255 lines
8.1 KiB
ReStructuredText
255 lines
8.1 KiB
ReStructuredText
======
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CROMFS
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======
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Overview
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========
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This directory contains the the CROMFS file system. This is an in-memory
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(meaning no block driver), read-only (meaning that can lie in FLASH) file
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system. It uses LZF decompression on data only (meta data is not
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compressed).
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It accesses the in-memory file system via directory memory reads and, hence,
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can only reside in random access NOR-like FLASH. It is intended for use
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with on-chip FLASH available on most MCUs (the design could probably be
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extended to access non-random-access FLASH as well, but those extensions
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are not yet in place).
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I do not have a good way to measure how much compression we get using LZF.
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I have seen 37% compression reported in other applications, so I have to
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accept that for now. That means, for example, that you could have a file
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system with 512Kb of data in only 322Kb of FLASH, giving you 190Kb to do
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other things with.
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LZF compression is not known for its high compression ratios, but rather
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for fast decompression. According to the author of the LZF decompression
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routine, it is nearly as fast as a memcpy!
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There is also a new tool at /tools/gencromfs.c that will generate binary
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images for the NuttX CROMFS file system and and an example CROMFS file
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system image at apps/examples/cromfs. That example includes a test file
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system that looks like::
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$ ls -Rl ../apps/examples/cromfs/cromfs
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../apps/examples/cromfs/cromfs:
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total 2
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-rwxr--r--+ 1 spuda spuda 171 Mar 20 08:02 BaaBaaBlackSheep.txt
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drwxrwxr-x+ 1 spuda spuda 0 Mar 20 08:11 emptydir
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-rwxr--r--+ 1 spuda spuda 118 Mar 20 08:05 JackSprat.txt
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drwxrwxr-x+ 1 spuda spuda 0 Mar 20 08:06 testdir1
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drwxrwxr-x+ 1 spuda spuda 0 Mar 20 08:10 testdir2
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drwxrwxr-x+ 1 spuda spuda 0 Mar 20 08:05 testdir3
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../apps/examples/cromfs/cromfs/emptydir:
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total 0
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../apps/examples/cromfs/cromfs/testdir1:
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total 2
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-rwxr--r--+ 1 spuda spuda 249 Mar 20 08:03 DingDongDell.txt
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-rwxr--r--+ 1 spuda spuda 247 Mar 20 08:06 SeeSawMargorieDaw.txt
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../apps/examples/cromfs/cromfs/testdir2:
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total 5
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-rwxr--r--+ 1 spuda spuda 118 Mar 20 08:04 HickoryDickoryDock.txt
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-rwxr--r--+ 1 spuda spuda 2082 Mar 20 08:10 TheThreeLittlePigs.txt
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../apps/examples/cromfs/cromfs/testdir3:
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total 1
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-rwxr--r--+ 1 spuda spuda 138 Mar 20 08:05 JackBeNimble.txt
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When built into NuttX and deployed on a target, it looks like::
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NuttShell (NSH) NuttX-7.24
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nsh> mount -t cromfs /mnt/cromfs
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nsh> ls -Rl /mnt/cromfs
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/mnt/cromfs:
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dr-xr-xr-x 0 .
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-rwxr--r-- 171 BaaBaaBlackSheep.txt
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dr-xr-xr-x 0 emptydir/
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-rwxr--r-- 118 JackSprat.txt
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dr-xr-xr-x 0 testdir1/
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dr-xr-xr-x 0 testdir2/
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dr-xr-xr-x 0 testdir3/
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/mnt/cromfs/emptydir:
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drwxrwxr-x 0 .
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dr-xr-xr-x 0 ..
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/mnt/cromfs/testdir1:
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drwxrwxr-x 0 .
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dr-xr-xr-x 0 ..
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-rwxr--r-- 249 DingDongDell.txt
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-rwxr--r-- 247 SeeSawMargorieDaw.txt
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/mnt/cromfs/testdir2:
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drwxrwxr-x 0 .
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dr-xr-xr-x 0 ..
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-rwxr--r-- 118 HickoryDickoryDock.txt
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-rwxr--r-- 2082 TheThreeLittlePigs.txt
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/mnt/cromfs/testdir3:
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drwxrwxr-x 0 .
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dr-xr-xr-x 0 ..
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-rwxr--r-- 138 JackBeNimble.txt
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nsh>
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Everything I have tried works: examining directories, catting files, etc.
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The "." and ".." hard links also work::
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nsh> cd /mnt/cromfs
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nsh> cat emptydir/../testdir1/DingDongDell.txt
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Ding, dong, bell,
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Pussy's in the well.
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Who put her in?
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Little Johnny Green.
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Who pulled her out?
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Little Tommy Stout.
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What a naughty boy was that,
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To try to drown poor pussy cat,
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Who never did him any harm,
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And killed the mice in his father's barn.
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nsh>
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gencromfs
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=========
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The genromfs program can be found in tools/. It is a single C file called
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gencromfs.c. It can be built in this way::
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cd tools
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make -f Makefile.host gencromfs
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The genromfs tool used to generate CROMFS file system images. Usage is
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simple::
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gencromfs <dir-path> <out-file>
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Where::
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<dir-path> is the path to the directory will be at the root of the
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new CROMFS file system image.
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<out-file> the name of the generated, output C file. This file must
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be compiled in order to generate the binary CROMFS file system
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image.
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All of these steps are automated in the apps/examples/cromfs/Makefile.
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Refer to that Makefile as an reference.
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Architecture
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============
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The CROMFS file system is represented by an in-memory data structure. This
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structure is a "tree." At the root of the tree is a "volume node" that
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describes the overall operating system. Other entities within the file
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system are presented by other types of nodes: hard links, directories, and
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files. These nodes are all described in fs/cromfs/cromfs.h.
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In addition to general volume information, the volume node provides an
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offset to the the "root directory". The root directory, like all other
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CROMFS directories is simply a singly linked list of other nodes: hard link
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nodes, directory nodes, and files. This list is managed by "peer offsets":
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Each node in the directory contains an offset to its peer in the same
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directory. This directory list is terminated with a zero offset.
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The volume header lies at offset zero. Hence, any offset to a node or data
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block can be converted to an absolute address in the in-memory CROMFS image
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by simply adding that offset to the well-known address of the volume header.
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Each hard link, directory, and file node in the directory list includes
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such a "peer offset" to the next node in the list. Each node is followed
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by the NUL-terminated name of the node. Each node also holds an additional
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offset. Directory nodes contain a "child offset". That is, the offset to
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the first entry in another singly linked list of nodes comprising the sub-
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directory.
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Hard link nodes hold the "link offset" to the node which is the target of
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the link. The link offset may be an offset to another hard link node, to a
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directory, or to a file node. The directory link offset would refer the
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first node in singly linked directory list that represents the directory.
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File nodes provide file data. The file name string is followed by a
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variable length list of compressed data blocks. In this case each
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compressed data block begins with an LZF header as described in
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include/lzf.h.
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So, given this description, we could illustrate the sample CROMFS file
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system above with these nodes (where V=volume node, H=Hard link node,
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D=directory node, F=file node, D=Data block)::
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V
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`- +- H: .
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+- F: BaaBaaBlackSheep.txt
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| `- D,D,D,...D
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+- D: emptydir
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| |- H: .
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| `- H: ..
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+- F: JackSprat.txt
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| `- D,D,D,...D
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+- D: testdir1
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| |- H: .
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| |- H: ..
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| |- F: DingDongDell.txt
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| | `- D,D,D,...D
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| `- F: SeeSawMargorieDaw.txt
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| `- D,D,D,...D
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+- D: testdir2
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| |- H: .
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| |- H: ..
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| |- F: HickoryDickoryDock.txt
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| | `- D,D,D,...D
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| `- F: TheThreeLittlePigs.txt
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| `- D,D,D,...D
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+- D: testdir3
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|- H: .
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|- H: ..
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`- F: JackBeNimble.txt
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`- D,D,D,...D
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Where, for example::
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H: ..
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Represents a hard-link node with name ".."
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+- D: testdir1
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| |- H: .
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Represents a directory node named "testdir1". The first node of the
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directory list is a hard link with name "."
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+- F: JackSprat.txt
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| `- D,D,D,...D
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Represents f file node named "JackSprat.txt" and is followed by some
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sequence of compressed data blocks, D.
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Configuration
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=============
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To build the CROMFS file system, you would add the following to your
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configuration:
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1. Enable LZF (The other LZF settings apply only to compression
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and, hence, have no impact on CROMFS which only decompresses)::
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CONFIG_LIBC_LZF=y
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NOTE: This should be selected automatically when CONFIG_FS_CROMFS
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is enabled.
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2. Enable the CROMFS file system::
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CONFIG_FS_CROMFS=y
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3. Enable the apps/examples/cromfs example::
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CONFIG_EXAMPLES_CROMFS=y
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Or the apps/examples/elf example if you like::
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CONFIG_ELF=y
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# CONFIG_BINFMT_DISABLE is not set
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CONFIG_EXAMPLES_ELF=y
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CONFIG_EXAMPLES_ELF_CROMFS=y
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Or implement your own custom CROMFS file system that example as a
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guideline.
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