-.TH IMAGEX 1 "April 2013" "@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ @VERSION@" "User Commands"
+.TH IMAGEX 1 "May 2013" "@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ @VERSION@" "User Commands"
.SH NAME
@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ \- Create, modify, extract, mount, or unmount a WIM (Windows Imaging Format) archive
.SH SYNOPSIS
\fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ unmount\fR \fIarguments...\fR
.br
\fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ update\fR \fIarguments...\fR
-
.SH DESCRIPTION
-\fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@\fR is able to deal with archives in the Windows Imaging Format (.wim
-files). Its interface is meant to be similar to Microsoft's imagex.exe program.
-
+\fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@\fR is able to deal with archives in the Windows Imaging
+Format (.wim files). Its interface is meant to be similar to Microsoft's
+imagex.exe program.
+.PP
To do its work, \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@\fR uses \fBwimlib\fR, a library which
provides interfaces for manipulating WIM archives. You could wimlib in your own
programs if you wanted to. wimlib's public interface is documented.
-
.SH COMMANDS
-
There is a separate manual page for each \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@\fR command.
-
.SH SUPPORTED FEATURES
-
The following general features are currently supported (note: this is not a
complete list; also, certain features, such as mounting, are supported on UNIX
but not Windows):
-
-.IP \[bu] 3
+.IP \[bu] 4
Create a stand-alone WIM from a directory or NTFS volume (\fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ capture\fR)
.IP \[bu]
Append a directory or NTFS volume onto a stand-alone WIM as a new image (\fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@
WIM integrity table is supported (\fB--check\fR option to many commands)
.IP \[bu]
WIM XML data (parsed and written using \fBlibxml\fR(3))
-
.SH DIFFERENCES FROM MICROSOFT IMAGEX
-
-While similar to Microsoft's "imagex.exe" program, this program is designed for
-UNIX-based systems and by the nature of the platform cannot be exactly the same
-as Microsoft's version. In addition, I have added additional useful features
-when appropriate.
-
-.IP \[bu] 4
-Because Microsoft designed the WIM file format to accomodate Windows-specific
-and NTFS-specific features, wimlib must have two separate image capture and
-application modes (although the \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@\fR subcommands for the modes are the
-same): one for general image capture and application, and one for the capture or
-application of an image specifically from/to an NTFS volume.
-
-Note: the above applies to UNIX builds. On the Windows builds of wimlib, there
-is only one image capture and application mode, similar to Microsoft's ImageX.
-
+Although \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@\fR is similar to Microsoft's implementation of
+ImageX, there are a number of key differences between the two programs:
+.IP \[bu] 6
+\fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@\fR is supported on both UNIX-based systems and Windows;
+thus, much functionality was designed around this.
+.IP \[bu]
+The command-line syntax of the two programs is similar but not exactly the same.
+.IP \[bu]
+On UNIX, because Microsoft designed the WIM file format to accomodate
+Windows-specific and NTFS-specific features, wimlib must have two separate image
+capture and application modes (although the \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@\fR subcommands
+for the modes are the same): one for general image capture and application, and
+one for the capture or application of an image specifically from/to an NTFS
+volume.
+.IP ""
+Note: the above applies to UNIX builds of \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@\fR. On the
+Windows build, there is only one image capture and application mode, similar to
+Microsoft's ImageX.
.IP \[bu]
Microsoft's version has some weird limitations, like it won't let you extract a
WIM on a shared folder, and it requires some commands to be run only from
-Windows PE and not from regular Windows. This version does not have these
-unusual limitations.
-
+Windows PE and not from regular Windows. \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@\fR does not have
+these unusual limitations.
.IP \[bu]
There are bugs in Microsoft's WIM library and I obviously have not included the
same bugs in wimlib, although in some cases I have had to work around bugs for
compatibility purposes.
-
.IP \[bu]
\fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@\fR offers the extra command \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ optimize\fR,
which lets you easily remove wasted space in a WIM (which can arise after
a WIM image is appended or mounted read-write).
-
.IP \[bu]
\fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@\fR also offers the command \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ join\fR, which lets you
easily join the parts of a split WIM.
-
.IP \[bu]
\fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@\fR offers the extra commands \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@
extract\fR and \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ update\fR, which let you quickly extract
files from or make changes to a WIM image without mounting it.
-
.IP \[bu]
\fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ apply\fR supports keeping files hard-linked or symlinked
across WIM images when extracted from a WIM. So you can, for example, extract
different versions of Windows from an install.wim without using much extra
space. (Note: this functionality is only available in UNIX builds of wimlib.)
-
.IP \[bu]
\fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ capture\fR supports combining multiple separate directories
and files together in a configurable way to create a WIM image.
-
.IP \[bu]
wimlib's XPRESS compressor is better than Microsoft's.
-
+.IP \[bu]
+wimlib's LZX compressor is worse than Microsoft's.
.IP \[bu]
wimlib supports multithreaded compression, which can make it much faster to
create compressed WIM files.
-
.IP \[bu]
\fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ capture\fR supports a special mode where UNIX file modes,
owners, and groups are stored. (Note: this functionality is only available in
UNIX builds.)
-
.IP \[bu]
\fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ mount\fR and \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ mountrw\fR are much faster than
Microsoft's versions for some reason. I don't know what they have their program
do that takes so long to simply set up a mountpoint. (Note: this functionality
is only available in UNIX builds.)
-
.IP \[bu]
\fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@ mount\fR supports mounting an image from a split WIM, but
Microsoft's software does not. (Note: this functionality is only available in
UNIX builds.)
-
.SH LOCALES AND CHARACTER ENCODINGS
-
-On Windows, wimlib 1.3.2 and later works in UTF-16LE, and there should be no
-problems with character encodings.
-
+On Windows, wimlib works in UTF-16LE, and there should be no problems with
+character encodings.
+.PP
On UNIX, wimlib works primarily in the locale-dependent multibyte encoding,
which you are strongly recommended to set to UTF-8 to avoid any problems.
-
.SH WARNING
-
Note: \fBwimlib\fR and \fB@IMAGEX_PROGNAME@\fR are experimental. Use Microsoft's
imagex.exe if you have to make sure your WIM files are made "correctly". Feel
free to submit a bug report if you find a bug.
-
+.PP
Some parts of the WIM file format are poorly documented or even completely
undocumented, so I've just had to do the best I can to read and write WIMs in a
way that appears to be compatible with Microsoft's software.
-
.SH REPORTING BUGS
-
Report bugs to ebiggers3@gmail.com.
-
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR @IMAGEX_PROGNAME@-append (1),
.BR @IMAGEX_PROGNAME@-apply (1),
git://wimlib.net / wimlib / blobdiff