mtree.5   [plain text]


.TH MTREE 5 "August 20, 2007" ""
.SH NAME
.ad l
\fB\%mtree\fP
\- format of mtree dir hierarchy files
.SH DESCRIPTION
.ad l
The
\fB\%mtree\fP
format is a textual format that describes a collection of filesystem objects.
Such files are typically used to create or verify directory hierarchies.
.SS General Format
An
\fB\%mtree\fP
file consists of a series of lines, each providing information
about a single filesystem object.
Leading whitespace is always ignored.
.PP
When encoding file or pathnames, any backslash character or
character outside of the 95 printable ASCII characters must be
encoded as a 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.
.PP
Each line is interpreted independently as one of the following types:
.RS 5
.TP
Signature
The first line of any mtree file must begin with
``#mtree''.
If a file contains any full path entries, the first line should
begin with
``#mtree v2.0'',
otherwise, the first line should begin with
``#mtree v1.0''.
.TP
Blank
Blank lines are ignored.
.TP
Comment
Lines beginning with
\fB#\fP
are ignored.
.TP
Special
Lines beginning with
\fB/\fP
are special commands that influence
the interpretation of later lines.
.TP
Relative
If the first whitespace-delimited word has no
\fB/\fP
characters,
it is the name of a file in the current directory.
Any relative entry that describes a directory changes the
current directory.
.TP
dot-dot
As a special case, a relative entry with the filename
\fI\& ..\fP
changes the current directory to the parent directory.
Options on dot-dot entries are always ignored.
.TP
Full
If the first whitespace-delimited word has a
\fB/\fP
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.
.RE
.PP
Some tools that process
\fB\%mtree\fP
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.
.SS Special commands
Two special commands are currently defined:
.RS 5
.TP
\fB/set\fP
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.
.TP
\fB/unset\fP
This command removes any default value set by a previous
\fB/set\fP
command.
It is followed on the same line by one or more keywords
separated by whitespace.
.RE
.SS 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.
.PP
Currently supported keywords are as follows:
.RS 5
.TP
\fBcksum\fP
The checksum of the file using the default algorithm specified by
the
\fBcksum\fP(1)
utility.
.TP
\fBcontents\fP
The full pathname of a file that holds the contents of this file.
.TP
\fBflags\fP
The file flags as a symbolic name.
See
\fBchflags\fP(1)
for information on these names.
If no flags are to be set the string
``none''
may be used to override the current default.
.TP
\fBgid\fP
The file group as a numeric value.
.TP
\fBgname\fP
The file group as a symbolic name.
.TP
\fBignore\fP
Ignore any file hierarchy below this file.
.TP
\fBlink\fP
The target of the symbolic link when type=link.
.TP
\fBmd5\fP
The MD5 message digest of the file.
.TP
\fBmd5digest\fP
A synonym for
\fBmd5\fP.
.TP
\fBmode\fP
The current file's permissions as a numeric (octal) or symbolic
value.
.TP
\fBnlink\fP
The number of hard links the file is expected to have.
.TP
\fBnochange\fP
Make sure this file or directory exists but otherwise ignore all attributes.
.TP
\fBripemd160digest\fP
The
Tn RIPEMD160
message digest of the file.
.TP
\fBrmd160\fP
A synonym for
\fBripemd160digest\fP.
.TP
\fBrmd160digest\fP
A synonym for
\fBripemd160digest\fP.
.TP
\fBsha1\fP
The
Tn FIPS
160-1
(``Tn SHA-1'')
message digest of the file.
.TP
\fBsha1digest\fP
A synonym for
\fBsha1\fP.
.TP
\fBsha256\fP
The
Tn FIPS
180-2
(``Tn SHA-256'')
message digest of the file.
.TP
\fBsha256digest\fP
A synonym for
\fBsha256\fP.
.TP
\fBsize\fP
The size, in bytes, of the file.
.TP
\fBtime\fP
The last modification time of the file.
.TP
\fBtype\fP
The type of the file; may be set to any one of the following:
.PP
.RS 5
.TP
\fBblock\fP
block special device
.TP
\fBchar\fP
character special device
.TP
\fBdir\fP
directory
.TP
\fBfifo\fP
fifo
.TP
\fBfile\fP
regular file
.TP
\fBlink\fP
symbolic link
.TP
\fBsocket\fP
socket
.RE
.TP
\fBuid\fP
The file owner as a numeric value.
.TP
\fBuname\fP
The file owner as a symbolic name.
.RE
.PP
.SH SEE ALSO
.ad l
\fBcksum\fP(1),
\fBfind\fP(1),
\fBmtree\fP(8)
.SH BUGS
.ad l
The
FreeBSD
implementation of mtree does not currently support
the
\fB\%mtree\fP
2.0
format.
The requirement for a
``#mtree''
signature line is new and not yet widely implemented.
.SH HISTORY
.ad l
The
\fB\%mtree\fP
utility appeared in
Bx 4.3 Reno.
The
Tn MD5
digest capability was added in
FreeBSD 2.1,
in response to the widespread use of programs which can spoof
\fBcksum\fP(1).
The
Tn SHA-1
and
Tn RIPEMD160
digests were added in
FreeBSD 4.0,
as new attacks have demonstrated weaknesses in
Tn MD5.
The
Tn 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.