-.TH IMAGEX "1" "May 2012" "imagex (wimlib) wimlib @VERSION@" "User Commands"
+.TH IMAGEX "1" "March 2013" "imagex (wimlib) wimlib @VERSION@" "User Commands"
.SH NAME
-imagex capture \- Create a new WIM file from a directory.
+imagex-capture, imagex-append \- Capture a WIM image from a directory tree
.SH SYNOPSIS
-\fBimagex capture\fR \fIDIRECTORY\fR \fIWIMFILE\fR [\fIIMAGE_NAME\fR] \
+\fBimagex capture\fR \fISOURCE\fR \fIWIMFILE\fR [\fIIMAGE_NAME\fR] \
+[\fIDESCRIPTION\fR] [\fIOPTION\fR]...
+.br
+\fBimagex append\fR \fISOURCE\fR \fIWIMFILE\fR [\fIIMAGE_NAME\fR] \
[\fIDESCRIPTION\fR] [\fIOPTION\fR]...
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
-Captures a WIM image from \fIDIRECTORY\fR and creates a new WIM archive,
-\fIWIMFILE\fR, that contains it. \fIDIRECTORY\fR becomes the root directory of
-the image.
+The \fBimagex capture\fR and \fBimagex append\fR commands create a Windows
+Imaging (WIM) image from a directory tree. The \fBimagex capture\fR command
+creates a new WIM file containing the captured image, while the \fBimagex
+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, \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.
\fIIMAGE_NAME\fR and \fIDESCRIPTION\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 \fIDIRECTORY\fR. If \fIDESCRIPTION\fR is not given, the
-description is taken to be empty.
+base name of \fISOURCE\fR. If \fIDESCRIPTION\fR is not given, no description is
+given to the new image.
+
+.SH NORMAL MODE
+
+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 normal image capture mode, we capture the following information 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 the normal image capture mode, we do \fInot\fR capture the following
+information from the directory tree:
+
+.IP \[bu] 4
+File permissions. The resulting WIM image will not contain any security
+descriptors because the format of the security descriptors is Windows-specific,
+and they cannot contain UNIX file modes. (Exception: see the \fB--unix-data\fR
+option.)
+
+.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.
+
+.SH NTFS MODE
+
+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 a 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, we capture the following types of information
+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 SOURCE LIST MODE
+
+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.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP 6
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.
-.TP
-\fB--compress\fR[=\fITYPE\fR]
-Specifies the compression type for the WIM file. \fITYPE\fR may be "none",
-"maximum", or "fast". By default, the compression type is "none". If \fB--compress\fR
-is specified but \fITYPE\fR is not, the compression type is taken to be
-"maximum", which is LZX compression. "fast" compression is XPRESS compression.
+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 \fBimagex append\fR.
.TP
-\fB--config\fR \fICONFIG_FILE\fR
-This option is currently unsupported.
+\fB--compress\fR=\fITYPE\fR
+Specifies the compression type for the new WIM file. This flag is only valid
+for \fBimagex capture\fR, since the compression mode for \fBimagex 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--flags\fR \fIEDITIONID\fR
-Specify a string to use in the <FLAGS> element of the XML data for the image.
+\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--norpfix
-This option is currently unsupported.
+\fB--rebuild\fR
+For \fBimagex 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 \fBimagex
+optimize\fR.
.TP
-\fB--verify\fR
-This option is currently unsupported.
+\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.
+Print the names of files and directories as they are captured, as well as a few
+other informational messages.
+.TP
+\fB--dereference\fR
+Follow symlinks; archive and dump the files they point to. (The default is to
+archive the symlinks themselves.) This flag is only valid in the normal image
+capture mode.
+.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 file
+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 file globs to
+exclude from capture, while the [ExclusionException] section specifies a list of
+file 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 match against a filename in any
+directory. Relative globs with multiple path components, as well as absolute
+globs, 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. However, globs with spaces in them currently must not be quoted.
+Empty lines are ignored.
+
+If this option is not specified the following default configuration file is
+used:
+
+.RS
+.RS
+.PP
+.nf
+[ExclusionList]
+\\$ntfs.log
+\\hiberfil.sys
+\\pagefile.sys
+\\System Volume Information
+\\RECYCLER
+\\Windows\\CSC
+
+[CompressionExclusionList]
+*.mp3
+*.zip
+*.cab
+\\WINDOWS\\inf\\*.pnf
+.RE
+.RE
+
+.TP
+\fB--unix-data\fR
+Store the UNIX owner, group, and mode of regular files, symbolic links, and
+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.
+.TP
+\fB--source-list\fR
+\fBimagex capture\fR and \fBimagex append\fR, as of wimlib 1.2.7, support a new
+option to create 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
+filenames. The first filename, 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 filename, 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 is as follows:
+
+.RS
+.RS
+.PP
+.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
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+.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 \fBimagex\fR always enforces this.
+
+\fBimagex\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.
+
+Unless \fB--rebuild\fR is specified, aborting an \fBimagex append\fR command
+mid-way through has a small chance of corrupting the WIM file. However, a
+precaution is taken against this, so it should be very unlikely. In the event
+of an aborted \fBimagex append\fR, \fBimagex optimize\fR may be run to remove
+extra data that may have been partially appended to the physical WIM file but
+not yet incorporated into the structure of the WIM.
+
+Capturing or appending an image happens in two main phases: (1) scanning the
+directory or NTFS volume to checksum all the files and determine the streams to
+be written, and (2) writing the new streams to the WIM file. Streams are not
+stored in memory after (1), since there could easily be gigabytes of data;
+instead, they are read again during step (2); however, duplicate streams in the
+image, and streams already existing in any other image in the WIM, are not read
+again. In the future, it may be possible to introduce the ability to capture an
+image with reading each file only one time, although this mode would have some
+limitations--- for example, a stream might be compressed only to be thrown away
+as a duplicate once it's been checksummed.
+
+\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
-.IP
-image capture boot boot.wim --compress=maximum --check
-.LP
-Create a new WIM 'boot.wim' from the directory 'boot', using LZX compression and
-including an integrity table.
+Create a new WIM 'mywim.wim' from the directory 'somedir', using LZX compression and
+including an integrity table:
+.RS
+.PP
+imagex capture somedir mywim.wim --compress=maximum --check
+.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.
+.RS
+.PP
+imagex append /dev/sda2 mywim.wim --check "Windows 7" "Warning: This operating
+system has been approved by Bill Gates"
+.RE
+.PP
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR imagex (1)
git://wimlib.net / wimlib / blobdiff