WINDOWS DISTRIBUTION
-For the convenience of Windows users, the Windows distribution of wimlib is a
-ZIP file containing the following items:
+The Windows distribution of wimlib is a ZIP file containing the following items:
- * wimlib-imagex.exe, a command-line tool to deal with WIM (.wim) and split WIM
- (.swm) files that is similar to Microsoft's ImageX. This is a ready-to-run
- executable and not an installer.
+ * 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.
* Very short batch scripts (e.g. wimapply.cmd) which are shortcuts to the
corresponding wimlib-imagex commands (e.g. `wimlib-imagex apply').
* The documentation, including this file, the generic README.txt, and
PDF documentation for wimlib-imagex in the 'doc' directory.
- * Various DLL (.dll) files, including the wimlib library itself
- (libwim-9.dll). The C header wimlib.h is not included; download the source
- if you want it.
+ * The library itself (libwim-15.dll). The C header wimlib.h is not
+ included; download the source if you want it.
* License files for all software included. These are all free software
licenses.
+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 noticably faster.
+
WIMLIB-IMAGEX
-wimlib-imagex provides most features of Microsoft's ImageX, plus additional
-features. First, the main limitations of wimlib-imagex compared to Microsoft's
-ImageX are the following:
+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:
- * Mounting images from a WIM file is not supported on Windows.
+ * wimlib-imagex provides "extract" and "update" commands which allow
+ you to quickly work with WIM images without mounting them.
-However, wimlib-imagex provides a number of advantages compared to Microsoft's
-ImageX, including but not limited to the following:
+ * wimlib-imagex provides an easy-to-use "optimize" command which removes
+ wasted space from a WIM file and optionally recompresses it with stronger
+ compression.
- * wimlib-imagex provides "extract" and "update" commands that can be used to
- work around the lack of mount support. These commands are very fast
- compared to mounting and unmounting images with Microsoft's ImageX, so you
- may prefer them anyway.
+ * wimlib includes advanced implementations of all compression algorithms used
+ in WIM files. They usually outperform and outcompress their Microsoft
+ equivalents.
- * wimlib-imagex provides an easy-to-use "optimize" command to remove wasted
- space from WIM files.
+ * 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.)
- * In some cases, wimlib-imagex uses simpler command-line syntax. For
- example, integrity tables are treated as persistent, and in some cases image
- names need not be explicitly specified.
+ * In many cases, wimlib-imagex has simpler command-line syntax than either
+ ImageX or DISM.
* Whenever possible, wimlib-imagex includes improved documentation and
informational output compared to Microsoft's software.
- * On Windows, wimlib-imagex can correctly save and restore some combinations
- of data that Microsoft's ImageX runs into bugs on --- for example,
- uncompressed files in compressed directories, or files with alternate data
- streams and multiple hard links.
-
* 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
-Currently there is no graphical user interface available for wimlib or
-wimlib-imagex. 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.
+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, beta,
+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/.
+
+If you want to build your own Windows binaries from source, MinGW-w64 is
+required. Configure with --host=i686-w64-mingw32 or --host=x86_64-w64-mingw32.
+You will need to satisfy the third-party dependencies (libxml2, winpthreads, and
+win-iconv), which in the official releases are statically linked into the DLL.
git://wimlib.net / wimlib / blobdiff