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.\" Copyright (c) 2007 Tim Kientzle
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.\" All rights reserved.
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.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
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.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
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.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
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.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
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.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
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.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
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.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
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.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
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.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
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.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
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.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
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.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
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.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
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.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
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.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
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.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
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.\" $FreeBSD: src/lib/libarchive/cpio.5,v 1.2 2008/05/26 17:00:23 kientzle Exp $
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.Nd format of cpio archive files
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archive format collects any number of files, directories, and other
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file system objects (symbolic links, device nodes, etc.) into a single
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Each file system object in a
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archive comprises a header record with basic numeric metadata
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followed by the full pathname of the entry and the file data.
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The header record stores a series of integer values that generally
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The variants differ primarily in how they store those integers
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(binary, octal, or hexadecimal).
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The header is followed by the pathname of the
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entry (the length of the pathname is stored in the header)
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The end of the archive is indicated by a special record with
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XXX Any documentation of the original PWB/UNIX 1.0 format? XXX
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format stores numbers as 2-byte and 4-byte binary values.
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Each entry begins with a header in the following format:
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.Bd -literal -offset indent
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struct header_old_cpio {
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unsigned short c_magic;
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unsigned short c_mode;
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unsigned short c_nlink;
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unsigned short c_rdev;
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unsigned short c_mtime[2];
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unsigned short c_namesize;
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unsigned short c_filesize[2];
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fields here are 16-bit integer values; the
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fields are 32-bit integer values.
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The fields are as follows
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.Bl -tag -width indent
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The integer value octal 070707.
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This value can be used to determine whether this archive is
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written with little-endian or big-endian integers.
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The device and inode numbers from the disk.
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These are used by programs that read
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archives to determine when two entries refer to the same file.
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Programs that synthesize
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archives should be careful to set these to distinct values for each entry.
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The mode specifies both the regular permissions and the file type.
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It consists of several bit fields as follows:
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.Bl -tag -width "MMMMMMM" -compact
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This masks the file type bits.
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File type value for sockets.
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File type value for symbolic links.
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For symbolic links, the link body is stored as file data.
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File type value for regular files.
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File type value for block special devices.
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File type value for directories.
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File type value for character special devices.
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File type value for named pipes or FIFOs.
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On some systems, this modifies the behavior of executables and/or directories.
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The lower 9 bits specify read/write/execute permissions
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for world, group, and user following standard POSIX conventions.
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The numeric user id and group id of the owner.
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The number of links to this file.
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Directories always have a value of at least two here.
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Note that hardlinked files include file data with every copy in the archive.
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For block special and character special entries,
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this field contains the associated device number.
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For all other entry types, it should be set to zero by writers
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and ignored by readers.
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Modification time of the file, indicated as the number
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of seconds since the start of the epoch,
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00:00:00 UTC January 1, 1970.
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The four-byte integer is stored with the most-significant 16 bits first
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followed by the least-significant 16 bits.
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Each of the two 16 bit values are stored in machine-native byte order.
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The number of bytes in the pathname that follows the header.
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This count includes the trailing NUL byte.
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The size of the file.
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Note that this archive format is limited to
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four gigabyte file sizes.
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above for a description of the storage of four-byte integers.
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The pathname immediately follows the fixed header.
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is odd, an additional NUL byte is added after the pathname.
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The file data is then appended, padded with NUL
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bytes to an even length.
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Hardlinked files are not given special treatment;
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the full file contents are included with each copy of the
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.Ss Portable ASCII Format
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standardized an ASCII variant that is portable across all
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It is commonly known as the
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It stores the same numeric fields as the old binary format, but
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represents them as 6-character or 11-character octal values.
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.Bd -literal -offset indent
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struct cpio_odc_header {
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The fields are identical to those in the old binary format.
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The name and file body follow the fixed header.
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Unlike the old binary format, there is no additional padding
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after the pathname or file contents.
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If the files being archived are themselves entirely ASCII, then
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the resulting archive will be entirely ASCII, except for the
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NUL byte that terminates the name field.
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The "new" ASCII format uses 8-byte hexadecimal fields for
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all numbers and separates device numbers into separate fields
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for major and minor numbers.
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.Bd -literal -offset indent
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struct cpio_newc_header {
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Except as specified below, the fields here match those specified
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for the old binary format above.
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.Bl -tag -width indent
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This field is always set to zero by writers and ignored by readers.
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See the next section for more details.
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The pathname is followed by NUL bytes so that the total size
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of the fixed header plus pathname is a multiple of four.
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Likewise, the file data is padded to a multiple of four bytes.
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Note that this format supports only 4 gigabyte files (unlike the
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older ASCII format, which supports 8 gigabyte files).
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In this format, hardlinked files are handled by setting the
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filesize to zero for each entry except the last one that
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appears in the archive.
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The CRC format is identical to the new ASCII format described
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in the previous section except that the magic field is set
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field is set to the sum of all bytes in the file data.
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This sum is computed treating all bytes as unsigned values
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and using unsigned arithmetic.
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Only the least-significant 32 bits of the sum are stored.
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implementation distributed with HPUX used XXXX but stored
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device numbers differently XXX.
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.Ss Other Extensions and Variants
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Sun Solaris uses additional file types to store extended file
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data, including ACLs and extended attributes, as special
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entries in cpio archives.
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format is mis-named, as it uses a simple checksum and
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not a cyclic redundancy check.
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The old binary format is limited to 16 bits for user id,
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group id, device, and inode numbers.
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It is limited to 4 gigabyte file sizes.
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The old ASCII format is limited to 18 bits for
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the user id, group id, device, and inode numbers.
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It is limited to 8 gigabyte file sizes.
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The new ASCII format is limited to 4 gigabyte file sizes.
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None of the cpio formats store user or group names,
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which are essential when moving files between systems with
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dissimilar user or group numbering.
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Especially when writing older cpio variants, it may be necessary
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to map actual device/inode values to synthesized values that
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fit the available fields.
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With very large filesystems, this may be necessary even for
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utility is no longer a part of POSIX or the Single Unix Standard.
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It has been supplanted in subsequent standards by
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The portable ASCII format is currently part of the specification for the
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The original cpio utility was written by Dick Haight
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while working in AT&T's Unix Support Group.
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It appeared in 1977 as part of PWB/UNIX 1.0, the
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.Dq Programmer's Work Bench
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that was used internally at AT&T.
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Both the old binary and old character formats were in use
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by 1980, according to the System III source released
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The character format was adopted as part of
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XXX when did "newc" appear? Who invented it? When did HP come out with their variant? When did Sun introduce ACLs and extended attributes? XXX