X-Git-Url: https://wimlib.net/git/?p=wimlib;a=blobdiff_plain;f=doc%2Fimagex.1.in;h=c694dd33c733318115c189862f40849c547884c5;hp=7fee130d3228208c741c7f03177b2f29e9c22884;hb=00334bdf09071e65e340eeeb6f3900c79a262649;hpb=8e4a9a0129dabaddef33ee0a99f7f8b221bdf483 diff --git a/doc/imagex.1.in b/doc/imagex.1.in index 7fee130d..c694dd33 100644 --- a/doc/imagex.1.in +++ b/doc/imagex.1.in @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@ -.TH IMAGEX 1 "May 2012" "imagex (wimlib @VERSION@)" "User Commands" +.TH IMAGEX 1 "March 2013" "imagex (wimlib @VERSION@)" "User Commands" .SH NAME imagex \- Create, modify, extract, mount, or unmount a WIM (Windows Imaging Format) archive .SH SYNOPSIS @@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ imagex \- Create, modify, extract, mount, or unmount a WIM (Windows Imaging Form .br \fBimagex mountrw\fR \fIarguments...\fR .br +\fBimagex optimize\fR \fIarguments...\fR +.br \fBimagex split\fR \fIarguments...\fR .br \fBimagex unmount\fR \fIarguments...\fR @@ -32,9 +34,7 @@ files). Its interface is meant to be similar to Microsoft's imagex.exe program. To do its work, \fBimagex\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. - -See \fBWARNING\fR. +if you wanted to. wimlib's public interface is documented. .SH COMMANDS @@ -42,106 +42,133 @@ There is a separate manual page for each \fBimagex\fR command. .SH SUPPORTED FEATURES -The following features are currently supported: - -.IP \[bu] 2 -Mount an image in a WIM read-only (\fBimagex mount\fR) -.IP \[bu] 2 -Mount an image in a WIM read-write (\fBimagex mountrw\fR) -.IP \[bu] 2 -Create a WIM from a directory (\fBimagex capture\fR) -.IP \[bu] 2 -Append a directory onto a WIM as a new image (\fBimagex append\fR) -.IP \[bu] 2 -Delete image(s) from a WIM (\fBimagex delete\fR) -.IP \[bu] 2 -Export image(s) from a WIM (\fBimagex export\fR) -.IP \[bu] 2 +The following general features are currently supported (note: this is not a +complete list): + +.IP \[bu] 3 +Create a stand-alone WIM from a directory or NTFS volume (\fBimagex capture\fR) +.IP \[bu] +Append a directory or NTFS volume onto a stand-alone WIM as a new image (\fBimagex +append\fR) +.IP \[bu] +Apply an image from a stand-alone or split WIM to a directory or NTFS volume +(\fBimagex apply\fR) +.IP \[bu] +Mount an image from a stand-alone or split WIM read-only (\fBimagex mount\fR) +.IP \[bu] +Mount an image from a stand-alone WIM read-write (\fBimagex mountrw\fR) +.IP \[bu] +Delete image(s) from a stand-alone WIM (\fBimagex delete\fR) +.IP \[bu] +Export image(s) from a stand-alone or split WIM (\fBimagex export\fR) +.IP \[bu] Display information about a WIM file (\fBimagex info\fR, \fBimagex dir\fR) -.IP \[bu] 2 +.IP \[bu] Change the name or description of an image in the WIM (\fBimagex info\fR) -.IP \[bu] 2 +.IP \[bu] Change which image in a WIM is bootable (\fBimagex info\fR) -.IP \[bu] 2 -Combining split WIMs into one WIM (\fBimage join\fR) -.IP \[bu] 2 -Splitting a WIM into multiple parts (\fBimage split\fR) -.IP \[bu] 2 +.IP \[bu] +Combine split WIMs into one stand-alone WIM (\fBimage join\fR) +.IP \[bu] +Split a stand-alone WIM into multiple parts (\fBimage split\fR) +.IP \[bu] Support for all WIM compression types, both compression and decompression (LZX, XPRESS, and none) -.IP \[bu] 2 -Integrity table -.IP \[bu] 2 -XML data (parsed and written using \fBlibxml\fR(3)) - -.SH UNSUPPORTED FEATURES -The following features are currently unsupported: -.IP \[bu] 2 -Wimlib cannot add security data when it captures a WIM file, although it will -preserve security data for existing WIM files. New files added to a mounted -WIM will be added without security data. This does not seem to matter for -Windows PE, but this means that you should not use this program to image a drive -containing Windows Vista/7/8 and expect it to be applied with the correct file -permissions. -.IP \[bu] 2 -Alternate file streams are unsupported and will be lost when wimlib writes a WIM -file. Note that you shouldn't really have these on your Windows system anyway -because they are unneeded and a security risk. -.IP \[bu] 2 -Directly applying or mounting split WIMs is unsupported. You have to combine -them together with \fBimagex join\fR first. -.IP \[bu] 2 -The \fB--verify\fR option, for all commands that use it is unsupported. Without -this option, there theoretically could be a SHA1 hash collision between two -files, although it's very unlikely. You can still verify a WIM manually by -capturing it, then applying it to a different location, then running a recursive -diff on the two directory trees. -.IP \[bu] 2 -The \fB--config\fR option, for all commands that use it. -.IP \[bu] 2 -Different versions of the WIM file format (if different versions even exist). - -Also see the Doxygen documentation for Wimlib. +.IP \[bu] +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 -See \fBUNSUPPORTED FEATURES\fR. - -The most important difference is that this version of \fBimagex\fR cannot -capture and restore Windows images losslessly because file permissions and -alternate file streams cannot be captured. This is because Microsoft designed -the WIM format to be specific to their NTFS filesystem and the Windows security -model/API, which is difficult to support in a non-Windows program. However, you -can still create images of Windows PE, even from a directory tree on a non-NTFS -filesystem. +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. -See the documentation for each subcommand of \fBimagex\fR; in some cases they do -not do exactly the same thing as imagex.exe. +.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 \fBimagex\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. -Some features, such as the ability to keep files hard-linked when they are -extracted from a WIM, are not available in Microsoft's version of imagex. -Also, doesn't seem to be an equivalent of \fBimagex join\fR in Microsoft's -version; you would have to use \fBimagex.exe /export\fR, but that doesn't let -you export all images at once. +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. +.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, although it won't actually run on Windows anyway. - -The \fB/scroll\fR and \fB/log\fR switches from Microsoft's version of imagex -will not be implemented. Note that to scroll the output in the UNIX shell you -can just pipe the output into \fBless\fR(1). - -Obviously, this version of imagex is free software but Microsoft's version is -not. +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] +wimlib's \fBimagex\fR offers the extra command \fBimagex 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] +wimlib's \fBimagex\fR also offers the command \fBimagex join\fR, which lets you +easily join the parts of a split WIM. + +.IP \[bu] +wimlib's \fBimagex 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] +wimlib's \fBimagex 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 supports multithreaded compression, which can make it much faster to +create compressed WIM files. + +.IP \[bu] +wimlib's \fBimagex capture\fR supports a special mode where UNIX file modes, +owners, and groups are stored. (Note: this functionality is only available on +UNIX builds.) + +.IP \[bu] +wimlib's \fBimagex mount\fR and \fBimagex 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 on UNIX builds.) + +.IP \[bu] +wimlib's \fBimagex mount\fR supports mounting an image from a split WIM, but +Microsoft's software does not. (Note: this functionality is only available on +UNIX builds.) + +.SH LOCALES AND CHARACTER ENCODINGS + +wimlib 1.3.0 has improved support for alternate character encodings. +However, not everything has been well tested, and on UNIX you are strongly +encouraged to use a UTF-8 locale so that you do not run into any problems. +In particular, if your locale uses a character encoding that is +not UTF-8, then you will not be able to open or capture WIM files containing +files with paths not representable in the current locale's character encoding. + +Similar restrictions apply to the Windows-native build of wimlib, but +unfortunately Windows does not support UTF-8 locales. So you will not be able +to apply a WIM image containing files with names not representable in the +current Windows code page, nor will you be able to capture a directory tree +containing files with names not representable in the current Windows code page. .SH WARNING Note: \fBwimlib\fR and \fBimagex\fR are experimental. Use Microsoft's -imagex.exe if you have to make sure your WIM files are made "correctly". Not -all features listed under \fBSUPPORTED FEATURES\fR have been thoroughly tested. -Feel free to submit a bug report if you find a bug. +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. 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 @@ -162,6 +189,6 @@ Report bugs to ebiggers3@gmail.com. .BR imagex-join (1), .BR imagex-mount (1), .BR imagex-mountrw (1), +.BR imagex-optimize (1), .BR imagex-split (1), .BR imagex-unmount (1), -