NAME
mtree — format of mtree dir hierarchy files
DESCRIPTION
The mtree format is a textual format that describes a collection of filesystem objects. Such files are typically used to create or verify directory hierarchies.
General
Format
An mtree file consists of a series of lines, each
providing information about a single filesystem object.
Leading whitespace is always ignored.
When encoding file or pathnames, any backslash character or character outside of the 95 printable ASCII characters must be encoded as a backslash followed by three octal digits. When reading mtree files, any appearance of a backslash followed by three octal digits should be converted into the corresponding character.
Each line is interpreted independently as one of the following types:
Blank
Blank lines are ignored.
Comment
Lines beginning with # are ignored.
Special
Lines beginning with / are special commands that influence the interpretation of later lines.
Relative
If the first whitespace-delimited word has no / characters, it is the name of a file in the current directory. Any relative entry that describes a directory changes the current directory.
dot-dot
As a special case, a relative entry with the filename .. changes the current directory to the parent directory. Options on dot-dot entries are always ignored.
Full
If the first whitespace-delimited word has a / character after the first character, it is the pathname of a file relative to the starting directory. There can be multiple full entries describing the same file.
Some tools that process mtree files may require that multiple lines describing the same file occur consecutively. It is not permitted for the same file to be mentioned using both a relative and a full file specification.
Special
commands
Two special commands are currently defined:
/set
This command defines default values for one or more keywords. It is followed on the same line by one or more whitespace-separated keyword definitions. These definitions apply to all following files that do not specify a value for that keyword.
/unset
This command removes any default value set by a previous /set command. It is followed on the same line by one or more keywords separated by whitespace.
Keywords
After the filename, a full or relative entry consists of
zero or more whitespace-separated keyword definitions. Each
such definition consists of a key from the following list
immediately followed by an ’=’ sign and a value.
Software programs reading mtree files should warn about
unrecognized keywords.
Currently supported keywords are as follows:
cksum
The checksum of the file using the default algorithm specified by the cksum(1) utility.
device
The device number for block or char file types. The value must be one of the following forms:
format,major,minor[
,subunit]
A device with major, minor and optional subunit fields. Their meaning is specified by the operating’s system format. See below for valid formats.
number
Opaque number (as stored on the file system).
The following values for format are recognized: native, 386bsd, 4bsd, bsdos, freebsd, hpux, isc, linux, netbsd, osf1, sco, solaris, sunos, svr3, svr4, and ultrix.
See mknod(8) for more details.
contents
The full pathname of a file that holds the contents of this file.
flags
The file flags as a symbolic name. See chflags(1) for information on these names. If no flags are to be set the string “none” may be used to override the current default.
gid
The file group as a numeric value.
gname
The file group as a symbolic name.
ignore
Ignore any file hierarchy below this file.
inode
The inode number.
link
The target of the symbolic link when type=link.
md5
The MD5 message digest of the file.
md5digest
A synonym for md5.
mode
The current file’s permissions as a numeric (octal) or symbolic value.
nlink
The number of hard links the file is expected to have.
nochange
Make sure this file or directory exists but otherwise ignore all attributes.
optional
The file is optional; do not complain about the file if it is not in the file hierarchy.
resdevice
The “resident” device number of the file, e.g. the ID of the device that contains the file. Its format is the same as the one for device.
ripemd160digest
The RIPEMD160 message digest of the file.
rmd160
A synonym for ripemd160digest.
rmd160digest
A synonym for ripemd160digest.
sha1
The FIPS 160-1 (“SHA-1”) message digest of the file.
sha1digest
A synonym for sha1.
sha256
The FIPS 180-2 (“SHA-256”) message digest of the file.
sha256digest
A synonym for sha256.
sha384
The FIPS 180-2 (“SHA-384”) message digest of the file.
sha384digest
A synonym for sha384.
sha512
The FIPS 180-2 (“SHA-512”) message digest of the file.
sha512digest
A synonym for sha512.
size
The size, in bytes, of the file.
time
The last modification time of the file.
type
The type of the file; may be set to any one of the following:
block
block special device
char
character special device
dir
directory
fifo
fifo
file
regular file
link
symbolic link
socket
socket
uid
The file owner as a numeric value.
uname
The file owner as a symbolic name.
SEE ALSO
HISTORY
The mtree utility appeared in 4.3BSD-Reno. The MD5 digest capability was added in FreeBSD 2.1, in response to the widespread use of programs which can spoof cksum(1). The SHA-1 and RIPEMD160 digests were added in FreeBSD 4.0, as new attacks have demonstrated weaknesses in MD5. The SHA-256 digest was added in FreeBSD 6.0. Support for file flags was added in FreeBSD 4.0, and mostly comes from NetBSD. The “full” entry format was added by NetBSD.
BSD September 4, 2013 BSD