Ext3 users - May 2003 - How to create EXT3 file system image from directories?

Hi there,

Is there a utility to create an EXT3 file system image from directories?
Just like the mkfs.jffs2 which creates a JFFS2 file system image from
directories?

The "mke2fs -j" only creates the bare bone file system, what I want is
to
build an image with pre-built content.

Thanks,
Debbie

On Wed, May 21, 2003 at 02:57:00PM -0700, Debbie Xu
wrote:
> Hi there,
> 
> Is there a utility to create an EXT3 file system image from directories?
> Just like the mkfs.jffs2 which creates a JFFS2 file system image from
> directories?
> 
> The "mke2fs -j" only creates the bare bone file system, what I
want is to
> build an image with pre-built content.
The easist thing to do is to create a filesystem on a file using
mke2fs, and then mount the filesystem using the loopback device:

dd if=/dev/zero of=foo.img bs=1k count=16384
mke2fs -f foo.img
mount -o loop foo.img /mnt
cp -r /source /mnt
umount /mnt

						- Ted

Thanks a lot, it works!
Why do I have to use "-o loop" option?

Tx,
Debbie

-----Original Message-----
From: Theodore Ts'o [mailto:tytso@mit.edu] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2003 7:55 PM
To: Debbie Xu
Cc: 'ext3-users@redhat.com'
Subject: Re: How to create EXT3 file system image from directories?

On Wed, May 21, 2003 at 02:57:00PM -0700, Debbie Xu
wrote:
> Hi there,
> 
> Is there a utility to create an EXT3 file system image from directories?
> Just like the mkfs.jffs2 which creates a JFFS2 file system image from
> directories?
> 
> The "mke2fs -j" only creates the bare bone file system, what I
want is to
> build an image with pre-built content.
The easist thing to do is to create a filesystem on a file using
mke2fs, and then mount the filesystem using the loopback device:

dd if=/dev/zero of=foo.img bs=1k count=16384
mke2fs -f foo.img
mount -o loop foo.img /mnt
cp -r /source /mnt
umount /mnt

						- Ted

Because foo.img is a file not a block device.
 
Loop back device provide a block device for that file.
 
Chris
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Debbie Xu [mailto:DXu@intrinsyc.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2003 9:21 AM
To: 'Theodore Ts'o'; Debbie Xu
Cc: 'ext3-users@redhat.com'
Subject: RE: How to create EXT3 file system image from directories?



Thanks a lot, it works! 
Why do I have to use "-o loop" option? 

Tx, 
Debbie 

-----Original Message----- 
From: Theodore Ts'o [ mailto:tytso@mit.edu <mailto:tytso@mit.edu> ] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2003 7:55 PM 
To: Debbie Xu 
Cc: 'ext3-users@redhat.com' 
Subject: Re: How to create EXT3 file system image from directories? 

On Wed, May 21, 2003 at 02:57:00PM -0700, Debbie Xu wrote:
> Hi there, 
> 
> Is there a utility to create an EXT3 file system image from directories? 
> Just like the mkfs.jffs2 which creates a JFFS2 file system image from 
> directories? 
> 
> The "mke2fs -j" only creates the bare bone file system, what I
want is to
> build an image with pre-built content. 
The easist thing to do is to create a filesystem on a file using 
mke2fs, and then mount the filesystem using the loopback device: 

dd if=/dev/zero of=foo.img bs=1k count=16384 
mke2fs -f foo.img 
mount -o loop foo.img /mnt 
cp -r /source /mnt 
umount /mnt 

                                                - Ted