 0.99.3 (07 Mar 2000)
  * win32/pe: fixed a rare problem in the stub string handling part

Changes in 0.99.2 (02 Mar 2000)
  * dos/exe: fixed a typo causing an internal error (introduced in 0.99.1)

Changes in 0.99.1 (29 Feb 2000)
  * win32/pe: fixed some object alignments which were causing
    problems when loading compressed DLLs under Windows NT/2000

Changes in 0.99 (25 Feb 2000)
  * FULL SOURCE CODE RELEASED UNDER THE TERMS OF THE GNU GPL
  * win32/pe: changed default to `--strip-relocs=1'
  * dos/com and dos/sys: fixed a bad decompressor problem
  * linux/386: the counter for the progress indicator was off by one

Changes in 0.94 (06 Dec 1999)
  * win32/pe: the stub now calls ExitProcess in case of import errors
  * under DOS and Windows, the environment variable UPX now accepts
    a '#' as replacement for '=' because of a COMMAND.COM limitation

Changes in 0.93 (22 Nov 1999)
  * win32/pe: fixed --strip-relocs problem with uncompression
  * win32/pe: fixed a bug which could produce a broken decompressor stub
  * linux/386: yet another FreeBSD compatibility fix

Changes in 0.92 (14 Nov 1999)
  * win32/pe: really fixed that one line (see below)

Changes in 0.91 (13 Nov 1999)
  * win32/pe: an important one-line fix for the newly introduced problems
  * dos/com and dos/sys: fixed an internal error
  * dos/exe: correctly restore cs when uncompressing

Changes in 0.90 (10 Nov 1999)
  * all formats: `--overlay=copy' now is the default overlay mode
  * improved compression ratio for most files
  * win32/pe: uncompression is finally supported
  * win32/pe: never compress REGISTRY resources
  * win32/pe: headersize was not set in PE header
  * win32/pe: resource handling is rewritten
  * win32/pe: the last :-) TLS problem is fixed
  * win32/pe: somewhat less memory is required during compression
  * linux/386: fixed compression of scripts which was broken since 0.71
  * linux/386: more FreeBSD compatibility issues
  * changed option: `-i' now prints some more details during compression
    (not finished yet)

Changes in 0.84 (04 Oct 1999)
  * dos/exe: fixed a rare problem where the decompressor could crash
  * some other minor fixes

Changes in 0.83 (17 Sep 1999)
  * dos/exe: fixed minimal memory requirement problem for some files
  * win32/pe: fixed a bug which caused a crash in some compressed files
  * linux/386: various improvements in the stub; also, for the sake
    of FreeBSD users, the stub is now branded as Linux/ELF

Changes in 0.82 (16 Aug 1999)
  * dos/exe: fixed a decompressor bug which could cause crash on some files
  * linux/386: section headers are now stripped from the stub so that
    `strip' won't ruin a compressed file any longer
  * wc/le: support for stack not in the last object disabled again
  * win32/pe: removed some unneeded data

Changes in 0.81 (04 Aug 1999)
  * win32/pe: fixed an important bug in import handling
  * dos/com: fixed an internal error that could happen with very small files

Changes in 0.80 (03 Aug 1999)
  * you can set some default options in the environment var `UPX'
  * dos/com: the decompressor stub now checks for enough free memory
  * dos/exe: decompressor rewritten, some bugs are fixed
  * dos/exe: new option `--no-reloc': no relocation data is put into
    the DOS header
  * tmt/adam: added support for more stubs, detect already packed files
  * tmt/adam: new option `--copy-overlay'
  * wc/le: reduced memory requirement during uncompression
  * wc/le: support files which do not contain their stack in the last object
  * wc/le: fixed a bug which could cause a crash, improved relocation
    handling
  * wc/le: new option `--copy-overlay'
  * win32/pe: `--compress-icons=2' is now the default
  * win32/pe: even better TLS support
  * win32/pe: versioninfo works on NT
  * win32/pe: import by ordinal from kernel32.dll works
  * win32/pe: other import improvements: importing a nonexistant DLL
    results in a usual Windows message, importing a nonexistant function
    results in program exit (instead of crash ;-)
  * win32/pe: new option: `--compress-resources=0'
  * win32/pe: reduced memory requirement during uncompression, some
    files might even require LESS memory when they're compressed
  * win32/pe: TYPELIBs should work now
  * win32/pe: improved relocation handling, 16-bit relocations should work
  * win32/pe: new option `--strip-relocs' (only if you know what you are doing)
  * win32/pe: new option `--copy-overlay'
  * important internal changes: now the stubs are built at runtime

Changes in 0.72 (12 May 1999)
  * tmt/adam: fixed a serious problem in the decompressor stub; all
    compressed tmt files should be recompressed
  * win32/pe: fixed the 'shared sections not supported' warning:
    read-only shared sections are fine
  * win32/pe: never compress TYPELIB resources
  * win32/pe: compressed files are hopefully less suspicious to heuristic
    virus scanners now
  * linux/386: minor decompressor stub updates, nicer progress bar

Changes in 0.71 (19 Apr 1999)
  * dos/exe: added option `--no-overlay'
  * linux/386: various improvements in the stub, most notably the
    overhead for an extra cleanup process has been removed
  * win32/pe: added support for export forwarders
  * win32/pe: added support for DLLs without entry point or imports
  * win32/pe: yet another .bss fix
  * win32/pe: new option `--compress-icons=2': compress all icons
    which are not in the first icon directory
  * win32/pe: rearranged stub to avoid false alerts from some virus scanners

Changes in 0.70 (30 Mar 1999)
  * added support for linux/386 executables
  * improved compression ratio quite a bit
  * added new compression level `--best' to squeeze out even some more bytes
  * win32/pe: TLS support is much better now
  * win32/pe: --compress-icons=0 should now work as well
  * the usual minor fixes for win32/pe

Changes in 0.62 (16 Mar 1999)
  * win32/pe: --compress-icons and --compress-exports are on now by default
  * win32/pe: --compress-icons should really work now
  * win32/pe: fixed a problem with embedded .bss sections

Changes in 0.61 (08 Mar 1999)
  * atari/tos: fixed a problem where the bss segment could become too small

Changes in 0.60 (06 Mar 1999)
  * win32/pe: fixed file corruption when the size of the export data is invalid
  * win32/pe: fixed a problem with empty resource data
  * win32/pe: compressed file alignment set to minimum value
  * win32/pe: made all compressed sections writeable
  * fixed some other win32/pe bugs
  * fixed an address optimization problem for some not Watcom LE files
  * fixed a bug which could make UPX hang when an exe header contained
    an illegal value
  * added some compression flags for the win32/pe format
  * added support for Atari ST/TT executables (atari/tos)
  * improved compression ratio
  * improved compression speed

Changes in 0.51 (14 Jan 1999)
  * fixed a small bug in the PE header that would prevent some compressed
    win32/pe executables from running under Windows NT and WINE

Changes in 0.50 (03 Jan 1999)
  * added support for PE format executables (win32/pe & rtm32/pe)
  * added support for TMT executables (tmt/adam)
  * fixed a dos/sys bug that affected OpenDOS

Changes in 0.40 (05 Oct 1998)
  * improved compression ratio
  * fixed a small but fatal bug in dos/sys introduced in 0.30
  * fixed a rare bug in dos/exe
  * worked around a bug in djgpp's strip 2.8
  * Allegro packfile support should work now
  * added dos/exeh compression method (works on 386+)

Changes in 0.30 (27 Jul 1998)
  * fixed a serious bug in the 32-bit compressors - please don't use
    djgpp/coff and watcom/le compressed files from previous versions,
    some of them are possibly damaged !
  * the 16-bit uncompressors are a little bit shorter & faster
  * fixed progress indicator for VESA and SVGA text modes

Changes in 0.20 (05 Jul 1998)
  * second public beta release
  * too many changes to list here

Changes in 0.05 (26 May 1998)
  * first public beta release