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NAME

       genromfs - create a romfs image

SYNOPSIS

       genromfs  -f  device  [  -d source ] [ -V label ] [ -a alignment ] [ -A
       alignment,pattern ] [ -x pattern ] [ -v ]

DESCRIPTION

       genromfs is used to create a romfs file system image, usually  directly
       on  a  block  device, or for test purposes, in a plain file.  It is the
       mkfs equivalent of other filesystems.

       genromfs will scan the current directory and its subdirectories,  build
       a romfs image from the files found, and output it to the file or device
       you specified.

       During scanning, it recognizes a special notation.  If  a  file  begins
       with the @ sign (and is empty otherwise), it refers to a device special
       node in the format: @name,type,major,minor.  type can be  b  for  block
       devices,  c  for character devices, and p for fifos.  The linux virtual
       console 1 can thus be included as a file with the name: @tty1,c,4,1

OPTIONS

       -f output
              Specifies the file to output  the  image  to.   This  option  is
              required.

       -d source
              Use  the  specified  directory  as  the  source, not the current
              directory.

       -V label
              Build the image with the specified volume label.   Currently  it
              is not used by the kernel, but it will be recorded in the image.

       -a alignment
              Align regular files to a larger boundary.  genromfs  will  align
              data  of  each  regular  file  in  the  resulting  image  to the
              specified alignment, while keeping the image compatible with the
              original romfs definition (by adding pad bytes between last node
              before the file and file’s header).  By default,  genromfs  will
              guarantee only an alignment of 16 bytes.

       -A alignment,pattern
              Align  objects  matching  shell  wildcard  pattern  to alignment
              bytes.  If one object matches more patterns,  then  the  highest
              alignment  is  chosen.   Alignment  has  to  be  a power of two.
              Patterns either don’t contain any slashes, in which  case  files
              matching those patterns are matched in all directories, or start
              with a leading slash, in which case  they  are  matched  against
              absolute  paths  inside  of the romfs filesystem (that is, as if
              you chrooted into the rom filesystem).

       -x pattern
              Allow to exclude files that match a  pattern.   It’s  useful  to
              exclude CVS directories and backup files (ending in a ’~’).

       -v     Verbose  operation,  genromfs  will  print  each  file  which is
              included in the image, along with its offset.

EXAMPLES

          genromfs -d root -f /dev/fd0 -VSecret labs install disk’

       All files in the root directory will be written to /dev/fd0  as  a  new
       romfs filesystem image.

          genromfs  -d root -f /dev/fd0 -A 2048,/.. -A4096,*.boot-a 512 -VBootable floppy’

       Generate the image and place file data of  all  regular  files  on  512
       bytes boundaries or on 4K boundaries, if they have the .boot extension.
       Additionally, align the romfs header of the  ’..’  entry  in  the  root
       directory  on  a  2K  boundary.   Effectively, this makes sure that the
       romfs image uses the least possible space in the first 2048 bytes.

       You can use the generated image (if you have the romfs  module  loaded,
       or compiled into the kernel) via:

          mount -t romfs /dev/fd0 /mnt

AUTHOR

       This   manual   page   was   initially  written  by  Christoph  Lameter
       <clameter@debian.org>, for the Debian GNU/Linux system.

SEE ALSO

       mkfs(8), mount(8), mkisofs(8)