Update wimlib-imagex documentation

[wimlib] / doc / imagex-capture.1.in

.TH IMAGEX "1" "April 2013" "@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ @VERSION@" "User Commands"
.SH NAME
@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@-capture, @IMAGEX_PROGNAME@-append \- Create or append a WIM image

.SH SYNOPSIS
\fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ capture\fR \fISOURCE\fR \fIWIMFILE\fR [\fIIMAGE_NAME\fR] \
[\fIIMAGE_DESCRIPTION\fR] [\fIOPTION\fR]...
.br
\fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ append\fR \fISOURCE\fR \fIWIMFILE\fR [\fIIMAGE_NAME\fR] \
[\fIIMAGE_DESCRIPTION\fR] [\fIOPTION\fR]...

.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP

The \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ capture\fR and \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ append\fR commands
create a Windows Imaging (WIM) image from a directory tree.  The
\fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ capture\fR command creates a new WIM file containing the
captured image, while the \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ append\fR command appends the
captured image to an existing WIM file.

A WIM image is an independent directory tree in the WIM file.  A WIM file may
contain any number of separate images.  However, files are stored only one time
in the entire WIM, regardless of how many images the file appears in.

\fISOURCE\fR specifies the location of the files to create the new WIM image
from.  If \fISOURCE\fR is a directory, the WIM image is captured from that
directory.   Alternatively, if the \fB--source-list\fR option is given,
\fISOURCE\fR is interpreted as a file that itself provides a list of
files and directories to include in the new WIM image.  Still
alternatively, only on UNIX builds of wimlib  if \fISOURCE\fR is a
regular file or block device, it is interpreted as an NTFS volume from
which a WIM image is to be captured. 

\fIIMAGE_NAME\fR and \fIIMAGE_DESCRIPTION\fR specify the name and description of
the new image.  If \fIIMAGE_NAME\fR is not given, it is taken to be the same as
the base name of \fISOURCE\fR.  If \fIIMAGE_DESCRIPTION\fR is not given, no
description is given to the new image.

.SH NORMAL MODE (UNIX)

This section documents how files are captured from a directory on UNIX.  See
\fBWINDOWS VERSION\fR for the corresponding documentation for the Windows
version.

On UNIX, the "normal" image capture mode is entered when \fISOURCE\fR specifies
a directory.  The WIM image will be captured from the directory tree rooted at
this directory.  The directory may be on any type of filesystem.

In this mode, the following information is captured from the directory tree:

.IP \[bu] 4
The "normal" name and contents of each file and directory
.IP \[bu]
File and directory creation, access, and modification timestamps to the nearest
100 nanoseconds, if supported by the underlying filesystem
.IP \[bu]
Hard links and symbolic links

.PP

However, in this mode, the following information is \fInot\fR captured from the
directory tree:

.IP \[bu] 4
UNIX file owners, groups, and modes.  The resulting WIM image will contain no
security information (file permissions).  (Exception: see the \fB--unix-data\fR
option.)
.IP \[bu]
Extended attributes.

.SH NTFS MODE (UNIX)

This section documents how files are captured from an NTFS volume image on UNIX.
See \fBWINDOWS VERSION\fR for the corresponding documentation for the Windows
version.

On UNIX, a special image capture mode is entered when \fISOURCE\fR is a regular
file or block device.  \fISOURCE\fR is interpreted as an NTFS volume and opened
using libntfs-3g.  If successful, a WIM image is captured containing the
contents of the NTFS volume, including NTFS-specific data.

Please note that the NTFS image capture mode is \fInot\fR entered if
\fISOURCE\fR is a directory, even if an NTFS filesystem is mounted on
\fISOURCE\fR.  You must specify the NTFS volume itself (and it must be
unmounted, and you must have permission to read from it).

More specifically, in this mode, the following types of information are captured
from the NTFS volume:

.IP \[bu] 4
All data streams of all files, including the un-named data stream as well as all
named data streams.
.IP \[bu]
Reparse points, including symbolic links, junction points, and other reparse
points.
.IP \[bu]
File and directory creation, access, and modification timestamps from NTFS
inodes (these have a resolution of 100 nanoseconds).
.IP \[bu]
The security descriptor for each NTFS inode.
.IP \[bu]
File attribute flags.
.IP \[bu]
All names of all files, including names in the Win32 namespace, DOS namespace,
Win32+DOS namespace, and POSIX namespace.  This includes hard links.

.SH WINDOWS VERSION

The Windows versions of \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ capture\fR and \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@
append\fR act similarly to the corresponding commands of Microsoft's ImageX.
For best results, the directory being captured should be on an NTFS volume and
you should be running with Administrator privileges; however, non-NTFS
filesystems and running without Administrator privileges are also supported.

On Windows, \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ capture\fR and \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ append\fR
try to archive as much data as possible.  This includes:

.IP \[bu] 4
All data streams of all files.  This includes the default file contents, as well
as named data streams if supported by the filesystem and if the version of
Windows is Vista or later.
.IP \[bu]
Reparse points, including symbolic links, junction points, and other reparse
points, if supported by the underlying filesystem.  (Note: see
\fB--rpfix\fR and \fB--norpfix\fR for documentation on how absolute symbolic
links and junctions are captured.)
.IP \[bu]
File and directory creation, access, and modification timestamps to the nearest
100 nanoseconds.
.IP \[bu]
Security descriptors, if supported by the filesystem and \fB--no-acls\fR is not
specified.  Furthermore, unless \fB--strict-acls\fR is specified, the security
descriptor for individual files or directories may be omitted or only partially
captured if the user does not have permission to read them.
.IP \[bu]
File attributes, including hidden, sparse, compressed, encrypted, etc.
Encrypted files will be stored in encrypted form rather than in plain text.
.IP \[bu]
DOS names (8.3) names of files; however, the failure to read them is not
considered an error condition.
.IP \[bu]
Hard links, excluding directory hard links (which aren't supposed to exist
anyway).

.SH OPTIONS
.TP 6
\fB--boot\fR
Specifies that the new image is to be made the bootable image of the WIM archive.
.TP
\fB--check\fR
Include an integrity table in the new WIM file or the modified WIM file.  If
this option is not specified, no integrity table is included in \fIWIMFILE\fR,
even if there was one before in the case of \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ append\fR.
.TP
\fB--compress\fR=\fITYPE\fR
Specifies the compression type for the new WIM file.  This flag is only valid
for \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ capture\fR, since the compression mode for
\fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ append\fR must be the same as that of the existing WIM.
\fITYPE\fR may be "none", "maximum", or "fast".  By default, it is "fast".

You may also specify the actual names of the compression algorithms, "XPRESS"
and "LZX", instead of "fast" and "maximum", respectively.
.TP
\fB--threads\fR=\fINUM_THREADS\fR
Number of threads to use for compressing data.  Default: autodetect (number of
processors).  Note: if creating or appending to an uncompressed WIM, additional
threads will not be used, regardless of this parameter, since no compression
needs to be done in this case.
.TP
\fB--rebuild\fR
For \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ append\fR: rebuild the entire WIM rather than appending the new
data to the end of it.  Rebuilding the WIM is slower, but will save a little bit
of space that would otherwise be left as a hole in the WIM.  Also see \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@
optimize\fR.
.TP
\fB--flags\fR=\fIEDITIONID\fR
Specify a string to use in the <FLAGS> element of the XML data for the new
image.
.TP
\fB--verbose\fR
Print the names of files and directories as they are captured.
.TP
\fB--dereference\fR
(UNIX only) Follow symbolic links and archive the files they point to, rather
than archiving the links themselves.
.TP
\fB--config\fR=\fIFILE\fR
Specifies a configuration file for capturing the new image.  The configuration
file specifies files that are to be treated specially during the image capture.

The format of the configuration file is a number of sections containing path
globs one per line, where each section begins with the tag [ExclusionList],
[ExclusionException], [CompressionExclusionList], or [AlignmentList].
Currently, only the [ExclusionList] and [ExclusionException] sections are
implemented.  The [ExclusionList] section specifies a list of path globs to
exclude from capture, while the [ExclusionException] section specifies a list of
path globs to include in the capture even if the matched file or directory name
also appears in the [ExclusionList].

Relative globs with only one path component (e.g. *.mp3) match against a filename in any
directory.  Relative globs with multiple path components (e.g. dir/file),
as well as absolute globs (e.g. /dir/file), are treated as paths starting at the
root directory of capture, or the root of the NTFS volume for NTFS capture mode.
If a directory is matched by a glob in the [ExclusionList], the entire directory
tree rooted at that directory is excluded from the capture, unless
\fB--dereference\fR is specified and there is another path into that directory
through a symbolic link.

For compatibility with Windows, the path separators in the globs may be either
forward slashes or backslashes, and the line separators may be either UNIX-style
or DOS-style.  Globs with spaces in them must be quoted, and leading and
trailing whitespace is not significant.  Empty lines and lines beginning with
'#' or whitespace followed by '#' are ignored.

Paths may not have drive letters in them, as they are all relative to the root
of capture and not absolute external paths.

If this option is not specified the following default configuration file is
used:

.RS
.RS
.nf
[ExclusionList]
\\$ntfs.log
\\hiberfil.sys
\\pagefile.sys
"\\System Volume Information"
\\RECYCLER
\\Windows\\CSC
.RE
.RE
.fi

.TP
\fB--unix-data\fR
(UNIX only) Store the UNIX owner, group, and mode of all captured files.  This
is done by adding a special alternate data stream to each directory entry that
contains this information.  Please note that this flag is for convenience only,
in case you want to use \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@\fR to archive files on UNIX.
Microsoft's software will not understand this special information.
.TP
\fB--no-acls\fR
Do not capture files' security descriptors.  This option is available in the
Windows version, as well as on UNIX in NTFS capture mode.
.TP
\fB--strict-acls\fR
(Windows only) Fail immediately if the full security descriptor of any file
cannot be read.  The default behavior without this option is to first try
omitting the SACL from the security descriptor, then to try omitting the
security descriptor entirely.  The purpose of this is to capture as much data as
possible without always requiring Administrator privileges.  However, if you
desire that all security descriptors be captured exactly, you may wish to
provide this option, although the Administrator should have permission to read
everything anyway.
.TP
\fB--rpfix\fR, \fB--norpfix\fR
Set whether to fix targets of absolute symbolic links (reparse points in Windows
terminology) or not.  When enabled (\fB--rpfix\fR), absolute symbolic links that
point inside the directory tree being captured will be adjusted to be absolute
relative to the root of the directory tree being captured.  In addition,
absolute symbolic links that point outside the directory tree being captured
will be ignored and not be captured at all.  When disabled (\fB--norpfix\fR),
absolute symbolic links will be captured exactly as is.

The default behavior for \fBimagex capture\fR is equivalent to \fB--rpfix\fR.
The default behavior for \fBimagex append\fR will be \fB--rpfix\fR if reparse
point fixups have previously been done on \fIWIMFILE\fR, otherwise
\fB--norpfix\fR.

In the case of a multi-source capture, (\fB--source-list\fR specified), passing
\fB--norpfix\fR is recommended.  Otherwise, reparse point fixups will be
disabled on all capture sources destined for non-root locations in the WIM
image, while capture sources destined for the WIM root will get the default
behavior from the previous paragraph.
.TP
\fB--source-list\fR
\fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ capture\fR and \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ append\fR support
creating a WIM image from multiple files or directories.  When
\fB--source-list\fR is specified, the \fISOURCE\fR argument specifies the name
of a text file, each line of which is either 1 or 2 whitespace separated file
paths.  The first file path, the source, specifies the path to a file or
directory to capture into the WIM image.  It may be either absolute or relative
to the current working directory.  The second file path, if provided, is the
target and specifies the path  in the WIM image that this file or directory will
be saved as.  Leading and trailing slashes are ignored.  "/" indicates that the
directory is to become the root of the WIM image.  If not specified, the target
string defaults to the same as the source string.

An example source list file is as follows:

.RS
.RS
.nf
# Make the WIM image from the 'winpe' directory
winpe   /

# Send the 'overlay' directory to '/overlay' in the WIM image
overlay /overlay

# Overlay a separate directory directly on the root of the WIM image.
# This is only legal if there are no conflicting files.
/data/stuff     /
.RE
.fi

Subdirectories in the WIM are created as needed.  Multiple source directories
may share the same target, which implies an overlay; however, an error is issued
if the same file appears in different overlays to the same directory.

File paths containing whitespace may be quoted with either single quotes or
double quotes.  Quotes may not be escaped.

Lines consisting only of whitespace and lines beginning with '#' preceded by
optional whitespace are ignored.

As a special case, if \fISOURCE\fR is "-", the source list is read from standard
input rather than an external file.

The NTFS capture mode cannot be used with \fB--source-list\fR, as only capturing
a full NTFS volume is supported.

.SH NOTES

\fBimage append\fR does not support appending an image to a split WIM.

The different capture modes only specify the data that is captured and don't
specify a special WIM format.  A WIM file can contain images captured using
different modes.  However, all images in a WIM must have the same compression
type, and \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@\fR always enforces this.

\fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@\fR writes WIMs having the version number 0x10d00 and a compressed
stream chunk size of 32768.  The only WIMs I've seen that are different from
this are some pre-Vista WIMs that had a different version number.

It is safe to abort an \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ append\fR command partway through;
however, after doing this, it is recommended to run \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@
optimize\fR to remove any data that was appended to the physical WIM file but
not yet incorporated into the structure of the WIM.

\fISOURCE\fR may be a symbolic link to a directory rather than a directory
itself.  However, additional symbolic links in subdirectories, or in additional
source directories not destined for the WIM image root (with
\fB--source-list\fR), are not dereferenced unless \fB--dereference\fR is
specified.

.SH EXAMPLES
Create a new WIM 'mywim.wim' from the directory 'somedir', using LZX compression and
including an integrity table:
.RS
.PP
@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ capture somedir mywim.wim --compress=maximum --check
.RE
.PP
Append an image to the WIM we just captured, but do it from an NTFS volume on the
partition /dev/sda2 and name the image "Windows 7".  You do not need to specify
the compression type, because the WIM already is using LZX compression and this
cannot be changed.  You need to specify \fB--check\fR if you don't want the
integrity table to be discarded.
.RS
.PP
@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ append /dev/sda2 mywim.wim --check "Windows 7"
.RE
.PP

.SH SEE ALSO
.BR @IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ (1)