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XORRISO(1) DragonFly General Commands Manual XORRISO(1)
NAME
xorriso - creates, loads, manipulates and writes ISO 9660 filesystem
images with Rock Ridge extensions.
SYNOPSIS
xorriso [settings|actions]
DESCRIPTION
xorriso is a program which copies file objects from POSIX compliant
filesystems into Rock Ridge enhanced ISO 9660 filesystems and allows
session-wise manipulation of such filesystems. It can load the
management information of existing ISO images and it writes the session
results to optical media or to filesystem objects.
Vice versa xorriso is able to copy file objects out of ISO 9660
filesystems.
A special property of xorriso is that it needs neither an external ISO
9660 formatter program nor an external burn program for CD, DVD or BD
but rather incorporates the libraries of libburnia-project.org .
Overview of features:
Operates on an existing ISO image or creates a new one.
Copies files from disk filesystem into the ISO image.
Copies files from ISO image to disk filesystem (see osirrox).
Renames or deletes file objects in the ISO image.
Changes file properties in the ISO image.
Updates ISO subtrees incrementally to match given disk subtrees.
Writes result either as completely new image or as add-on session to
optical media or filesystem objects.
Can activate ISOLINUX and GRUB boot images via El Torito and MBR.
Can perform multi-session tasks as emulation of mkisofs and cdrecord.
Can record and restore hard links and ACL.
Content may get zisofs compressed or filtered by external processes.
Can issue commands to mount older sessions on GNU/Linux or FreeBSD.
Can check media for damages and copy readable blocks to disk.
Can attach MD5 checksums to each data file and the whole session.
Scans for optical drives, blanks re-useable optical media.
Reads its instructions from command line arguments, dialog, and files.
Provides navigation commands for interactive ISO image manipulation.
Adjustable thresholds for abort, exit value, and problem reporting.
Note that xorriso does not write audio CDs and that it does not produce
UDF filesystems which are specified for official video DVD or BD.
General information paragraphs:
Session model
Media types and states
Creating, Growing, Modifying, Blind Growing
Libburn drives
Rock Ridge, POSIX, X/Open, El Torito, ACL, xattr
Command processing
Dialog, Readline, Result pager
Maybe you first want to have a look at section EXAMPLES near the end of
this text before reading the next few hundred lines of background
information.
Session model:
Unlike other filesystems, ISO 9660 (aka ECMA-119) is not intended for
read-write operation but rather for being generated in a single sweep
and being written to media as a session.
The data content of the session is called filesystem image.
The written image in its session can then be mounted by the operating
system for being used read-only. GNU/Linux is able to mount ISO images
from block devices, which may represent optical media, other media or
via a loop device even from regular disk files. FreeBSD mounts ISO
images from devices that represent arbitrary media or from regular disk
files.
This session usage model has been extended on CD media by the concept
of multi-session , which allows to add information to the CD and gives
the mount programs of the operating systems the addresses of the entry
points of each session. The mount programs recognize block devices
which represent CD media and will by default mount the image in the
last session.
This session usually contains an updated directory tree for the whole
medium which governs the data contents in all recorded sessions. So in
the view of the mount program all sessions of a particular medium
together form a single filesystem image.
Adding a session to an existing ISO image is in this text referred as
growing.
The multi-session model of the MMC standard does not apply to all media
types. But program growisofs by Andy Polyakov showed how to extend this
functionality to overwriteable media or disk files which carry valid
ISO 9660 filesystems.
xorriso provides growing as well as an own method named modifying which
produces a completely new ISO image from the old one and the
modifications. See paragraph Creating, Growing, Modifying, Blind
Growing below.
xorriso adopts the concept of multi-session by loading an image
directory tree if present, by allowing to manipulate it by several
actions, and by writing the new image to the target medium.
The first session of a xorriso run begins by the definition of the
input drive with the ISO image or by the definition of an output drive.
The session ends by command -commit which triggers writing. A -commit
is done automatically when the program ends regularly.
After -commit a new session begins with the freshly written one as
input. A new input drive can only be chosen as long as the loaded ISO
image was not altered. Pending alteration can be revoked by command
-rollback.
Writing a session to the target is supposed to be very expensive in
terms of time and of consumed space on appendable or write-once media.
Therefore all intended manipulations of a particular ISO image should
be done in a single session. But in principle it is possible to store
intermediate states and to continue with image manipulations.
Media types and states:
There are two families of media in the MMC standard:
Multi-session media are CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD+R/DL, BD-R, and
unformatted DVD-RW. These media provide a table of content which
describes their existing sessions. See command -toc.
Similar to multi-session media are DVD-R DL and minimally blanked
DVD-RW. They allow only a single session of which the size must be
known in advance. xorriso will write onto them only if command -close
is set to "on".
Overwriteable media are DVD-RAM, DVD+RW, BD-RE, and formatted DVD-RW.
They allow random write access but do not provide information about
their session history. If they contain one or more ISO 9660 sessions
and if the first session was written by xorriso, then a table of
content can be emulated. Else only a single overall session will be
visible.
DVD-RW media can be formatted by -format "full". They can be made
unformatted by -blank "deformat".
Regular files and block devices are handled as overwriteable media.
Pipes and other writeable file types are handled as blank multi-session
media.
These media can assume several states in which they offer different
capabilities.
Blank media can be written from scratch. They contain no ISO image
suitable for xorriso.
Blank is the state of newly purchased optical media. With used CD-RW
and DVD-RW it can be achieved by action -blank "as_needed".
Overwriteable media are considered blank if they are new or if they
have been marked as blank by xorriso. Action -blank "as_needed" can be
used to do this marking on overwriteable media, or to apply mandatory
formatting to new media if necessary.
Appendable media accept further sessions. Either they are MMC
multi-session media in appendable state, or they are overwriteable
media which contain an ISO image suitable for xorriso.
Appendable is the state after writing a session with command -close
off.
Closed media cannot be written. They may contain an ISO image suitable
for xorriso.
Closed is the state of DVD-ROM media and of multi-session media which
were written with command -close on. If the drive is read-only hardware
then it will probably show any media as closed CD-ROM resp. DVD-ROM.
Overwriteable media assume this state in such read-only drives or if
they contain unrecognizable data in the first 32 data blocks.
Read-only drives may or may not show session histories of multi-session
media. Often only the first and the last session are visible. Sometimes
not even that. Command -rom_toc_scan might or might not help in such
cases.
Creating, Growing, Modifying, Blind Growing:
A new empty ISO image gets created if there is no input drive with a
valid ISO 9660 image when the first time an output drive is defined.
This is achieved by command -dev on blank media or by command -outdev
on media in any state.
The new empty image can be populated with directories and files.
Before it can be written, the medium in the output drive must get into
blank state if it was not blank already.
If there is a input drive with a valid ISO image, then this image gets
loaded as foundation for manipulations and extension. The constellation
of input and output drive determines which write method will be used.
They have quite different capabilities and constraints.
The method of growing adds new data to the existing data on the medium.
These data comprise of new file content and they override the existing
ISO 9660 + Rock Ridge directory tree. It is possible to hide files from
previous sessions but they still exist on the medium and with many
types of optical media it is quite easy to recover them by mounting
older sessions.
Growing is achieved by command -dev.
The write method of modifying produces compact filesystem images with
no outdated files or directory trees. Modifying can write its images to
target media which are completely unsuitable for multi-session
operations. E.g. DVD-RW which were treated with -blank
deformat_quickest, DVD-R DL, named pipes, character devices, sockets.
On the other hand modified sessions cannot be written to appendable
media but to blank media only.
So for this method one needs either two optical drives or has to work
with filesystem objects as source and/or target medium.
Modifying takes place if input drive and output drive are not the same
and if command -grow_blindly is set to its default "off". This is
achieved by commands -indev and -outdev.
If command -grow_blindly is set to a non-negative number and if -indev
and -outdev are both set to different drives, then blind growing is
performed. It produces an add-on session which is ready for being
written to the given block address. This is the usage model of
mkisofs -M $indev -C $msc1,$msc2 -o $outdev
which gives much room for wrong parameter combinations and should thus
only be employed if a strict distinction between ISO formatter xorriso
and the burn program is desired. -C $msc1,$msc2 is equivalent to:
-load sbsector $msc1 -grow_blindly $msc2
Libburn drives:
Input drive, i.e. source of an existing or empty ISO image, can be any
random access readable libburn drive: optical media with readable data,
blank optical media, regular files, block devices.
Output drive, i.e. target for writing, can be any libburn drive. Some
drive types do not support the method of growing but only the methods
of modifying and blind growing. They all are suitable for newly created
images.
All drive file objects have to offer rw-permission to the user of
xorriso. Even those which will not be useable for reading an ISO
image.
With any type of drive object, the data are considered to be organized
in blocks of 2 KiB. Access happens in terms of Logical Block Address
(LBA) which gives the number of a particular data block.
MMC compliant (i.e. optical) drives on GNU/Linux usually get addressed
by the path of their block device or of their generic character device.
E.g.
-dev /dev/sr0
-dev /dev/hdc
-dev /dev/sg2
On FreeBSD the device files have names like
-dev /dev/cd0
On OpenSolaris:
-dev /dev/rdsk/c4t0d0s2
Get a list of accessible drives by command
-device_links
It might be necessary to do this as superuser in order to see all
drives and to then allow rw-access for the intended users. Consider to
bundle the authorized users in a group like old "floppy".
Filesystem objects of nearly any type can be addressed by prefix
"stdio:" and their path in the filesystem. E.g.:
-dev stdio:/dev/sdc
The default setting of -drive_class allows to address files outside the
/dev tree without that prefix. E.g.:
-dev /tmp/pseudo_drive
If path leads to a regular file or to a block device then the emulated
drive is random access readable and can be used for the method of
growing if it already contains a valid ISO 9660 image. Any other file
type is not readable via "stdio:" and can only be used as target for
the method of modifying or blind growing. Non-existing paths in
existing directories are handled as empty regular files.
A very special kind of pseudo drive are open file descriptors. They are
depicted by "stdio:/dev/fd/" and descriptor number (see man 2 open).
Addresses "-" or "stdio:/dev/fd/1" depict standard output, which
normally is the output channel for result texts. To prevent a fatal
intermingling of ISO image and text messages, all result texts get
redirected to stderr if -*dev "-" or "stdio:/dev/fd/1" is among the
start arguments of the program.
Standard output is currently suitable for creating one session per
program run without dialog. Use in other situations is discouraged and
several restrictions apply:
It is not allowed to use standard output as pseudo drive if it was not
among the start arguments. Do not try to fool this ban via backdoor
addresses to stdout.
If stdout is used as drive, then -use_readline is permanently disabled.
Use of backdoors can cause severe memory and/or tty corruption.
Be aware that especially the superuser can write into any accessible
file or device by using its path with the "stdio:" prefix. By default
any address in the /dev tree without prefix "stdio:" will work only if
it leads to a MMC drive.
One may use command -ban_stdio_write to surely prevent this risk and to
allow only MMC drives.
One may prepend "mmc:" to a path to surely disallow any automatic
"stdio:".
By command -drive_class one may ban certain paths or allow access
without prefix "stdio:" to other paths.
Rock Ridge, POSIX, X/Open, El Torito, ACL, xattr:
Rock Ridge is the name of a set of additional information which enhance
an ISO 9660 filesystem so that it can represent a POSIX compliant
filesystem with ownership, access permissions, symbolic links, and
other attributes.
This is what xorriso uses for a decent representation of the disk files
within the ISO image. xorriso produces Rock Ridge information by
default. It is strongly discouraged to disable this feature.
xorriso is not named "porriso" because POSIX only guarantees 14
characters of filename length. It is the X/Open System Interface
standard XSI which demands a file name length of up to 255 characters
and paths of up to 1024 characters. Rock Ridge fulfills this demand.
An El Torito boot record points the BIOS bootstrapping facility to one
or more boot images, which are binary program files stored in the ISO
image. The content of the boot image files is not in the scope of El
Torito.
Most bootable GNU/Linux CDs are equipped with ISOLINUX or GRUB boot
images. xorriso is able to create or maintain an El Torito object
which makes such an image bootable. For details see command
-boot_image.
It is possible to make ISO images bootable from USB stick or other
hard-disk-like media. Several options install a MBR (Master Boot
Record), It may get adjusted according to the needs of the intended
boot firmware and the involved boot loaders, e.g. GRUB2 or ISOLINUX. A
MBR contains boot code and a partition table. The new MBR of a
follow-up session can get in effect only on overwriteable media.
MBR is read by PC-BIOS when booting from USB stick or hard disk, and by
PowerPC CHRP or PReP when booting. An MBR partiton with type 0xee
indicates the presence of GPT.
Emulation -as mkisofs supports the example options out of the ISOLINUX
wiki, the options used in GRUB script grub-mkrescue, and the example in
the FreeBSD AvgLiveCD wiki.
A GPT (GUID Partition Table) marks partitions in a more modern way. It
is read by EFI when booting from USB stick or hard disk, and may be
used for finding and mounting a HFS+ partition inside the ISO image.
An APM (Apple Partition Map) marks the HFS+ partition. It is read by
Macs for booting and for mounting.
MBR, GPT and APM are combinable. APM occupies the first 8 bytes of MBR
boot code. All three do not hamper El Torito booting from CDROM.
There is support for further facilities: MIPS Big Endian (SGI), MIPS
Little Endian (DEC), SUN SPARC. Those are mutually not combinable and
also not combinable with MBR, GPT, or APM.
ACL are an advanced way of controlling access permissions to file
objects. Neither ISO 9660 nor Rock Ridge specify a way to record ACLs.
So libisofs has introduced a standard conformant extension named AAIP
for that purpose. It uses this extension if enabled by command -acl.
AAIP enhanced images are supposed to be mountable normally, but one
cannot expect that the mounted filesystem will show and respect the
ACLs. For now, only xorriso is able to retrieve those ACLs. It can
bring them into effect when files get restored to an ACL enabled file
system or it can print them in a format suitable for tool setfacl.
Files with ACL show as group permissions the setting of entry "mask::"
if that entry exists. Nevertheless the non-listed group members get
handled according to entry "group::". When removing ACL from a file,
xorriso brings "group::" into effect.
Recording and restoring of ACLs from and to local files works currently
only on GNU/Linux and FreeBSD.
xattr (aka EA, or extattr) are pairs of name and value which can be
attached to file objects. AAIP is able to represent them and xorriso
allows to record and restore pairs which have names out of the user
namespace. I.e. those which begin with "user.", like "user.x" or
"user.whatever". Name has to be a 0 terminated string. Value may be
any array of bytes which does not exceed the size of 4095 bytes. xattr
processing happens only if it is enabled by command -xattr.
As with ACL, currently only xorriso is able to retrieve xattr from AAIP
enhanced images, to restore them to xattr capable file systems, or to
print them.
Recording and restoring of xattr from and to local files works
currently only on GNU/Linux and FreeBSD, where they are known as
extattr.
Command processing:
Commands are either actions which happen immediately or settings which
influence following actions. So their sequence does matter, unless they
are given as program arguments and command -x is among them.
Commands consist of a command word, followed by zero or more parameter
words. If the list of parameter words is of variable length (indicated
by "[...]" or "[***]") then it must be terminated by either the list
delimiter, occur at the end of the argument list, or occur at the end
of an input line.
At program start the list delimiter is the string "--". This may be
changed with the -list_delimiter command in order to allow "--" as
parameter in a variable length list. However, it is advised to reset
the delimiter to "--" immediately afterwards.
For brevity the list delimiter is referred as "--" throughout this
text.
The list delimiter is silently ignored if it appears after the
parameters of a command with a fixed list length. It is handled as
normal text if it appears among the parameters of such a command.
Pattern expansion converts a list of pattern words into a list of
existing file addresses. Unmatched pattern words will appear unaltered
in that result list.
Pattern matching supports the usual shell parser wildcards '*' '?'
'[xyz]' and respects '/' as the path separator, which may only be
matched literally.
Pattern expansion is a property of some particular commands and not a
general feature. It is controlled by commands -iso_rr_pattern and
-disk_pattern. Commands which use pattern expansion all have variable
parameter lists which are specified in this text by "[***]" rather than
"[...]".
Some other commands perform pattern matching unconditionally.
Command and parameter words are either read from the program arguments,
where one argument is one word, or from quoted input lines where words
are recognized similar to the quotation rules of a shell parser.
xorriso is not a shell, although it might appear so at first glimpse.
Be aware that the interaction of quotation marks and pattern symbols
like "*" differs from the usual shell parsers. In xorriso, a quotation
mark does not make a pattern symbol literal.
Quoted input converts whitespace-separated text into words. The double
quotation mark " and the single quotation mark ' can be used to enclose
whitespace and make it part of words (e.g. of file names). Each mark
type can enclose the marks of the other type. A trailing backslash \
outside quotations or an open quotation cause the next input line to be
appended.
Quoted input accepts any 8-bit character except NUL (0) as the content
of the quotes. Nevertheless it can be cumbersome for the user to
produce those characters directly. Therefore quoted input and program
arguments allow optional Backslash Interpretation which can represent
all 8-bit characters except NUL (0) via backslash codes as in $'...' of
bash.
This is not enabled by default. See command -backslash_codes.
When the program starts then it first looks for argument -no_rc. If
this is not present then it looks for its startup files and reads their
content as command input lines. Then it interprets the program
arguments as commands and parameters. Finally it enters dialog mode if
command -dialog "on" has been executed by this point.
The program ends either by command -end, or by the end of program
arguments if dialog mode has not been enabled at that point, or by a
problem event which triggers the threshold of command -abort_on.
Dialog, Readline, Result pager:
Dialog mode prompts for a quoted input line, parses it into words, and
performs them as commands with their parameters. It provides assisting
services to make dialog more comfortable.
Readline is an enhancement for the input line. You may already know it
from the bash shell. Whether it is available in xorriso depends on the
availability of package readline-dev at the time when xorriso was built
from its sourcecode.
Readline allows to move the cursor over the text in the line by help of
the Left and the Right arrow keys. Text may be inserted at the cursor
position. The Delete key removes the character under the cursor. Up and
Down arrow keys navigate through the history of previous input lines.
See man readline for more info about libreadline.
Command -page activates a built-in result text pager which may be
convenient in dialog mode. After an action has output the given number
of terminal lines, the pager prompts the user for a line of input.
An empty line lets xorriso resume work until the next page is output.
The single character "@" disables paging for the current action.
"@@@", "x", "q", "X", or "Q" request that the current action aborts and
suppress further result output.
Any other line input will be interpreted as new dialog line. The
current action is requested to abort. Afterwards, the input line is
executed.
Some actions apply paging to their info output, too.
The request to abort may or may not be obeyed by the current action.
All actions try to abort as soon as possible.
OPTIONS
All command words are shown with a leading dash although this dash is
not mandatory for the command to be recognized. Nevertheless within
command -as the dashes of the emulated commands are mandatory.
Normally any number of leading dashes is ignored with command words and
inner dashes are interpreted as underscores.
Execution order of program arguments:
By default the program arguments of a xorriso run are interpreted as a
sequence of commands which get performed exactly in the given order.
This requires the user to write commands for desired settings before
the commands which shall be influenced by those settings.
Many other programs support program arguments in an arbitrary ordering
and perform settings and actions in a sequence at their own discretion.
xorriso provides an option to enable such a behavior at the cost of
loss of expressivity.
-x Enable automatic sorting of program arguments into a sequence
that (most likely) is sensible. This command may be given at
any position among the commands which are handed over as program
arguments.
Note: It works only if it is given as program argument and with
a single dash (i.e. "-x"). It will not work in startup files,
nor with -options_from_file, nor in dialog mode, nor as "x" and
finally not as "--x". It affects only the commands given as
program arguments.
-list_arg_sorting
List all xorriso commands in the order which applies if command
-x is in effect.
This list may also be helpful without -x for a user who ponders
over the sequence in which to put commands. Deviations from the
listed sorting order may well make sense, though.
Acquiring source and target drive:
The effect of acquiring a drive may depend on several commands in the
next paragraph "Influencing the behavior of image loading". If
desired, their enabling commands have to be performed before the
commands which acquire the drive.
-dev address
Set input and output drive to the same address and load an ISO
image if it is present. If there is no ISO image then create a
blank one. Set the image expansion method to growing.
This is only allowed as long as no changes are pending in the
currently loaded ISO image. If changes are pending, then one has
to perform -commit or -rollback first.
Special address string "-" means standard output, to which
several restrictions apply. See above paragraph "Libburn
drives".
An empty address string "" gives up the current device without
acquiring a new one.
-indev address
Set input drive and load an ISO image if present. If the new
input drive differs from -outdev then switch from growing to
modifying or to blind growing. It depends on the setting of
-grow_blindly which of both gets activated. The same rules and
restrictions apply as with -dev.
-outdev address
Set output drive and if it differs from the input drive then
switch from growing to modifying or to blind growing. Unlike
-dev and -indev this action does not load a new ISO image. So it
can be performed even if there are pending changes.
-outdev can be performed without previous -dev or -indev. In
that case an empty ISO image with no changes pending is created.
It can either be populated by help of -map, -add et.al. or it
can be discarded silently if -dev or -indev are performed
afterwards.
Special address string "-" means standard output, to which
several restrictions apply. See above paragraph "Libburn
drives".
An empty address string "" gives up the current output drive
without acquiring a new one. No writing is possible without an
output drive.
-grow_blindly "off"|predicted_nwa
If predicted_nwa is a non-negative number then perform blind
growing rather than modifying if -indev and -outdev are set to
different drives. "off" or "-1" switch to modifying, which is
the default.
predicted_nwa is the block address where the add-on session of
blind growing will finally end up. It is the responsibility of
the user to ensure this final position and the presence of the
older sessions. Else the overall ISO image will not be mountable
or will produce read errors when accessing file content. xorriso
will write the session to the address as obtained from examining
-outdev and not necessarily to predicted_nwa.
During a run of blind growing, the input drive is given up
before output begins. The output drive is given up when writing
is done.
Influencing the behavior of image loading:
The following commands should normally be performed before loading an
image by acquiring an input drive. In rare cases it is desirable to
activate them only after image loading.
-read_speed code|number[k|m|c|d|b]
Set the speed for reading. Default is "none", which avoids to
send a speed setting command to the drive before reading begins.
Further special speed codes are:
"max" (or "0") selects maximum speed as announced by the drive.
"min" (or "-1") selects minimum speed as announced by the drive.
Speed can be given in media dependent numbers or as a desired
throughput per second in MMC compliant kB (= 1000) or MB (= 1000
kB). Media x-speed factor can be set explicity by "c" for CD,
"d" for DVD, "b" for BD, "x" is optional.
Example speeds:
706k = 706kB/s = 4c = 4xCD
5540k = 5540kB/s = 4d = 4xDVD
If there is no hint about the speed unit attached, then the
medium in the -indev will decide. Default unit is CD = 176.4k.
Depending on the drive, the reported read speeds can be
deceivingly low or high. Therefore "min" cannot become higher
than 1x speed of the involved medium type. Read speed "max"
cannot become lower than 52xCD, 24xDVD, or 20xBD, depending on
the medium type.
MMC drives usually activate their own idea of speed and take the
speed value given by the burn program only as hint for their own
decision.
-load entity id
Load a particular (possibly outdated) ISO session from -dev or
-indev. Usually all available sessions are shown with command
-toc.
entity depicts the kind of addressing. id depicts the particular
address. The following entities are defined:
"auto" with any id addresses the last session in -toc. This is
the default.
"session" with id being a number as of a line "ISO session",
column "Idx".
"track" with id being a number as of a line "ISO track", column
"Idx".
"lba" or "sbsector" with a number as of a line "ISO ...", column
"sbsector".
"volid" with a search pattern for a text as of a line "ISO ...",
column "Volume Id".
Adressing a non-existing entity or one which does not represent
an ISO image will either abandon -indev or at least lead to a
blank image.
If an input drive is set at the moment when -load is executed,
then the addressed ISO image is loaded immediately. Else, the
setting will be pending until the next -dev or -indev. After the
image has been loaded once, the setting is valid for -rollback
until next -dev or -indev, where it will be reset to "auto".
-displacement [-]lba
Compensate a displacement of the image versus the start address
for which the image was prepared. This affects only loading of
ISO images and reading of their files. The multi-session method
of growing is not allowed as long as -displacement is non-zero.
I.e. -indev and -outdev must be different. The displacement gets
reset to 0 before the drive gets re-acquired after writing.
Examples:
If a track of a CD starts at block 123456 and gets copied to a
disk file where it begins at block 0, then this copy can be
loaded with -displacement -123456.
If an ISO image was written onto a partition with offset of
640000 blocks of 512 bytes, then it can be loaded from the base
device by -displacement 160000.
In both cases, the ISO sessions should be self contained, i.e.
not add-on sessions to an ISO image outside their track resp.
partition.
-drive_class "harmless"|"banned"|"caution"|"clear_list" disk_pattern
Add a drive path pattern to one of the safety lists or make
those lists empty. There are three lists defined which get
tested in the following sequence:
If a drive address path matches the "harmless" list then the
drive will be accepted. If it is not a MMC device then the
prefix "stdio:" will be prepended automatically. This list is
empty by default.
Else if the path matches the "banned" list then the drive will
not be accepted by xorriso but rather lead to a FAILURE event.
This list is empty by default.
Else if the path matches the "caution" list and if it is not a
MMC device, then its address must have the prefix "stdio:" or it
will be rejected. This list has by default one entry: "/dev".
If a drive path matches no list then it is considered
"harmless". By default these are all paths which do not begin
with directory "/dev".
A path matches a list if one of its parent paths or itself
matches a list entry. Address prefix "stdio:" or "mmc:" will be
ignored when testing for matches.
By pseudo-class "clear_list" and pseudo-patterns "banned",
"caution", "harmless", or "all", the lists may be made empty.
E.g.: -drive_class clear_list banned
One will normally define the -drive_class lists in one of the
xorriso Startup Files.
Note: This is not a security feature but rather a bumper for the
superuser to prevent inadverted mishaps. For reliably blocking
access to a device file you have to deny its rw-permissions in
the filesystem.
-assert_volid pattern severity
Refuse to load ISO images with volume IDs which do not match the
given search pattern. When refusing an image, give up the input
drive and issue an event of the given severity (like FAILURE,
see -abort_on). An empty search pattern accepts any image.
This command does not hamper the creation of an empty image from
blank input media and does not discard an already loaded image.
-in_charset character_set_name
Set the character set from which to convert file names when
loading an image. See paragraph "Character sets" for more
explanations. When loading the written image after -commit the
setting of -out_charset will be copied to -in_charset.
-auto_charset "on"|"off"
Enable or disable recording and interpretation of the output
character set name in an xattr attribute of the image root
directory. If enabled and if a recorded character set name is
found, then this name will be used as name of the input
character set when reading an image.
Note that the default output charset is the local character set
of the terminal where xorriso runs. Before attributing this
local character set to the produced ISO image, check whether the
terminal properly displays all intended filenames, especially
exotic national characters.
-hardlinks mode[:mode...]
Enable or disable loading and recording of hardlink relations.
In default mode "off", iso_rr files lose their inode numbers at
image load time. Each iso_rr file object which has no inode
number at image generation time will get a new unique inode
number if -compliance is set to new_rr.
Mode "on" preserves inode numbers from the loaded image if such
numbers were recorded. When committing a session it searches
for families of iso_rr files which stem from the same disk file,
have identical content filtering and have identical properties.
The family members all get the same inode number. Whether these
numbers are respected at mount time depends on the operating
system.
Command -lsl displays hardlink counts if "lsl_count" is enabled.
This can slow down the command substantially after changes to
the ISO image have been made. Therefore the default is
"no_lsl_count".
Commands -update and -update_r track splits and fusions of hard
links in filesystems which have stable device and inode numbers.
This can cause automatic last minute changes before the session
gets written. Command -hardlinks "perform_update" may be used to
do these changes earlier, e.g. if you need to apply filters to
all updated files.
Mode "without_update" avoids hardlink processing during update
commands. Use this if your filesystem situation does not allow
-disk_dev_ino "on".
xorriso commands which extract files from an ISO image try to
hardlink files with identical inode number. The normal scope of
this operation is from image load to image load. One may give up
the accumulated hard link addresses by -hardlinks
"discard_extract".
A large number of hardlink families may exhaust -temp_mem_limit
if not -osirrox "sort_lba_on" and -hardlinks
"cheap_sorted_extract" are both in effect. This restricts hard
linking to other files restored by the same single extract
command. -hardlinks "normal_extract" re-enables wide and
expensive hardlink accumulation.
-acl "on"|"off"
Enable or disable processing of ACLs. If enabled, then xorriso
will obtain ACLs from disk file objects, store ACLs in the ISO
image using the libisofs specific AAIP format, load AAIP data
from ISO images, test ACL during file comparison, and restore
ACLs to disk files when extracting them from ISO images. See
also commands -getfacl, -setfacl.
-xattr "on"|"off"
Enable or disable processing of xattr attributes in user
namespace. If enabled, then xorriso will handle xattr similar
to ACL. See also commands -getfattr, -setfattr and above
paragraph about xattr.
-md5 "on"|"all"|"off"|"load_check_off"
Enable or disable processing of MD5 checksums for the overall
session and for each single data file. If enabled then images
with checksum tags get loaded only if the tags of superblock and
directory tree match properly. The MD5 checksums of data files
and whole session get loaded from the image if there are any.
With commands -compare and -update the recorded MD5 of a file
will be used to avoid content reading from the image. Only the
disk file content will be read and compared with that MD5. This
can save much time if -disk_dev_ino "on" is not suitable.
At image generation time they are computed for each file which
gets its data written into the new session. The checksums of
files which have their data in older sessions get copied into
the new session. Superblock, tree and whole session get a
checksum tag each.
Mode "all" will additionally check during image generation
whether the checksum of a data file changed between the time
when its reading began and the time when it ended. This implies
reading every file twice.
Mode "load_check_off" together with "on" or "all" will load
recorded MD5 sums but not test the recorded checksum tags of
superblock and directory tree. This is necessary if growisofs
was used as burn program, because it does not overwrite the
superblock checksum tag of the first session. Therefore
load_check_off is in effect when xorriso -as mkisofs option -M
is performed.
The test can be re-enabled by mode "load_check_on".
Checksums can be exploited via commands -check_md5,
-check_md5_r, via find actions get_md5, check_md5, and via
-check_media.
-for_backup
Enable all extra features which help to produce or to restore
backups with highest fidelity of file properties. Currently
this is a shortcut for: -hardlinks on -acl on -xattr on -md5 on.
-disk_dev_ino "on"|"ino_only"|"off"
Enable or disable processing of recorded file identification
numbers (dev_t and ino_t). If enabled they are stored as xattr
and allow to substantially accelerate file comparison. The root
node gets a global start timestamp. If during comparison a file
with younger timestamps is found in the ISO image, then it is
suspected to have inconsistent content.
If device numbers and inode numbers of the disk filesystems are
persistent and if no irregular alterations of timestamps or
system clock happen, then potential content changes can be
detected without reading that content. File content change is
assumed if any of mtime, ctime, device number or inode number
have changed.
Mode "ino_only" replaces the precondition that device numbers
are stable by the precondition that mount points in the compared
tree always lead to the same filesystems. Use this if mode "on"
always sees all files changed.
The speed advantage appears only if the loaded session was
produced with -disk_dev_ino "on" too.
Note that -disk_dev_ino "off" is totally in effect only if
-hardlinks is "off", too.
-rom_toc_scan "on"|"force"|"off"[:"emul_off"][:"emul_wide"]
Read-only drives do not tell the actual media type but show any
media as ROM (e.g. as DVD-ROM). The session history of MMC
multi-session media might be truncated to first and last session
or even be completely false. (The emulated history of
overwriteable media is not affected by this.)
To have in case of failure a chance of getting the session
history and especially the address of the last session, there is
a scan for ISO 9660 filesystem headers which might help but also
might yield worse results than the drive's table of content. At
its end it can cause read attempts to invalid addresses and thus
ugly drive behavior. Setting "on" enables that scan for alleged
read-only media.
Some operating systems are not able to mount the most recent
session of multi-session DVD or BD. If on such a system xorriso
has no own MMC capabilities then it may still find that session
from a scanned table of content. Setting "force" handles any
media like a ROM medium with setting "on".
On the other hand the emulation of session history on
overwriteable media can hamper reading of partly damaged media.
Setting "off:emul_off" disables the elsewise trustworthy
table-of-content scan for those media.
The table-of-content scan on overwriteable media normally
searches only up to the end of the session that is pointed to by
the superblock at block 0. Setting "on:emul_wide" lets the scan
continue up to the end of the medium. This may be useful after
copying a medium with -check_media patch_lba0=on when not the
last session was loaded.
-calm_drive "in"|"out"|"all"|"revoke"|"on"|"off"
Reduce drive noise until it is actually used again. Some drives
stay alert for substantial time after they have been used for
reading. This reduces the startup time for the next drive
operation but can be loud and waste energy if no i/o with the
drive is expected to happen soon.
Modes "in", "out", "all" immediately calm down -indev, -outdev,
resp. both. Mode "revoke" immediately alerts both. Mode "on"
causes -calm_drive to be performed automatically after each
-dev, -indev, and -outdev. Mode "off" disables this.
-ban_stdio_write
Allow for writing only the usage of MMC optical drives. Disallow
to write the result into files of nearly arbitrary type. Once
set, this command cannot be revoked.
-early_stdio_test "on"|"appendable_wo"|"off"
If enabled by "on" then regular files and block devices get
tested for effective access permissions. This implies to try
opening those files for writing, which otherwise will happen
only later and only if actual writing is desired.
The test result is used for classifying the pseudo drives as
overwriteable, read-only, write-only, or uselessly empty. This
may lead to earlier detection of severe problems, and may avoid
some less severe error events.
Mode "appendable_wo" is like "on" with the additional property
that non-empty write-only files are regarded as appendable
rather than blank.
-data_cache_size number_of_tiles blocks_per_tile
Set the size and granularity of the data cache which is used
when ISO images are loaded and when file content is read from
ISO images. The cache consists of several tiles, which each
consists of several blocks. A larger cache reduces the need for
tiles being read multiple times. Larger tiles might additionally
improve the data throughput from the drive, but can be wasteful
if the data are scattered over the medium.
Larger cache sizes help best with image loading from MMC drives.
They are an inferior alternative to -osirrox option
"sort_lba_on".
blocks_per_tile must be a power of 2. E.g. 16, 32, or 64. The
overall cache size must not exceed 1 GiB. The default values
can be restored by parameter "default" instead of one or both of
the numbers. Currently the default is 32 tiles of 32 blocks = 2
MiB.
Inserting files into ISO image:
The following commands expect file addresses of two kinds:
disk_path is a path to an object in the local filesystem tree.
iso_rr_path is the Rock Ridge name of a file object in the ISO image.
If no Rock Ridge information is recorded in the loaded ISO image, then
you will see ISO 9660 names which are of limited length and character
set. If no Rock Ridge information shall be stored in an emerging ISO
image, then their names will get mapped to such restricted ISO 9660
names.
Note that in the ISO image you are as powerful as the superuser. Access
permissions of the existing files in the image do not apply to your
write operations. They are intended to be in effect with the read-only
mounted image.
If the iso_rr_path of a newly inserted file leads to an existing file
object in the ISO image, then the following collision handling happens:
If both objects are directories then they get merged by recursively
inserting the subobjects from filesystem into ISO image. If other file
types collide then the setting of command -overwrite decides.
Renaming of files has similar collision handling, but directories can
only be replaced, not merged. Note that if the target directory exists,
then -mv inserts the source objects into this directory rather than
attempting to replace it. Command -move, on the other hand, would
attempt to replace it.
The commands in this section alter the ISO image and not the local
filesystem.
-disk_pattern "on"|"ls"|"off"
Set the pattern expansion mode for the disk_path parameters of
several commands which support this feature.
Setting "off" disables this feature for all commands which are
marked in this man page by "disk_path [***]" or "disk_pattern
[***]".
Setting "on" enables it for all those commands.
Setting "ls" enables it only for those which are marked by
"disk_pattern [***]".
Default is "ls".
-add pathspec [...] | disk_path [***]
Insert the given files or directory trees from filesystem into
the ISO image.
If -pathspecs is set to "on" then pattern expansion is always
disabled and character '=' has a special meaning. It separates
the ISO image path from the disk path:
iso_rr_path=disk_path
The separator '=' can be escaped by '\'. If iso_rr_path does
not begin with '/' then -cd is prepended. If disk_path does not
begin with '/' then -cdx is prepended.
If no '=' is given then the word is used as both, iso_rr_path
and disk path. If in this case the word does not begin with '/'
then -cdx is prepended to the disk_path and -cd is prepended to
the iso_rr_path.
If -pathspecs is set to "off" then -disk_pattern expansion
applies, if enabled. The resulting words are used as both,
iso_rr_path and disk path. Relative path words get prepended the
setting of -cdx to disk_path and the setting of -cd to
iso_rr_path.
-add_plainly mode
If set to mode "unknown" then any command word that does not
begin with "-" and is not recognized as known command will be
subject to a virtual -add command. I.e. it will be used as
pathspec or as disk_path and added to the image. If enabled,
-disk_pattern expansion applies to disk_paths.
Mode "dashed" is similar to "unknown" but also adds unrecognized
command words even if they begin with "-".
Mode "any" announces that all further words are to be added as
pathspecs or disk_paths. This does not work in dialog mode.
Mode "none" is the default. It prevents any words from being
understood as files to add, if they are not parameters to
appropriate commands.
-path_list disk_path
Like -add but read the parameter words from file disk_path or
standard input if disk_path is "-". The list must contain
exactly one pathspec resp. disk_path pattern per line.
-quoted_path_list disk_path
Like -path_list but with quoted input reading rules. Lines get
split into parameter words for -add. Whitespace outside quotes
is discarded.
-map disk_path iso_rr_path
Insert file object disk_path into the ISO image as iso_rr_path.
If disk_path is a directory then its whole sub tree is inserted
into the ISO image.
-map_single disk_path iso_rr_path
Like -map, but if disk_path is a directory then its sub tree is
not inserted.
-map_l disk_prefix iso_rr_prefix disk_path [***]
Perform -map with each of the disk_path parameters. iso_rr_path
will be composed from disk_path by replacing disk_prefix by
iso_rr_prefix.
-update disk_path iso_rr_path
Compare file object disk_path with file object iso_rr_path. If
they do not match, then perform the necessary image
manipulations to make iso_rr_path a matching copy of disk_path.
By default this comparison will imply lengthy content reading
before a decision is made. Commands -disk_dev_ino or -md5 may
accelerate comparison if they were already in effect when the
loaded session was recorded.
If disk_path is a directory and iso_rr_path does not exist yet,
then the whole subtree will be inserted. Else only directory
attributes will be updated.
-update_r disk_path iso_rr_path
Like -update but working recursively. I.e. all file objects
below both addresses get compared whether they have counterparts
below the other address and whether both counterparts match. If
there is a mismatch then the necessary update manipulation is
done.
Note that the comparison result may depend on command -follow.
Its setting should always be the same as with the first adding
of disk_path as iso_rr_path.
If iso_rr_path does not exist yet, then it gets added. If
disk_path does not exist, then iso_rr_path gets deleted.
-update_l disk_prefix iso_rr_prefix disk_path [***]
Perform -update_r with each of the disk_path parameters.
iso_rr_path will be composed from disk_path by replacing
disk_prefix by iso_rr_prefix.
-cut_out disk_path byte_offset byte_count iso_rr_path
Map a byte interval of a regular disk file into a regular file
in the ISO image. This may be necessary if the disk file is
larger than a single medium, or if it exceeds the traditional
limit of 2 GiB - 1 for old operating systems, or the limit of 4
GiB - 1 for newer ones. Only the newest Linux kernels seem to
read properly files >= 4 GiB - 1.
A clumsy remedy for this limit is to backup file pieces and to
concatenate them at restore time. A well tested chopping size is
2047m. It is permissible to request a higher byte_count than
available. The resulting file will be truncated to the correct
size of a final piece. To request a byte_offset higher than
available yields no file in the ISO image but a SORRY event.
E.g:
-cut_out /my/disk/file 0 2047m \
/file/part_1_of_3_at_0_with_2047m_of_5753194821 \
-cut_out /my/disk/file 2047m 2047m \
/file/part_2_of_3_at_2047m_with_2047m_of_5753194821 \
-cut_out /my/disk/file 4094m 2047m \
/file/part_3_of_3_at_4094m_with_2047m_of_5753194821
While command -split_size is set larger than 0, and if all
pieces of a file reside in the same ISO directory with no other
files, and if the names look like above, then their ISO
directory will be recognized and handled like a regular file.
This affects commands -compare*, -update*, and overwrite
situations. See command -split_size for details.
-cpr disk_path [***] iso_rr_path
Insert the given files or directory trees from filesystem into
the ISO image.
The rules for generating the ISO addresses are similar as with
shell command cp -r. Nevertheless, directories of the
iso_rr_path are created if necessary. Especially a not yet
existing iso_rr_path will be handled as directory if multiple
disk_paths are present. The leafnames of the multiple
disk_paths will be grafted under that directory as would be done
with an existing directory.
If a single disk_path is present then a non-existing iso_rr_path
will get the same type as the disk_path.
If a disk_path does not begin with '/' then -cdx is prepended.
If the iso_rr_path does not begin with '/' then -cd is
prepended.
-mkdir iso_rr_path [...]
Create empty directories if they do not exist yet. Existence as
directory generates a WARNING event, existence as other file
causes a FAILURE event.
-lns target_text iso_rr_path
Create a symbolic link with address iso_rr_path which points to
target_text. iso_rr_path may not exist yet.
Hint: Command -clone produces the ISO equivalent of a hard link.
-clone iso_rr_path_original iso_rr_path_copy
Create a copy of the ISO file object iso_rr_path_original with
the new address iso_rr_path_copy. If the original is a directory
then copy all files and directories underneath. If
iso_rr_path_original is a boot catalog file, then it gets not
copied but is silently ignored.
The copied ISO file objects have the same attributes. Copied
data files refer to the same content source as their originals.
The copies may then be manipulated independendly of their
originals.
This command will refuse execution if the address
iso_rr_path_copy already exists in the ISO tree.
-cp_clone iso_rr_path_original [***] iso_rr_path_dest
Create copies of one or more ISO file objects as with command
-clone. In case of collision merge directories with existing
ones, but do not overwrite existing ISO file objects.
The rules for generating the copy addresses are the same as with
command -cpr (see above) resp. shell command cp -r. Other than
with -cpr, relative iso_rr_path_original will get prepended the
-cd path and not the -cdx path. Consider to -mkdir
iso_rr_path_dest before -cp_clone so the copy address does not
depend on the number of iso_rr_path_original parameters.
Settings for file insertion:
-file_size_limit value [value [...]] --
Set the maximum permissible size for a single data file. The
values get summed up for the actual limit. If the only value is
"off" then the file size is not limited by xorriso. Default is
a limit of 100 extents, 4g -2k each:
-file_size_limit 400g -200k --
When mounting ISO 9660 filesystems, old operating systems can
handle only files up to 2g -1 --. Newer ones are good up to 4g
-1 --. You need quite a new Linux kernel to read correctly the
final bytes of a file >= 4g if its size is not aligned to 2048
byte blocks.
xorriso's own data read capabilities are not affected by
operating system size limits. Such limits apply to mounting
only. Nevertheless, the target filesystem of an -extract must be
able to take the file size.
-not_mgt code[:code[...]]
Control the behavior of the exclusion lists.
Exclusion processing happens before disk_paths get mapped to the
ISO image and before disk files get compared with image files.
The absolute disk path of the source is matched against the
-not_paths list. The leafname of the disk path is matched
against the patterns in the -not_leaf list. If a match is
detected then the disk path will not be regarded as an existing
file and not be added to the ISO image.
Several codes are defined. The _on/_off settings persist until
they are revoked by their_off/_on counterparts.
"erase" empties the lists which were accumulated by -not_paths
and -not_leaf.
"reset" is like "erase" but also re-installs default behavior.
"off" disables exclusion processing temporarily without
invalidating the lists and settings.
"on" re-enables exclusion processing.
"param_off" applies exclusion processing only to paths below
disk_path parameter of commands. I.e. explicitly given
disk_paths are exempted from exclusion processing.
"param_on" applies exclusion processing to command parameters as
well as to files below such parameters.
"subtree_off" with "param_on" excludes parameter paths only if
they match a -not_paths item exactly.
"subtree_on" additionally excludes parameter paths which lead to
a file address below any -not_paths item.
"ignore_off" treats excluded disk files as if they were missing.
I.e. they get reported with -compare and deleted from the image
with -update.
"ignore_on" keeps excluded files out of -compare or -update
activities.
-not_paths disk_path [***]
Add the given paths to the list of excluded absolute disk paths.
If a given path is relative, then the current -cdx is prepended
to form an absolute path. Pattern matching, if enabled, happens
at definition time and not when exclusion checks are made.
(Do not forget to end the list of disk_paths by "--")
-not_leaf pattern
Add a single shell parser style pattern to the list of
exclusions for disk leafnames. These patterns are evaluated when
the exclusion checks are made.
-not_list disk_path
Read lines from disk_path and use each of them either as
-not_paths parameter, if they contain a / character, or as
-not_leaf pattern.
-quoted_not_list disk_path
Like -not_list but with quoted input reading rules. Each word is
handled as one parameter for -not_paths resp. -not_leaf.
-follow occasion[:occasion[...]]
Enable or disable resolution of symbolic links and mountpoints
under disk_paths. This applies to actions -add, -du*x, -ls*x,
-findx, and to -disk_pattern expansion.
There are two kinds of follow decisison to be made:
"link" is the hop from a symbolic link to its target file
object. If enabled then symbolic links are handled as their
target file objects, else symbolic links are handled as
themselves.
"mount" is the hop from one filesystem to another subordinate
filesystem. If enabled then mountpoint directories are handled
as any other directory, else mountpoints are handled as empty
directories if they are encountered in directory tree
traversals.
Less general than above occasions:
"pattern" is mount and link hopping, but only during
-disk_pattern expansion.
"param" is link hopping for parameter words (after eventual
pattern expansion). If enabled then -ls*x will show the link
targets rather than the links themselves. -du*x, -findx, and
-add will process the link targets but not follow links in an
eventual directory tree below the targets (unless "link" is
enabled).
Occasions can be combined in a colon separated list. All
occasions mentioned in the list will then lead to a positive
follow decision.
"off" prevents any positive follow decision. Use it if no other
occasion applies.
Shortcuts:
"default" is equivalent to "pattern:mount:limit=100".
"on" always decides positive. Equivalent to "link:mount".
Not an occasion but an optional setting is:
"limit="<number> which sets the maximum number of link hops. A
link hop consists of a sequence of symbolic links and a final
target of different type. Nevertheless those hops can loop.
Example:
$ ln -s .. uploop
Link hopping has a built-in loop detection which stops hopping
at the first repetition of a link target. Then the repeated link
is handled as itself and not as its target. Regrettably one can
construct link networks which cause exponential workload before
their loops get detected. The number given with "limit=" can
curb this workload at the risk of truncating an intentional
sequence of link hops.
-pathspecs "on"|"off"
Control parameter interpretation with xorriso actions -add and
-path_list.
"on" enables pathspecs of the form target=source like with
program mkisofs -graft-points. It also disables -disk_pattern
expansion for command -add.
"off" disables pathspecs of the form target=source and
re-enables -disk_pattern expansion.
-overwrite "on"|"nondir"|"off"
Allow or disallow to overwrite existing files in the ISO image
by files with the same name.
With setting "off", name collisions cause FAILURE events. With
setting "nondir", only directories are protected by such events,
other existing file types get treated with -rm before the new
file gets added. Setting "on" allows automatic -rm_r. I.e. a
non-directory can replace an existing directory and all its
subordinates.
If restoring of files is enabled, then the overwrite rule
applies to the target file objects on disk as well, but "on" is
downgraded to "nondir".
-split_size number["k"|"m"]
Set the threshold for automatic splitting of regular files. Such
splitting maps a large disk file onto a ISO directory with
several part files in it. This is necessary if the size of the
disk file exceeds -file_size_limit. Older operating systems can
handle files in mounted ISO 9660 filesystems only if they are
smaller than 2 GiB resp. 4 GiB.
Default is 0 which will exclude files larger than
-file_size_limit by a FAILURE event. A well tested -split_size
is 2047m. Sizes above -file_size_limit are not permissible.
While command -split_size is set larger than 0 such a directory
with split file pieces will be recognized and handled like a
regular file by commands -compare* , -update*, and in overwrite
situations. There are -ossirox parameters "concat_split_on" and
"concat_split_off" which control the handling when files get
restored to disk.
In order to be recognizable, the names of the part files have to
describe the splitting by 5 numbers:
part_number,total_parts,byte_offset,byte_count,disk_file_size
which are embedded in the following text form:
part_#_of_#_at_#_with_#_of_#
Scaling characters like "m" or "k" are taken into respect. All
digits are interpreted as decimal, even if leading zeros are
present.
E.g: /file/part_1_of_3_at_0_with_2047m_of_5753194821
No other files are allowed in the directory. All parts have to
be present and their numbers have to be plausible. E.g.
byte_count must be valid as -cut_out parameter and their
contents may not overlap.
File manipulations:
The following commands manipulate files in the ISO image, regardless
whether they stem from the loaded image or were newly inserted.
-iso_rr_pattern "on"|"ls"|"off"
Set the pattern expansion mode for the iso_rr_path parameters of
several commands which support this feature.
Setting "off" disables pattern expansion for all commands which
are marked in this man page by "iso_rr_path [***]" or
"iso_rr_pattern [***]".
Setting "on" enables it for all those commands.
Setting "ls" enables it only for those which are marked by
"iso_rr_pattern [***]".
Default is "on".
-rm iso_rr_path [***]
Delete the given files from the ISO image.
Note: This does not free any space on the -indev medium, even if
the deletion is committed to that same medium.
The image size will shrink if the image is written to a
different medium in modification mode.
-rm_r iso_rr_path [***]
Delete the given files or directory trees from the ISO image.
See also the note with command -rm.
-rmdir iso_rr_path [***]
Delete empty directories.
-move iso_rr_path iso_rr_path
Rename the file given by the first (origin) iso_rr_path to the
second (destination) iso_rr_path. Deviate from rules of shell
command mv by not moving the origin file underneath an existing
destination directory. The origin file will rather replace such
a directory, if this is allowed by command -overwrite.
-mv iso_rr_path [***] iso_rr_path
Rename the given file objects in the ISO tree to the last
parameter in the list. Use the same rules as with shell command
mv.
If pattern expansion is enabled and if the last parameter
contains wildcard characters then it must match exactly one
existing file address, or else the command fails with a FAILURE
event.
-chown uid iso_rr_path [***]
Set ownership of file objects in the ISO image. uid may either
be a decimal number or the name of a user known to the operating
system.
-chown_r uid iso_rr_path [***]
Like -chown but affecting all files below eventual directories.
-chgrp gid iso_rr_path [***]
Set group attribute of file objects in the ISO image. gid may
either be a decimal number or the name of a group known to the
operating system.
-chgrp_r gid iso_rr_path [***]
Like -chgrp but affecting all files below eventual directories.
-chmod mode iso_rr_path [***]
Equivalent to shell command chmod in the ISO image. mode is
either an octal number beginning with "0" or a comma separated
list of statements of the form [ugoa]*[+-=][rwxst]* .
Like: go-rwx,u+rwx .
Personalities: u=user, g=group, o=others, a=all
Operators: + adds given permissions, - revokes given
permissions, = revokes all old permissions and then adds the
given ones.
Permissions: r=read, w=write, x=execute|inspect,
s=setuid|setgid, t=sticky bit
For octal numbers see man 2 stat.
-chmod_r mode iso_rr_path [***]
Like -chmod but affecting all files below eventual directories.
-setfacl acl_text iso_rr_path [***]
Attach the given ACL to the given iso_rr_paths. If the files
already have ACLs, then those get deleted before the new ones
get into effect. If acl_text is empty, or contains the text
"clear" or the text "--remove-all", then the existing ACLs will
be removed and no new ones will be attached. Any other content
of acl_text will be interpreted as a list of ACL entries. It may
be in the long multi-line format as put out by -getfacl but may
also be abbreviated as follows:
ACL entries are separated by comma or newline. If an entry is
empty text or begins with "#" then it will be ignored. A valid
entry has to begin by a letter out of {ugom} for "user",
"group", "other", "mask". It has to contain two colons ":". A
non-empty text between those ":" gives a user id resp. group id.
After the second ":" there may be letters out of {rwx- #}. The
first three give read, write resp. execute permission. Letters
"-", " " and TAB are ignored. "#" causes the rest of the entry
to be ignored. Letter "X" or any other letters are not
supported. Examples:
g:toolies:rw,u:lisa:rw,u:1001:rw,u::wr,g::r,o::r,m::rw
group:toolies:rw-,user::rw-,group::r--,other::r--,mask::rw-
A valid entry may be prefixed by "d", some following characters
and ":". This indicates that the entry goes to the "default"
ACL rather than to the "access" ACL. Example:
u::rwx,g::rx,o::,d:u::rwx,d:g::rx,d:o::,d:u:lisa:rwx,d:m::rwx
-setfacl_r acl_text iso_rr_path [***]
Like -setfacl but affecting all files below eventual
directories.
-setfacl_list disk_path
Read the output of -getfacl_r or shell command getfacl -R and
apply it to the iso_rr_paths as given in lines beginning with "#
file:". This will change ownership, group and ACL of the given
files. If disk_path is "-" then lines are read from standard
input. Line "@" ends the list, "@@@" aborts without changing the
pending iso_rr_path.
Since -getfacl and getfacl -R strip leading "/" from file paths,
the setting of -cd does always matter.
-setfattr [-]name value iso_rr_path [***]
Attach the given xattr pair of name and value to the given
iso_rr_paths. If the given name is prefixed by "-", then the
pair with that name gets removed from the xattr list. If name is
"--remove-all" then all user namespace xattr of the given
iso_rr_paths get deleted. In case of deletion, value must be an
empty text.
Only names from the user namespace are allowed. I.e. a name has
to begin with "user.", like "user.x" or "user.whatever".
Values and names undergo the normal input processing of xorriso.
See also command -backslash_codes. Other than with command
-setfattr_list, the byte value 0 cannot be expressed via
-setfattr.
-setfattr_r [-]name value iso_rr_path [***]
Like -setfattr but affecting all files below eventual
directories.
-setfattr_list disk_path
Read the output of -getfattr_r or shell command getfattr -Rd and
apply it to the iso_rr_paths as given in lines beginning with "#
file:". All previously existing user space xattr of the given
iso_rr_paths will be deleted. If disk_path is "-" then lines
are read from standard input.
Since -getfattr and getfattr -Rd strip leading "/" from file
paths, the setting of -cd does always matter.
Empty input lines and lines which begin by "#" will be ignored
(except "# file:"). Line "@" ends the list, "@@@" aborts without
changing the pending iso_rr_path. Other input lines must have
the form
name="value"
Name must be from user namespace. I.e. user.xyz where xyz should
consist of printable characters only. The separator "=" is not
allowed in names. Value may contain any kind of bytes. It must
be in quotes. Trailing whitespace after the end quote will be
ignored. Non-printables bytes and quotes must be represented as
\XYZ by their octal 8-bit code XYZ. Use code \000 for 0-bytes.
-alter_date type timestring iso_rr_path [***]
Alter the date entries of files in the ISO image. type may be
one of the following:
"a" sets access time, updates ctime.
"m" sets modification time, updates ctime.
"b" sets access time and modification time, updates ctime.
"a-c", "m-c", and "b-c" set the times without updating ctime.
"c" sets the ctime.
timestring may be in the following formats (see also section
EXAMPLES):
As expected by program date:
MMDDhhmm[[CC]YY][.ss]]
As produced by program date:
[Day] MMM DD hh:mm:ss [TZON] YYYY
Relative times counted from current clock time:
+|-Number["s"|"h"|"d"|"w"|"m"|"y"]
where "s" means seconds, "h" hours, "d" days, "w" weeks,
"m"=30d, "y"=365.25d plus 1d added to multiplication result.
Absolute seconds counted from Jan 1 1970:
=Number
xorriso's own timestamps:
YYYY.MM.DD[.hh[mm[ss]]]
scdbackup timestamps:
YYMMDD[.hhmm[ss]]
where "A0" is year 2000, "B0" is 2010, etc.
ECMA-119 volume timestamps:
YYYYMMDDhhmmsscc
These are normally given as GMT. The suffix "LOC" causes local
timezone conversion. E.g. 2013010720574700, 2013010720574700LOC.
The last two digits cc (centiseconds) will be ignored, but must
be present in order to make the format recognizable.
Example:
-alter_date m-c 2013.11.27.103951 /file1 /file2 --
-alter_date_r type timestring iso_rr_path [***]
Like -alter_date but affecting all files below eventual
directories.
-hide hide_state iso_rr_path [***]
Prevent the names of the given files from showing up in the
directory trees of ISO 9660 and/or Joliet and/or HFS+ when the
image gets written. The data content of such hidden files will
be included in the resulting image, even if they do not show up
in any directory. But you will need own means to find nameless
data in the image.
Warning: Data which are hidden from the ISO 9660 tree will not
be copied by the write method of modifying.
Possible values of hide_state are: "iso_rr" for hiding from ISO
9660 tree, "joliet" for Joliet tree, "hfsplus" for HFS+, "on"
for them all. "off" means visibility in all directory trees.
These values may be combined. E.g.: joliet:hfsplus
This command does not apply to the boot catalog. Rather use:
-boot_image "any" "cat_hidden=on"
Tree traversal command -find:
-find iso_rr_path [test [op] [test ...]] [-exec action [params]] --
A restricted substitute for shell command find in the ISO image.
It performs an action on matching file objects at or below
iso_rr_path.
If not used as last command in the line then the parameter list
needs to get terminated by "--".
Tests are optional. If they are omitted then action is applied
to all file objects. If tests are given then they form together
an expression. The action is applied only if the expression
matches the file object. Default expression operator between
tests is -and, i.e. the expression matches only if all its tests
match.
Available tests are:
-name pattern : Matches if pattern matches the file leaf name.
-wholename pattern : Matches if pattern matches the file path as
it would be printed by action "echo". Character '/' is not
special but can be matched by wildcards.
-disk_name pattern : Like -name but testing the leaf name of the
file source on disk. Can match only data files which do not
stem from the loaded image, or for directories above such data
files. With directories the result can change between -find runs
if their content stems from multiple sources.
-disk_path disk_path : Matches if the given disk_path is equal
to the path of the file source on disk. The same restrictions
apply as with -disk_name.
-type type_letter : Matches files of the given type: "block",
"char", "dir", "pipe", "file", "link", "socket", "eltorito", and
"Xotic" which matches what is not matched by the other types.
Only the first letter is interpreted. E.g.: -find / -type d
-damaged : Matches files which use data blocks marked as damaged
by a previous run of -check_media. The damage info vanishes when
a new ISO image gets loaded.
Note that a MD5 session mismatch marks all files of the session
as damaged. If finer distinction is desired, perform -md5 off
before -check_media.
-pending_data : Matches files which get their content from
outside the loaded ISO image.
-lba_range start_lba block_count : Matches files which use data
blocks within the range of start_lba and
start_lba+block_count-1.
-has_acl : Matches files which have a non-trivial ACL.
-has_xattr : Matches files which have xattr name-value pairs
from user namespace.
-has_aaip : Matches files which have ACL or any xattr.
-has_any_xattr : Matches files which have any xattr other than
ACL.
-has_md5 : Matches data files which have MD5 checksums.
-has_hfs_crtp creator type : Matches files which have the given
HFS+ creator and type attached. These are codes of 4 characters
which get stored if -hfsplus is enabled. Use a single dash '-'
as wildcard that matches any such code. E.g:.
-has_hfs_crtp YYDN TEXT
-has_hfs_crtp - -
-has_hfs_bless blessing : Matches files which bear the given
HFS+ blessing. It may be one of : "ppc_bootdir",
"intel_bootfile", "show_folder", "os9_folder", "osx_folder",
"any". See also action set_hfs_bless.
-has_filter : Matches files which are filtered by -set_filter.
-hidden hide_state : Matches files which are hidden in "iso_rr"
tree, in "joliet" tree, in "hfsplus" tree, in all trees ("on"),
or not hidden in any tree ("off").
Those which are hidden in some tree match -not -hidden "off".
-prune : If this test is reached and the tested file is a
directory then -find will not dive into that directory. This
test itself does always match.
-decision "yes"|"no" : If this test is reached then the
evaluation ends immediately and action is performed if the
decision is "yes" or "true". See operator -if.
-true and -false : Always match resp. match not. Evaluation goes
on.
-sort_lba : Always match. This causes -find to perform its
action in a sequence sorted by the ISO image block addresses of
the files. It may improve throughput with actions which read
data from optical drives. Action will always get the absolute
path as parameter.
Available operators are:
-not : Matches if the next test or sub expression does not
match. Several tests do this specifically:
-undamaged, -lba_range with negative start_lba, -has_no_acl,
-has_no_xattr, -has_no_aaip, -has_no_filter .
-and : Matches if both neighboring tests or expressions match.
-or : Matches if at least one of both neighboring tests or
expressions matches.
-sub ... -subend or ( ... ) : Enclose a sub expression which
gets evaluated first before it is processed by neighboring
operators. Normal precedence is: -not, -or , -and.
-if ... -then ... -elseif ... -then ... -else ... -endif :
Enclose one or more sub expressions. If the -if expression
matches, then the -then expression is evaluated as the result of
the whole expression up to -endif. Else the next -elseif
expression is evaluated and if it matches, its -then expression.
Finally in case of no match, the -else expression is evaluated.
There may be more than one -elseif. Neither -else nor -elseif
are mandatory. If -else is missing and would be hit, then the
result is a non-match.
-if-expressions are the main use case for above test -decision.
Default action is echo, i.e. to print the address of the found
file. Other actions are certain xorriso commands which get
performed on the found files. These commands may have specific
parameters. See also their particular descriptions.
chown and chown_r change the ownership and get the user id as
parameter. E.g.: -exec chown thomas --
chgrp and chgrp_r change the group attribute and get the group
id as parameter. E.g.: -exec chgrp_r staff --
chmod and chmod_r change access permissions and get a mode
string as parameter. E.g.: -exec chmod a-w,a+r --
alter_date and alter_date_r change the timestamps. They get a
type character and a timestring as parameters.
E.g.: -exec alter_date "m" "Dec 30 19:34:12 2007" --
lsdl prints file information like shell command ls -dl.
compare performs command -compare with the found file address as
iso_rr_path and the corresponding file address below its
parameter disk_path_start. For this the iso_rr_path of the -find
command gets replaced by the disk_path_start.
E.g.: -find /thomas -exec compare /home/thomas --
update performs command -update with the found file address as
iso_rr_path. The corresponding file address is determined like
with above action "compare".
update_merge is like update but does not delete the found file
if it is missing on disk. It may be run several times and
records with all visited files whether their counterpart on disk
has already been seen by one of the update_merge runs. Finally,
a -find run with action "rm_merge" may remove all files that saw
no counterpart on disk.
Up to the next "rm_merge" or "clear_merge" all newly inserted
files will get marked as having a disk counterpart.
rm removes the found iso_rr_path from the image if it is not a
directory with files in it. I.e. this "rm" includes "rmdir".
rm_r removes the found iso_rr_path from the image, including
whole directory trees.
rm_merge removes the found iso_rr_path if it was visited by one
or more previous actions "update_merge" and saw no counterpart
on disk in any of them. The marking from the update actions is
removed in any case.
clear_merge removes an eventual marking from action
"update_merge".
report_damage classifies files whether they hit a data block
that is marked as damaged. The result is printed together with
the address of the first damaged byte, the maximum span of
damages, file size, and the path of the file.
report_lba prints files which are associated to image data
blocks. It tells the logical block address, the block number,
the byte size, and the path of each file. There may be reported
more than one line per file if the file is very large. In this
case each line has a different extent number in column "xt".
getfacl prints access permissions in ACL text form to the result
channel.
setfacl attaches ACLs after removing existing ones. The new ACL
is given in text form as defined with command -setfacl.
E.g.: -exec setfacl u:lisa:rw,u::rw,g::r,o::-,m::rw --
getfattr prints xattr name-value pairs from user namespace to
the result channel.
get_any_xattr prints xattr name-value pairs from any namespace
except ACL to the result channel. This is mostly for debugging
of namespace "isofs".
list_extattr mode prints a script to the result channel, which
would use FreeBSD command setextattr to set the file's xattr
name-value pairs of user namespace. Parameter mode controls the
form of the output of names and values. Default mode "e" prints
harmless characters in shell quotation marks, but represents
texts with octal 001 to 037 and 0177 to 0377 by an embedded echo
-e command. Mode "q" prints any characters in shell quotation
marks. This might not be terminal-safe but should work in script
files. Mode "r" uses no quotation marks. Not safe. Mode "b"
prints backslash encoding. Not suitable for shell parsing.
E.g. -exec list_extattr e --
Command -backslash_codes does not affect the output.
get_md5 prints the MD5 sum, if recorded, together with file
path.
check_md5 compares the MD5 sum, if recorded, with the file
content and reports if mismatch.
E.g.: -find / -not -pending_data -exec check_md5 FAILURE --
make_md5 equips a data file with an MD5 sum of its content.
Useful to upgrade the files in the loaded image to full MD5
coverage by the next commit with -md5 "on".
E.g.: -find / -type f -not -has_md5 -exec make_md5 --
setfattr sets or deletes xattr name value pairs.
E.g.: -find / -has_xattr -exec setfattr --remove-all '' --
set_hfs_crtp adds, changes, or removes HFS+ creator and type
attributes.
E.g.: -exec set_hfs_crtp YYDN TEXT
E.g.: -find /my/dir -prune -exec set_hfs_crtp --delete -
get_hfs_crtp prints the HFS+ creator and type attributes
together with the iso_rr_path, if the file has such attributes
at all.
E.g.: -exec get_hfs_crtp
set_hfs_bless applies or removes HFS+ blessings. They are roles
which can be attributed to up to four directories and a data
file:
"ppc_bootdir", "intel_bootfile", "show_folder", "os9_folder",
"osx_folder".
They may be abbreviated as "p", "i", "s", "9", and "x".
Each such role can be attributed to at most one file object.
"intel_bootfile" is the one that would apply to a data file. All
others apply to directories. The -find run will end as soon as
the first blessing is issued. The previous bearer of the
blessing will lose it then. No file object can bear more than
one blessing.
E.g.: -find /my/blessed/directory -exec set_hfs_bless p
Further there is blessing "none" or "n" which revokes any
blessing from the found files. This -find run will not stop when
the first match is reached.
E.g.: -find / -has_hfs_bless any -exec set_hfs_bless none
get_hfs_bless prints the HFS+ blessing role and the iso_rr_path,
if the file is blessed at all.
E.g.: -exec get_hfs_bless
set_filter applies or removes filters.
E.g.: -exec set_filter --zisofs --
mkisofs_r applies the rules of mkisofs -r to the file object:
user id and group id become 0, all r-permissions get granted,
all w denied. If there is any x-permission, then all three x
get granted. s- and t-bits get removed.
sort_weight attributes a LBA weight number to regular files.
The number may range from -2147483648 to 2147483647. The higher
it is, the lower will be the block address of the file data in
the emerging ISO image. Currently the boot catalog has a
hardcoded weight of 1 billion. Normally it should occupy the
block with the lowest possible address.
Data files which are loaded by -indev or -dev get a weight
between 1 and 2 exp 28 = 268,435,456, depending on their block
address. This shall keep them roughly in the same order if the
write method of modifying is applied.
Data files which are added by other commands get an initial
weight of 0. Boot image files have a default weight of 2.
E.g.: -exec sort_weight 3 --
show_stream shows the content stream chain of a data file.
hide brings the file into one of the hide states "on", "iso_rr",
"joliet", "hfsplus", "off". They may be combined. E.g.:
joliet:hfsplus
E.g.:
-find / -disk_name *_secret -exec hide on
estimate_size prints a lower and an upper estimation of the
number of blocks which the found files together will occupy in
the emerging ISO image. This does not account for the
superblock, for the directories in the -find path, or for image
padding.
find performs another run of -find on the matching file address.
It accepts the same params as -find, except iso_rr_path.
E.g.:
-find / -name '???' -type d -exec find -name '[abc]*' -exec
chmod a-w,a+r --
Filters for data file content:
Filters may be installed between data files in the ISO image and their
content source outside the image. They may also be used vice versa
between data content in the image and target files on disk.
Built-in filters are "--zisofs" and "--zisofs-decode". The former is to
be applied via -set_filter, the latter is automatically applied if
zisofs compressed content is detected with a file when loading the ISO
image.
Another built-in filter pair is "--gzip" and "--gunzip" with suffix
".gz". They behave about like external gzip and gunzip but avoid
forking a process for each single file. So they are much faster if
there are many small files.
-external_filter name option[:option] program_path [arguments] --
Register a content filter by associating a name with a program
path, program arguments, and some behavioral options. Once
registered it can be applied to multiple data files in the ISO
image, regardless whether their content resides in the loaded
ISO image or in the local filesystem. External filter processes
may produce synthetic file content by reading the original
content from stdin and writing to stdout whatever they want.
They must deliver the same output on the same input in repeated
runs.
Options are:
"default" means that no other option is intended.
"suffix=..." sets a file name suffix. If it is not empty then
it will be appended to the file name or removed from it.
"remove_suffix" will remove a file name suffix rather than
appending it.
"if_nonempty" will leave 0-sized files unfiltered.
"if_reduction" will try filtering and revoke it if the content
size does not shrink.
"if_block_reduction" will revoke if the number of 2 kB blocks
does not shrink.
"used=..." is ignored. Command -status shows it with the number
of files which currently have the filter applied.
Examples:
-external_filter bzip2 suffix=.bz2:if_block_reduction \
/usr/bin/bzip2 --
-external_filter bunzip2 suffix=.bz2:remove_suffix \
/usr/bin/bunzip2 --
-unregister_filter name
Remove an -external_filter registration. This is only possible
if the filter is not applied to any file in the ISO image.
-close_filter_list
Irrevocably ban commands -external_filter and
-unregister_filter, but not -set_filter. Use this to prevent
external filtering in general or when all intended filters are
registered. External filters may also be banned totally at
compile time of xorriso. By default they are banned if xorriso
runs under setuid permission.
-set_filter name iso_rr_path [***]
Apply an -external_filter or a built-in filter to the given data
files in the ISO image. If the filter suffix is not empty ,
then it will be applied to the file name. Renaming only happens
if the filter really gets attached and is not revoked by its
options. By default files which already bear the suffix will
not get filtered. The others will get the suffix appended to
their names. If the filter has option "remove_suffix", then the
filter will only be applied if the suffix is present and can be
removed. Name oversize or collision caused by suffix change
will prevent filtering.
With most filter types this command will immediately run the
filter once for each file in order to determine the output size.
Content reading operations like -extract , -compare and image
generation will perform further filter runs and deliver filtered
content.
At image generation time the filter output must still be the
same as the output from the first run. Filtering for image
generation does not happen with files from the loaded ISO image
if the write method of growing is in effect (i.e -indev and
-outdev are identical).
The reserved filter name "--remove-all-filters" revokes
filtering. This will revoke suffix renamings as well. Use
"--remove-all-filters+" to prevent any suffix renaming.
Attaching or detaching filters will not alter the state of
-changes_pending. If the filter manipulations shall be the only
changes in a write run, then explicitely execute
-changes_pending "yes".
-set_filter_r name iso_rr_path [***]
Like -set_filter but affecting all data files below eventual
directories.
Writing the result, drive control:
(see also paragraph about settings below)
-rollback
Discard the manipulated ISO image and reload it from -indev.
(Use -rollback_end if immediate program end is desired.)
-changes_pending "no"|"yes"|"mkisofs_printed"|"show_status"
Write runs are performed only if a change of the image has been
made since the image was loaded or created blank. Vice versa the
program will start a write run for pending changes when it ends
normally (i.e. not by abort and not by command -rollback_end).
The command -changes_pending can be used to override the
automatically determined state. This is mainly useful for
setting state "yes" despite no real changes were made. The
sequence -changes_pending "no" -end is equivalent to the command
-rollback_end. State "mkisofs_printed" is caused by emulation
command -as mkisofs if option -print-size is present.
The pseudo-state "show_status" can be used to print the current
state to result channel.
Image loading or manipulations which happen after this command
will again update automatically the change status of the image.
-commit
Perform the write operation. Afterwards, if -outdev is readable,
make it the new -dev and load the image from there. Switch to
growing mode. (A subsequent -outdev will activate modification
mode or blind growing.) -commit is performed automatically at
end of program if there are uncommitted manipulations pending.
So, to perform a final write operation with no new -dev and no
new loading of image, rather execute command -end. If you want
to go on without image loading, execute -commit_eject "none".
To eject after write without image loading, use -commit_eject
"all".
To suppress a final write, execute -rollback_end.
Writing can last quite a while. It is not unnormal with several
types of media that there is no progress visible for the first
few minutes or that the drive gnaws on the medium for a few
minutes after all data have been transmitted. xorriso and the
drives are in a client-server relationship. The drives have
much freedom about what to do with the media. Some combinations
of drives and media simply do not work, despite the promises by
their vendors. If writing fails then try other media or another
drive. The reason for such failure is hardly ever in the code of
the various burn programs but you may well try some of those
listed below under SEE ALSO.
-eject "in"|"out"|"all"
Eject the medium in -indev, resp. -outdev, resp. both drives.
Note: It is not possible yet to effectively eject disk files.
-commit_eject "in"|"out"|"all"|"none"
Combined -commit and -eject. When writing has finished do not
make -outdev the new -dev, and load no ISO image. Rather eject
-indev and/or -outdev. Give up any non-ejected drive.
-blank mode
Make media ready for writing from scratch (if not -dummy is
activated).
This affects only the -outdev not the -indev. If both drives
are the same and if the ISO image was altered then this command
leads to a FAILURE event. Defined modes are:
as_needed, fast, all, deformat, deformat_quickest
"as_needed" cares for used CD-RW, DVD-RW and for used
overwriteable media by applying -blank "fast". It applies
-format "full" to yet unformatted DVD-RAM and BD-RE. Other
media in blank state are gracefully ignored. Media which cannot
be made ready for writing from scratch cause a FAILURE event.
"fast" makes CD-RW and unformatted DVD-RW re-usable, or
invalidates overwriteable ISO images. "all" might work more
thoroughly and need more time.
"deformat" converts overwriteable DVD-RW into unformatted ones.
"deformat_quickest" is a faster way to deformat or blank DVD-RW
but produces media which are only suitable for a single session.
Some drives announce this state by not offering feature 21h, but
some drives offer it anyway. If feature 21h is missing, then
xorriso will refuse to write on DVD-RW if not command -close is
set to "on".
The progress reports issued by some drives while blanking are
quite unrealistic. Do not conclude success or failure from the
reported percentages. Blanking was successful if no SORRY event
or worse occured.
Mode may be prepended by "force:" in order to override the
evaluation of the medium state by libburn. E.g. "force:fast".
Blanking will nevertheless only succeed if the drive is willing
to do it.
-format mode
Convert unformatted DVD-RW into overwriteable ones, "de-ice"
DVD+RW, format newly purchased BD-RE or BD-R, re-format DVD-RAM
or BD-RE.
Defined modes are:
as_needed, full, fast, by_index_<num>, fast_by_index_<num>,
by_size_<num>, fast_by_size_<num>, without_spare
"as_needed" formats yet unformatted DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, BD-RE, or
blank unformatted BD-R. Other media are left untouched.
"full" (re-)formats DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, BD-RE, or blank
unformatted BD-R.
"fast" does the same as "full" but tries to be quicker.
"by_index_" selects a format out of the descriptor list issued
by command -list_formats. The index number from that list is to
be appended to the mode word. E.g: "by_index_3".
"fast_by_index_" does the same as "by_index_" but tries to be
quicker.
"by_size_" selects a format out of the descriptor list which
provides at least the given size. That size is to be appended to
the mode word. E.g: "by_size_4100m". This applies to media with
Defect Management. On BD-RE it will not choose format 0x31,
which offers no Defect Management.
"fast_by_size_" does the same as "by_size_" but tries to be
quicker.
"without_spare" selects the largest format out of the descriptor
list which provides no Spare Area for Defect Management. On
BD-RE this will be format 0x31.
The formatting action has no effect on media if -dummy is
activated.
Formatting is normally needed only once during the lifetime of a
medium, if ever. But it is a reason for re-formatting if:
DVD-RW was deformatted by -blank,
DVD+RW has read failures (re-format before next write),
DVD-RAM or BD-RE shall change their amount of defect reserve.
BD-R may be written unformatted or may be formatted before first
use. Formatting activates Defect Management which tries to
catch and repair bad spots on media during the write process at
the expense of half speed even with flawless media.
The progress reports issued by some drives while formatting are
quite unrealistic. Do not conclude success or failure from the
reported percentages. Formatting was successful if no SORRY
event or worse occured. Be patient with apparently frozen
progress.
-list_formats
Put out a list of format descriptors as reported by the output
drive for the current medium. The list gives the index number
after "Format idx", a MMC format code, the announced size in
blocks (like "2236704s") and the same size in MiB.
MMC format codes are manifold. Most important are: "00h" general
formatting, "01h" increases reserve space for DVD-RAM, "26h" for
DVD+RW, "30h" for BD-RE with reserve space, "31h" for BD-RE
without reserve space, "32h" for BD-R.
Smaller format size with DVD-RAM, BD-RE, or BD-R means more
reserve space.
-list_speeds
Put out a list of speed values as reported by the drives with
the loaded media. The list tells read speeds of the input drive
and of the output drive. Further it tells write speeds of the
output drive.
The list of write speeds does not necessarily mean that the
medium is writable or that these speeds are actually achievable.
Especially the lists reported with empty drive or with ROM media
obviously advertise speeds for other media.
It is not mandatory to use speed values out of the listed range.
The drive is supposed to choose a safe speed that is as near to
the desired speed as possible.
At the end of the list, "Write speed L" and "Write speed H" are
the best guesses for lower and upper write speed limit. "Write
speed l" and "Write speed h" may appear only with CD and
eventually override the list of other speed offers.
Only if the drive reports contradicting speed information there
will appear "Write speed 0", which tells the outcome of speed
selection by command -speed 0, if it deviates from "Write speed
H".
"Read speed L" and "Read speed H" tell the minimum and maximum
read speeds, as reported by the drive. They would be chosen by
-read_speed "min" resp. "max" if they undercut resp. surpass
the built-in limits. These are "1x" resp. "52xCD", "24xDVD",
"20xBD".
-close_damaged "as_needed"|"force"
Try to close the upcomming track and session if the drive
reported the medium as damaged. This may apply to CD-R, CD-RW,
DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+R DL, or BD-R media. It is indicated
by warning messages when the drive gets acquired, and by a
remark "but next track is damaged" with the line "Media status
:" of command -toc.
The setting of command -close determines whether the medium
stays appendable.
Mode "as_needed" gracefully refuses on media which are not
reported as damaged. Mode "force" attempts the close operation
even with media which appear undamaged.
No image changes are allowed to be pending before this command
is performed. After closing was attempted, both drives are
given up.
-list_profiles "in"|"out"|"all"
Put out a list of media types supported by -indev, resp.
-outdev, resp. both. The currently recognized type is marked by
text "(current)".
Settings for result writing:
Rock Ridge info will be generated by default. ACLs will be written
according to the setting of command -acl.
-joliet "on"|"off"
If enabled by "on", generate Joliet tree additional to ISO 9660
+ Rock Ridge tree.
-hfsplus "on"|"off"
If enabled by "on", generate a HFS+ filesystem inside the ISO
9660 image and mark it by Apple Partition Map (APM) entries in
the System Area, the first 32 KiB of the image.
This may collide with data submitted by -boot_image
system_area=. The first 8 bytes of the System Area get
overwritten by { 0x45, 0x52, 0x08 0x00, 0xeb, 0x02, 0xff, 0xff }
which can be executed as x86 machine code without negative
effects. So if an MBR gets combined with this feature, then its
first 8 bytes should contain no essential commands.
The next blocks of 2 KiB in the System Area will be occupied by
APM entries. The first one covers the part of the ISO image
before the HFS+ filesystem metadata. The second one marks the
range from HFS+ metadata to the end of file content data. If
more ISO image data follow, then a third partition entry gets
produced. Other features of xorriso might cause the need for
more APM entries.
The HFS+ filesystem is not suitable for add-on sessions produced
by the multi-session method of growing. An existing ISO image
may nevertheless be the base for a new image produced by the
method of modifying. If -hfsplus is enabled when -indev or -dev
gets executed, then AAIP attributes get loaded from the input
image and checked for information about HFS creator, filetype,
or blessing. If found, then they get enabled as settings for the
next image production. Therefore it is advisable to perform
-hfsplus "on" before -indev or -dev.
Information about HFS creator, type, and blessings gets stored
by xorriso if -hfsplus is enabled at -commit time. It is stored
as copy outside the HFS+ partition, but rather along with the
Rock Ridge information. xorriso does not read any information
from the HFS+ meta data.
Be aware that HFS+ is case-insensitive although it can record
file names with upper-case and lower-case letters. Therefore,
file names from the iso_rr name tree may collide in the HFS+
name tree. In this case they get changed by adding underscore
characters and counting numbers. In case of very long names, it
might be necessary to map them to "MANGLED_...".
-rockridge "on"|"off"
Mode "off" disables production of Rock Ridge information for the
ISO 9660 file objects. The multi-session capabilities of xorriso
depend much on the naming fidelity of Rock Ridge. So it is
strongly discouraged to deviate from default setting "on".
-compliance rule[:rule...]
Adjust the compliance to specifications of ISO 9660/ECMA-119 and
its contemporary extensions. In some cases it is worth to
deviate a bit in order to circumvent bugs of the intended reader
system or to get unofficial extra features.
There are several adjustable rules which have a keyword each. If
they are mentioned with this command then their rule gets added
to the relaxation list. This list can be erased by rules
"strict" or "clear". It can be reset to its start setting by
"default". All of the following relaxation rules can be revoked
individually by appending "_off". Like "deep_paths_off".
Rule keywords are:
"iso_9660_level="number chooses level 1 with ECMA-119 names of
the form 8.3 and -file_size_limit <= 4g - 1, or level 2 with
ECMA-119 names up to length 32 and the same -file_size_limit, or
level 3 with ECMA-119 names up to length 32 and -file_size_limit
>= 400g -200k. If necessary -file_size_limit gets adjusted.
"allow_dir_id_ext" allows ECMA-119 names of directories to have
a name extension as with other file types. It does not force
dots and it omits the version number, though. This is a bad
tradition of mkisofs which violates ECMA-119. Especially ISO
level 1 only allows 8 characters in a directory name and not
8.3.
"omit_version" does not add versions (";1") to ECMA-119 and
Joliet file names.
"only_iso_version" does not add versions (";1") to Joliet file
names.
"deep_paths" allows ECMA-119 file paths deeper than 8 levels.
"long_paths" allows ECMA-119 file paths longer than 255
characters.
"long_names" allows up to 37 characters with ECMA-119 file
names.
"no_force_dots" does not add a dot to ECMA-119 file names which
have none.
"no_j_force_dots" does not add a dot to Joliet file names which
have none.
"lowercase" allows lowercase characters in ECMA-119 file names.
"7bit_ascii" allows nearly all 7-bit characters in ECMA-119 file
names. Not allowed are 0x0 and '/'. If not "lowercase" is
enabled, then lowercase letters get converted to uppercase.
"full_ascii" allows all 8-bit characters except 0x0 and '/' in
ECMA-119 file names.
"untranslated_names" might be dangerous for inadverted reader
programs which rely on the restriction to at most 37 characters
in ECMA-119 file names. This rule allows ECMA-119 file names up
to 96 characters with no character conversion. If a file name
has more characters, then image production will fail
deliberately.
"untranslated_name_len="number enables untranslated_names with a
smaller limit for the length of file names. 0 disables this
feature, -1 chooses maximum length limit, numbers larger than 0
give the desired length limit.
"joliet_long_names" allows Joliet leaf names up to 103
characters rather than 64.
"joliet_long_paths" allows Joliet paths longer than 240
characters.
"always_gmt" stores timestamps in GMT representation with
timezone 0.
"rec_mtime" records with non-RockRidge directory entries the
disk file's mtime and not the creation time of the image. This
applies to the ECMA-119 tree (plain ISO 9660), to Joliet, and to
ISO 9660:1999. "rec_time" is default. If disabled, it gets
automatically re-enabled by -as mkisofs emulation when a
pathspec is encountered.
"new_rr" uses Rock Ridge version 1.12 (suitable for GNU/Linux
but not for older FreeBSD or for Solaris). This implies
"aaip_susp_1_10_off" which may be changed by subsequent
"aaip_susp_1_10".
Default is "old_rr" which uses Rock Ridge version 1.10. This
implies also "aaip_susp_1_10" which may be changed by subsequent
"aaip_susp_1_10_off".
"aaip_susp_1_10" allows AAIP to be written as unofficial
extension of RRIP rather than as official extension under
SUSP-1.12.
"no_emul_toc" saves 64 kB with the first session on
overwriteable media but makes the image incapable of displaying
its session history.
"iso_9660_1999" causes the production of an additional directory
tree compliant to ISO 9660:1999. It can record long filenames
for readers which do not understand Rock Ridge.
"old_empty" uses the old way of of giving block addresses in the
range of [0,31] to files with no own data content. The new way
is to have a dedicated block to which all such files will point.
Default setting is
"clear:only_iso_version:deep_paths:long_paths:no_j_force_dots:
always_gmt:old_rr".
Note: The term "ECMA-119 name" means the plain ISO 9660 names
and attributes which get visible if the reader ignores Rock
Ridge.
-rr_reloc_dir name
Specify the name of the relocation directory in which deep
directory subtrees shall be placed if -compliance is set to
"deep_paths_off" or "long_paths_off". A deep directory is one
that has a chain of 8 parent directories (including root) above
itself, or one that contains a file with an ECMA-119 path of
more than 255 characters.
The overall directory tree will appear originally deep when
interpreted as Rock Ridge tree. It will appear as re-arranged if
only ECMA-119 information is considered.
The default relocation directory is the root directory. By
giving a non-empty name with -rr_reloc_dir, a directory in the
root directory may get this role. If that directory does not
already exist at -commit time, then it will get created and
marked for Rock Ridge as relocation artefact. At least on
GNU/Linux it will not be displayed in mounted Rock Ridge images.
The name must not contain a '/' character and must not be longer
than 255 bytes.
-volid text
Specify the volume ID, which most operating systems will
consider to be the volume name of the image or medium.
xorriso accepts any text up to 32 characters, but according to
rarely obeyed specs stricter rules apply:
ECMA-119 demands ASCII characters out of [A-Z0-9_]. Like:
"IMAGE_23"
Joliet allows 16 UCS-2 characters. Like:
"Windows name"
Be aware that the volume id might get used automatically as the
name of the mount point when the medium is inserted into a
playful computer system.
If an ISO image gets loaded while the volume ID is set to
default "ISOIMAGE" or to "", then the volume ID of the loaded
image will become the effective volume id for the next write
run. But as soon as command -volid is performed afterwards, this
pending ID is overridden by the new setting.
Consider this when setting -volid "ISOIMAGE" before executing
-dev, -indev, or -rollback. If you insist in -volid "ISOIMAGE",
set it again after those commands.
-volset_id text
Set the volume set ID string to be written with the next
-commit. Permissible are up to 128 characters. This setting
gets overridden by image loading.
-publisher text
Set the publisher ID string to be written with the next -commit.
This may identify the person or organisation who specified what
shall be recorded. Permissible are up to 128 characters. This
setting gets overridden by image loading.
-application_id text
Set the application ID string to be written with the next
-commit. This may identify the specification of how the data are
recorded. Permissible are up to 128 characters. This setting
gets overridden by image loading.
The special text "@xorriso@" gets converted to the ID string of
xorriso which is normally written as -preparer_id. It is a wrong
tradition to write the program ID as -application_id.
-system_id text
Set the system ID string to be written with the next -commit.
This may identify the system which can recognize and act upon
the content of the System Area in image blocks 0 to 15.
Permissible are up to 32 characters. This setting gets
overridden by image loading.
-volume_date type timestring
Set one of the four overall timestamps for subsequent image
writing. Available types are:
"c" time when the volume was created.
"m" time when volume was last modified.
"x" time when the information in the volume expires.
"f" time since when the volume is effectively valid.
"uuid" sets a timestring that overrides "c" and "m" times
literally. It must consist of 16 decimal digits which form
YYYYMMDDhhmmsscc, with YYYY between 1970 and 2999. Time zone is
GMT. It is supposed to match this GRUB line:
search --fs-uuid --set YYYY-MM-DD-hh-mm-ss-cc
E.g. 2010040711405800 is 7 Apr 2010 11:40:58 (+0 centiseconds).
Timestrings for the other types may be given as with command
-alter_date. Some of them are prone to timezone computations.
The timestrings "default" or "overridden" cause default
settings: "c" and "m" will show the current time of image
creation. "x" and "f" will be marked as insignificant. "uuid"
will be deactivated.
-copyright_file text
Set the copyright file name to be written with the next -commit.
This should be the ISO 9660 path of a file in the image which
contains a copyright statement. Permissible are up to 37
characters. This setting gets overridden by image loading.
-abstract_file text
Set the abstract file name to be written with the next -commit.
This should be the ISO 9660 path of a file in the image which
contains an abstract statement about the image content.
Permissible are up to 37 characters. This setting gets
overridden by image loading.
-biblio_file text
Set the biblio file name to be written with the next -commit.
This should be the ISO 9660 path of a file in the image which
contains bibliographic records. Permissible are up to 37
characters. This setting gets overridden by image loading.
-preparer_id
Set the preparer ID string to be written with the next -commit.
This may identify the person or other entity which controls the
preparation of the data which shall be recorded. Normally this
should be the ID of xorriso and not of the person or program
which operates xorriso. Please avoid to change it. Permissible
are up to 128 characters.
The special text "@xorriso@" gets converted to the ID string of
xorriso which is default at program startup.
Unlike other ID strings, this setting is not influenced by image
loading.
-application_use character|0xXY|disk_path
Specify the content of the Application Use field which can take
at most 512 bytes.
If the parameter of this command is empty, then the field is
filled with 512 0-bytes. If it is a single character, then it
gets repeated 512 times. If it begins by "0x" followed by two
hex digits [0-9a-fA-F], then the digits are read as byte value
which gets repeated 512 times.
Any other parameter text is used as disk_path to open a data
file and to read up to 512 bytes from it. If the file is smaller
than 512 bytes, then the remaining bytes in the field get set to
binary 0.
This setting is not influenced by image loading.
-out_charset character_set_name
Set the character set to which file names get converted when
writing an image. See paragraph "Character sets" for more
explanations. When loading the written image after -commit the
setting of -out_charset will be copied to -in_charset.
-uid uid
User id to be used for all files when the new ISO tree gets
written to media.
-gid gid
Group id to be used for all files when the new ISO tree gets
written to media.
-zisofs option[:options]
Set global parameters for zisofs compression. This data format
is recognized and transparently uncompressed by some Linux
kernels. It is to be applied via command -set_filter with
built-in filter "--zisofs". Parameters are:
"level="[0-9] zlib compression: 0=none, 1=fast,..., 9=slow
"block_size="32k|64k|128k size of compression blocks
"by_magic=on" enables an expensive test at image generation
time which checks files from disk whether they already are
zisofs compressed, e.g. by program mkzftree.
"default" same as "level=6:block_size=32k:by_magic=off"
-speed code|number[k|m|c|d|b]
Set the burn speed. Default is "max" (or "0") = maximum speed as
announced by the drive. Further special speed codes are:
"min" (or "-1") selects minimum speed as announced by the drive.
"none" avoids to send a speed setting command to the drive
before burning begins.
Speed can be given in media dependent numbers or as a desired
throughput per second in MMC compliant kB (= 1000) or MB (= 1000
kB). Media x-speed factor can be set explicity by "c" for CD,
"d" for DVD, "b" for BD, "x" is optional.
Example speeds:
706k = 706kB/s = 4c = 4xCD
5540k = 5540kB/s = 4d = 4xDVD
If there is no hint about the speed unit attached, then the
medium in the -outdev will decide. Default unit is CD = 176.4k.
MMC drives usually activate their own idea of speed and take the
speed value given by the burn program only as upper limit for
their own decision.
-stream_recording "on"|"off"|"full"|"data"|number
Setting "on" tries to circumvent the management of defects on
DVD-RAM, BD-RE, or BD-R. Defect management keeps partly damaged
media usable. But it reduces write speed to half nominal speed
even if the medium is in perfect shape. For the case of
flawless media, one may use -stream_recording "on" to get full
speed.
"full" tries full speed with all write operations, whereas "on"
does this only above byte address 32s. One may give a number of
at least 16s in order to set an own address limit.
"data" causes full speed to start when superblock and directory
entries are written and writing of file content blocks begins.
-dvd_obs "default"|"32k"|"64k"
GNU/Linux specific: Set the number of bytes to be transmitted
with each write operation to DVD or BD media. A number of 64 KB
may improve throughput with bus systems which show latency
problems. The default depends on media type, on command
-stream_recording , and on compile time options.
-stdio_sync "on"|"off"|number
Set the number of bytes after which to force output to stdio:
pseudo drives. This forcing keeps the memory from being clogged
with lots of pending data for slow devices. Default "on" is the
same as "16m". Forced output can be disabled by "off".
-dummy "on"|"off"
If "on" then simulate burning or refuse with FAILURE event if no
simulation is possible, do neither blank nor format.
-fs number["k"|"m"]
Set the size of the fifo buffer which smoothens the data stream
from ISO image generation to media burning. Default is 4 MiB,
minimum 64 kiB, maximum 1 GiB. The number may be followed by
letter "k" or "m" which means unit is kiB (= 1024) or MiB (=
1024 kiB).
-close "on"|"off"|"as_needed"
If -close is set to "on" then mark the written medium as not
appendable any more. This will have no effect on overwritable
media types. Setting "on" is the contrary of cdrecord option
-multi, and is one aspect of growisofs option -dvd-compat.
If set to "off" then keep the medium writable for an appended
session.
If set to "as_needed" then use "on" only if "off" is predicted
to fail with the given medium and its state.
Not all drives correctly recognize fast-blanked DVD-RW which
need "on". If there is well founded suspicion that a burn run
failed due to -close "off", then -close "as_needed" causes a
re-try with "on".
Note that emulation command -as "cdrecord" temporarily overrides
the current setting of -close by its own default -close "on" if
its option -multi is missing.
-write_type "auto"|"tao"|"sao/dao"
Set the write type for the next burn run. "auto" will select SAO
with blank CD media, DAO with blank DVD-R[W] if -close is "on",
and elsewise CD TAO or the equivalent write type of the
particular DVD/BD media. Choosing TAO or SAO/DAO explicitely
might cause the burn run to fail if the desired write type is
not possible with the given media state.
-padding number["k"|"m"]|"included"|"appended"
Append the given number of extra bytes to the image stream.
This is a traditional remedy for a traditional bug in block
device read drivers. Needed only for CD recordings in TAO mode.
Since one can hardly predict on what media an image might end
up, xorriso adds the traditional 300k of padding by default to
all images.
For images which will never get to a CD it is safe to use
-padding 0 .
Normally padding is not written as part of the ISO image but
appended after the image end. This is -padding mode "appended".
Emulation command -as "mkisofs" and command -jigdo cause padding
to be written as part of the image. The same effect is achieved
by -padding mode "included".
Bootable ISO images:
Contrary to published specifications many BIOSes will load an El Torito
record from the first session on media and not from the last one, which
gets mounted by default. This makes no problems with overwriteable
media, because they appear to inadverted readers as one single session.
But with multi-session media CD-R[W], DVD-R[W], DVD+R, it implies that
the whole bootable system has to reside already in the first session
and that the last session still has to bear all files which the booted
system expects after mounting the ISO image.
If a boot image from ISOLINUX or GRUB is known to be present on media
then it is advised to patch it when a follow-up session gets written.
But one should not rely on the capability to influence the bootability
of the existing sessions, unless one can assume overwriteable media.
There are booting mechanisms which do not use an El Torito record but
rather start at the first bytes of the image: PC-BIOS MBR for
hard-disk-like devices, MIPS Volume Header for old SGI computers, DEC
Boot Block for old DECstation, SUN Disk Label for SPARC machines.
The boot firmware EFI may use programs which are located in a FAT
filesystem and announced by an MBR partition table entry.
-boot_image "any"|"isolinux"|"grub"
"discard"|"keep"|"patch"|"show_status"|bootspec|"next"
Define the handling of a set of El Torito boot images which has
been read from an existing ISO image or define how to make a
prepared boot image file set bootable. Such file sets get
produced by ISOLINUX or GRUB.
Each -boot_image command has two parameters: type and setting.
More than one -boot_image command may be used to define the
handling of one or more boot images. Sequence matters.
Types isolinux and grub care for known peculiarities. Type any
makes no assumptions about the origin of the boot images.
El Torito boot images of any type can be newly inserted, or
discarded, or patched, or kept unaltered. Whether to patch or
to keep depends on whether the boot images contain boot info
tables.
A boot info table needs to be patched when the boot image gets
newly introduced into the ISO image or if an existing image gets
relocated. This is automatically done if type "isolinux" or
"grub" is given, but not with "any".
If patching is enabled, then boot images from previous sessions
will be checked whether they seem to bear a boot info table. If
not, then they stay unpatched. This check is not infallible. So
if you do know that the images need no patching, use "any"
"keep". "grub" "patch" will not patch EFI images
(platform_id=0xef).
Most safe is the default: -boot_image "any" "discard".
Advised for GRUB : -boot_image "grub" "patch"
For ISOLINUX : -boot_image "isolinux" "patch"
show_status will print what is known about the loaded boot
images and their designated fate.
A bootspec is a word of the form name=value. It is used to
describe the parameters of a boot image by an El Torito record
or a MBR. The names "dir", "bin_path", "efi_path" lead to El
Torito bootable images. Name "system_area" activates a given
file as MBR.
On all media types this is possible within the first session. In
further sessions an existing boot image can get replaced by a
new one, but depending on the media type this may have few
effect at boot time. See above.
The boot image and its supporting files have to be added to the
ISO image by normal means (image loading, -map, -add, ...). In
case of ISOLINUX the files should reside either in ISO image
directory /isolinux or in /boot/isolinux . In that case it
suffices to use as bootspec the text "dir=/isolinux" or
"dir=/boot/isolinux". E.g.:
-boot_image isolinux dir=/boot/isolinux
which bundles these individual settings:
-boot_image isolinux bin_path=/boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin
-boot_image isolinux cat_path=/boot/isolinux/boot.cat
-boot_image isolinux load_size=2048
-boot_image any boot_info_table=on
An El Torito boot catalog file gets inserted into the ISO image
with address cat_path= at -commit time. It is subject to normal
-overwrite and -reassure processing if there is already a file
with the same name. The catalog lists the boot images and is
read by the boot facility to choose one of the boot images. But
it is not necessary that it appears in the directory tree at
all. One may hide it in all trees by cat_hidden=on. Other
possible values are "iso_rr", "joliet", "hfsplus", and the
default "off".
bin_path= depicts a boot image file, a binary program which is
to be started by the hardware boot facility (e.g. the BIOS) at
boot time.
efi_path= depicts a boot image file that is ready for EFI
booting. Its load_size is determined automatically, no boot
info table gets written, no boot medium gets emulated,
platform_id is 0xef.
emul_type= can be one of "no_emulation", "hard_disk",
"diskette". It controls the boot medium emulation code of a
boot image. The default "no_emulation" is suitable for
ISOLINUX, GRUB, FreeBSD cdboot.
load_size= is a value which depends on the boot image. Default
2048 should be overridden only if a better value is known.
boot_info_table=on causes address patching to bytes 8 to 63 of
the boot image which is given by "any" "bin_path=".
"boot_info_table=off" disables this patching.
grub2_boot_info=on causes address patching to byte 2548 of the
boot image which is given by "any" "bin_path=". The address is
written as 64 bit little-endian number. It is the 2KB block
address of the boot image content, multiplied by 4, and then
incremented by 5. "grub2_boot_info=off" disables this patching.
platform_id= defines by two hex digits the Platform ID of the
boot image. "00" is 80x86 PC-BIOS, "01" is PowerPC, "02" is Mac,
"ef" is EFI.
id_string=text|56_hexdigits defines the ID string of the boot
catalog section where the boot image will be listed. If the
value consists of 56 characters [0-9A-Fa-f] then it is converted
into 28 bytes, else the first 28 characters become the ID
string. The ID string of the first boot image becomes the
overall catalog ID. It is limited to 24 characters. Other
id_strings become section IDs.
sel_crit=hexdigits defines the Selection Criteria of the boot
image. Up to 20 bytes get read from the given characters
[0-9A-Fa-f]. They get attributed to the boot image entry in the
catalog.
next ends the definition of a boot image and starts a new one.
Any following -bootimage bootspecs will affect the new image.
The first "next" discards loaded boot images and their catalog.
discard gives up an existing boot catalog and its boot images.
keep keeps or copies boot images unaltered and writes a new
catalog.
patch applies patching to existing boot images if they seem to
bear a boot info table.
system_area=disk_path copies at most 32768 bytes from the given
disk file to the very start of the ISO image. This System Area
is reserved for system dependent boot software, e.g. an MBR
which can be used to boot from USB stick or hard disk.
Other than a El Torito boot image, the file disk_path needs not
to be added to the ISO image.
-boot_image isolinux system_area= implies "partition_table=on".
grub2_mbr=disk_path works like "any" system_area= with
additional patching for modern GRUB MBRs. The content start
address of the first boot image is converted to a count of 512
byte blocks, and an offset of 4 is added. The result is written
as 64 bit little-endian number to byte address 0x1b0.
partition_table=on causes a simple partition table to be written
into bytes 446 to 511 of the System Area.
With type "isolinux" it shows a partition that begins at byte 0
and it causes the LBA of the first boot image to be written into
the MBR. For the first session this works only if also
"system_area=" and "bin_path=" or "dir=" is given.
With types "any" and "grub" it shows a single partition which
starts at byte 512 and ends where the ISO image ends. This
works with or without system_area= or boot image.
Bootspecs chrp_boot_part=, prep_boot_part=, and efi_boot_part=
overwrite this entry in the MBR partition table.
In follow-up sessions the existing System Area is preserved by
default. If types "isolinux" or "grub" are set to "patch", then
"partition_table=on" is activated without new boot image. In
this case the existing System Area gets checked whether it bears
addresses and sizes as if it had been processed by
"partition_table=on". If so, then those parameters get updated
when the new System Area is written.
Special "system_area=/dev/zero" causes 32k of NUL-bytes. Use
this to discard an MBR which was loaded with the ISO image.
chrp_boot_part=on causes a single partition in MBR which covers
the whole ISO image and has type 0x41. This is not compatible
with any other feature that produces MBR partition entries. It
makes GPT unrecognizable.
prep_boot_part= inserts the content of a data file into the
image and marks it by an MBR partition of type 0x96. The parts
of the ISO image before and after this partition will be covered
by further MBR partitions. The data file is supposed to contain
ELF executable code.
efi_boot_part= inserts the content of a data file into the image
and marks it by a GPT partition. If not chrp_boot_part=on, then
the first partition in MBR will have type 0xee to announce the
presence of GPT. The data file is supposed to contain a FAT
filesystem.
Instead of a disk_path, the word --efi-boot-image may be given.
It exposes in GPT the content of the first El Torito EFI boot
image as EFI system partition. EFI boot images are introduced by
bootspec efi_path=. The affected EFI boot image cannot show up
in HFS+ because it is stored outside the HFS+ partition.
partition_offset=2kb_block_adr causes a partition table with a
single partition that begins at the given block address. This is
counted in 2048 byte blocks, not in 512 byte blocks. If the
block address is non-zero then it must be at least 16. A
non-zero partition offset causes two superblocks to be generated
and two sets of directory trees. The image is then mountable
from its absolute start as well as from the partition start.
The offset value of an ISO image gets preserved when a new
session is added. So the value defined here is only in effect
if a new ISO image gets written.
partition_hd_cyl=number gives the number of heads per cylinder
for the partition table. 0 chooses a default value. Maximum is
255.
partition_sec_hd=number gives the number of sectors per head for
the partition table. 0 chooses a default value. Maximum is 63.
The product partition_sec_hd * partition_hd_cyl * 512 is the
cylinder size. It should be divisible by 2048 in order to allow
exact alignment. If it is too small to describe the image size
by at most 1024 cylinders, then appropriate values of
partition_hd_cyl are chosen with partition_sec_hd 32 or 63. If
the image is larger than 8,422,686,720 bytes, then the cylinder
size constraints cannot be fulfilled.
partition_cyl_align=mode controls image size alignment to an
integer number of cylinders. It is prescribed by isohybrid specs
and it seems to please program fdisk. Cylinder size must be
divisible by 2048. Images larger than 8,323,596,288 bytes
cannot be aligned.
Mode "auto" is default. Alignment by padding happens only with
"isolinux" "partition_table=on".
Mode "on" causes alignment by padding with "partition_table=on"
for any type. Mode "all" is like "on" but also pads up
partitions from -append_partition to an aligned size.
Mode "off" disables alignment for any type.
mips_path=iso_rr_path declares a data file in the image to be a
MIPS Big Endian boot file and causes production of a MIPS Big
Endian Volume Header. This is mutually exclusive with production
of other boot blocks like MBR. It will overwrite the first 512
bytes of any data provided by system_area=. Up to 15 boot files
can be declared by mips_path=.
mipsel_path=iso_rr_path declares a data file in the image to be
the MIPS Little Endian boot file. This is mutually exclusive
with other boot blocks. It will overwrite the first 512 bytes
of any data provided by system_area=. Only a single boot file
can be declared by mipsel_path=.
sparc_label=text causes the production of a SUN Disk Label with
the given text as ASCII label. This boot block format allows to
append images for partitions 2 to 8. Partition 1 will always be
the ISO image. See command -append_partition. The first 512
bytes of any data provided by system_area= will be overwritten.
grub2_sparc_core=iso_rr_path causes the content address and size
of the given file to be written after the SUN Disk Label. Both
numbers are counted in bytes. The address is written as 64 bit
big-endian number to byte 0x228. The size is written as 32 bit
big-endian number to byte 0x230.
mips_discard and sparc_discard revoke any boot file declarations
made by mips_path= or mipsel_path=. They also disable production
of SUN Disk Label. This removes the ban on production of other
boot blocks.
hfsplus_serial=hexstring sets a string of 16 digits "0" to "9"
and letters "a" to "f", which will be used as unique serial
number of an emerging HFS+ filesystem.
hfsplus_block_size=number sets the allocation block size to be
used when producing HFS+ filesystems. Permissible are 512, 2048,
or 0. The latter lets the program decide.
apm_block_size=number sets the block size to be used when
describing partitions by an Apple Partition Map. Permissible are
512, 2048, or 0. The latter lets the program decide.
Note that size 512 is not compatible with production of GPT, and
that size 2048 will not be mountable -t hfsplus at least by
older Linux kernels.
-append_partition partition_number type_code disk_path
Cause a prepared filesystem image to be appended to the ISO
image and to be described by a partition table entry in a boot
block at the start of the emerging ISO image. The partition
entry will bear the size of the submitted file rounded up to the
next multiple of 2048 bytes or to the next multiple of the
cylinder size.
Beware of subsequent multi-session runs. The appended partition
will get overwritten.
Partitions may be appended with boot block type MBR and with SUN
Disk Label.
With MBR:
partition_number may be 1 to 4. Number 1 will put the whole ISO
image into the unclaimed space before partition 1. So together
with most xorriso MBR features, number 2 would be the most
natural choice.
The type_code may be "FAT12", "FAT16", "Linux", or a hexadecimal
number between 0x00 and 0xff. Not all those numbers will yield
usable results. For a list of codes search the Internet for
"Partition Types" or run fdisk command "L".
The disk_path must provide the necessary data bytes at commit
time. An empty disk_path disables this feature for the given
partition number.
With SUN Disk Label (selected by -boot_image any sparc_label=):
partition_number may be 2 to 8. Number 1 will always be the ISO
image. Partition start addresses are aligned to 320 KiB. The
type_code does not matter. Submit 0x0.
Partition image name "." causes the partition to become a copy
of the next lower valid one.
Jigdo Template Extraction:
From man genisoimage: "Jigdo is a tool to help in the distribution of
large files like CD and DVD images; see http://atterer.net/jigdo/ for
more details. Debian CDs and DVD ISO images are published on the web in
jigdo format to allow end users to download them more efficiently."
xorriso can produce a .jigdo and a .template file together with a
single-session ISO image. The .jigdo file contains checksums and
symbolic file addresses. The .template file contains the compressed
ISO image with reference tags instead of the content bytes of the
listed files.
Input for this process are the normal arguments for a xorriso session
on a blank -outdev, and a .md5 file which lists those data files which
may be listed in the .jigdo file and externally referenced in the
.template file. Each designated file is represented in the .md5 file
by a single text line:
MD5 as 32 hex digits, 2 blanks, size as 12 decimal digits or blanks, 2
blanks, symbolic file address
The file address in an .md5 line has to bear the same basename as the
disk_path of the file which it shall match. The directory path of the
file address is decisive for To=From mapping, not for file recognition.
After To=From mapping, the file address gets written into the .jigdo
file. Jigdo restore tools will convert these addresses into really
reachable data source addresses from which they can read.
If the list of jigdo parameters is not empty, then xorriso will refuse
to write to non-blank targets, it will disable multi-session emulation,
and padding will be counted as part of the ISO image.
-jigdo parameter_name value
Clear Jigdo Template Extraction parameter list or add a
parameter to that list. The alias names are the corresponding
genisoimage options. They are accepted as parameter names as
well. Especially they are recognized by the -as mkisofs
emulation command.
Parameter clear with any value empties the whole list. No
.jigdo and .template file will be produced.
template_path sets the disk_path for the .template file with the
holed and compressed ISO image copy.
Alias: -jigdo-template
jigdo_path sets the disk_path for the .jigdo file with the
checksums and download addresses for filling the holes in
.template.
Alias: -jigdo-jigdo
md5_path sets the disk_path where to find the .md5 input file.
Alias: -md5-list
min_size sets the minimum size for a data file to be listed in
the .jigdo file and being a hole in the .template file.
Alias: -jigdo-min-file-size
exclude adds a regular expression pattern which will get
compared with the absolute disk_path of any data file. A match
causes the file to stay in .template in any case.
Alias: -jigdo-exclude
demand_md5 adds a regular expression pattern which will get
compared with the absolute disk_path of any data file that was
not found in the .md5 list. A match causes a MISHAP event.
Alias: -jigdo-force-md5
mapping adds a string pair of the form To=From to the parameter
list. If a data file gets listed in the .jigdo file, then it is
referred by the file address from its line in the .md5 file.
This file address gets checked whether it begins with the From
string. If so, then this string will be replaced by the To
string and a ':' character, before it goes into the .jigdo file.
The From string should end by a '/' character.
Alias: -jigdo-map
compression chooses one of "bzip2" or "gzip" for the compression
of the template file. The jigdo file is put out uncompressed.
Alias: -jigdo-template-compress
checksum_iso chooses one or more of "md5", "sha1", "sha256",
"sha512" for the auxiliary "# Image Hex" checksums in the jigdo
file. The value may e.g. look like "md5,sha1,sha512". Value
"all" chooses all available algorithms. Note that MD5 stays
always enabled.
Alias: -checksum_algorithm_iso
checksum_template is like checksum_iso but for "# Template Hex".
Alias: -checksum_algorithm_template
Character sets:
File names are strings of non-zero bytes with 8 bit each. Unfortunately
the same byte string may appear as different peculiar national
characters on differently nationalized terminals. The meanings of byte
codes are defined in character sets which have names. Shell command
iconv -l lists them.
Character sets should not matter as long as only english alphanumeric
characters are used for file names or as long as all writers and
readers of the media use the same character set. Outside these
constraints it may be necessary to let xorriso convert byte codes.
There is an input conversion from input character set to the local
character set which applies when an ISO image gets loaded. A conversion
from local character set to the output character set is performed when
an image tree gets written. The sets can be defined independently by
commands -in_charset and -out_charset. Normally one will have both
identical, if ever.
If conversions are desired then xorriso needs to know the name of the
local character set. xorriso can inquire the same info as shell command
"locale" with argument "charmap". This may be influenced by environment
variables LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, or LANG and should match the expectations
of the terminal.
The default output charset is the local character set of the terminal
where xorriso runs. So by default no conversion happens between local
filesystem names and emerging names in the image. The situation stays
ambigous and the reader has to riddle what character set was used.
By command -auto_charset it is possible to attribute the output charset
name to the image. This makes the situation unambigous. But if your
terminal character set does not match the character set of the local
file names, then this attribute can become plainly wrong and cause
problems at read time. To prevent this it is necessary to check
whether the terminal properly displays all intended filenames. Check
especially the exotic national characters.
To enforce recording of a particular character set name without any
conversion at image generation time, set -charset and -local_charset to
the desired name, and enable -backslash_codes to avoid evil character
display on your terminal.
-charset character_set_name
Set the character set from which to convert file names when
loading an image and to which to convert when writing an image.
-local_charset character_set_name
Override the system assumption of the local character set name.
If this appears necessary, one should consider to set
-backslash_codes to "on" in order to avoid dangerous binary
codes being sent to the terminal.
Exception processing:
Since the tasks of xorriso are manifold and prone to external
influence, there may arise the need for xorriso to report and handle
problem events.
Those events get classified when they are detected by one of the
software modules and forwarded to reporting and evaluation modules
which decide about reactions. Event classes are sorted by severity:
"NEVER" The upper end of the severity spectrum.
"ABORT" The program is being aborted and on its way to end.
"FATAL" The main purpose of the run failed or an important resource
failed unexpectedly.
"FAILURE" An important part of the job could not be performed.
"MISHAP" A FAILURE which can be tolerated during ISO image generation.
"SORRY" A less important part of the job could not be performed.
"WARNING" A situation is suspicious of being not intended by the user.
"HINT" A proposal to the user how to achieve better results.
"NOTE" A harmless information about noteworthy circumstances.
"UPDATE" A pacifier message during long running operations.
"DEBUG" A message which would only interest the program developers.
"ALL" The lower end of the severity spectrum.
-abort_on severity
Set the severity threshold for events to abort the program.
Useful: "NEVER", "ABORT", "FATAL", "FAILURE" , "MISHAP", "SORRY"
It may become necessary to abort the program anyway, despite the
setting by this command. Expect not many "ABORT" events to be
ignorable.
A special property of this command is that it works preemptive
if given as program start argument. I.e. the first -abort_on
setting among the start arguments is in effect already when the
first operations of xorriso begin. Only "-abort_on" with dash
"-" is recognized that way.
-return_with severity exit_value
Set the threshold and exit_value to be returned at program end
if no abort has happened. This is to allow xorriso to go on
after problems but to get a failure indicating exit value from
the program, nevertheless. Useful is a value lower than the
-abort_on threshold, down to "WARNING".
exit_value may be either 0 (indicating success to the starter of
the program) or a number between 32 and 63. Some other
exit_values are used by xorriso if it decides to abort the
program run:
1=abort due to external signal
2=no program arguments given
3=creation of xorriso main object failed
4=failure to start libburnia-project.org libraries
5=program abort during argument processing
6=program abort during dialog processing
-report_about severity
Set the threshold for events to be reported.
Useful: "SORRY", "WARNING", "HINT", "NOTE", "UPDATE", "DEBUG",
"ALL"
Regardless what is set by -report_about, messages get always
reported if they reach the severity threshold of -abort_on .
Event messages are sent to the info channel "I" which is usually
stderr but may be influenced by command -pkt_output. Info
messages which belong to no event get attributed severity
"NOTE".
A special property of this command is that the first
-report_about setting among the start arguments is in effect
already when the first operations of xorriso begin. Only
"-report_about" with dash "-" is recognized that way.
-signal_handling mode
Control the installation of a signal handler which shall react
on external signals (e.g. from program "kill" or from keys
Ctrl+C) or on signals caused by severe program errors.
Mode "on" is the default. It uses the signal handler of libburn
which produces ugly messages but puts much effort in releasing
optical drives before xorriso ends.
Mode "off" as first -signal_handling among the start arguments
prevents all own signal precautions of xorriso. Inherited signal
handler settings stay as they are.
It works like "sig_dfl" if given after other signal handling was
already established at program start.
Mode "sig_dfl" uses the system provided default handling of
signals, which is normally a sudden abort of the program. To
prevent stuck drives, the libburn handler is used during
burning, blanking, and formatting on MMC drives.
Mode "sig_ign" tries to ignore as many signal types as possible.
This imposes the risk that xorriso refuses to end until
externally kill -9 if performed. kill -9 then imposes the risk
that the drive is left in unusable state and needs poweroff to
be reset. So during burning, blanking, and formatting wait for
at least their normal run time before killing externally.
A special property of this command is that the first
-signal_handling setting among the start arguments is in effect
already when the first operations of xorriso begin. Only
"-signal_handling" with dash "-" is recognized that way.
-error_behavior occasion behavior
Control the program behavior at problem event occasions. For
now this applies to occasions "image_loading" which is given
while an image tree is read from the input device, and to
"file_extraction" which is given with osirrox commands like
-extract.
With "image_loading" there are three behaviors available:
"best_effort" goes on with reading after events with severity
below FAILURE if the threshold of command -abort_on allows this.
"failure" aborts image tree reading on first event of at least
SORRY. It issues an own FAILURE event. This is the default.
"fatal" acts like "failure" but issues the own event as FATAL.
With occasion "file_extraction" there are three behaviors:
"keep" maintains incompletely extracted files on disk. This is
the default.
"delete" removes files which encountered errors during content
extraction.
"best_effort" starts a revovery attempt by means of -extract_cut
if the file content stems from the loaded ISO image and is not
filtered.
Dialog mode control:
-dialog "on"|"off"|"single_line"
Enable or disable to enter dialog mode after all program
arguments are processed. In dialog mode input lines get
prompted via readline or from stdin.
If no -abort_on severity was set when dialog starts, then
"NEVER" is set to avoid abort in most cases of wrong input or
other problems. Before dialog begins, the default is "FAILURE"
which e.g. aborts on unknown commands.
Mode "on" supports input of newline characters within quotation
marks and line continuation by trailing backslash outside
quotation marks. Mode "single_line" does not.
-page length width
Describe terminal to the text pager. See also above, paragraph
Result pager.
If parameter length is nonzero then the user gets prompted after
that number of terminal lines. Zero length disables paging.
Parameter width is the number of characters per terminal line.
It is used to compute the number of terminal lines which get
occupied by an output line. A usual terminal width is 80.
-use_readline "on"|"off"
If "on" then use readline for dialog. Else use plain stdin.
See also above, paragraph Dialog, Readline, Result pager.
-reassure "on"|"tree"|"off"
If "on" then ask the user for "y" or "n":
before deleting or overwriting any file in the ISO image,
before overwriting any disk file during restore operations,
before rolling back pending image changes,
before committing image changes to media,
before changing the input drive,
before blanking or formatting media,
before ending the program.
With setting "tree" the reassuring prompt will appear for an
eventual directory only once and not for each file in its whole
subtree.
Setting "off" silently kills any kind of image file object resp.
performs above irrevocable actions.
To really produce user prompts, command -dialog needs to be set
to "on". Note that the prompt does not appear in situations
where file removal is forbidden by command -overwrite. -reassure
only imposes an additional curb for removing existing file
objects.
Be aware that file objects get deleted from the ISO image
immediately after confirmation. They are gone even if the
running command gets aborted and its desired effect gets
revoked. In case of severe mess-up, consider to use -rollback to
revoke the whole session.
Drive and media related inquiry actions:
-devices
Show list of available MMC drives with the addresses of their
libburn standard device files.
This is only possible when no ISO image changes are pending.
After this command was executed, there is no drive current and
no image loaded.
In order to be visible, a device has to offer rw-permissions
with its libburn standard device file. Thus it might be only the
superuser who is able to see all drives.
Drives which are occupied by other processes get not shown.
-device_links
Like -devices, but presenting the drives with addresses of
symbolic links which point to the actual device files.
Modern GNU/Linux systems may shuffle drive addresses from boot
to boot. The udev daemon is supposed to create links which
always point to the same drive, regardless of its system
address. The command -device_links shows the addresses of such
links if they begin by "/dev/dvd" or "/dev/cd". Precedence is:
"dvdrw", "cdrw", "dvd", "cdrom", "cd".
-toc
Show media specific tables of content. This is the session
history of the medium, not the ISO image directory tree.
In case of overwriteable media holding a valid ISO image, it may
happen that only a single session gets shown. But if the first
session on the overwriteable media was written by xorriso then a
complete session history can be emulated.
A drive which is incapable of writing may show any media as
CD-ROM or DVD-ROM with only one or two sessions on it. The last
of these sessions is supposed to be the most recent real session
then.
Some read-only drives and media show no usable session history
at all. Command -rom_toc_scan might help.
If input device and output device are both aquired and not the
same, then both tables-of-content get shown.
-toc_of "in"|"out"|"all"[":short"]
Like command -toc but explicitely choosing which drive's
table-of-content to show. "in" shows -indev or -dev, "out" shows
-outdev or -dev, "all" shows the same as -toc.
If ":short" is appended to the drive choosing word, then only a
short summary of drive state and medium content is printed.
As further difference to -toc, this command does not emit
FAILURE events if the desired drive is not aquired.
-mount_cmd drive entity id path
Emit an appropriate command line for mounting the ISO session
indicated by drive, entity and id. The result will be different
on GNU/Linux and on FreeBSD.
drive can be "indev" or "outdev" to indicate already acquired
drives, or it can be the path of a not yet acquired drive.
Prefix "stdio:" for non-MMC drives is not mandatory.
entity must be either "sbsector" with the superblock sector
address as id, or "track" with a track number as id, or
"session" with a session number, or "volid" with a search
pattern for the volume id, or "auto" with any text as id.
path will be used as mount point and must already exist as a
directory on disk.
The command gets printed to the result channel. See command
-mount for direct execution of this command.
-mount_opts option[:option...]
Set options which influence -mount and -mount_cmd. Currently
there is only option "exclusive" which is default and its
counterpart "shared". The latter causes xorriso not to give up
the affected drive with command -mount. On GNU/Linux it adds
mount option "loop" which may allow to mount several sessions of
the same block device at the same time. One should not write to
a mounted optical medium, of course. Take care to umount all
sessions before ejecting.
-session_string drive entity id format
Print to the result channel a text which gets composed according
to format and the parameters of the addressed session.
Formats "linux:"path or "freebsd:"path produce the output of
-mount_cmd for the given operating systems.
In other texts xorriso will substitute the following parameter
names. An optional prefix "string:" will be removed.
"%device%" will be substituted by the mountable device path of
the drive address.
"%sbsector%" will be substituted by the session start sector.
"%track%", "%session%", "%volid%" will be substituted by track
number, session number, resp. volume id of the depicted session.
-print_size
Print the foreseeable consumption of 2048 byte blocks by next
-commit. This can last a while as a -commit gets prepared and
only in last moment is revoked by this command. The result
depends on several settings and also on the kind of output
device. If no -jidgo options are set and not command -as
"mkisofs" was used, then -padding (300 kB by default) is not
counted as part of the image size.
If an El Torito boot image file is already depicted, then
command -print_size automatically executes -boot_image "any"
"next". This means that the properties of that boot image
cannot be edited by subsequent commands.
-tell_media_space
Print available space on the output medium and the free space
after subtracting already foreseeable consumption by next
-commit.
Note that the title of the prediction "After commit :" is
misleading. It is rather the space that may still be filled in
this session without making the next -commit fail from medium
overflow.
The free space after the next -commit might be smaller by
several MB. This depends on medium type, number of recorded
sessions, and drive habits.
-pvd_info
Print various ID strings and timestamps which can be found in
loaded ISO images. Some of the IDs may be changed by commands
like -volid or -publisher. For these IDs -pvd_info reports what
would be written with the next -commit. The timestamps get not
automatically propagated from loaded image to newly written
image. The ones for new images may be set by command
-volume_date. See there for the meaning of the particular
timestamps.
Navigation in ISO image and disk filesystem:
-cd iso_rr_path
Change the current working directory in the ISO image. This is
prepended to iso_rr_paths which do not begin with '/'.
It is possible to set the working directory to a path which does
not exist yet in the ISO image. The necessary parent directories
will be created when the first file object is inserted into that
virtual directory. Use -mkdir if you want to enforce the
existence of the directory already at first insertion.
-cdx disk_path
Change the current working directory in the local filesystem.
To be prepended to disk_paths which do not begin with '/'.
-pwd
Tell the current working directory in the ISO image.
-pwdx
Tell the current working directory in the local filesystem.
-ls iso_rr_pattern [***]
List files in the ISO image which match shell patterns (i.e.
with wildcards '*' '?' '[a-z]'). If a pattern does not begin
with '/' then it is compared with addresses relative to -cd.
Directories are listed by their content rather than as single
file item.
Pattern expansion may be disabled by command -iso_rr_pattern.
-lsd iso_rr_pattern [***]
Like -ls but listing directories as themselves and not by their
content. This resembles shell command ls -d.
-lsl iso_rr_pattern [***]
Like -ls but also list some of the file attributes. The output
format resembles shell command ls -ln.
File type 'e' indicates the El Torito boot catalog.
If the file has non-trivial ACL, then a '+' is appended to the
permission info. If the file is hidden, then 'I' for "iso_rr",
'J' for "joliet", 'A' for "hfsplus", resp. 'H' for multiple
hiding gets appended. Together with ACL it is 'i', 'j', 'a',
resp. 'h'.
-lsdl iso_rr_pattern [***]
Like -lsd but also list some of the file attributes. The output
format resembles shell command ls -dln.
-lsx disk_pattern [***]
List files in the local filesystem which match shell patterns.
Patterns which do not begin with '/' are used relative to -cdx.
Directories are listed by their content rather than as single
file item.
Pattern expansion may be disabled by command -disk_pattern.
-lsdx disk_pattern [***]
Like -lsx but listing directories as themselves and not by their
content. This resembles shell command ls -d.
-lslx disk_pattern [***]
Like -lsx but also listing some of the file attributes. Output
format resembles shell command ls -ln.
-lsdlx disk_pattern [***]
Like -lsdx but also listing some of the file attributes. Output
format resembles shell command ls -dln.
-getfacl iso_rr_pattern [***]
Print the access permissions of the given files in the ISO image
using the format of shell command getfacl. If a file has no ACL
then it gets fabricated from the -chmod settings. A file may
have a real ACL if it was introduced into the ISO image while
command -acl was set to "on".
-getfacl_r iso_rr_pattern [***]
Like -gefacl but listing recursively the whole file trees
underneath eventual directories.
-getfattr iso_rr_pattern [***]
Print the xattr of the given files in the ISO image. If a file
has no such xattr then noting is printed for it.
-getfattr_r iso_rr_pattern [***]
Like -gefattr but listing recursively the whole file trees
underneath eventual directories.
-du iso_rr_pattern [***]
Recursively list size of directories and files in the ISO image
which match one of the patterns. similar to shell command du
-k.
-dus iso_rr_pattern [***]
List size of directories and files in the ISO image which match
one of the patterns. Similar to shell command du -sk.
-dux disk_pattern [***]
Recursively list size of directories and files in the local
filesystem which match one of the patterns. Similar to shell
command du -k.
-dusx disk_pattern [***]
List size of directories and files in the local filesystem which
match one of the patterns. Similar to shell command du -sk.
-findx disk_path [-name pattern] [-type t] [-exec action [params]] --
Like -find but operating on local filesystem and not on the ISO
image. This is subject to the settings of -follow.
-findx accepts the same -type parameters as -find. Additionally
it recognizes type "mountpoint" (or "m") which matches
subdirectories which reside on a different device than their
parent. It never matches the disk_path given as start address
for -findx.
-findx accepts the -exec actions as does -find. But except the
following few actions it will always perform action "echo".
in_iso reports the path if its counterpart exists in the ISO
image. For this the disk_path of the -findx command gets
replaced by the iso_rr_path given as parameter.
E.g.: -findx /home/thomas -exec in_iso /thomas_on_cd --
not_in_iso reports the path if its counterpart does not exist in
the ISO image. The report format is the same as with command
-compare.
add_missing iso_rr_path_start adds the counterpart if it does
not yet exist in the ISO image and marks it for "rm_merge" as
non-removable.
E.g.: -findx /home/thomas -exec add_missing /thomas_on_cd --
is_full_in_iso reports if the counterpart in the ISO image
contains files. To be used with -type "m" to report mount
points.
empty_iso_dir deletes all files from the counterpart in the ISO
image. To be used with -type "m" to truncate mount points.
estimate_size prints a lower and an upper estimation of the
number of blocks which the found files together will occupy in
the emerging ISO image. This does not account for the
superblock, for the directories in the -findx path, or for image
padding.
list_extattr mode prints a script to the result channel, which
would use FreeBSD command setextattr to set the file's xattr
name-value pairs of user namespace. See -find for a description
of parameter mode.
E.g. -exec list_extattr e --
-compare disk_path iso_rr_path
Compare attributes and eventual data file content of a
fileobject in the local filesystem with a file object in the ISO
image. The iso_rr_path may well point to an image file object
which is not yet committed, i.e. of which the data content still
resides in the local filesystem. Such data content is prone to
externally caused changes.
If iso_rr_path is empty then disk_path is used as path in the
ISO image too.
Differing attributes are reported in detail, differing content
is summarized. Both to the result channel. In case of no
differences no result lines are emitted.
-compare_r disk_path iso_rr_path
Like -compare but working recursively. I.e. all file objects
below both addresses get compared whether they have counterparts
below the other address and whether both counterparts match.
-compare_l disk_prefix iso_rr_prefix disk_path [***]
Perform -compare_r with each of the disk_path parameters.
iso_rr_path will be composed from disk_path by replacing
disk_prefix by iso_rr_prefix.
-show_stream iso_rr_path [***]
Display the content stream chain of data files in the ISO image.
The chain consists of the iso_rr_name and one or more streams,
separated by " < " marks. A stream description consists of one
or more texts, separated by ":" characters. The first text
tells the stream type, the following ones, if ever, describe its
individual properties. Frequently used types are:
disk:'disk_path' for local filesystem objects.
image:'iso_rr_path' for ISO image file objects.
cout:'disk_path offset count' for -cut_out files.
extf:'filter_name' for external filters.
Example:
'/abc/xyz.gz' < extf:'gzip' < disk:'/home/me/x'
-show_stream_r iso_rr_path [***]
Like -show_stream but working recursively.
Evaluation of readability and recovery:
It is not uncommon that optical media produce read errors. The reasons
may be various and get obscured by error correction which is performed
by the drives and based on extra data on the media. If a drive returns
data then one can quite trust that they are valid. But at some degree
of read problems the correction will fail and the drive is supposed to
indicate error.
xorriso can scan a medium for readable data blocks, classify them
according to their read speed, save them to a file, and keep track of
successfuly saved blocks for further tries on the same medium.
By command -md5 checksums may get recorded with data files and whole
sessions. These checksums are reachable only via indev and a loaded
image. They work independently of the media type and can detect
transmission errors.
-check_media [option [option ...]] --
Try to read data blocks from the indev drive, optionally copy
them to a disk file, and finally report about the encountered
quality. Several options may be used to modify the default
behavior.
The parameters given with this command override the default
settings which may have been changed by command
-check_media_defaults. See there for a description of available
options.
The result list tells intervals of 2 KiB blocks with start
address, number of blocks and quality. Qualities which begin
with "+" are supposed to be valid readable data. Qualities with
"-" are unreadable or corrupted data. "0" indicates qualities
which are not covered by the check run or are regularly allowed
to be unreadable (e.g. gaps between tracks).
Alternatively it is possible to report damaged files rather than
blocks.
If -md5 is "on" then the default mode what=tracks looks out for
libisofs checksum tags for the ISO session data and checks them
against the checksums computed from the data stream.
-check_media_defaults [option [option ...]] --
Preset options for runs of -check_media, -extract_cut and
best_effort file extraction. Options given with -check_media
will override the preset options. -extract_cut will override
some options automatically.
An option consists of a keyword, a "=" character, and a value.
Options may override each other. So their sequence matters.
The default setting at program start is:
use=indev what=tracks min_lba=-1 max_lba=-1 retry=default
time_limit=28800 item_limit=100000 data_to='' event=ALL
abort_file=/var/opt/xorriso/do_abort_check_media
sector_map='' map_with_volid=off patch_lba0=off report=blocks
bad_limit=valid slow_limit=1.0 chunk_size=0s async_chunks=0
Option "reset=now" restores these startup defaults.
Non-default options are:
report="files" lists the files which use damaged blocks (not
with use=outdev). The format is like with find -exec
report_damage. Note that a MD5 session mismatch marks all files
of the session as damaged. If finer distinction is desired,
perform -md5 off before -check_media.
report="blocks_files" first lists damaged blocks and then
affected files.
use="outdev" reads from the output drive instead of the input
drive. This avoids loading the ISO image tree from media.
use="sector_map" does not read any media but loads the file
given by option sector_map= and processes this virtual outcome.
what="disc" scans the payload range of a medium without
respecting track gaps.
what="image" similar to "disc", but restricts scanning to the
range of the ISO 9660 image, if present.
min_lba=limit omits all blocks with addresses lower than limit.
max_lba=limit switches to what=disc and omits all blocks above
limit.
retry="on" forces read retries with single blocks when the
normal read chunk produces a read error. By default, retries are
only enabled with CD media. "retry=off" forbits retries for all
media types.
abort_file=disk_path gives the path of the file which may abort
a scan run. Abort happens if the file exists and its mtime is
not older than the start time of the run. Use shell command
"touch" to trigger this. Other than an aborted program run,
this will report the tested and untested blocks and go on with
running xorriso.
time_limit=seconds gives the number of seconds after which the
scan shall be aborted. This is useful for unattended scanning of
media which may else overwork the drive in its effort to squeeze
out some readable blocks. Abort may be delayed by the drive
gnawing on the last single read operation. Value -1 means
unlimited time.
item_limit=number gives the number of report list items after
which to abort. Value -1 means unlimited item number.
data_to=disk_path copies the valid blocks to the given file.
event=severity sets the given severity for a problem event which
shall be issued at the end of a check run if data blocks were
unreadable or failed to match recorded MD5 checksums. Severity
"ALL" disables this event.
sector_map=disk_path tries to read the file given by disk_path
as sector bitmap and to store such a map file after the scan
run. The bitmap tells which blocks have been read successfully
in previous runs. It allows to do several scans on the same
medium, even with intermediate eject, in order to collect
readable blocks whenever the drive is lucky enough to produce
them. The stored file contains a human readable TOC of tracks
and their start block addresses, followed by binary bitmap data.
map_with_volid="on" examines tracks whether they are ISO images
and prints their volume IDs into the human readable TOC of
sector_map=.
patch_lba0="on" transfers within the data_to= file a copy of the
currently loaded session head to the start of that file and
patches it to be valid at that position. This makes the loaded
session the last valid session of the image file when it gets
mounted or loaded as stdio: drive. New sessions will be appended
after this last session and will overwrite any sessions which
have followed it.
patch_lba0="force" performs patch_lba0="on" even if xorriso
believes that the copied data are not valid.
patch_lba0= may also bear a number. If it is 32 or higher it is
taken as start address of the session to be copied. In this case
it is not necessary to have an -indev and a loaded image.
":force" may be appended after the number.
bad_limit=threshold sets the highest quality which shall be
considered as damage. Choose one of "good", "md5_match",
"slow", "partial", "valid", "untested", "invalid", "tao_end",
"off_track", "md5_mismatch", "unreadable".
slow_limit=threshold sets the time threshold for a single read
chunk to be considered slow. This may be a fractional number
like 0.1 or 1.5.
chunk_size=size sets the number of bytes to be read in one read
operation. This gets rounded down to full blocks of 2048 bytes.
0 means automatic size.
async_chunks=number enables asynchronous MD5 processing if
number is 2 or larger. In this case the given number of read
chunks is allocated as fifo buffer. On very fast MMC drives
try: chunk_size=64s async_chunks=16.
-check_md5 severity iso_rr_path [***]
Compare the data content of the given files in the loaded image
with their recorded MD5 checksums, if there are any. In case of
any mismatch an event of the given severity is issued. It may
then be handled by appropriate settings of commands -abort_on or
-return_with which both can cause non-zero exit values of the
program run. Severity ALL suppresses that event.
This command reports match and mismatch of data files to the
result channel. Non-data files cause NOTE events. There will
also be UPDATE events from data reading.
If no iso_rr_path is given then the whole loaded session is
compared with its MD5 sum. Be aware that this covers only one
session and not the whole image if there are older sessions.
-check_md5_r severity iso_rr_path [***]
Like -check_md5 but checking all data files underneath the given
paths. Only mismatching data files will be reported.
osirrox ISO-to-disk restore commands:
Normally xorriso only writes to disk files which were given as stdio:
pseudo-drives or as log files. But its alter ego osirrox is able to
extract file objects from ISO images and to create, overwrite, or
delete file objects on disk.
Disk file exclusions by -not_mgt, -not_leaf, -not_paths apply. If disk
file objects already exist then the settings of -overwrite and
-reassure apply. But -overwrite "on" only triggers the behavior of
-overwrite "nondir". I.e. directories cannot be deleted.
Access permissions of files in the ISO image do not restrict restoring.
The directory permissions on disk have to allow rwx.
-osirrox setting[:option:...]
Setting "off" disables disk filesystem manipulations. This is
the default unless the program was started with leafname
"osirrox". Elsewise the capability to restore files can be
enabled explicitly by -osirrox "on". It can be irrevocably
disabled by -osirrox "banned".
The setting "blocked" is like "off". But it can only be revoked
by setting "unblock", which elsewise is like "on". This can be
used to curb command scripts which might use "on" undesiredly.
To enable restoring of special files by "device_files" is
potentially dangerous. The meaning of the number st_rdev (see
man 2 stat) depends much on the operating system. Best is to
restore device files only to the same system from where they
were copied. If not enabled, device files in the ISO image are
ignored during restore operations.
Due to a bug of previous versions, device files from previous
sessions might have been altered to major=0, minor=1. So this
combination does not get restored.
Option "concat_split_on" is default. It enables restoring of
split file directories as data files if the directory contains a
complete collection of -cut_out part files. With option
"concat_split_off" such directories are handled like any other
ISO image directory.
Option "auto_chmod_off" is default. If "auto_chmod_on" is set
then access restrictions for disk directories get circumvented
if those directories are owned by the effective user who runs
xorriso. This happens by temporarily granting rwx permission to
the owner.
Option "sort_lba_on" may improve read performance with optical
drives. It allows to restore large numbers of hard links without
exhausting -temp_mem_limit. It does not preserve directory mtime
and it needs -osirrox option auto_chmod_on in order to extract
directories which offer no write permission. Default is
"sort_lba_off".
Option "o_excl_on" is the default unless the program was started
with leafname "osirrox". On GNU/Linux it tries to avoid using
drives which are mounted or in use by other libburn programs.
Option "o_excl_off" allows on GNU/Linux to access such drives.
Drives which get acquired while "o_excl_off" will refuse to get
blanked, formatted, written, or ejected. But be aware that even
harmless inquiries can spoil ongoing burns of CD-R[W] and
DVD-R[W].
Option "strict_acl_off" is default. It tolerates on FreeBSD the
presence of directory "default" ACLs in the ISO image. With
"strict_acl_on" these GNU/Linux ACLs cause on FreeBSD a FAILURE
event during restore with -acl "on".
-extract iso_rr_path disk_path
Copy the file objects at and underneath iso_rr_path to their
corresponding addresses at and underneath disk_path. This is
the inverse of -map or -update_r.
If iso_rr_path is a directory and disk_path is an existing
directory then both trees will be merged. Directory attributes
get extracted only if the disk directory is newly created by the
copy operation. Disk files get removed only if they are to be
replaced by file objects from the ISO image.
As many attributes as possible are copied together with restored
file objects.
-extract_single iso_rr_path disk_path
Like -extract, but if iso_rr_path is a directory then its sub
tree gets not restored.
-extract_l iso_rr_prefix disk_prefix iso_rr_path [***]
Perform -extract with each of the iso_rr_path parameters.
disk_path will be composed from iso_rr_path by replacing
iso_rr_prefix by disk_prefix.
-extract_cut iso_rr_path byte_offset byte_count disk_path
Copy a byte interval from a data file out of an ISO image into a
newly created disk file. The main purpose for this is to allow
handling of large files if they are not supported by mount -t
iso9660 and if the reading system is unable to buffer them as a
whole.
If the data bytes of iso_rr_path are stored in the loaded ISO
image, and no filter is applied, and byte_offset is a multiple
of 2048, then a special run of -check_media is performed. It may
be quicker and more rugged than the general reading method.
-cpx iso_rr_path [***] disk_path
Copy single leaf file objects from the ISO image to the address
given by disk_path. If more then one iso_rr_path is given then
disk_path must be a directory or non-existent. In the latter
case it gets created and the extracted files get installed in it
with the same leafnames.
Missing directory components in disk_path will get created, if
possible.
Directories are allowed as iso_rr_path only with -osirrox
"concat_split_on" and only if they actually represent a complete
collection of -cut_out split file parts.
-cpax iso_rr_path [***] disk_path
Like -cpx but restoring mtime, atime as in ISO image and trying
to set ownership and group as in ISO image.
-cp_rx iso_rr_path [***] disk_path
Like -cpx but also extracting whole directory trees from the ISO
image.
The resulting disk paths are determined as with shell command cp
-r : If disk_path is an existing directory then the trees will
be inserted or merged underneath this directory and will keep
their leaf names. The ISO directory "/" has no leaf name and
thus gets mapped directly to disk_path.
-cp_rax iso_rr_path [***] disk_path
Like -cp_rx but restoring mtime, atime as in ISO image and
trying to set ownership and group as in ISO image.
-paste_in iso_rr_path disk_path byte_offset byte_count
Read the content of a ISO data file and write it into a data
file on disk beginning at the byte_offset. Write at most
byte_count bytes. This is the inverse of command -cut_out.
-mount drive entity id path
Produce the same line as -mount_cmd and then execute it as
external program run after giving up the depicted drive. See
also -mount_opts. This demands -osirrox to be enabled and
normally will succeed only for the superuser. For safety reasons
the mount program is only executed if it is reachable as
/bin/mount or /sbin/mount.
Command compatibility emulations:
Writing of ISO 9660 on CD is traditionally done by program mkisofs as
ISO 9660 image producer and cdrecord as burn program. xorriso does not
strive for their comprehensive emulation. Nevertheless it is ready to
perform some of its core tasks under control of commands which in said
programs trigger comparable actions.
-as personality option [options] --
Perform the variable length option list as sparse emulation of
the program depicted by the personality word.
Personality "mkisofs" accepts the options listed with:
-as mkisofs -help --
Among them: -R (always on), -r, -J, -o, -M, -C, -dir-mode,
-file-mode, -path-list, -m, -exclude-list, -f, -print-size,
-pad, -no-pad, -V, -v, -version, -graft-points, -z,
-no-emul-boot, -b, -c, -boot-info-table, -boot-load-size,
-input-charset, -G, -output-charset, -U, -hide, -hide-joliet,
-hide-list, -hide-joliet-list, file paths and pathspecs. A lot
of options are not supported and lead to failure of the mkisofs
emulation. Some are ignored, but better do not rely on this
tolerance.
The supported options are documented in detail in xorrisofs.info
and in man xorrisofs. The description here is focused on the
effect of mkisofs emulation in the context of a xorriso run.
Other than with the "cdrecord" personality there is no automatic
-commit at the end of a "mkisofs" option list. Verbosity
settings -v (= "UPDATE") and -quiet (= "SORRY") persist. The
output file persists until things happen like -commit,
-rollback, -dev, or end of xorriso.
Options which affect all file objects in the ISO image, like -r
or -dir-mode, will be applied only to files which are present in
the ISO image when the command -as ends. If you use several -as
mkisofs commands in the same run, then consider to put such
options into the last -as command.
-pacifier gets set to "mkisofs" if files are added to the image.
-graft-points is equivalent to -pathspecs on. Note that
pathspecs without "=" are interpreted differently than with
xorriso command -add. Directories get merged with the root
directory of the ISO image, other filetypes get mapped into that
root directory.
If pathspecs are given and if no output file was chosen before
or during the "mkisofs" option list, then standard output
(-outdev "-") will get into effect. If -o points to a regular
file, then it will be truncated to 0 bytes when finally writing
begins. This truncation does not happen if the drive is chosen
by xorriso commands before -as mkisofs or after its list
delimiter. Directories and symbolic links are no valid -o
targets.
Writing to stdout is possible only if -as "mkisofs" was among
the start arguments or if other start arguments pointed the
output drive to standard output.
-print-size inhibits automatic image production at program end.
This ban is lifted only if the pending image changes get
discarded.
Padding is counted as part of the ISO image if not option
--emul-toc is given.
If no -iso-level is given, then level 1 is chosen when the first
file or directory is added to the image. At the same occasion
directory names get allowed to violate the standard by
-compliance option allow_dir_id_ext. This may be avoided by
option -disallow_dir_id_ext.
Option -root is supported. Option -old-root is implemented by
xorriso commands -mkdir, -cp_clone, -find update_merge, and
-find rm_merge. -root and -old-root set command -disk_dev_ino
to "ino_only" and -md5 to "on", by default. -disk_dev_ino can
be set to "off" by --old-root-no-ino resp. to "on" by
--old-root-devno . -md5 can be set to "off" by
--old-root-no-md5 .
Not original mkisofs options are --quoted_path_list ,
--hardlinks , --acl , --xattr , --md5 , --stdio_sync . They
work like the xorriso commands with the same name and hardcoded
parameter "on", e.g. -acl "on". Explicit parameters are
expected by --stdio_sync and --scdbackup_tag.
The capability to preserve multi-session history on
overwriteable media gets disabled by default. It can be enabled
by using --emul-toc with the first session. See -compliance
no_emul_toc.
--sort-weight gets as parameters a number and an iso_rr_path.
The number becomes the LBA sorting weight of regular file
iso_rr_path or of all regular files underneath directory
iso_rr_path. (See -find -exec sort_weight).
Adopted from grub-mkisofs are --protective-msdos-label (see
-boot_image grub partition_table=on) and
--modification-date=YYYYMMDDhhmmsscc (see -volume_date uuid).
For EFI bootable GRUB boot images use --efi-boot. It performs
-boot_image grub efi_path= surrounded by two -boot_image "any"
"next". Alternative option -e from Fedora genisoimage sets
bin_path and platform_id for EFI, but performs no "next".
For MBR bootable ISOLINUX images there is -isohybrid-mbr FILE,
where FILE is one of the Syslinux files mbr/isohdp[fp]x*.bin .
Use this instead of -G to apply the effect of -boot_image
isolinux partition_table=on.
--boot-catalog-hide is -boot_image any cat_hidden=on.
-mips-boot is the same as -boot_image any mips_path= .
-mipsel-boot leads to mipsel_path= .
-partition_offset number is -boot_image any
partition_offset=number.
Command -append_partition is supported.
-untranslated_name_len number is -compliance
untranslated_name_len=number.
--old-empty is -compliance old_empty.
The options of genisoimage Jigdo Template Extraction are
recognized and performed via xorriso command -jigdo. See the
"Alias:" names there for the meaning of the genisoimage options.
Personalities "xorrisofs", "genisoimage", and "genisofs" are
aliases for "mkisofs".
If xorriso is started with one of the leafnames "xorrisofs",
"genisofs", "mkisofs", or "genisoimage", then it performs
-read_mkisofsrc and prepends -as "genisofs" to the program
arguments. I.e. all arguments will be interpreted mkisofs style
until "--" is encountered. From then on, arguments are
interpreted as xorriso commands.
--no_rc as first argument of such a program start prevents
interpretation of startup files. See section FILES below.
Personality "cdrecord" accepts the options listed with:
-as cdrecord -help --
Among them: -v, dev=, speed=, blank=, fs=, -eject, -atip,
padsize=, tsize=, -isosize, -multi, -msinfo,
--grow_overwriteable_iso, write_start_address=, track source
file path or "-" for standard input as track source.
It ignores most other options of cdrecord and cdrskin but
refuses on -audio, -scanbus, and on blanking modes unknown to
xorriso.
The scope is only a single data track per session to be written
to blank, overwriteable, or appendable media. The medium gets
closed if closing is applicable and not option -multi is
present.
If an input drive was acquired, then it is given up. This is
only allowed if no image changes are pending.
dev= must be given as xorriso device address. Addresses like
0,0,0 or ATA:1,1,0 are not supported.
If a track source is given, then an automatic -commit happens at
the end of the "cdrecord" option list.
--grow_overwriteable_iso enables emulation of multi-session on
overwriteable media. To enable emulation of a TOC, the first
session needs -C 0,32 with -as mkisofs (but no -M) and
--grow_overwriteable_iso write_start_address=32s with -as
cdrecord.
A much more elaborate libburn based cdrecord emulator is the
program cdrskin.
Personalites "xorrecord", "wodim", and "cdrskin" are aliases for
"cdrecord".
If xorriso is started with one of the leafnames "xorrecord",
"cdrskin", "cdrecord", or "wodim", then it automatically
prepends -as "cdrskin" to the program arguments. I.e. all
arguments will be interpreted cdrecord style until "--" is
encountered. From then on, arguments are interpreted as xorriso
commands.
--no_rc as first argument of such a program start prevents
interpretation of xorriso startup files. See section FILES
below.
-read_mkisofsrc
Try one by one to open for reading:
./.mkisofsrc , $MKISOFSRC , $HOME/.mkisofsrc , $(dirname
$0)/.mkisofsrc
On success interpret the file content as of man mkisofs
CONFIGURATION, and end this command. Do not try further files.
The last address is used only if start argument 0 has a
non-trivial dirname.
The reader currently interprets the following NAME=VALUE pairs:
APPI (-application_id) , PUBL (-publisher) , SYSI (-system_id) ,
VOLI (-volid) , VOLS (-volset_id)
Any other lines will be silently ignored.
-pacifier behavior_code
Control behavior of UPDATE pacifiers during write operations.
The following behavior codes are defined:
"xorriso" is the default format:
Writing: sector XXXXX of YYYYYY [fifo active, nn% fill]
"cdrecord" looks like:
X of Y MB written (fifo nn%) [buf mmm%]
"mkisofs"
nn% done, estimate finish Tue Jul 15 20:13:28 2008
The frequency of the messages can be adjusted by
"interval=number"
where number gives the seconds between two messages. Permissible
settings are 0.1 to 60.0.
-scdbackup_tag list_path record_name
Set the parameter "name" for a scdbackup checksum record. It
will be appended in an scdbackup checksum tag to the -md5
session tag if the image starts at LBA 0. This is the case if it
gets written as first session onto a sequential medium, or piped
into a program, named pipe or character device.
If list_path is not empty then the record will also be appended
to the data file given by this path.
Program scdbackup_verify will recognize and verify tag resp.
record.
Scripting, dialog and program control features:
-no_rc
Only if used as first program argument this command prevents
reading and interpretation of startup files. See section FILES
below.
-options_from_file fileaddress
Read quoted input from fileaddress and execute it like dialog
lines. Empty lines and lines which begin by # are ignored.
Normally one line should hold one xorriso command and all its
parameters. Nevertheless lines may be concatenated by a
trailing backslash.
See also section "Command processing", paragraph "Quoted input".
-help
Print helptext.
-version
Print program name and version, component versions, license.
-list_extras code
Tell whether certain extra features were enabled at compile
time. Code "all" lists all features and a headline. Other
codes pick a single feature. Code "codes" lists them. They
share names with related commands (see also there):
"acl" tells whether xorriso has an adapter for local filesystems
ACLs.
"xattr" tells whether xorriso has an adapter for local
filesystems EA.
"jigdo" tells whether production of Jigdo files is possible.
"zisofs" tells whether zisofs and built-in gzip filters are
enabled.
"external_filter" tells whether external filter processes are
allowed and whether they are allowed if real user id and
effective user id differ.
"dvd_obs" tells whether 64 kB output to DVD media is default.
"use_readline" tells whether readline may be enabled in dialog
mode.
-history textline
Copy textline into libreadline history.
-status mode|filter
Print the current settings of xorriso. Modes:
short... print only important or altered settings
long ... print all settings including defaults
long_history like long plus history lines
Filters begin with '-' and are compared literally against the
output lines of -status:long_history. A line is put out only if
its start matches the filter text. No wildcards.
-status_history_max number
Set maximum number of history lines to be reported with -status
"long_history".
-list_delimiter word
Set the list delimiter to be used instead of "--". It has to be
a single word, must not be empty, not longer than 80 characters,
and must not contain quotation marks.
For brevity the list delimiter is referred as "--" throughout
this text.
-sh_style_result "on"|"off"
Make the result output of some filesystem inspection commands
look more like the output of equivalent shell commands. The most
important effect is to prevent the wrapping of file addresses
into quotation marks with commands
-pwd -pwdx -ls -lsd -lsl -lsdl -lsx -lsdx -lslx -lsdlx
-du -dus -dux -dusx -findx -find
This will make ambigous the representation of file names which
contain newline characters. On the other hand it should
facilitate integration of xorriso into shell scripts which
already use the corresponding shell commands.
-backslash_codes "on"|"off"|mode[:mode]
Enable or disable the interpretation of symbolic representations
of special characters with quoted input, or with program
arguments, or with program text output. If enabled the following
translations apply:
\a=bell(007) \b=backspace(010) \e=Escape(033) \f=formfeed(014)
\n=linefeed(012) \r=carriage_return(015) \t=tab(011)
\v=vtab(013) \\=backslash(134) \[0-7][0-7][0-7]=octal_code
\x[0-9a-f][0-9a-f]=hex_code \cC=control-C
Translations can occur with quoted input in 3 modes:
"in_double_quotes" translates only inside " quotation.
"in_quotes" translates inside " and ' quotation.
"with_quoted_input" translates inside and outside quotes.
With the start program arguments there is mode:
"with_program_arguments" translates program arguments.
Mode "encode_output" encodes output characters. It combines
"encode_results" with "encode_infos". Inside single or double
quotation marks encoding applies to 8-bit characters octal 001
to 037 , 177 to 377 and to backslash(134). Outside quotation
marks some harmless ASCII control characters stay unencoded:
bell(007), backspace(010), tab(011), linefeed(012),
formfeed(014), carriage_return(015).
Mode "off" is default and disables any translation. Mode "on"
is "with_quoted_input:with_program_arguments:encode_output".
-temp_mem_limit number["k"|"m"]
Set the maximum size of temporary memory to be used for image
dependent buffering. Currently this applies to pattern
expansion, LBA sorting, restoring of hard links.
Default is 16m = 16 MiB, minimum 64k = 64 kiB, maximum 1024m = 1
GiB.
-print text
Print a text line to the result channel which is by default
stdout.
-print_info text
Print a text line to the info channel which is by default
stderr.
-print_mark text
Print a text line to the mark channel which is by default
directed to both, result and info channel. An empty text will
cause no output at all.
-prompt text
Show text at beginning of output line and wait for the user to
hit the Enter key resp. to send a line via stdin.
-sleep seconds
Wait for the given number of seconds before perfoming the next
command. Expect coarse granularity no better than 1/100
seconds.
-errfile_log mode path|channel
If problem events are related to input files from the
filesystem, then their disk_paths can be logged to a file or to
output channels R or I.
Mode can either be "plain" or "marked". The latter causes marker
lines which give the time of log start, burn session start, burn
session end, log end or program end. In mode "plain", only the
file paths are logged.
If path is "-" or "-R" then the log is directed to the result
channel. Path "-I" directs it to the info message channel. Any
text that does not begin with "-" is used as path for a file to
append the log lines.
Problematic files can be recorded multiple times during one
program run. If the program run aborts then the list might not
be complete because some input files might not have been
processed at all.
The errfile paths are transported as messages of very low
severity "ERRFILE". This transport becomes visible with
-report_about "ALL".
-session_log path
If path is not empty it gives the address of a plain text file
where a log record gets appended after each session. This log
can be used to determine the start_lba of a session for mount
options -o sbsector= resp. -s from date or volume ID.
Record format is: timestamp start_lba size volume-id
The first three items are single words, the rest of the line is
the volume ID.
-scsi_log "on"|"off"
Mode "on" enables very verbous logging of SCSI commands and
drive replies. Logging messages get printed to stderr, not to
any of the xorriso output channels.
A special property of this command is that the first -scsi_log
setting among the start arguments is in effect already when the
first operations of xorriso begin. Only "-scsi_log" with dash
"-" is recognized that way.
-end
End program after writing pending changes.
-rollback_end
Discard pending changes. End program immediately.
# any text
Only in dialog or file execution mode, and only as first
non-whitespace in line: Do not execute the line but store it in
readline history.
Support for frontend programs via stdin and stdout:
-pkt_output "on"|"off"
Consolidate text output on stdout and classify each line by a
channel indicator:
'R:' for result lines,
'I:' for notes and error messages,
'M:' for -mark texts.
Next is a decimal number of which only bit 0 has a meaning for
now. 0 means no newline at end of payload, 1 means that the
newline character at the end of the output line belongs to the
payload. After another colon and a blank follows the payload
text.
Example:
I:1: enter option and parameters :
-logfile channel fileaddress
Copy output of a channel to the given file. Channel may be one
of: "." for all channels, "I" for info messages, "R" for result
lines, "M" for -mark texts.
-mark text
If text is not empty it will get put out on "M" channel each
time xorriso is ready for the next dialog line or before xorriso
performs a command that was entered to the pager prompt.
-msg_op opcode parameter_text
This command shall facilitate extraction of particular
information from the message output of other commands. It gives
access to the C API function Xorriso_parse_line() and to the
message sieve that is provided by the C API. Please refer to
their descriptions in file xorriso.h. Further it helps to
interpret the severity codes of info messages.
Intended users are frontend programs which operate xorriso in
dialog mode.
The result output of this command is not caught by the message
sieve.
The following opcodes are defined:
start_sieve
Install the message sieve as of Xorriso_sieve_big() and start
watching program messages. The parameter_text has no meaning.
show_sieve
Show a list of filter rule names. The parameter_text has no
meaning. The list begins by a line with the return value of
Xorriso_sieve_get_result() with flag bit3. If this value is
larger than 0, then the next line tells the number of names. The
following lines show one name each.
read_sieve
Use the parameter_text as name of a filter rule and inquire its
next recorded result. See Xorriso_sieve_big() for a list of
names and reply strings.
The recorded strings are put out on result channel. They get
wrapped into lines which tell their structure. The first line
tells the return value of Xorriso_sieve_get_result(). The next
line tells the number of strings. Each string begins by a line
that tells the number of lines of the string. Then follow these
lines. They are to be concatenated with a newline character
inbetween each of them. Finally the number of still available
recorded results of the given name is put out.
clear_sieve
Dispose all recorded strings and continue watching program
messages. The parameter_text has no meaning.
end_sieve
Dispose the sieve with its filter rules and stop watching
program messages. The parameter_text has no meaning.
parse
Read a text from dialog input and submit it to
Xorriso_parse_line(). The parameter_text word shall consist of
several words separated by blanks. It will be necessary to use
both kinds of quotation marks.
E.g. "'ISO session :' '' 0 0 1"
The five parameter words are: prefix, separators, max_words,
flag, number_of_input_lines. The former four are handed over to
Xorriso_parse_line(). The number of input lines minus one tells
xorriso how many newline characters are part of the input text.
The announced number of text lines will be read from dialog
input, concatenated with a newline character inbetween each of
them, and submitted to Xorriso_parse_line() as parameter line.
Note that newlines outside of quotation marks are interpreted as
separators if the separators parameter is empty.
The parsed strings are put out on result channel. They get
wrapped into lines which tell their structure. The first line
tells the return value of Xorriso_parse_line(). The next line
tells the number of strings. Each string begins by a line that
tells the number of lines of the string. Then follow these
lines. They are to be concatenated with a newline character
inbetween each of them.
If -backslash_codes "encode_output" is enabled, then the strings
undergo encoding as if they were enclosed in quotes. Escpecially
each string will be put out as a single result line.
parse_bulk
Like "parse", but with the fifth parameter word being
number_of_input_texts rather than number_of_input_lines. Each
input text has to be preceded by a line that tells
number_of_input_lines as with "parse". Then come the announced
number of text lines.
All input texts will be read before printing of result lines
begins. This consumes memory in xorriso. So the
number_of_input_texts should not be extremely high. On the other
hand, large transactions of command, input texts, and results
are desirable if connection latency is an issue.
parse_silently
Like "parse" but not issueing a prompting message. Confusing to
humans.
parse_bulk_silently
Like "parse_bulk" but not issueing a prompting message.
Confusing to humans.
compare_sev
The parameter_text should contain two comma separated severity
texts as issued by this program. Like "SORRY,UPDATE". See also
paragraph "Exception processing".
These two severity texts get compared and a number gets printed
to the result channel. This number is 0 if both severities are
equal. It is -1 if the first severity is lower than the second
one. It is 1 is the first severity is higher than the second
one.
Above example "SORRY,UPDATE" will yield 1.
list_sev
Print to the result channel a blank separated list of all
severity names. Sorted from low to high severity.
-named_pipe_loop mode[:mode] disk_path_stdin disk_path_stdout
disk_path_stderr
Temporarily replace standard input, standard output and standard
error by named pipes. Enter dialog mode without readline.
Defined modes are:
"cleanup" removes the submitted pipe files when the loop ends.
"keep" does not delete them. This is the default.
"buffered" reads all lines from the input pipe until EOF before
it opens the output pipes and processes the input lines.
"direct" opens the output pipes after the first input line was
read. Each line is executed directly after it is read. This is
the default.
The other three parameters must either be disk paths to existing
named pipes, or be "-" to leave the according standard i/o
channel unreplaced.
xorriso will open the stdin pipe, read and execute dialog lines
from it until the sender closes the pipe. The output pipes get
opened depending on mode "buffered" resp. "direct". After all
lines are executed, xorriso will close its side of the pipes and
enter a new cycle of opening, reading and executing.
If an input line consists only of the word "end_named_pipe_loop"
then -named_pipe_loop will end and further xorriso commands may
be executed from other sources.
-launch_frontend program [arguments ...] --
Start the program that is given as first parameter. Submit the
other parameters as program arguments. Enable xorriso dialog
mode.
Two nameless pipe objects are created. xorriso standard input
gets connected to the standard output of the started program.
xorriso standard output and standard error get connected to the
standard input of that program.
xorriso will abort when the started program ends or if it cannot
be started at all. In both cases it will return a non-zero exit
value. The exit value will be zero if the frontend sends -end
or -rollback_end before ending itself.
This command may be totaly banned at compile time. It is banned
by default if xorriso runs under setuid permissions.
The program name will not be searched in the $PATH directories.
To make this clear, it must contain at least one /-character.
Best is an absolute path.
Example:
xorriso -launch_frontend "$(which xorriso-tcltk)" -stdio --
The frontend program should first send via its standard output:
-mark 0 -pkt_output on -msg_op start_sieve - -reassure off
It should be ready to decode -pkt_output and to react on -mark
messages. Best is to increment the -mark number after each sent
command sequence and then to wait for the new number to show up
in a mark message:
...some...commands... -mark <incremented_number>
Further are advised:
-report_about UPDATE -abort_on NEVER
-iso_rr_pattern off -disk_pattern off
A check of the xorriso version should be done, in order to make
sure that all desired features are present.
Command -launch_frontend will only work once per xorriso run.
If no command parameters are submitted or if program is an empty
text, then no program will be started but nevertheless
-launch_frontend will be irrevocably disabled.
-prog text
Use text as name of this program in subsequent messages
-prog_help text
Use text as name of this program and perform -help.
EXAMPLES
Overview of examples:
As superuser learn about available drives
Blank medium and compose a new ISO image as batch run
A dialog session doing about the same
Manipulate an existing ISO image on the same medium
Copy modified ISO image from one medium to another
Bring a prepared ISOLINUX tree onto medium and make it bootable
Change existing file name tree from ISO-8859-1 to UTF-8
Operate on storage facilities other than optical drives
Burn an existing ISO image file to medium
Perform multi-session runs as of cdrtools traditions
Let xorriso work underneath growisofs
Adjust thresholds for verbosity, exit value and program abort
Examples of input timestrings
Incremental backup of a few directory trees
Restore directory trees from a particular ISO session to disk
Try to retrieve blocks from a damaged medium
As superuser learn about available drives
On Linux or FreeBSD consider to give rw-permissions to those users or
groups which shall be able to use the drives with xorriso. On Solaris
use pfexec. Consider to restrict privileges of xorriso to
"base,sys_devices" and to give r-permission to user or group.
$ xorriso -device_links
1 -dev '/dev/cdrom1' rwrw-- : 'TSSTcorp' 'DVD-ROM SH-D162C
1 -dev '/dev/cdrw' rwrw-- : 'TSSTcorp' 'CDDVDW SH-S223B'
2 -dev '/dev/cdrw3' rwrw-- : 'HL-DT-ST' 'BDDVDRW_GGC-H20L'
Blank medium and compose a new ISO image as batch run
Acquire drive /dev/sr2, make medium ready for writing a new image, fill
the image with the files from hard disk directories /home/me/sounds and
/home/me/pictures.
Because no -dialog "on" is given, the program will then end by writing
the session to the medium.
$ xorriso -outdev /dev/sr2 \
-blank as_needed \
-map /home/me/sounds /sounds \
-map /home/me/pictures /pictures
The ISO image may be shaped in a more elaborate way like the following:
Omit some unwanted stuff by removing it from the image directory tree.
Reintroduce some wanted stuff.
$ cd /home/me
$ xorriso -outdev /dev/sr2 \
-blank as_needed \
-map /home/me/sounds /sounds \
-map /home/me/pictures /pictures \
-rm_r \
/sounds/indecent \
'/pictures/*private*' \
/pictures/confidential \
-- \
-cd / \
-add pictures/confidential/work* --
Note that '/pictures/*private*' is a pattern for iso_rr_paths while
pictures/confidential/work* gets expanded by the shell with addresses
from the hard disk. Commands -add and -map have different parameter
rules but finally the same effect: they put files into the image.
A dialog session doing about the same
Some settings are already given as start argument. The other activities
are done as dialog input. The pager gets set to 20 lines of 80
characters.
The drive is acquired by command -dev rather than -outdev in order to
see the message about its current content. By command -blank this
content is made ready for being overwritten and the loaded ISO image is
made empty.
In order to be able to eject the medium, the session needs to be
committed explicitly.
$ xorriso -dialog on -page 20 80 -disk_pattern on
enter option and arguments :
-dev /dev/sr2
enter option and arguments :
-blank as_needed
enter option and arguments :
-map /home/me/sounds /sounds -map /home/me/pictures /pictures
enter option and arguments :
-rm_r /sounds/indecent /pictures/*private* /pictures/confidential
enter option and arguments :
-cdx /home/me/pictures -cd /pictures
enter option and arguments :
-add confidential/office confidential/factory
enter option and arguments :
-du /
enter option and arguments :
-commit_eject all -end
Manipulate an existing ISO image on the same medium
Load image from drive. Remove (i.e. hide) directory /sounds and its
subordinates. Rename directory /pictures/confidential to
/pictures/restricted. Change access permissions of directory
/pictures/restricted. Add new directory trees /sounds and /movies.
Burn to the same medium, check whether the tree can be loaded, and
eject.
$ xorriso -dev /dev/sr2 \
-rm_r /sounds -- \
-mv \
/pictures/confidential \
/pictures/restricted \
-- \
-chmod go-rwx /pictures/restricted -- \
-map /home/me/prepared_for_dvd/sounds_dummy /sounds \
-map /home/me/prepared_for_dvd/movies /movies \
-commit -eject all
Copy modified ISO image from one medium to another
Load image from input drive. Do the same manipulations as in the
previous example. Acquire output drive and blank it. Burn the modified
image as first and only session to the output drive.
$ xorriso -indev /dev/sr2 \
-rm_r /sounds -- \
...
-outdev /dev/sr0 -blank as_needed \
-commit -eject all
Bring a prepared ISOLINUX tree onto medium and make it bootable
The user has already created a suitable file tree on disk and copied
the ISOLINUX files into subdirectory ./boot/isolinux of that tree. Now
xorriso can burn an El Torito bootable medium:
$ xorriso -outdev /dev/sr0 -blank as_needed \
-map /home/me/ISOLINUX_prepared_tree / \
-boot_image isolinux dir=/boot/isolinux
Change existing file name tree from ISO-8859-1 to UTF-8
This example assumes that the existing ISO image was written with
character set ISO-8859-1 but that the readers expected UTF-8. Now a new
session gets added with converted file names. Command -changes_pending
"yes" enables writing despite the lack of any manipulation command.
In order to avoid any weaknesses of the local character set, this
command pretends that it uses already the final target set UTF-8.
Therefore strange file names may appear in messages, which will be made
terminal-safe by command -backslash_codes.
$ xorriso -in_charset ISO-8859-1 -local_charset UTF-8 \
-out_charset UTF-8 -backslash_codes on -dev /dev/sr0 \
-changes_pending yes -commit -eject all
Operate on storage facilities other than optical drives
Full read-write operation is possible with regular files and block
devices:
$ xorriso -dev /tmp/regular_file ...
Paths underneath /dev normally need prefix "stdio:"
$ xorriso -dev stdio:/dev/sdb ...
If /dev/sdb is to be used frequently and /dev/sda is the system disk,
then consider to place the following lines in a xorriso Startup File.
They allow to use /dev/sdb without prefix and protect disk /dev/sda
from xorriso:
-drive_class banned /dev/sda*
-drive_class harmless /dev/sdb
Other writeable file types are supported write-only:
$ xorriso -outdev /tmp/named_pipe ...
Among the write-only drives is standard output:
$ xorriso -outdev - \
...
| gzip >image.iso.gz
Burn an existing ISO image file to medium
Actually this works with any kind of data, not only ISO images:
$ xorriso -as cdrecord -v dev=/dev/sr0 blank=as_needed image.iso
Perform multi-session runs as of cdrtools traditions
Between both processes there can be performed arbitrary transportation
or filtering.
The first session is written like this:
$ xorriso -as mkisofs prepared_for_iso/tree1 | \
xorriso -as cdrecord -v dev=/dev/sr0 blank=fast -multi -eject -
Follow-up sessions are written like this:
$ dd if=/dev/sr0 count=1 >/dev/null 2>&1
$ m=$(xorriso -as cdrecord dev=/dev/sr0 -msinfo)
$ xorriso -as mkisofs -M /dev/sr0 -C $m prepared_for_iso/tree2 | \
xorriso -as cdrecord -v dev=/dev/sr0 -waiti -multi -eject -
Always eject the drive tray between sessions. The old sessions get read
via /dev/sr0. Its device driver might not be aware of the changed
content before it loads the medium again. In this case the previous
session would not be loaded and the new session would contain only the
newly added files.
For the same reason do not let xorriso -as cdrecord load the medium,
but rather do this manually or by a program that reads from /dev/sr0.
This example works for multi-session media only. Add cdrskin option
--grow_overwriteable_iso to all -as cdrecord runs in order to enable
multi-session emulation on overwriteable media.
Let xorriso work underneath growisofs
growisofs expects an ISO formatter program which understands options -C
and -M. If xorriso gets started by name "xorrisofs" then it is suitable
for that.
$ export MKISOFS="xorrisofs"
$ growisofs -Z /dev/dvd /some/files
$ growisofs -M /dev/dvd /more/files
If no "xorrisofs" is available on your system, then you will have to
create a link pointing to the xorriso binary and tell growisofs to use
it. E.g. by:
$ ln -s $(which xorriso) "$HOME/xorrisofs"
$ export MKISOFS="$HOME/xorrisofs"
One may quit mkisofs emulation by argument "--" and make use of all
xorriso commands. growisofs dislikes options which start with "-o" but
-outdev must be set to "-". So use "outdev" instead:
$ growisofs -Z /dev/dvd -- outdev - -update_r /my/files /files
$ growisofs -M /dev/dvd -- outdev - -update_r /my/files /files
growisofs has excellent burn capabilities with DVD and BD. It does not
emulate session history on overwriteable media, though.
Adjust thresholds for verbosity, exit value and program abort
Be quite verbous, exit 32 if severity "FAILURE" was encountered, do not
abort prematurely but forcibly go on until the end of commands.
$ xorriso ... \
-report_about UPDATE \
-return_with FAILURE 32 \
-abort_on NEVER \
...
Examples of input timestrings
As printed by program date: 'Thu Nov 8 14:51:13 CET 2007'
The same without ignored parts: 'Nov 8 14:51:13 2007'
The same as expected by date: 110814512007.13
Four weeks in the future: +4w
The current time: +0
Three hours ago: -3h
Seconds since Jan 1 1970: =1194531416
Incremental backup of a few directory trees
This changes the directory trees /projects and /personal_mail in the
ISO image so that they become exact copies of their disk counterparts.
ISO file objects get created, deleted or get their attributes adjusted
accordingly.
ACL, xattr, hard links and MD5 checksums will be recorded. Accelerated
comparison is enabled at the expense of potentially larger backup size.
Only media with the expected volume ID or blank media are accepted.
Files with names matching *.o or *.swp get excluded explicitly.
When done with writing the new session gets checked by its recorded
MD5.
$ xorriso \
-abort_on FATAL \
-for_backup -disk_dev_ino on \
-assert_volid 'PROJECTS_MAIL_*' FATAL \
-dev /dev/sr0 \
-volid PROJECTS_MAIL_"$(date '+%Y_%m_%d_%H%M%S')" \
-not_leaf '*.o' -not_leaf '*.swp' \
-update_r /home/thomas/projects /projects \
-update_r /home/thomas/personal_mail /personal_mail \
-commit -toc -check_md5 FAILURE -- -eject all
To be used several times on the same medium, whenever an update of the
two disk trees to the medium is desired. Begin with a blank medium and
update it until the run fails gracefully due to lack of remaining space
on the old one.
This makes sense if the full backup leaves substantial remaining
capacity on media and if the expected changes are much smaller than the
full backup. To apply zisofs compression to those data files which get
newly copied from the local filesystem, insert these commands
immediately before -commit :
-hardlinks perform_update \
-find / -type f -pending_data -exec set_filter --zisofs -- \
Commands -disk_dev_ino and -for_backup depend on stable device and
inode numbers on disk. Without them, an update run may use -md5 "on" to
match recorded MD5 sums against the current file content on hard disk.
This is usually much faster than the default which compares both
contents directly.
With mount option -o "sbsector=" on GNU/Linux resp. -s on FreeBSD it is
possible to access the session trees which represent the older backup
versions. With CD media, GNU/Linux mount accepts session numbers
directly by its option "session=".
Multi-session media and most overwriteable media written by xorriso can
tell the sbsectors of their sessions by xorriso command -toc. Used
after -commit the following command prints the matching mount command
for the newly written session (here for mount point /mnt):
-mount_cmd "indev" "auto" "auto" /mnt
Commands -mount_cmd and -mount are also able to produce the mount
commands for older sessions in the table-of-content. E.g. as superuser:
# osirrox -mount /dev/sr0 "volid" '*2008_12_05*' /mnt
Above example produces a result similar to -root / -old-root / with
mkisofs. For getting the session trees accumulated in the new
sessions, let all -update commands use a common parent directory and
clone it after updating is done:
-update_r /home/thomas/projects /current/projects \
-update_r /home/thomas/personal_mail /current/personal_mail \
-clone /current /"$(date '+%Y_%m_%d_%H%M%S')" \
The cloned tree will have a name like /2011_02_12_155700.
Sessions on multi-session media are separated by several MB of unused
blocks. So with small sessions the payload capacity can become
substantially lower than the overall media capacity. If the remaining
space on a medium does not suffice for the next gap, the drive is
supposed to close the medium automatically.
Better do not use your youngest backup for -update_r. Have at least
two media which you use alternatingly. So only older backups get
endangered by the new write operation, while the newest backup is
stored safely on a different medium.
Always have a blank medium ready to perform a full backup in case the
update attempt fails due to insufficient remaining capacity. This
failure will not spoil the old medium, of course.
Restore directory trees from a particular ISO session to disk
This is an alternative to mounting the medium and using normal file
operations.
First check which backup sessions are on the medium:
$ xorriso -outdev /dev/sr0 -toc
Then enable restoring of ACL, xattr and hard links. Load the desired
session and copy the file trees to disk. Avoid to create
/home/thomas/restored without rwx-permission.
$ xorriso -for_backup \
-load volid 'PROJECTS_MAIL_2008_06_19*' \
-indev /dev/sr0 \
-osirrox on:auto_chmod_on \
-chmod u+rwx / -- \
-extract /projects /home/thomas/restored/projects \
-extract /personal_mail /home/thomas/restored/personal_mail \
-rollback_end
The final command -rollback_end prevents an error message about the
altered image being discarded.
Try to retrieve blocks from a damaged medium
$ xorriso -abort_on NEVER -indev /dev/sr0 \
-check_media time_limit=1800 report=blocks_files \
data_to="$HOME"/dvd_copy sector_map="$HOME"/dvd_copy.map --
This can be repeated several times, if necessary with -eject or with
other -indev drives. See the human readable part of
"$HOME"/dvd_copy.map for addresses which can be used on
"$HOME"/dvd_copy with mount option -o sbsector= resp. -s.
FILES
Program alias names:
Normal installation of xorriso creates three links or copies which by
their program name pre-select certain settings:
xorrisofs starts xorriso with -as mkisofs emulation.
xorrecord starts xorriso with -as cdrecord emulation.
osirrox starts with -osirrox "on:o_excl_off" which allows to copy files
from ISO image to disk and to apply command -mount to one or more of
the existing ISO sessions.
Startup files:
If not -no_rc is given as the first argument then xorriso attempts on
startup to read and execute lines from the following files:
/etc/default/xorriso
/etc/opt/xorriso/rc
/etc/xorriso/xorriso.conf
$HOME/.xorrisorc
The files are read in the sequence given above, but none of them is
required to exist. The line format is described with command
-options_from_file.
If mkisofs emulation was enabled by program name "xorrisofs",
"mkisofs", "genisoimage", or "genisofs", then afterwards
-read_mkisofsrc is performed, which reads .mkisofsrc files. See there.
Runtime control files:
The default setting of -check_media abort_file= is:
/var/opt/xorriso/do_abort_check_media
SEE ALSO
For the mkisofs emulation of xorriso
xorrisofs(1)
For the cdrecord emulation of xorriso
xorrecord(1)
For mounting xorriso generated ISO 9660 images (-t iso9660)
mount(8)
Libreadline, a comfortable input line facility
readline(3)
Other programs which produce ISO 9660 images
mkisofs(8), genisoimage(8)
Other programs which burn sessions to optical media
growisofs(1), cdrecord(1), wodim(1), cdrskin(1)
ACL and xattr
getfacl(1), setfacl(1), getfattr(1), setfattr(1)
MD5 checksums
md5sum(1)
On FreeBSD the commands for xattr and MD5 differ
getextattr(8), setextattr(8), md5(1)
BUGS
To report bugs, request help, or suggest enhancements for xorriso,
please send electronic mail to the public list <bug-xorriso@gnu.org>.
If more privacy is desired, mail to <scdbackup@gmx.net>.
Please describe what you expect xorriso to do, the program arguments
resp. commands by which you tried to achieve it, the messages of
xorriso, and the undesirable outcome of your program run.
Expect to get asked more questions before solutions can be proposed.
AUTHOR
Thomas Schmitt <scdbackup@gmx.net>
for libburnia-project.org
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 2007 - 2013 Thomas Schmitt
Permission is granted to distribute this text freely. It shall only be
modified in sync with the technical properties of xorriso. If you make
use of the license to derive modified versions of xorriso then you are
entitled to modify this text under that same license.
CREDITS
xorriso is in part based on work by Vreixo Formoso who provides
libisofs together with Mario Danic who also leads the libburnia team.
Vladimir Serbinenko contributed the HFS+ filesystem code and related
knowledge. Thanks to Andy Polyakov who invented emulated growing, to
Derek Foreman and Ben Jansens who once founded libburn.
Compliments towards Joerg Schilling whose cdrtools served me for ten
years.
Version 1.3.4, Dec 12, 2013 XORRISO(1)