X-Git-Url: https://wimlib.net/git/?p=wimlib;a=blobdiff_plain;f=README.WINDOWS;h=cd8c7e0e32a2fde946809e4e8f1d3c5bc896b0e7;hp=09f9624ac7755e006ff124be2a4ee9efd8241482;hb=719a063c87e3abab99b0fb53ebc80223fbf33123;hpb=5583aa693640a088ca961347104bc830436b2184 diff --git a/README.WINDOWS b/README.WINDOWS index 09f9624a..cd8c7e0e 100644 --- a/README.WINDOWS +++ b/README.WINDOWS @@ -1,72 +1,85 @@ - INTRODUCTION -wimlib 1.3.0 has added experimental support for Windows builds. The support has -been further improved in later versions. The Windows build consists of both the -"wimlib" library (which can be built as a DLL) and the "wimlib-imagex" -executable. + INTRODUCTION -The Windows build of wimlib uses native Win32 calls when appropriate to handle -alternate data streams, security descriptors, reparse points, encrypted files, -compressed files, and sparse files. +wimlib is free and open source software that is available on both UNIX-like +systems and Windows. This file provides additional information specifically +about the Windows version of wimlib and the command line tool "wimlib-imagex" +that is distributed with it. It does not obsolete the generic README.txt, which +you should read too. -Mounting WIM files is not supported on Windows. Also please note that wimlib's -"wimlib-imagex" is NOT intended to be command-line compatible with Microsoft's -"imagex", and wimlib is NOT intended to be API compatible with Microsoft's -WIMGAPI. They are similar, though. + WINDOWS DISTRIBUTION - NOTES ABOUT IMAGEX +The Windows distribution of wimlib is a ZIP file containing the following items: -"wimlib-imagex capture", "wimlib-imagex append", and "wimlib-imagex apply" will -work on Windows and have the added advantage of saving and restoring -NTFS-specific data, such as alternate data streams, security descriptors, and -reparse points. + * 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. -"wimlib-imagex delete", "wimlib-imagex dir", "wimlib-imagex export", -"wimlib-imagex info", "wimlib-imagex join", "wimlib-imagex optimize", and -"wimlib-imagex split" are all portable and should work the same way on Windows -as on UNIX. + * Very short batch scripts (e.g. wimapply.cmd) which are shortcuts to the + corresponding wimlib-imagex commands (e.g. `wimlib-imagex apply'). -"wimlib-imagex mount", "wimlib-imagex mountrw", and "wimlib-imagex unmount" will -NOT work on Windows. + * The documentation, including this file, the generic README.txt, and + PDF documentation for wimlib-imagex in the 'doc' directory. -So on Windows, why would you want to use wimlib's ImageX instead of Microsoft's? -Well, here are a few reasons: + * The library itself (libwim-15.dll). The C header wimlib.h is not + included; download the source if you want it. -- wimlib offers fast multithreaded compression, so making WIM images can be much - faster. + * License files for all software included. These are all free software + licenses. -- Whenever possible I have included improved documentation and informational - output compared to Microsoft's software. +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 noticably faster. -- wimlib 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 - links. + WIMLIB-IMAGEX -- wimlib is free software, so you can modify and/or audit the source code. +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: -See the man page for 'wimlib-imagex' for more information. + * wimlib-imagex provides "extract" and "update" commands which allow + you to quickly work with WIM images without mounting them. - BUILDING ON WINDOWS + * wimlib-imagex provides an easy-to-use "optimize" command which removes + wasted space from a WIM file and optionally recompresses it with stronger + compression. -Actually doing the Windows build is a bit tricky, and I'd recommend you download -precompiled binaries from http://sourceforge.net/projects/wimlib/files/ instead. -I did it using MinGW-w64 on a Linux host, with the following configuration -command: + * wimlib includes advanced implementations of all compression algorithms used + in WIM files. They usually outperform and outcompress their Microsoft + equivalents. -$ ./configure --host=i686-w64-mingw32 + * 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.) -after having installed the required libraries: + * In many cases, wimlib-imagex has simpler command-line syntax than either + ImageX or DISM. -* mingw-w64-gettext -* mingw-w64-libiconv -* mingw-w64-libxml2 -* mingw-w64-winpthreads -* mingw-w64-zlib + * Whenever possible, wimlib-imagex includes improved documentation and + informational output compared to Microsoft's software. -Note: zlib and gettext are only necessary when required by the build of libxml2. + * wimlib and wimlib-imagex are free software, so you can modify and/or audit + the source code. -Building wimlib using Cygwin is not supported. I was trying this for a while, -but I ran into some issues with mixing native Win32 functions and -Cygwin-provided functions, so I made it possible to do a native Win32 build -instead. +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 + +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/. + +If you want to build your own Windows binaries from source, MinGW-w64 is +required. Configure with --host=i686-w64-mingw32 or --host=x86_64-w64-mingw32. +You will need to satisfy the third-party dependencies (libxml2, winpthreads, and +win-iconv), which in the official releases are statically linked into the DLL.