[Bug-ddrescue] GNU ddrescue 1.18-pre8 released

[Antonio Diaz Diaz]

GNU ddrescue 1.18-pre8 is ready for testing here
http://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/ddrescue/ddrescue-1.18-pre8.tar.lz

The sha1sum is:
442d474e662059e0edbaa3628fa394fc3c2fc064  ddrescue-1.18-pre8.tar.lz

Please, test it and report any bugs you find.

GNU ddrescue is a data recovery tool. It copies data from one file or 
block device (hard disc, cdrom, etc) to another, trying to rescue the 
good parts first in case of read errors.

GNU Ddrescuelog is a tool that manipulates ddrescue logfiles, shows 
logfile contents, converts logfiles to/from other formats, compares 
logfiles, tests rescue status, and can delete a logfile if the rescue is 
done.

The homepage is at http://www.gnu.org/software/ddrescue/ddrescue.html


Changes in this version:

  * If ddrescue is interrupted by a signal, it now terminates by 
raising the signal received.

  * The algorithm of the copying phase has been changed. It now marks 
as non-trimmed just the failed blocks, skips beyond them, and tries the 
skipped areas later in additional passes (before trimming), reversing 
the direction after each pass. The new method is faster around large 
errors, keeps the logfile smaller, and produces better starting points 
for trimming, which now tries the smallest blocks first.

  * The message "About to copy an unknown number of bytes" is now shown 
when the size of the input file can't be determined.

  * Ddrescue version and command line is now written to rates and reads 
logfiles.

  * Many improvements have been made to the documentation.


Regards,
Antonio Diaz, GNU ddrescue author and maintainer.