Re: Make Linux CDs

[Lawrence Houston <houston boyd geog mcgill ca>]

On Thu, 1 Oct 1998, Tony Nugent wrote:

> It seems that linux does a much better job of creating unix filesystems on
> cdroms than winloose software.
> 
> This is an example of a command line used for creating a bootable ISO9660 image
> for a RedHat installation cdrom:
> 
> mkisofs -a -r -N -L -d -J -o redhat.img -b /image/images/boot.img -x /images/lost+found /image 
> 
> Explaination:
> 
>  -a	include all files (don't ignore ~ and #)
>  	I use this, but it is handy not to use it if you don't want such files included.
>  -N	omit iso9660 version numbers with filenames (violates the standard, but it works)
>  -L	allow dot files (don't replace with underscore)
>  -d	omit trailing periods from filenames [not essential, but I use it)
>  -x	files/directories to omit from the image
> 	(you DON'T need a /lost+found directory on a cdrom, especially on a
> 	read-only disk)
> -b boot_image
> 	the path/filename of the boot image to be used when making an "El
> 	Torito" bootable CD.  (This is VERY cool! :-)
>  -v	verbose output
>  -o	output filename to write the image to
>  -l	enable long filenames (32 chars)  [not used above, but it could be]
>  -J	Joliet extenstion for m$loose (64 characters) [instead of -l]
>  -r	Rock Ridge (-R) but with:
> 	       	uig.gid = 0.0 on all files	(good)
> 		unset write bits		(sensible on a read-only filesystem)
> 		set all read bits		(also good)
> 		set all execute bits (if any)	(good for directories on executable files)
> 		clear all special bits
>  -T	generate TRANS.TBL files in each directory
>  	I don't use this any more - they are UGLY and only needed for a few
> 	(irrelevant) operating systems to be able to use long filenames
> 
> (Quickly done from the mkisofs man page... I might also use the -D option
> to prevent "deep directory reallocation" which otherwise results in the
> creation of ugly "rr_moved" directories in the base directory of the
> cdrom).
> 
> This isn't how RedHat has been creating their cdroms (they have TRANS.TBL
> files, etc).  Whatever.  What I have been doing works (so does theirs).
> 
> The issue is whether to use (a) RockRidge (b) long filenames, and/or (c) Joliet.
> 
> (a) RockRidge
> 	Absolutely essential for creating images of unix filesystems (to
> 	preserve permissions, ownerships, symbolic links).  Linux needs
> 	this.
> 
> (b) long filenames
> (c) Joliet extensions
> 
> 	Please yourself.  Linux doesn't care, but windoze does.
> 	
> 	If you don't use either of these when creating the image, windows
> 	will have trouble looking at filenames, which is a real hassle when
> 	you have things like web pages on it (it can't understand case or
> 	anything other than 8.3 filenames).
> 
> 	For a RedHat cdrom, who really cares if windows has trouble with
> 	it?  :-)  Note that RedHat have been careful is making the html
> 	version of its install manual on the cdrom 8.3 filename compliant.
> 
> 	If you use long filenames, windows can read it, but only up to 32
> 	characters before the names are truncated. (Case is understood).
> 
> 	If you use Joliet, the filenames (and case) is preserved up to 64
> 	characters.  And you'll probably need a post 2.0.34 kernel for
> 	linux to read it (although I haven't experimented with this to
> 	confirm if there are any problems in this regard).
 
Tony:

The mkisofs (mkisofs-1.11.2-3.i386.rpm) included with RH 5.1 does support
the Joliet (-J) Option you mention!  Do you know which version you are
using and where we can find it?

TIA

Lawrence houston  -  (houston boyd geog mcgill ca)