MKISOFS(8) Version 1.12b5 MKISOFS(8)
17 Feb 1998
NAME
mkisofs - create a iso9660 filesystem with optional Rock Ridge
attributes.
SYNOPSIS
mkisofs [ -a ] [ -abstract FILE ] [ -biblio FILE ] [ -b boot_image ] [
-c boot_catalog ] [ -copyright FILE ] [ -A application_id ] [ -f ] [ -d
] [ -D ] [ -hide glob ] [ -hide-joliet glob ] [ -J ] [ -l ] [ -L ] [
-log-file log_file ] [ -no-split-symlink-components ] [ -no-split-
symlink-fields ] [ -p preparer ] [ -print-size ] [ -P publisher ] [
-quiet ] [ -r ] [ -R ] [ -sysid ID ] [ -T ] [ -v ] [ -V volid ] [
-volset ID ] [ -volset-size # ] [ -volset-seqno # ] [ -x path ] [ -z ]
[ -m glob ] -o filename pathspec [pathspec]
DESCRIPTION
mkisofs is effectively a pre-mastering program to generate the iso9660
filesystem - it takes a snapshot of a given directory tree, and
generates a binary image which will correspond to an iso9660
filesystem when written to a block device.
mkisofs is also capable of generating the System Use Sharing Protocol
records specified by the Rock Ridge Interchange Protocol. This is
used to further describe the files in the iso9660 filesystem to a unix
host, and provides information such as longer filenames, uid/gid,
posix permissions, and block and character devices.
Each file written to the iso9660 filesystem must have a filename in
the 8.3 format (8 characters, period, 3 characters, all upper case),
even if Rock Ridge is in use. This filename is used on systems that
are not able to make use of the Rock Ridge extensions (such as MS-
DOS), and each filename in each directory must be different from the
other filenames in the same directory. mkisofs generally tries to
form correct names by forcing the unix filename to upper case and
truncating as required, but often times this yields unsatisfactory
results when there are cases where the truncated names are not all
unique. mkisofs assigns weightings to each filename, and if two names
that are otherwise the same are found the name with the lower priority
is renamed to have a 3 digit number as an extension (where the number
is guaranteed to be unique). An example of this would be the files
foo.bar and foo.bar.~1~ - the file foo.bar.~1~ would be written as
FOO.000;1 and the file foo.bar would be written as FOO.BAR;1
Note that mkisofs is not designed to communicate with the writer
directly. Most writers have proprietary command sets which vary from
one manufacturer to another, and you need a specialized tool to
actually burn the disk. The cdwrite utility is one such tool that
runs under Linux and performs this task. The latest version of
cdwrite is capable of communicating with the Phillips/IMS/Kodak, HP
and Yamaha drives that have been manufactured before 1997. Most
writers come with some version of DOS software that allows a direct
image copy of an iso9660 image to the writer. The current version of
- 1 - Formatted: December 26, 2024
MKISOFS(8) Version 1.12b5 MKISOFS(8)
17 Feb 1998
cdwrite is available from sunsite.unc.edu: /utils/disk-
management/cdwrite-2.0.tar.gz Note that cdwrite has not been actively
maintained since 1995.
The cdrecord utility is another utility capable of burning an actual
disc. The latest version of cdrecord is available from
ftp://ftp.fokus.gmd.de/pub/unix/cdrecord Cdrecord is under constant
development.
Also you should know that most cd writers are very particular about
timing. Once you start to burn a disc, you cannot let their buffer
empty before you are done, or you will end up with a corrupt disc.
Thus it is critical that you be able to maintain an uninterrupted data
stream to the writer for the entire time that the disc is being
written.
path is the path of the directory tree to be copied into the iso9660
filesystem. Multiple paths can be specified, and mkisofs will merge
the files found in all of the specified path components to form the
cdrom image.
It is possible to graft the paths at points other than the root
directory, and it is possible to graft files or directories onto the
cdrom image with names different than what they have in the source
filesystem. This is easiest to illustrate with a couple of examples.
Let's start by assuming that a local file ../old.lis exists, and you
wish to include it in the cdrom image.
foo/bar/=../old.lis
will include the file old.lis in the cdrom image at /foo/bar/old.lis,
while
foo/bar/xxx=../old.lis
will include the file old.lis in the cdrom image at /foo/bar/xxx. The
same sort of syntax can be used with directories as well. mkisofs
will create any directories required such that the graft points exist
on the cdrom image - the directories do not need to appear in one of
the paths. Any directories that are created on the fly like this will
have permissions 0555 and appear to be owned by the person running
mkisofs. If you wish other permissions or owners of the intermediate
directories, the easiest solution is to create real directories in the
path such that mkisofs doesn't have to invent them.
OPTIONS
-a Include all files on the iso9660 filesystem. Normally files that
contain the characters '~' or '#' will not be included (these are
typically backup files for editors under unix).
- 2 - Formatted: December 26, 2024
MKISOFS(8) Version 1.12b5 MKISOFS(8)
17 Feb 1998
-abstract FILE
Specifies the abstract file name. This parameter can also be set
in the file .mkisofsrc with ABST=filename. If specified in both
places, the command line version is used.
-A application_id
Specifies a text string that will be written into the volume
header. This should describe the application that will be on the
disc. There is space on the disc for 128 characters of
information. This parameter can also be set in the file
.mkisofsrc with APPI=id. If specified in both places, the
command line version is used.
-biblio FILE
Specifies the bibliographic file name. This parameter can also
be set in the file .mkisofsrc with BIBLO=filename. If specified
in both places, the command line version is used.
-b boot_image
Specifies the path and filename of the boot image to be used when
making an "El Torito" bootable CD. The pathname must be relative
to the source path specified to mkisofs. This option is required
to make a bootable CD. The boot image must be exactly the size
of either a 1.2, 1.44, or a 2.88 meg floppy, and mkisofs will use
this size when creating the output iso9660 filesystem. It is
assumed that the first 512 byte sector should be read from the
boot image (it is essentially emulating a normal floppy drive).
This will work, for example, if the boot image is a LILO based
boot floppy.
-C last_sess_start,next_sess_start
This option is needed when mkisofs is used to create the image of
a second session or a higher level session for a multi session
disk. The option -C takes a pair of two numbers separated by a
comma. The first number is the sector number of the first sector
in the last session of the disk that should be appended to. The
second number is the starting sector number of the new session.
The expected pair of numbers may be retrieved by calling cdrecord
-msinfo ... the -C option may only be uses in conjunction with
the -M option.
-c boot_catalog
Specifies the path and filename of the boot catalog to be used
when making an "El Torito" bootable CD. The pathname must be
relative to the source path specified to mkisofs. This option is
required to make a bootable CD. This file will be created by
mkisofs in the source filesystem, so be sure the specified
filename does not conflict with an existing file, as it will be
quietly overwritten! Usually a name like "boot.catalog" is
chosen.
- 3 - Formatted: December 26, 2024
MKISOFS(8) Version 1.12b5 MKISOFS(8)
17 Feb 1998
-copyright FILE
Specifies the Copyright file name. This parameter can also be
set in the file .mkisofsrc with COPY=filename. If specified in
both places, the command line version is used.
-d Omit trailing period from files that do not have a period. This
violates the ISO9660 standard, but it happens to work on many
systems. Use with caution.
-D Do not use deep directory relocation, and instead just pack them
in the way we see them. This violates the ISO9660 standard, but
it works on many systems. Use with caution.
-f Follow symbolic links when generating the filesystem. When this
option is not in use, symbolic links will be entered using Rock
Ridge if enabled, otherwise the file will be ignored.
-hide glob
Hide glob from being seen on the ISO9660 or Rock Ridge directory.
glob is a shell wild-card-style pattern that must match any part
of the filename or path. Multiple globs may be hidden (up to
1000). If glob matches a directory, then the contents of that
directory will be hidden. All the hidden files will still be
written to the output CD image file. Should be used with the
-hide-joliet option.
-hide-joliet glob
Hide glob from being seen on the Joliet directory. glob is a
shell wild-card-style pattern that must match any part of the
filename or path. Multiple globs may be hidden (up to 1000). If
glob matches a directory, then the contents of that directory
will be hidden. All the hidden files will still be written to
the output CD image file. Should be used with the -hide option.
-l Allow full 32 character filenames. Normally the ISO9660 filename
will be in an 8.3 format which is compatible with MS-DOS, even
though the ISO9660 standard allows filenames of up to 32
characters. If you use this option, the disc may be difficult to
use on a MS-DOS system, but this comes in handy on some other
systems (such as the Amiga). Use with caution.
-J Generate Joliet directory records in addition to regular iso9660
file names. This is primarily useful when the discs are to be
used on Windows-NT or Windows-95 machines. The Joliet filenames
are specified in Unicode and each path component can be up to 64
Unicode characters long.
-L Allow filenames to begin with a period. Usually, a leading dot
is replaced with an underscore in order to maintain MS-DOS
compatibility.
- 4 - Formatted: December 26, 2024
MKISOFS(8) Version 1.12b5 MKISOFS(8)
17 Feb 1998
-log-file log_file
Redirect all error, warning and informational messages to
log_file instead of the standard error.
-m glob
Exclude glob from being written to CDROM. glob is a shell wild-
card-style pattern that must match part of the filename (not the
path as with option -x). Technically glob is matched against the
d->d_name part of the directory entry. Multiple globs may be
excluded (up to 1000). Example:
mkisofs -o rom -m '*.o' -m core -m foobar
would exclude all files ending in ".o", called "core" or "foobar"
to be copied to CDROM. Note that if you had a directory called
"foobar" it too (and of course all its descendants) would be
excluded.
NOTE: The -m and -x option description should both be updated,
they are wrong. Both now work identical and use filename
globbing. A file is exluded if either the last component matches
or the whole path matches.
-M path
or
-M device
Specifies path to existing iso9660 image to be merged. The
alternate form takes a SCSI device specifier that uses the same
syntax as the dev= parameter of cdrecord. The output of mkisofs
will be a new session which should get written to the end of the
image specified in -M. Typically this requires multi-session
capability for the recorder and cdrom drive that you are
attempting to write this image to. This option may only be used
in conjunction with the -C option.
-N Omit version numbers from ISO9660 file names. This may violate
the ISO9660 standard, but no one really uses the version numbers
anyway. Use with caution.
-no-split-symlink-components
Don't split the SL components, but begin a new Continuation Area
(CE) instead. This may waste some space, but the SunOS 4.1.4
cdrom driver has a bug in reading split SL components (link_size
= component_size instead of link_size += component_size).
-no-split-symlink-fields
Don't split the SL fields, but begin a new Continuation Area (CE)
instead. This may waste some space, but the SunOS 4.1.4 and
Solaris 2.5.1 cdrom driver have a bug in reading split SL fields
(a `/' can be dropped).
- 5 - Formatted: December 26, 2024
MKISOFS(8) Version 1.12b5 MKISOFS(8)
17 Feb 1998
-o filename
is the name of the file to which the iso9660 filesystem image
should be written. This can be a disk file, a tape drive, or it
can correspond directly to the device name of the optical disc
writer. If not specified, stdout is used. Note that the output
can also be a block special device for a regular disk drive, in
which case the disk partition can be mounted and examined to
ensure that the premastering was done correctly.
-P publisher_id
Specifies a text string that will be written into the volume
header. This should describe the publisher of the CDROM, usually
with a mailing address and phone number. There is space on the
disc for 128 characters of information. This parameter can also
be set in the file .mkisofsrc with PUBL=. If specified in both
places, the command line version is used.
-p preparer_id
Specifies a text string that will be written into the volume
header. This should describe the preparer of the CDROM, usually
with a mailing address and phone number. There is space on the
disc for 128 characters of information. This parameter can also
be set in the file .mkisofsrc with PREP=. If specified in both
places, the command line version is used.
-print-size
Print estimated filesystem size and exit. This option is needed
for Disk At Once mode and with some CD-R drives when piping
directly into cdrecord. In this case it is needed to know the
size of the filesustem before the actual CD-creation is done.
The option -print-size allows to get this size from a "dry-run"
before the CD is actually written.
-R Generate SUSP and RR records using the Rock Ridge protocol to
further describe the files on the iso9660 filesystem.
-r This is like the -R option, but file ownership and modes are set
to more useful values. The uid and gid are set to zero, because
they are usually only useful on the author's system, and not
useful to the client. All the file read bits are set true, so
that files and directories are globally readable on the client.
If any execute bit is set for a file, set all of the execute
bits, so that executables are globally executable on the client.
If any search bit is set for a directory, set all of the search
bits, so that directories are globally searchable on the client.
All write bits are cleared, because the CD-Rom will be mounted
read-only in any case. If any of the special mode bits are set,
clear them, because file locks are not useful on a read-only file
system, and set-id bits are not desirable for uid 0 or gid 0.
- 6 - Formatted: December 26, 2024
MKISOFS(8) Version 1.12b5 MKISOFS(8)
17 Feb 1998
-sysid ID
Specifies the system ID. This parameter can also be set in the
file .mkisofsrc with SYSI=system_id. If specified in both
places, the command line version is used.
-T Generate a file TRANS.TBL in each directory on the CDROM, which
can be used on non-Rock Ridge capable systems to help establish
the correct file names. There is also information present in the
file that indicates the major and minor numbers for block and
character devices, and each symlink has the name of the link file
given.
-V volid
Specifies the volume ID to be written into the master block.
This parameter can also be set in the file .mkisofsrc with
VOLI=id. If specified in both places, the command line version
is used. Note that if you assign a volume ID, this is the name
that will be used as the mount point used by the Solaris volume
management system and the name that is assigned to the disc on a
Windows or Mac platform.
-volset ID
Specifies the volset ID. This parameter can also be set in the
file .mkisofsrc with VOLS=volset_id. If specified in both
places, the command line version is used.
-volset-size #
Sets the volume set size to #. The volume set size is the number
of CD's that are in a CD set. The -volset-size option may be
used to create CD's that are part of e.g. a Operation System
installation set of CD's. The option -volset-size must be
specified before -volset-seqno on each command line.
-volset-seqno #
Sets the volume set sequence number to #. The volume set sequence
number is the index number of the current CD in a CD set. The
option -volset-size must be specified before -volset-seqno on
each command line.
-v Verbose execution.
-x path
Exclude path from being written to CDROM. path must be the
complete pathname that results from concatenating the pathname
given as command line argument and the path relative to this
directory. Multiple paths may be excluded (up to 1000).
Example:
mkisofs -o cd -x /local/dir1 -x /local/dir2 /local
NOTE: The -m and -x option description should both be updated,
- 7 - Formatted: December 26, 2024
MKISOFS(8) Version 1.12b5 MKISOFS(8)
17 Feb 1998
they are wrong. Both now work identical and use filename
globbing. A file is exluded if either the last component matches
or the whole path matches.
-z Generate special SUSP records for transparently compressed files.
This is only of use and interest for hosts that support
transparent decompression. This is an experimental feature, and
no hosts yet support this, but there are ALPHA patches for Linux
that can make use of this feature.
CONFIGURATION
mkisofs looks for the .mkisofsrc file, first in the current working
directory, then in the user's home directory, and then in the
directory in which the mkisofs binary is stored. This file is assumed
to contain a series of lines of the form TAG=value, and in this way
you can specify certain options. The case of the tag is not
significant. Some fields in the volume header are not settable on the
command line, but can be altered through this facility. Comments may
be placed in this file, using lines which start with a hash (#)
character.
APPI The application identifier should describe the application that
will be on the disc. There is space on the disc for 128
characters of information. May be overridden using the -A
command line option.
COPY The copyright information, often the name of a file on the disc
containing the copyright notice. There is space in the disc for
37 characters of information. May be overridden using the
-copyright command line option.
ABST The abstract information, often the name of a file on the disc
containing an abstract. There is space in the disc for 37
characters of information. May be overridden using the -abstract
command line option.
BIBL The bibliographic information, often the name of a file on the
disc containing a bibliography. There is space in the disc for
37 characters of information. May be overridden using the -bilio
command line option.
PREP This should describe the preparer of the CDROM, usually with a
mailing address and phone number. There is space on the disc for
128 characters of information. May be overridden using the -p
command line option.
PUBL This should describe the publisher of the CDROM, usually with a
mailing address and phone number. There is space on the disc for
128 characters of information. May be overridden using the -P
command line option.
- 8 - Formatted: December 26, 2024
MKISOFS(8) Version 1.12b5 MKISOFS(8)
17 Feb 1998
SYSI The System Identifier. There is space on the disc for 32
characters of information. May be overridden using the -sysid
command line option.
VOLI The Volume Identifier. There is space on the disc for 32
characters of information. May be overridden using the -V
command line option.
VOLS The Volume Set Name. There is space on the disc for 128
characters of information. May be overridden using the -volset
command line option.
mkisofs can also be configured at compile time with defaults for many
of these fields. See the file defaults.h.
AUTHOR
mkisofs is not based on the standard mk*fs tools for unix, because we
must generate a complete copy of an existing filesystem on a disk in
the iso9660 filesystem. The name mkisofs is probably a bit of a
misnomer, since it not only creates the filesystem, but it also
populates it as well.
Eric Youngdale <ericy@gnu.ai.mit.edu> or <eric@andante.jic.com> wrote
both the Linux isofs9660 filesystem and the mkisofs utility, and is
currently maintaining them. The copyright for the mkisofs utility is
held by Yggdrasil Computing, Incorporated.
BUGS
Any files that have hard links to files not in the tree being copied
to the iso9660 filessytem will have an incorrect file reference count.
There may be some other ones. Please, report them to the author.
FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS
Some sort of gui interface.
AVAILABILITY
mkisofs is available for anonymous ftp from tsx-11.mit.edu in
/pub/linux/packages/mkisofs and many other mirror sites.
- 9 - Formatted: December 26, 2024
