Build an embedded transaction filesystem (QNX)
mketfs [-l inputline] [-nv] [buildfile [outputfile]]
QNX Neutrino, Linux, Microsoft Windows
The mketfs utility reads a text buildfile describing an embedded transaction filesystem (ETFS) and produces a binary image file containing the ETFS as a sequence of transactions. You can copy this file to flash at a later stage, using etfsctl.
The input and output files are specified on the command line:
The mketfs utility generates a list of clusters, which are sized to match the hardware (1024, 2048, or 4096 bytes). Each cluster has a header of type struct etfs_trans, which is a fixed 16 bytes. So the actual size of the image file is the size of the input data (rounded up to a multiple of the cluster size) plus 16 bytes times the number of clusters. When etfsctl writes to the filesystem, it removes the etfs_trans structure. As the devio layer is putting the cluster into hardware, it generates a new, BSP-specific structure to hold the same information as was in the etfs_trans.
Buildfiles
The buildfile uses the same grammar as the mkifs command, but supports different attributes.
The buildfile is basically just a list of files that you want to be included in the ETFS image file when it's built by mketfs. As well as the files to be included, you can specify various attributes that are used to set parameters of the filesystem and the files in it. For example, you can specify the maximum size of the filesystem, or the user and group IDs of the individual files.
In a buildfile, a pound sign (#) indicates a comment; anything between it and the end of the line is ignored. There must be a space between a buildfile command and the pound sign.
Each line is in the form:
[attributes] file_specification
where the attributes (with the enclosing square brackets) and the file specification are both optional.
Attributes provide information about the file following the attribute. They're enclosed in square brackets; when combining attributes (e.g. to specify both the user ID and the group ID), enclose both attribute tokens in the same pair of square brackets. For example:
# correct way [uid=5 gid=5] filename # incorrect way [uid=5] [gid=5] filename
There are two types of attributes:
A question mark (?) before an attribute makes the setting conditional. The attribute is set only if it hasn't already been set. For example, ?+bigendian sets the +bigendian attribute only if +bigendian or -bigendian hasn't already been set.
The file_specification takes one of the following forms:
Closing braces (}) and backslashes (\) in an inline file must be escaped with a backslash.
You can enclose a filename in double quotes ("") if it includes spaces or unusual characters.
Attributes
The mketfs command supports the following attributes:
+|-bigendian
Set the byte order for the embedded filesystem to either big (via +bigendian) or little (via -bigendian) endian. The default is little endian.
block_size=bsize
Set the block size for the ETFS. The block size depends on what memory device you have in your target hardware. The default block size is 16 KB.
cd=filename
Set the current working directory to the specified pathname before attempting to open the host file. Default is the directory from which mketfs was invoked.
cluster_size=csize
Set the cluster size for the ETFS. The cluster size depends on what memory device you have in your target hardware. The default cluster size is 1 KB.
dperms=dperms_spec
Set the access permissions of the directory. If specified as a number, the permissions are set to that number (just like the chmod command). If specified as an asterisk (*), the host directory's permissions are used; for an inline directory, the permissions are obtained from the umask of the user running mketfs. Otherwise, a symbolic mode string (which is a subset of chmod's) is used to delete, add, or set permissions.
The symbolic mode string consists of:
You can include more than one symbolic mode string, separating them with a comma (,).
The default dperms_spec is *.
filter=filter_spec
Run the host file through the filter program specified, presenting the host file data as standard input to the program and using the standard output from the program as the data to be placed into the embedded filesystem. Default is no filter.
You can specify a filter_spec of none. This is useful if you need to override a global filter specification.
followlink attribute (boolean)
[+|-followlink]target_path=host_path
If you specify +followlink or omit it, mketfs follows any links and makes target_path a copy of host_path.
If you specify -followlink, mketfs creates a link called target_path that points to whatever host_path points at. It's up to you to make sure that the file pointed to is placed in the image.
gid=id_spec
Set the group ID number for the file. The value of this attribute may be either a number or an asterisk (*). If it's an asterisk, the group ID is taken from the host file; for an inline file, the group ID is the group of the user running mketfs. The default value for this attribute is *.
mountperms=perms_spec
Set the access permissions for mountpoints. If specified as a number, the permissions are set to that number (just like the chmod command). Otherwise, a symbolic mode string (which is a subset of chmod's) is used to delete, add, or set permissions.
The symbolic mode string consists of:
You can include more than one symbolic mode string, separating them with a comma (,).
The default perms_spec is "0775".
num_blocks=num
Set the number of blocks in the ETFS. If the number of blocks is specified, then the image file will be padded out to that size.
+|-optional
If true, and the host file can't be found, output a warning and continue building the embedded filesystem. If false, and the host file can't be found, output an error message and exit mketfs. The default is true.
perms=perms_spec
Set the access permissions of the file. If specified as a number, the permissions are set to that number (just like the chmod command). If specified as an asterisk ("*"), the host file's permissions are used; for an inline file, permissions of 0666 are used. Otherwise, a symbolic mode string (which is a subset of chmod's) is used to delete, add, or set permissions.
The symbolic mode string consists of:
You can include more than one symbolic mode string, separating them with a comma (,).
The default perms_spec is *.
prefix=prefix_spec
Set the prefix on the target file names. The default is the empty string.
search=path:path:…
This attribute specifies that mketfs should search for the file in the named locations on the host system. The search directory portion of the host file name isn't included in the name that's stored in the ETFS.
type=file_type
Sets the type of the files being created in the ETFS. Allowable types are:
[type=dir]/usr/bin=/usr/nto/x86/bin
marks all the contents of /usr/bin as directories. To copy /usr/nto/x86/bin to /usr/bin, you just need to specify:
/usr/bin=/usr/nto/x86/bin
uid=id_spec
Set the user ID number for the file. The value of this attribute may be either a number or an asterisk (*). If it's an asterisk, the user ID is taken from the host file; for an inline file, the user ID is the user running mketfs. The default value for this attribute is *.
Here's a sample buildfile, my_etfs.bld:
# A sample buildfile for mketfs [cluster_size=1k block_size=64k num_blocks=240] /home/jgarvey/nto_flash
In this example, we've specified a cluster_size of 1 KB, a block_size of 64 KB and a total device size of 240 blocks (which is the default configuration of fs-etfs-ram). The files and subdirectories from the /home/jgarvey/nto_flash directory on the host system are to be recursively copied into the root directory of the ETFS.
To create an ETFS image file using the above buildfile, invoke mketfs as follows:
mketfs my_etfs.bld my_image.etfs
This creates the my_image.etfs file containing the ETFS filesystem, which can then be copied to the target system as follows:
etfsctl -d /dev/etfs2 -S -e -w my_image.etfs -c