Knox release notes.

Changes in the previous releases.

Note: The release notes of the current version, 1.6, can be reviewed on the » Download page.

Knox 1.5.3 — 20 November 2007

New since Knox 1.5.2:

• Knox now works on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. On Leopard systems, you can optionally choose AES-256 encryption.
• When creating a whole-disk vault, Knox now re-partitions the disk to optimize available disk space.
• When a Keychain entry needs to be modified, Knox no longer deletes and re-creates the entry. Before this change, a keychain entry coul d have been moved from one keychain to another as a side effect of Knox modifying it. Thanks to Daniel Beck (beckweb.net) for reporting this potential securi ty issue.
• The Knox automatic update system had a bug when used in the menu bar mode. If you use Knox 1.5.2 in the menu bar mode, please download the new version manually. To address this, the Knox automatic update mechanism has been replaced with the Sparkle framework.
• Knox now properly uses a Keychain entry to open a vault even if the vault name does not match the name in the entry.
• A single vault is now listed only once in Knoxâ™s vault listings, even if multiple symlinks point to the same vault.
• Knox no longer creates the ~/Documents/Knox folder on launch. It's only created if you create vaults in the default vault location.
• Various minor bug fixes and UI enhancements.

Knox 1.5.2 — 28 August 2007

New since Knox 1.5.1:

• Fixed a bug that caused a multitude of problems when certain folders Knox relied on did not exist.

Knox 1.5.1 — 22 August 2007

New since Knox 1.5:

• The default location for newly created vaults is now Documents/Knox under the home folder. Existing Knox installations continue to use ~/Library/Knox.
• The location can be set to a custom value in the General pane of Knox preferences; it can also be reset to ~/Documents/Knox from the Change… panel.
• Ejecting certain whole-disk vaults no longer shows a message about the user having to eject the disk manually. Knox now completes the eje ct by itself.
• Knox no longer closes vaults on shutdown or log out. Letting the operating system handle this can help the shutdown process in certain situations.
• Disk images can now be added as Knox vaults by dragging them into the Vaults list in Preferences > Vaults. Previously, the im ages had to be dragged into the Knox icon in the Dock or on the menu bar.
• The vaults menu now reflects changes in vault status and task progress even when kept open. The vault enabled/disabled state is not updat ed while the menu is open, however.
• Knox no longer shows a “Can’t compact” error message if the user cancels closing the vault which was to be com pacted.
• When Knox quits, the activity spinner is no longer left on the Dock icon.
• When renaming a vault, pressing enter no longer selects next vault, it just ends editing.
• Cancelling vault creation now deletes the vault file, if one was created.
• Multiple bug fixes, including a fix for a crashing bug.
• Minor performance improvements in the way Knox gathers vault information and handles vault deletion.
• Minor fixes to the French localization.

Knox 1.5 — 14 July 2007

New features since Knox 1.1.1:

• Mac OS X 10.4.9 or later is now required.
• Full disk encryption. Volumes other than the boot volume can now be reformatted to become Knox whole-disk vaults.
• The New Vault dialog now includes Password Assistant that can help choose secure passwords.
• A Knox license is no longer required for opening vaults with Knox. Knox can be used for opening vaults indefinitely, even after the tr ial expires.
• Spotlight Control only works with licensed copies of Knox.
• The vault creation process now displays a progress indicator.
• Vaults can now be backed up without closing them.
• A warning is displayed when a scheduled backup is imminent.
• Items in the Vaults menu now have help tags showing the full path of the vault file.
• Knox now sends Growl notifications for the completion of backups, compaction, and closing of whole disk vaults.
• In the vault creation window, there are default sizes corresponding to a blank CD or DVD.
• Custom vault sizes can now be specified in either megabytes or gigabytes.
• Knox vaults can now be created with Master Key access. Use the Certificate Assistant in Keychain Manager to create a master password and certificate file. Name the certificate file "Knox.cer" and place it in "~/Library/Application Support/Knox/" before you create the vault.

Bug fixes since Knox 1.1.1:

• Image creation failed if you had a network home directory.
• Backups didn't start with the preference "Prompt for the backup drive".
• The "Time of Day" for automatic backups was sometimes set incorrectly.
• Many error messages were cryptic and uninformative.
• The preference "Open Finder windows for all opened vaults" wasn't always respected.
• The progress indicator never stopped after choosing to skip a backup.
• The tab key didn't end editing Vaults Preferences "Vault name" field.
• Backup vaults were renamed when opened.
• Setting vaults as login items wasn't effective when running Knox from the menu bar.
• The preference "Keep open vaults open after a restart" was ignoring vaults without a stored keychain password.
• When the automatic update checker couldn't connect to the internet, it opened a web browser window.
• Address Book information wasn't autofilled correctly in the purchase dialog.

Knox 1.1.1 (48) — 26 May 2006

• Reverted a mount option change in 1.1 that caused permissions problems for a number of users.
• If you choose not to enable Spotlight Control, Knox will not pester you about it on every launch.
• Knox is now smarter when working with vault files that are not writable by the current user.
• The Spotlight setting on the New Vault dialog now consistently mirrors the Spotlight preference pane.
• Created a workaround for a Mac OS X 10.3.9 bug that prevented buying Knox 1.0.6 and above with that OS version.
• Fixed a crashing bug in vault creation. (From Knox 1.1 (46))

Knox 1.1 (44) — 19 May 2006

• New feature: Spotlight Control. Enable or disable Spotlight on a per-vault basis.
• New feature: Path Finder integration. If Path Finder is running, Knox will use it for tasks previously performed by Finder.
• Trial period extended to 30 days.
• Changing the password for multiple vaults simultaneously now works.
• Addressed an unnecessary delay in updating vault open/closed status. Also corrected an unnecessary volume rename operation (to the same name) when opening certain vaults in Knox.
• Knox doesn’t suggest compaction when a vault is being closed because Knox is quitting.
• Various improvements to the iPod selection sheet in the Backup preference pane.
• Fixed a bug which caused the Vaults preference pane not to respond to Delete key.
• Other minor bugfixes, improving Knox stability and consistency.

Knox 1.0.7 (40) — 18 April 2006

• Fixed a problem with opening the Preferences window after upgrading to 1.0.6.
• Fixed a crashing bug in Knox task handling.

Knox 1.0.6 (38) — 13 April 2006

• Vaults can now be forcibly closed even if files on them are still in use. This can potentially lead to data loss, so the feature should be used only when necessary.
• The user interface for changing a vault password has been improved for Tiger users thanks to some Apple bug fixes in the latest OS release.
• Fixed a problem in the New Vault dialog that occured when specifying a stretch limit and then changing the vault location.
• Worked around an OS bug that could cause Knox to crash after a vault with certain special characters in its name was opened.
• More reasonable stretch limit choices are presented when storing vaults on small volumes.
• Improved presentation in various dialogs when referencing vaults with long names.
• Various user interface performance improvements.
• Corrected an issue where the Backup dialog ignored an open vault even if it was subsequently closed.
• When an open vault was renamed and the vault then closed in the Finder, the vault could revert to the old name in some cases. This has been fixed.
• Vault size displays are now rounded correctly.
• The pulsating activity animation in the menu bar mode is now more fluid.
• Many smaller bug fixes and enhancements.

Knox 1.0.5 (36) — 9 February 2006

• Knox is now a Universal Binary, working natively on both PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs.
• Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later is now required.
• Knox will suggest compacting vaults based on a simpler check that should cause suggestions more often.
• American Express is now accepted in the Knox internal store.
• Multiple minor fixes.

Knox 1.0.4 (32) — 25 October 2005

• Addressed some problems in the purchase system.

Knox 1.0.4 (30) — 14 October 2005

• Knox no longer closes vaults unnecessarily when upgrading or switching modes (Dock or menu bar).
• Improved behavior in menu bar mode; keyboard shortcuts are now disabled, and Knox windows are brought to front in a more consistent manner.
• Knox no longer quits the System Preferences of other users when setting up Knox to keep running after a restart.
• If a Mac’s clock is reset after the battery runs out, Knox no longer complains about an invalid license.
• Knox is now better equipped to handle disk image files not created by Knox.
• Corrected an issue that caused Knox to not suggest compacting a vault on Tiger.
• On Tiger, Knox would ask for the vault password the first time a vault was opened after compaction, even if the password was stored in the Keychain. This has been corrected.
• If set up to do so, Knox again opens Finder windows for newly opened vaults.
• Addressed problems with the French localization.
• Multiple fixes for potential crashes, memory leaks and minor drawing problems.

Knox 1.0.3 (26) — 4 August 2005

• Knox now works as a menu item even if the path to Knox contains spaces.
• Addressed many cases in which Knox would not react correctly to renaming the vault volume or the vault file.
• When vault names are changed, the keychain entries, if any, are updated to match.
• Knox’s idea of vault states stays more accurate with very fast vault open/close traffic.
• Unmounting file systems that contain (closed) Knox vaults no longer results in an error.
• When a vault can’t be closed because it is in use, Knox now says so, even on Tiger.
• Vaults now stay in constant positions on the Vaults menu, regardless of current task.
• If Knox mounts a backup destination, it will also try to unmount it after the backup.
• Double-clicking a vault icon on vault listings will open a closed vault or close an open vault.
• Knox now includes a French language localization. (From the unannounced v1.0.2 (22))
• When a time-limited license is expiring soon, Knox will warn about it like it does during a trial period. (From the unannounced v1.0.2 (22))
• Clicking on vault names in the Backup dialog seemed to erase the vault name. This no longer happens. (From the unannounced v1.0.2 (22))
• Significant improvements in the English error messages and other dialogs. (From the unannounced v1.0.2 (22))

Knox 1.0.2 (20) — 11 May 2005

• Knox now displays vaults that are stored on unavailable volumes as being disabled. Previously they were not shown at all.
• Fixed a bug introduced in 1.0.1 that caused Knox to lose track of vaults not stored in ~/Library/Knox when operating in the menu bar mode.
• Vaults that are moved into Trash are now ignored by Knox. Knox also moves deleted vaults into Trash (when possible) instead of deleting them permanently.
• Knox vaults can now be opened by dragging them onto the menu bar icon.
• Knox now does more to make sure the Preferences window lies within visible screen space.
• Fixed an issue introduced in 1.0.1 that caused Knox to lose track of vaults’ open/closed state if multiple open/close operations were launched simultaneously.
• New Vault dialog no longer crashes on Tiger if Cancel is pressed.
• Clicking Knox on the menu bar brings all Knox windows forward immediately. Previously this happened when the menu was closed.
• Many error reporting, stability and performance improvements.

Knox 1.0.1 (16) — 4 May 2005

• Knox no longer needs to modify the application bundle when switching between the menu bar and dock operating modes. This was a problem on multi-user installations.
• Copying files in the New Vault dialog now works on Tiger.
• When an unmount notification is received for a volume, Knox will close all open vaults on it and stop monitoring the volume for changes. Previously you needed to quit Knox to unmount such a volume from the Finder.
• Knox could not read the unique identifier of disk images created on Tiger. The identifier is used in storing and matching keychain entries.
• Knox saved an invalid position for the Preferences window in some instances.
• Backups can now be stored on MS-DOS/FAT32 formatted drives.
• Multiple improvements to the application update process.
• Many enhancements in error reporting, stability and responsiveness.

Knox 1.0 (12) — 26 April 2005

• Enter key ends editing in the Vaults and Backup preference pane table views.
• Delete and backspace keys can be used to delete vaults in the Vaults table view.
• Failed Knox operations are less likely to remain dangling in the Knox task queue.
• Knox handles vault renames better. Keychain information is modified to match.
• Some preferences in the General preference pane were broken.
• Multiple issues with vault renaming were resolved.
• Changed wording from “License Code” to “License Key”.
• The Knox license can be viewed from the License preference pane and the Help menu.
• Addressed a situation where Knox would become stuck and report an error if the user wanted to copy large files to a new vault.
• Newly created vaults no longer lose their backup settings if the user manages to change them before the vault creation (including file copying) has finished.
• Knox will remember per-vault backup settings indefinitely. For example, a restored vault will now get the same backup settings as the original.

Knox 1.0fc1 (6) — 21 April 2005

• Purchasing Knox is now possible from within the application.
• A backup regression in beta 2 was fixed.
• Knox now allows the user to choose which backups to take if taking all backups is not possible because of disk space constraints.
• Knox now remembers the chosen operating mode (dock or menu bar) even between version upgrades and multiple users with differing preferences.

Knox 1.0b2 (5) — 4 April 2005

• Knox now displays the New Vault dialog automatically on launch if there are no vaults.
• The software update mechanism now checks for updates a week after the first launch and every week thereon. In previous versions, additional checks were made on every launch.
• The Cancel buttons in alert dialogs now have Esc and ⌘-. keyboard equivalents.
• The Hide/Show menu items in the Knox application menu (Dock mode) now work as expected.
• Knox now finds Keychain passwords for vaults that were too big to be mapped into memory.
• The default stretch limits for new vaults have been decreased for vaults that are created on the startup disk. This reflects the system software footprint.
• In Dock mode, the Knox Dock icon bounces once when new alert dialogs are displayed.
• Knox now deals with file system forbidden characters like Finder does; it displays “:” as “/” in vault names. Entering “:” is forbidden.
• Knox can now quit System Preferences on behalf of the user when editing the “Keep Knox running if the computer is restarted” preference.
• The mechanism for matching file system update notifications to specific vaults has been improved. Previous versions of Knox could get confused about vault names in some circumstances, especially with heavy mount/unmount activity.
• Many smaller stability and correctness fixes.

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