.TH IMAGEX "1" "March 2013" "imagex (wimlib) wimlib @VERSION@" "User Commands"
.SH NAME
-imagex-capture, imagex-append \- Capture a WIM image from a directory tree
+imagex-capture, imagex-append \- Create or append a WIM image
.SH SYNOPSIS
\fBimagex capture\fR \fISOURCE\fR \fIWIMFILE\fR [\fIIMAGE_NAME\fR] \
creates a new WIM file containing the captured image, while the \fBimagex
append\fR command appends the captured image to an existing WIM file.
+Note: this man page primarily documents the UNIX behavior. See \fBWINDOWS
+VERSION\fR for information specific to the Windows build of wimlib.
+
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, \fISOURCE\fR is a regular file or block device, it is
-interpreted as a NTFS volume from which a WIM image is to be captured. Still
+directory. Alternatively, if \fISOURCE\fR is a regular file or block device, it
+is interpreted as a NTFS volume from which a WIM image is to be captured. Still
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.
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 normal image capture mode, we capture the following information from the
-directory tree:
+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
.PP
-However, in the normal image capture mode, we do \fInot\fR capture the following
-information from the directory tree:
+However, in this mode, the following information is \fInot\fR captured from the
+directory tree:
.IP \[bu] 4
File permissions. The resulting WIM image will not contain any security
.IP \[bu]
No alternate data streams will be captured, since these do not exist on
POSIX-compliant filesystems. The resulting WIM image will not contain any
-alternate data streams.
+alternate data streams. (Exception: see the \fB--unix-data\fR option.)
.SH NTFS MODE
\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, we capture the following types of information
+More specifically, in this mode, the following types of information are captured
from the NTFS volume:
.IP \[bu] 4
Yet another capture mode is entered when the \fB--source-list\fR option is
given. It is essentially an extension of the \fBNORMAL MODE\fR that allows
-multiple files or directories to be incorporated into a WIM image in a single
-command. See the documentation for \fB--source-list\fR below.
+multiple files or directories to be incorporated into a WIM image using a single
+\fBimagex capture\fR or \fBimagex append\fR command. See the documentation for
+\fB--source-list\fR below.
+
+.SH WINDOWS VERSION
+
+This section documents the differences between \fBimagex capture\fR and
+\fBimagex append\fR in the Windows builds of wimlib versus the rest of this man
+page, which is written to document UNIX version.
+
+\fBimagex capture\fR and \fBimagex append\fR do not have separate "normal" and
+"NTFS" modes on Windows. There is simply one mode, and it uses the Windows API
+to capture NTFS-specific information, including alternate data streams, reparse
+points, hard links, and file attributes. So, you essentially get the advantages
+of the "NTFS mode" documented above, but you can capture a WIM image from any
+directory, not just an entire NTFS volume. This is mostly the same behavior as
+Microsoft's ImageX.
+
+The \fB--source-list\fR option is supported on Windows, but the
+\fB--dereference\fR option is not.
+
+Other than the differences documented in this section, the Windows version
+should be essentially equivalent to the UNIX version. However, one additional
+thing to note is that wimlib's Windows version of ImageX is NOT written to be
+command-line compatible with Microsoft's version of ImageX, although they are
+very similar.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP 6
directories. 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 \fBimagex\fR to archive files on
-UNIX. Microsoft's software will not understand this special information.
+UNIX. Microsoft's software will not understand this special
+information.
.TP
\fB--source-list\fR
\fBimagex capture\fR and \fBimagex append\fR, as of wimlib 1.2.7, support a new
Filenames containing whitespace may be quoted with either single quotes or
double quotes. Quotes may not be escaped.
-Empty lines, and lines beginning with '#' followed by optional whitespace, are
-ignored.
+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
+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.
+The NTFS capture mode cannot be used with \fB--source-list\fR, as only capturing
+a full NTFS volume is supported.
.SH NOTES
\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
+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
.RE
.PP
Append an image to the WIM we just captured, but do it from a NTFS volume on the
-partition /dev/sda2, and name the image "Windows 7" and give it a description.
-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.
+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 append /dev/sda2 mywim.wim --check "Windows 7" "Warning: This operating
-system has been approved by Bill Gates"
+imagex append /dev/sda2 mywim.wim --check "Windows 7"
.RE
.PP
git://wimlib.net / wimlib / blobdiff