MAN page from Old RedHat 5.X cdrecord-1.8a20-2.i386.rpm

MKISOFS

Section: Maintenance Commands (8)
Updated: 17 Feb 1998
Index

NAME

mkisofs - create a iso9660 filesystem with optional Rock Ridge attributes.

SYNOPSIS

mkisofs[-a][-abstract FILE][-biblioFILE][-bboot_image][-cboot_catalog][-copyright FILE][-Aapplication_id][-f][-d][-D][-hideglob][-hide-jolietglob][-J][-l][-L][-log-filelog_file][-no-split-symlink-components][-no-split-symlink-fields][-ppreparer][-print-size][-Ppublisher][-quiet][-r][-R][-sysidID][-T][-v][-Vvolid][-volsetID][-volset-size#][-volset-seqno#][-xpath][-z][-mglob]-ofilenamepathspec [pathspec]

DESCRIPTION

mkisofsis effectively a pre-mastering program to generate the iso9660 filesystem - ittakes a snapshot of a given directory tree, and generates a binary image whichwill correspond to an iso9660 filesystem when written to a block device.

mkisofsis also capable of generating the System Use Sharing Protocol records specifiedby the Rock Ridge Interchange Protocol. This is used to further describe thefiles in the iso9660 filesystem to a unix host, and provides information suchas longer filenames, uid/gid, posix permissions, and block and characterdevices.

Each file written to the iso9660 filesystem must have a filename in the 8.3format (8 characters, period, 3 characters, all upper case), even if Rock Ridgeis in use. This filename is used on systems that are not able to make use ofthe Rock Ridge extensions (such as MS-DOS), and each filename in each directorymust be different from the other filenames in the same directory.mkisofsgenerally tries to form correct names by forcing the unix filename to uppercase and truncating as required, but often times this yields unsatisfactoryresults when there are cases where thetruncated names are not all unique.mkisofsassigns weightings to each filename, and if two names that are otherwise thesame are found the name with the lower priority is renamed to have a 3 digitnumber as an extension (where the number is guaranteed to be unique). Anexample of this would be the files foo.bar andfoo.bar.~1~ - the file foo.bar.~1~ would be written as FOO.000;1 and the filefoo.bar would be written as FOO.BAR;1

Note thatmkisofsis not designed to communicate with the writer directly. Most writershave proprietary command sets which vary from one manufacturer toanother, and you need a specialized tool to actually burn the disk.Thecdwriteutility is one such tool that runs under Linux and performs this task.The latest version ofcdwriteis capable of communicating with the Phillips/IMS/Kodak, HP and Yamaha drivesthat have been manufactured before 1997.Most writers come with some version of DOS software that allows a direct imagecopy of an iso9660 image to the writer. The current version ofcdwriteis available from sunsite.unc.edu: /utils/disk-management/cdwrite-2.0.tar.gzNote that cdwrite has not been actively maintained since 1995.

Thecdrecordutility is another utility capable of burning an actual disc. The latest versionofcdrecordis available fromftp://ftp.fokus.gmd.de/pub/unix/cdrecordCdrecord is under constant development.

Also you should know that most cd writers are very particular about timing.Once you start to burn a disc, you cannot let their buffer empty before youare done, or you will end up with a corrupt disc. Thus it is criticalthat you be able to maintain an uninterrupted data stream to the writerfor the entire time that the disc is being written.

pathis the path of the directory tree to be copied into the iso9660 filesystem.Multiple paths can be specified, andmkisofswill merge the files found in all of the specified path components to form the cdromimage.

It is possible to graft the paths at points other than the rootdirectory, and it is possible to graft files or directories onto thecdrom image with names different than what they have in the source filesystem. This iseasiest to illustrate with a couple of examples. Let's start by assuming that a localfile ../old.lis exists, and you wish to include it in the cdrom image.

foo/bar/=../old.lis

will include the file old.lis in the cdrom image at /foo/bar/old.lis, while

foo/bar/xxx=../old.lis

will include the file old.lis in the cdrom image at /foo/bar/xxx. Thesame sort of syntax can be used with directories as well.mkisofs will create any directories required such that the graftpoints exist on the cdrom image - the directories do not need toappear in one of the paths. Any directories that are created on thefly like this will have permissions 0555 and appear to be owned by theperson running mkisofs. If you wish other permissions or owners ofthe intermediate directories, the easiest solution is to create realdirectories in the path such that mkisofs doesn't have to invent them.

OPTIONS

-a

Include all files on the iso9660 filesystem. Normally files that contain thecharacters '~' or '#' will not be included (these are typically backup filesfor editors under unix).

-abstract FILE

Specifies the abstract file name.This parameter can also be set in the file.mkisofsrcwith ABST=filename.If specified in both places, the command line version is used.

-A application_id

Specifies a text string that will be written into the volume header.This should describe the application that will be on the disc. Thereis space on the disc for 128 characters of information. This parameter canalso be set in the file.mkisofsrcwith APPI=id.If specified in both places, the command line version is used.

-biblio FILE

Specifies the bibliographic file name.This parameter can also be set in the file.mkisofsrcwith BIBLO=filename.If specified in both places, the command line version is used.

-b boot_image

Specifies the path and filename of the boot image to be used when makingan "El Torito" bootable CD. The pathname must be relative to the sourcepath specified tomkisofs.This option is required to make a bootable CD.The boot image must be exactly the size of either a 1.2, 1.44, or a 2.88meg floppy, andmkisofswill use this size when creating the output iso9660filesystem. It is assumed that the first 512 byte sector should be readfrom the boot image (it is essentially emulating a normal floppy drive).This will work, for example, if the boot image is a LILO based boot floppy.

-C last_sess_start,next_sess_start

This option is needed when mkisofs is used to create the image of a second session or a higher level sessionfor a multi session disk.The option -Ctakes a pair of two numbers separated by a comma. The first number is thesector number of the first sector in the last session of the diskthat should be appended to.The second number is the starting sector number of the new session.The expected pair of numbers may be retrieved by callingcdrecord -msinfo ...the -Coption may only be uses in conjunction with the -Moption.

-c boot_catalog

Specifies the path and filename of the boot catalog to be used when makingan "El Torito" bootable CD. The pathname must be relative to the sourcepath specified tomkisofs.This option is required to make a bootable CD.This file will be created bymkisofsin the source filesystem, so besure the specified filename does not conflict with an existing file, asit will be quietly overwritten! Usually a name like "boot.catalog" ischosen.

-copyright FILE

Specifies the Copyright file name.This parameter can also be set in the file.mkisofsrcwith COPY=filename.If specified in both places, the command line version is used.

-d

Omit trailing period from files that do not have a period. This violates theISO9660 standard, but it happens to work on many systems. Use with caution.

-D

Do not use deep directory relocation, and instead just pack them in theway we see them. This violates the ISO9660 standard, but it works on manysystems. Use with caution.

-f

Follow symbolic links when generating the filesystem. When this option is notin use, symbolic links will be entered using Rock Ridge if enabled, otherwisethe file will be ignored.

-hide glob

Hideglobfrom being seen on the ISO9660 or Rock Ridge directory.globis a shell wild-card-style pattern that must match any part of the filename or path.Multiple globs may be hidden (up to 1000).Ifglobmatches a directory, then the contents of that directory will be hidden.All the hidden files will still be written to the output CD image file.Should be used with the-hide-jolietoption.

-hide-joliet glob

Hideglobfrom being seen on the Joliet directory.globis a shell wild-card-style pattern that must match any part of the filename or path.Multiple globs may be hidden (up to 1000).Ifglobmatches a directory, then the contents of that directory will be hidden.All the hidden files will still be written to the output CD image file.Should be used with the-hideoption.

-l

Allow full 32 character filenames. Normally the ISO9660 filename will be in an8.3 format which is compatible with MS-DOS, even though the ISO9660 standardallows filenames of up to 32 characters. If you use this option, the disc maybe difficult to use on a MS-DOS system, but this comes in handy on some othersystems (such as the Amiga). Use with caution.

-J

Generate Joliet directory records in addition to regular iso9660 filenames. This is primarily useful when the discs are to be used on Windows-NTor Windows-95 machines. The Joliet filenames are specified in Unicode andeach path component can be up to 64 Unicode characters long.

-L

Allow filenames to begin with a period. Usually, a leading dot isreplaced with an underscore in order to maintain MS-DOS compatibility.

-log-file log_file

Redirect all error, warning and informational messages tolog_fileinstead of the standard error.

-m glob

Excludeglobfrom being written to CDROM.globis a shell wild-card-style pattern that must match part of the filename (not the path as with option-x).Technicallyglobis matched against thed->d_namepart of the directory entry.Multiple globs may be excluded (up to 1000).Example:

mkisofs -o rom -m '*.o' -m core -m foobar

would exclude all files ending in ".o", called "core" or "foobar" to becopied to CDROM. Note that if you had a directory called "foobar" it too (andof course all its descendants) would be excluded.

NOTE: The -m and -x option description should both be updated, they are wrong.Both now work identical and use filename globbing. A file is exluded if eitherthe last component matches or the whole path matches.

-M path

-M device

Specifies path to existing iso9660 image to be merged. The alternate formtakes a SCSI device specifier that uses the same syntax as the dev=parameter of cdrecord.The output of mkisofswill be a new session which should get written to the end of theimage specified in -M. Typically this requires multi-session capabilityfor the recorder and cdrom drive that you are attempting to write thisimage to.This option may only be used in conjunction with the -Coption.

-N

Omit version numbers from ISO9660 file names. This may violate the ISO9660standard, but no one really uses the version numbers anyway. Use with caution.

-no-split-symlink-components

Don't split the SL components, but begin a new Continuation Area (CE)instead. This may waste some space, but the SunOS 4.1.4 cdrom driverhas a bug in reading split SL components (link_size = component_size instead of link_size += component_size).

-no-split-symlink-fields

Don't split the SL fields, but begin a new Continuation Area (CE)instead. This may waste some space, but the SunOS 4.1.4 andSolaris 2.5.1 cdrom driver have a bug in reading split SL fields(a `/' can be dropped).

-o filename

is the name of the file to which the iso9660 filesystem image should bewritten. This can be a disk file, a tape drive, or it can correspond directlyto the device name of the optical disc writer. If not specified, stdout isused. Note that the output can also be a block special device for a regulardisk drive, in which case the disk partition can be mounted and examined toensure that the premastering was done correctly.

-P publisher_id

Specifies a text string that will be written into the volume header.This should describe the publisher of the CDROM, usually with amailing address and phone number. There is space on the disc for 128characters of information. This parameter can also be set in the file.mkisofsrcwith PUBL=.If specified in both places, the command line version is used.

-p preparer_id

Specifies a text string that will be written into the volume header.This should describe the preparer of the CDROM, usually with a mailingaddress and phone number. There is space on the disc for 128characters of information. This parameter can also be set in the file.mkisofsrcwith PREP=.If specified in both places, the command line version is used.

-print-size

Print estimated filesystem size and exit. This option is needed forDisk At Once mode and with some CD-R drives when piping directly intocdrecord.In this case it is needed to know the size of the filesustem before theactual CD-creation is done.The option -print-size allows to get this size from a "dry-run" beforethe CD is actually written.

-R

Generate SUSP and RR records using the Rock Ridge protocol to further describethe files on the iso9660 filesystem.

-r

This is like the -R option, but file ownership and modes are set tomore useful values. The uid and gid are set to zero, because they areusually only useful on the author's system, and not useful to theclient. All the file read bits are set true, so that files anddirectories are globally readable on the client. If any execute bit isset for a file, set all of the execute bits, so that executables areglobally executable on the client. If any search bit is set for adirectory, set all of the search bits, so that directories are globallysearchable on the client. All write bits are cleared, because theCD-Rom will be mounted read-only in any case. If any of the specialmode bits are set, clear them, because file locks are not useful on aread-only file system, and set-id bits are not desirable for uid 0 orgid 0.

-sysid ID

Specifies the system ID.This parameter can also be set in the file.mkisofsrcwith SYSI=system_id.If specified in both places, the command line version is used.

-T

Generate a file TRANS.TBL in each directory on the CDROM, which can be usedon non-Rock Ridge capable systems to help establish the correct file names.There is also information present in the file that indicates the major andminor numbers for block and character devices, and each symlink has the name ofthe link file given.

-V volid

Specifies the volume ID to be written into the master block. Thisparameter can also be set in the file.mkisofsrcwith VOLI=id.If specified in both places, the command line version is used. Note that if you assign a volume ID, this is the name that will be used as the mount point used by the Solaris volume management system and the name that isassigned to the disc on a Windows or Mac platform.

-volset ID

Specifies the volset ID.This parameter can also be set in the file.mkisofsrcwith VOLS=volset_id.If specified in both places, the command line version is used.

-volset-size #

Sets the volume set size to #. The volume set size is the number of CD's that are in a CD set.The -volset-sizeoption may be used to create CD's that are part of e.g. a OperationSystem installation set of CD's.The option -volset-sizemust be specified before-volset-seqnoon each command line.

-volset-seqno #

Sets the volume set sequence number to #. The volume set sequence number is the index number of the currentCD in a CD set.The option -volset-sizemust be specified before-volset-seqnoon each command line.

-v

Verbose execution.

-x path

Excludepathfrom being written to CDROM.pathmust be the complete pathname that results from concatenating the pathnamegiven as command line argument and the path relative to this directory.Multiple paths may be excluded (up to 1000).Example:

mkisofs -o cd -x /local/dir1 -x /local/dir2 /local

-z

Generate special SUSP records for transparently compressed files. This isonly of use and interest for hosts that support transparent decompression.This is an experimental feature, and no hosts yet support this, but thereare ALPHA patches for Linux that can make use of this feature.

CONFIGURATION

mkisofslooks for the.mkisofsrcfile,first in the current working directory,then in the user's home directory,and then in the directory in which themkisofsbinary is stored. This file is assumed to contain a series of linesof the form TAG=value,and in this way you can specify certain options.The case of the tag is not significant.Some fields in the volume headerare not settable on the command line, but can be altered through thisfacility.Comments may be placed in this file,using lines which start with a hash (#) character.

APPI: The application identifiershould describe the application that will be on the disc.There is space on the disc for 128 characters of information.May be overridden using the -A command line option.
COPY: The copyright information,often the name of a file on the disc containing the copyright notice.There is space in the disc for 37 characters of information.May be overridden using the -copyrightcommand line option.
ABST: The abstract information,often the name of a file on the disc containing an abstract.There is space in the disc for 37 characters of information.May be overridden using the -abstractcommand line option.
BIBL: The bibliographic information,often the name of a file on the disc containing a bibliography.There is space in the disc for 37 characters of information.May be overridden using the -biliocommand line option.
PREP: This should describe the preparer of the CDROM,usually with a mailing address and phone number.There is space on the disc for 128 characters of information.May be overridden using the -p command line option.
PUBL: This should describe the publisher of the CDROM,usually with a mailing address and phone number.There is space on the disc for 128 characters of information.May be overridden using the -P command line option.
SYSI: The System Identifier.There is space on the disc for 32 characters of information.May be overridden using the -sysidcommand line option.
VOLI: The Volume Identifier.There is space on the disc for 32 characters of information.May be overridden using the -V command line option.
VOLS: The Volume Set Name.There is space on the disc for 128 characters of information.May be overridden using the -volsetcommand line option.

mkisofscan also be configured at compile time with defaults for many of these fields.See the file defaults.h.

AUTHOR

mkisofsis not based on the standard mk*fs tools for unix, because we must generatea complete copy of an existing filesystem on a disk in the iso9660filesystem. The name mkisofs is probably a bit of a misnomer, since itnot only creates the filesystem, but it also populates it as well.

Eric Youngdale <ericy@gnu.ai.mit.edu> or <ericAATTandante.jic.com> wrote both theLinux isofs9660 filesystem and the mkisofs utility, and is currentlymaintaining them. The copyright for the mkisofs utility is held byYggdrasil Computing, Incorporated.

BUGS

Any files that have hard links to files not in the tree being copied to theiso9660 filessytem will have an incorrect file reference count.

There may be some other ones. Please, report them to the author.

FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS

Some sort of gui interface.

AVAILABILITY

mkisofsis available for anonymous ftp from tsx-11.mit.edu in/pub/linux/packages/mkisofs and many other mirror sites.

This document was created byman2html,using the manual pages.