X-Git-Url: https://wimlib.net/git/?p=wimlib;a=blobdiff_plain;f=README.WINDOWS;h=c54a773bedab3cbaed3fca4a2003fd86da885582;hp=d240b7b77cc86a7ed518e1737abbbf47546c19cf;hb=088dff37aa334c218e1cac96cc847f5dd14f7124;hpb=23251dc6fc79e1a9277ba49fbf3159421efa54f6 diff --git a/README.WINDOWS b/README.WINDOWS index d240b7b7..c54a773b 100644 --- a/README.WINDOWS +++ b/README.WINDOWS @@ -9,61 +9,165 @@ you should read too. 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 library itself in DLL format (libwim-15.dll). wimlib-imagex.exe + requires this to run. + * 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. - * License files for all software included. These are all free software - licenses. + licenses. COPYING.txt is the main license, and it refers to + COPYING.GPLv3.txt and COPYING.LGPLv3.txt. The other licenses are for + third-party software included in the library. + + * Development files in the 'devel' directory. These are only needed if you + are developing C or C++ applications that use wimlib. + +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 noticeably faster. WIMLIB-IMAGEX -wimlib-imagex provides most features of Microsoft's ImageX, plus additional -features. Perhaps the main limitation is that mounting images from a WIM file -is not supported on Windows. However, wimlib-imagex provides a number of -advantages compared to Microsoft's ImageX, including but not limited to 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: + + * wimlib-imagex provides "extract" and "update" commands which allow + you to quickly work with WIM images without mounting them. + + * 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. + * wimlib-imagex supports imaging a live Windows system. Just use the + --snapshot option. + + * 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/. + + BUILDING FROM SOURCE + +As with other open source software, advanced users may choose to build wimlib +from source, potentially with customizations. Although wimlib's build system is +designed for UNIX-like systems and is easiest to use on Linux, it's possible to +build Windows binaries on Windows using Cygwin with MinGW. To do this, follow +the instructions below. For the sake of example, I'll assume you are building a +64-bit version of wimlib v1.11.0. + +Run the Cygwin installer, available from https://www.cygwin.com/setup-x86.exe. +When you get to the package selection screen, choose the following additional +packages from category "Devel": + + - make + - mingw64-x86_64-binutils + - mingw64-x86_64-gcc-g++ + - mingw64-x86_64-libxml2 + - mingw64-x86_64-pkg-config + - mingw64-x86_64-winpthreads + +Download wimlib's source code from https://wimlib.net/downloads/wimlib-1.11.0.tar.gz. + +Start a Cygwin terminal and run the following commands: + + cd /cygdrive/c/Users/example/Downloads # (or wherever you downloaded the source to) + tar xf wimlib-1.11.0.tar.gz + cd wimlib-1.11.0 + ./configure --host=x86_64-w64-mingw32 + make + +If successful, the new binaries "libwim-15.dll" and "wimlib-imagex.exe" will +have been produced in the .libs directory. + +By default the binaries are built with debug symbols. If desired, you can use +x86_64-w64-mingw32-strip to strip them. + +libwim-15.dll will be linked to several other DLLs which you will need as well: + + - libwinpthread-1.dll + - libxml2-2.dll, which also requires: + - iconv.dll + - liblzma-5.dll + - zlib1.dll + +These DLLs can be found in "C:\cygwin\usr\x86_64-w64-mingw32\sys-root\mingw\bin" +and must be placed alongside libwim-15.dll for it to run portably. But see +below for an alternative. + +Building 32-bit binaries is very similar, but you'll need to replace "x86_64" +with "i686" everywhere in the above instructions, and libwim-15.dll will also +depend on libgcc_s_sjlj-1.dll. Note that you can build both 32-bit and 64-bit +binaries from the same Cygwin installation, provided that you install both the +mingw64-i686-* and mingw64-x86_64-* packages; and you can run the Cygwin setup +program to install more packages at any time. + +In the official binary releases from wimlib.net, libwim-15.dll's dependent +libraries are linked in statically rather than dynamically, so it does not +depend on any DLLs other than standard Windows DLLs. If you want to do this, +install the following additional Cygwin packages: + + - p7zip (category "Archiver") + - autoconf (category "Devel") + - automake (category "Devel") + - git (category "Devel") + - libtool (category "Devel") + - nasm (category "Devel") + - pkg-config (category "Devel") + - ghostscript (category "Graphics") + - wget (category "Web") + +Then, in a Cygwin terminal, clone the git repository, checkout the wimlib +version you want, bootstrap the repository, and run the Windows release script: + + git clone git://wimlib.net/wimlib + cd wimlib + git checkout v1.11.0 + ./bootstrap + ./tools/make-windows-release x86_64 + +The release script will download and build libxml2 and winpthreads as static +libraries, then build wimlib, then do some final tasks and bundle the resulting +files up into a ZIP archive. If successful you'll end up with a file like +"wimlib-1.11.0-windows-x86_64-bin.zip", just like the official releases. For +32-bit binaries just use "i686" instead of "x86_64".