X-Git-Url: https://wimlib.net/git/?a=blobdiff_plain;ds=sidebyside;f=README.WINDOWS;h=88d68ffbd49d9e148c422f38e3dc46f3ae4d0a44;hb=3f5461f83982422f9dddcc3c03e137ae9d1e6feb;hp=a4968279c2f1e6abeabd9e4c0bfda2550f8600e7;hpb=118cdc5cac01aad79e3314bf92cbbd924d48860c;p=wimlib diff --git a/README.WINDOWS b/README.WINDOWS index a4968279..88d68ffb 100644 --- a/README.WINDOWS +++ b/README.WINDOWS @@ -1,63 +1,134 @@ - INTRODUCTION -wimlib 1.3.0 has added experimental support for Windows builds. The Windows -build consists of both the "wimlib" library (which can be built as a DLL) and -the "imagex" executable. + INTRODUCTION -The Windows build of wimlib uses native Win32 calls when appropriate to handle -alternate data streams, security descriptors, and reparse points. +wimlib is free and open source software that is available on both UNIX-like +systems and Windows. This file provides additional information specifically +about the Windows version of wimlib and the command line tool "wimlib-imagex" +that is distributed with it. It does not obsolete the generic README.txt, which +you should read too. -Mounting WIM files is not supported on Windows. Also please note that wimlib's -"imagex" is NOT intended to be command-line compatible with Microsoft's -"imagex", and wimlib is NOT intended to be API compatible with Microsoft's -WIMGAPI. They are similar, though. + WINDOWS DISTRIBUTION - NOTES ABOUT IMAGEX +The Windows distribution of wimlib is a ZIP file containing the following items: -"imagex capture", "imagex append", and "imagex apply" will work on Windows and -have the added advantage of saving and restoring alternate data streams, -security descriptors, and reparse points. + * wimlib-imagex.exe, a command-line tool to deal with WIM (.wim), split WIM + (.swm), and ESD (.esd) files that is inspired by Microsoft's ImageX and + DISM. This is a ready-to-run executable and not an installer. -"imagex delete", "imagex dir", "imagex export", "imagex info", "imagex join", -"imagex optimize", and "imagex split" are all portable and should work the same -way on Windows as on UNIX. + * Very short batch scripts (e.g. wimapply.cmd) which are shortcuts to the + corresponding wimlib-imagex commands (e.g. `wimlib-imagex apply'). -"imagex mount", "imagex mountrw", and "imagex unmount" will NOT work on Windows. + * The library itself in DLL format (libwim-15.dll). wimlib-imagex.exe + requires this to run. + * The documentation, including this file, the generic README.txt, and + PDF documentation for wimlib-imagex in the 'doc' folder. -So on Windows, why would you want to use wimlib's ImageX instead of Microsoft's? -Well, here are a few reasons: + * License files for all software included. These are all free software + licenses. COPYING.txt is the main license, and it refers to + COPYING.GPLv3.txt and COPYING.LGPLv3.txt. The other licenses are for + third-party software included in the library. -- wimlib offers fast multithreaded compression, so making WIM images can be much - faster. + * Development files in the 'devel' folder. These are only needed if you + are developing C or C++ applications that use wimlib. -- wimlib can correctly save and restore alternate data streams, which - Microsoft's ImageX sometimes captures incorrectly due to a bug. +Note that there are separate ZIP files for 32-bit (i686) and 64-bit (x86_64) +binaries. They are both fully supported, but you should prefer the 64-bit +binaries when possible as they can be noticeably faster. -- wimlib is free software, so you can modify and/or audit the source code. + WIMLIB-IMAGEX -See the man page for 'imagex' for more information. +wimlib-imagex supports most features of Microsoft's ImageX as well as some +features that are supported by DISM but not by ImageX. wimlib-imagex also +supports some features that neither ImageX nor DISM support. Some of the +advantages of wimlib-imagex compared to ImageX and DISM are: - BUILDING ON WINDOWS + * wimlib-imagex provides "extract" and "update" commands which allow + you to quickly work with WIM images without mounting them. -Actually doing the Windows build is a bit tricky, and I'd recommend you download -precompiled binaries from http://sourceforge.net/projects/wimlib/files/ instead. -I did it using MinGW-w64 on a Linux host, with the following configuration -command: + * wimlib-imagex provides an easy-to-use "optimize" command which removes + wasted space from a WIM file and optionally recompresses it with stronger + compression. -$ ./configure --host=i686-w64-mingw32 + * wimlib includes advanced implementations of all compression algorithms used + in WIM files. They usually outperform and outcompress their Microsoft + equivalents. -after having installed the required libraries: + * wimlib-imagex supports solid WIM files and LZMS compression, for example as + used in ESD (.esd) files. (These are partially supported by recent DISM + versions but not by ImageX.) -* mingw-w64-gettext -* mingw-w64-libiconv -* mingw-w64-libxml2 -* mingw-w64-winpthreads -* mingw-w64-zlib + * wimlib-imagex supports imaging a live Windows system. Just use the + --snapshot option. -Note: zlib and gettext are only necessary when required by the build of libxml2. + * In many cases, wimlib-imagex has simpler command-line syntax than either + ImageX or DISM. -Building wimlib using Cygwin is not supported. I was trying this for a while, -but I ran into some issues with mixing native Win32 functions and -Cygwin-provided functions, so I made it possible to do a native Win32 build -instead. + * Whenever possible, wimlib-imagex includes improved documentation and + informational output compared to Microsoft's software. + + * wimlib and wimlib-imagex are free software, so you can modify and/or audit + the source code. + +However, some limitations of wimlib-imagex compared to ImageX and DISM are: + + * On Windows, wimlib-imagex does not support mounting WIM images. + + * wimlib-imagex has no awareness of Windows "packages". + + ADDITIONAL NOTES + +It's recommended to use wimlib-imagex in scripts to avoid having to +interactively enter commands. However, note that wimlib-imagex is largely just +a command-line front-end for wimlib, and it's possible to use wimlib's API in +other front-ends or applications. Currently there is no official graphical user +interface available for wimlib or wimlib-imagex. However, an unofficial +Windows-only graphical user interface that provides a thin wrapper around +wimlib-imagex can be downloaded at +http://reboot.pro/files/file/485-wimlib-imagex-command-line-compiler/. + + BUILDING FROM SOURCE + +As with other open source software, advanced users may choose to build wimlib +from source, potentially with customizations. Currently, wimlib depends on +MinGW-w64 for its Windows support; Visual Studio is not supported. The Windows +binaries can be cross-compiled on Linux, or built on Windows using MSYS2 or +Cygwin. The following instructions show the MSYS2 method. + +First, install MSYS2 by running the installer from https://www.msys2.org/. + +Then, open any MSYS2 shell and run the following command: + + pacman -Syu --noconfirm + +After that, open any MSYS2 shell again and run the following commands: + + pacman -Syu --noconfirm git + git clone git://wimlib.net/wimlib + +Note: By default the git repository will be on the "master" branch, which is the +latest development snapshot. Optionally, you can check out a specific version, +e.g. 'cd wimlib && git checkout v1.14.0'. For old versions, please refer to the +documentation for that version, as things may have changed. It is also possible +to use a release tarball (e.g. wimlib-1.14.0.tar.gz) instead of the git repo. + +Finally, to actually do a build, close the MSYS2 shell you have open, then open +one of the following from the Start menu: + + * "MSYS2 MINGW64" - for x86_64 binaries, built with gcc + * "MSYS2 CLANG64" - for x86_64 binaries, built with clang + * "MSYS2 MINGW32" - for i686 binaries, built with gcc + * "MSYS2 CLANG32" - for i686 binaries, built with clang + * "MSYS2 CLANGARM64" - for ARM64 binaries (EXPERIMENTAL) + +(If unsure, use "MSYS2 MINGW64".) Then run the following commands: + + cd wimlib + tools/windows-build.sh --install-prerequisites + +The script will automatically download and install the packages needed to build +wimlib in the chosen MSYS2 environment, then build wimlib. The output will be +in a folder named similarly to "wimlib-1.14.0-windows-x86_64-bin". Note that +your "home" folder within MSYS2 is C:\msys64\home\%USERNAME% by default. +Therefore, the full path to the output folder will be similar to +C:\msys64\home\%USERNAME%\wimlib\wimlib-1.14.0-windows-x86_64-bin.