X-Git-Url: https://wimlib.net/git/?p=wimlib;a=blobdiff_plain;f=README.WINDOWS;h=d240b7b77cc86a7ed518e1737abbbf47546c19cf;hp=a4968279c2f1e6abeabd9e4c0bfda2550f8600e7;hb=00ae9e9cf11e1f7a108b63db0fc538180a81880a;hpb=118cdc5cac01aad79e3314bf92cbbd924d48860c diff --git a/README.WINDOWS b/README.WINDOWS index a4968279..d240b7b7 100644 --- a/README.WINDOWS +++ b/README.WINDOWS @@ -1,63 +1,69 @@ - INTRODUCTION -wimlib 1.3.0 has added experimental support for Windows builds. The Windows -build consists of both the "wimlib" library (which can be built as a DLL) and -the "imagex" executable. + INTRODUCTION -The Windows build of wimlib uses native Win32 calls when appropriate to handle -alternate data streams, security descriptors, and reparse points. +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 -"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 +For the convenience of Windows users, the Windows distribution of wimlib is a +ZIP file containing the following items: -"imagex capture", "imagex append", and "imagex apply" will work on Windows and -have the added advantage of saving and restoring alternate data streams, -security descriptors, and reparse points. + * 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. -"imagex delete", "imagex dir", "imagex export", "imagex info", "imagex join", -"imagex optimize", and "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'). -"imagex mount", "imagex mountrw", and "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. + * 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. -So on Windows, why would you want to use wimlib's ImageX instead of Microsoft's? -Well, here are a few reasons: + * License files for all software included. These are all free software + licenses. -- wimlib offers fast multithreaded compression, so making WIM images can be much - faster. + WIMLIB-IMAGEX -- wimlib can correctly save and restore alternate data streams, which - Microsoft's ImageX sometimes captures incorrectly due to a bug. +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 is free software, so you can modify and/or audit the source code. + * 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. -See the man page for 'imagex' for more information. + * wimlib-imagex provides an easy-to-use "optimize" command to remove wasted + space from WIM files. - BUILDING ON WINDOWS + * 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. -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: + * Whenever possible, wimlib-imagex includes improved documentation and + informational output compared to Microsoft's software. -$ ./configure --host=i686-w64-mingw32 + * 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. -after having installed the required libraries: + * wimlib and wimlib-imagex are free software, so you can modify and/or audit + the source code. -* mingw-w64-gettext -* mingw-w64-libiconv -* mingw-w64-libxml2 -* mingw-w64-winpthreads -* mingw-w64-zlib + ADDITIONAL NOTES -Note: zlib and gettext are only necessary when required by the build of libxml2. - -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. +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.