From 80dbb12a5ed4a1839145efe47e701744f41c0fe0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Eric Biggers Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2016 23:14:41 -0600 Subject: [PATCH] Update feature lists --- README.WINDOWS | 3 ++ doc/man1/wimlib-imagex.1 | 79 ++++++++++++++++++++-------------------- 2 files changed, 42 insertions(+), 40 deletions(-) diff --git a/README.WINDOWS b/README.WINDOWS index 828b5681..9744dc8d 100644 --- a/README.WINDOWS +++ b/README.WINDOWS @@ -53,6 +53,9 @@ advantages of wimlib-imagex compared to ImageX and DISM are: used in ESD (.esd) files. (These are partially supported by recent DISM versions but not by ImageX.) + * 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. diff --git a/doc/man1/wimlib-imagex.1 b/doc/man1/wimlib-imagex.1 index 9934c6d8..165bd84b 100644 --- a/doc/man1/wimlib-imagex.1 +++ b/doc/man1/wimlib-imagex.1 @@ -50,9 +50,8 @@ archiving Windows filesystems, such as NTFS. However, it can be used on other platforms as well, with some limitations. A WIM archive contains one or more images, each of which is a logically independent directory tree. Images are indexed starting from 1, and each may also have a name. File data is stored as -content-addressable "streams" that are deduplicated across the entire archive. -Streams may be compressed using one of several compression algorithms, including -XPRESS and LZX. +content-addressable "blobs" that are deduplicated across the entire archive. +Data may be compressed using one of several compression algorithms. .PP An update of the WIM format released with Windows 8 features solid compression using the LZMS compression algorithm. Such files are also called "ESD files" @@ -136,35 +135,26 @@ On UNIX-like systems, integration with libntfs-3g allows capturing a WIM image directly from a block device containing an NTFS volume, or applying a WIM image directly to a block device containing an NTFS volume. This allows saving and restoring NTFS-specific data, such as security descriptors and named data -streams, which is otherwise only supported on Windows. This feature is -unavailable if wimlib was configured using --without-ntfs-3g. +streams, which would otherwise only be supported on Windows. .IP \[bu] -Long path support on Windows. \fBwimlib-imagex\fR can capture and apply -files with paths exceeding the MAX_PATH (260 character) limitation of the Win32 +Long path support on Windows. \fBwimlib-imagex\fR can capture and apply files +with paths exceeding the MAX_PATH (260 character) limitation of the Win32 subsystem. .IP \[bu] -Non-Administrator support on Windows. You can run \fBwimlib-imagex\fR -without Administrator rights, subject to some limitations. +Non-Administrator support on Windows. You can run \fBwimlib-imagex\fR without +Administrator rights, subject to some limitations. .IP \[bu] Support for WIM integrity tables. An integrity table is a list of SHA-1 message digests appended to the end of a WIM file which gives checksums over the WIM -file itself. The \fB--check\fR option to several \fBwimlib-imagex\fR -commands can be used to verify or add integrity tables. -.IP \[bu] -Support for "pipable" WIMs. This is a wimlib extension and is not compatible -with the Microsoft implementation. A pipable WIM, created with -\fBwimlib-imagex capture\fR with the \fB--pipable\fR option, can be written -to standard output or read from standard input. This can be used to pipe images -to or from a server over the network to implement fast filesystem imaging and -restore. +file itself. The \fB--check\fR option to several \fBwimlib-imagex\fR commands +can be used to verify or add integrity tables. .IP \[bu] On UNIX-like systems, support for saving and restoring UNIX uids (user IDs), gids (group IDs), and modes to/from WIM images. This is a wimlib extension, but the Microsoft implementation ignores this extra metadata. .IP \[bu] Multithreaded compression. By default, data compression is multithreaded and -will use all available processors. In most cases, this can be changed by the -\fB--threads\fR option. +will use all available processors. .IP \[bu] XPRESS, LZX, and LZMS decompression and compression. wimlib contains independent implementations of all these compression algorithms. Sometimes they @@ -175,32 +165,41 @@ use a new WIM format that features solid resources and LZMS compression. This support was first present in wimlib v1.6.0, but v1.7.0 and later have improved compatibility. .IP \[bu] -Mounting WIM images. This relies on FUSE (Filesystem in UserSpacE) and is only -supported on compatible UNIX-like systems, in particular Linux. FreeBSD may -work but is untested. +On Linux, support for mounting WIM images with FUSE (Filesystem in UserSpacE). +.IP \[bu] +"Pipable" WIMs. This is a wimlib extension and is not compatible with the +Microsoft implementation. A pipable WIM, created with \fBwimcapture\fR with the +\fB--pipable\fR option, can be written to standard output or read from standard +input. This can be used to pipe images to or from a server over the network to +implement fast filesystem imaging and restore. .IP \[bu] Split WIMs. A split WIM is a WIM archive split into multiple parts. -\fBwimlib-imagex split\fR can create a split WIM from a standalone WIM, and -\fBwimlib-imagex join\fR can create a standalone WIM from a split WIM. +\fBwimsplit\fR can create a split WIM from a standalone WIM, and \fBwimjoin\fR +can create a standalone WIM from a split WIM. .IP \[bu] Delta WIMs. A delta WIM contains image metadata but excludes file data already -present in another WIM file. A delta WIM can be created using -\fBwimlib-imagex capture\fR with the \fB--delta-from\fR option. -.IP \[bu] -WIMBoot support. On Windows 8.1 and later, files on an NTFS volume can be -externally backed by a WIM archive with the help of Microsoft's Windows Overlay -FileSystem Filter Driver (WOF). With the \fB--wimboot\fR flag, -\fBwimlib-imagex apply\fR will extract "pointer files" (actually NTFS -reparse points handled by the WOF driver) to the WIM archive rather than the -files themselves. +present in another WIM file. A delta WIM can be created using \fBwimcapture\fR +with the \fB--delta-from\fR option. .IP \[bu] Fast incremental backups. Using the \fB--update-of\fR option of -\fBwimlib-imagex capture\fR or \fBwimlib-imagex append\fR, you can -optimize an image capture so that files that are unmodified based on timestamps -are not be read from disk. But even without this option, since the WIM format -features single-instance files, a file identical to any already present in the -WIM archive (in any image) will not be written, but rather a reference to the -stored file will be used. +\fBwimcapture\fR or \fBwimappend\fR, you can optimize an image capture so that +files that are unmodified based on timestamps are not be read from disk. But +even without this option, since the WIM format features single-instance files, a +file identical to any already present in the WIM archive (in any image) will not +be written, but rather a reference to the stored file will be used. +.IP \[bu] +Windows-specific image metadata support. When capturing an image of a Windows +operating system, wimlib will automatically populate XML metadata fields such as +the Windows OS version details by scanning well-known system files. +.IP \[bu] +WIMBoot support. On Windows 8.1 and later, files can be "externally backed" by +a WIM archive with the help of Microsoft's Windows Overlay Filesystem filter +driver (WOF). With the \fB--wimboot\fR option, \fBwimapply\fR will extract +"pointer files" to the WIM archive rather than the files themselves. +.IP \[bu] +VSS snapshot support. On Windows, \fBwimcapture\fR or \fBwimappend\fR with the +\fB--snapshot\fR option will automatically create a temporary VSS snapshot and +capture the image from it. This can be used to image a "live" Windows system. .SH LOCALES AND CHARACTER ENCODINGS WIM files themselves store file and stream names using Windows native "wide character strings", which are UTF-16. On Windows, wimlib works using these same -- 2.43.0