-.TH IMAGEX "1" "November 2012" "imagex (wimlib) wimlib @VERSION@" "User Commands"
+.TH IMAGEX "1" "December 2012" "imagex (wimlib) wimlib @VERSION@" "User Commands"
.SH NAME
imagex-mount, imagex-mountrw, imagex-unmount \- Mount and unmount an image from a WIM archive
[--streams-interface=\fIINTERFACE\fR] [--ref="\fIGLOB\fR"]
.br
\fBimagex mountrw\fR \fIWIMFILE\fR \fIIMAGE\fR \fIDIRECTORY\fR [--check]
-[--streams-interface=\fIINTERFACE\fR]
+[--streams-interface=\fIINTERFACE\fR] [--staging-dir=\fIDIR\fR]
.br
-\fBimagex unmount\fR \fIDIRECTORY\fR [--commit] [--check]
+\fBimagex unmount\fR \fIDIRECTORY\fR [--commit] [--check] [--rebuild]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
If wimlib was configured using the --without-fuse flag, then the \fBimagex
mount\fR, \fBimagex mountrw\fR, and \fBimagex unmount\fR commands will not work.
+You can mount multiple images from a WIM file read-only at the same time, but
+you can only mount one image at a time from a WIM read-write.
+
All files in the mounted WIM will be accessible regardless of whether there is a
security descriptor in the WIM associated with the file or not. New files or
directories created in a read-write mounted WIM will be created with no security
to set or get DOS names, file attributes, or security
descriptors in a mounted WIM.
+By default, changes to a read-write WIM are made in-place by appending to the
+WIM. This is nice for big WIM files, since the entire file doesn't have to be
+rebuilt to make a small change. But, if you are making many changes to a
+read-write mounted WIM, especially deleting large files, it is suggested to
+provide the \fB--rebuild\fR option to \fBimagex unmount\fR to force the WIM to
+be rebuilt, or else run \fBimagex optimize\fR on the WIM afterwards.
+
.SH MOUNT OPTIONS
+
.TP
\fB--check\fR
When reading the WIM, verify its integrity if it contains an integrity table.
.TP
\fB--streams-interface\fR=\fIINTERFACE\fR
-
This option is inspired by the ntfs-3g filesystem driver (see \fBntfs-3g\fR
(8)). It controls how alternate data streams, or named data streams, in WIM
files are made available.
aren't actually used much, even though they complicate the WIM file format
considerably. Normally, all you care about is the default or "unnamed" data
stream.
-
.TP
\fB--debug\fR
Turn on debugging information printed by the FUSE library, and do not fork into
the background.
-
.TP
\fB--ref\fR="\fIGLOB\fR"
File glob of additional split WIM parts that are part of the split WIM being
mounted. This option is valid for \fBimagex mount\fR but not \fBimagex
mountrw\fR. See \fBSPLIT_WIMS\fR.
+.TP
+\fB--staging-dir\fR=\fIDIR\fR
+Store temporary staging files in the directory \fIDIR\fR. Only valid for
+\fBimagex mountrw\fR.
.SH UNMOUNT OPTIONS
+
.TP
\fB--commit\fR
-Recreate the WIM file with the changes that have been made. Has no effect if
-the mount is read-only.
-.TP 6
+Update the WIM file with the changes that have been made. Has no effect if the
+mount is read-only.
+.TP
\fB--check\fR
When writing \fIWIMFILE\fR, include an integrity table. Has no effect if the
mount is read-only or if --commit was not specified.
+.TP
+\fB--rebuild\fR
+Rebuild the entire WIM rather than appending any 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. Even more space will be saved if the
+read-write mount resulted in streams being deleted from the WIM. Also see
+\fBimagex optimize\fR. Has no effect if the mount is read-only or if --commit
+was not specified.
.SH IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS
Since a WIM is an archive and not a filesystem, \fBimagex mountrw\fR creates a
-temporary staging directory to contain files that are created or modified. When
-the filesystem is unmounted with \fB--commit\fR, the WIM is rebuilt, merging in
-the staging files as needed. Then, the temporary staging directory is deleted.
-
-\fBimagex unmount\fR executes the \fBfusermount\fR (1) program, which should be
-installed as part of libfuse, to unmount the filesystem. It then uses a POSIX
-message queue (see \fBmq_overview\fR (7)) to communicate with the filesystem
-daemon (the instance of \fBimagex\fR that has mounted the WIM image) so that it
-can know whether whether changes are to be committed and whether an integrity
-table is to be included. A message is then sent from the filesystem daemon to
-unmounting process when the unmounting has been completed, and this message
-indicates whether the unmounting was successful or not.
-
-If the filesystem daemon has crashed or been killed, is possible for \fBimagex
-unmount\fR to wait a very long time before timing out. A solution to this
-problem may be implemented in the future.
+temporary staging directory to contain files that are created or modified. This
+directory is located in the same directory as \fIWIMFILE\fR by default, but the
+location can be set using the \fB--staging-dir\fR option. When the filesystem
+is unmounted with \fB--commit\fR, the WIM is modified in-place (or rebuild
+completely with \fB--rebuild\fR), merging in the staging files as needed. Then,
+the temporary staging directory is deleted.
+
+\fBimagex unmount\fR runs in a separate process from the process that previously
+ran \fBimagex mount\fR, and these two processes communicate using POSIX message
+queue. See \fIsrc/mount_image.c\fR in the sources for details. Note: As of wimlib
+v1.2.1, \fBimagex unmount\fR correctly fails with an error within a reasonable
+amount of time (1 second) if the filesystem daemon is abnormally terminated.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR imagex (1)
git://wimlib.net / wimlib / blobdiff