[syslinux] Unix Fast File System (UFS/FFS) 1/2 - (usage/install)

Raphael S Carvalho raphael.scarv at gmail.com
Mon Jul 15 14:30:49 PDT 2013


There is a confusion about the name of this file system, then I
decided to contact the author (Kirk McKusick) who replied:
"The name has always been confusing (my bad). The code is broken into
two parts, the part that handles naming (UFS where the U stands for
Unix), and the part that handles disk layout (FFS where the F stands
for Fast).
When the two parts are put together they are called UFS/FFS or more
commonly just UFS."

Dependency:
Package: ufsutils (UFS filesystems utilities)

*** NOTES ***
- These steps were only made under a GNU/Linux environment. Thus, I
can't guarantee the same functionality for any system other than
Linux.

- To add UFS write support to Linux, you need a kernel with the option
CONFIG_UFS_FS_WRITE enabled or at least configured as a module.
To the latter case, just load the module ufs.ko with modprobe
(probably located at: /lib/modules/).
If this option wasn't even configured as a module, then you need to
enable it and recompile your kernel.
Further information can be found here:
http://oz123.github.io/writings/2012-11-26-enable-ufs-write-support-debian/

Creating an UFS image:
    sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=<image> bs= count=;
    - UFS1:
    sudo mkfs.ufs -O 1 <image>;
    - UFS2:
    sudo mkfs.ufs <image>;

Mounting an UFS image:
    - UFS1:
    sudo mount -t ufs -o rw,loop,ufstype=44bsd <image> <mountpoint>;
    - UFS2:
    sudo mount -t ufs -o rw,loop,ufstype=ufs2 <image> <mountpoint>;

Installing syslinux on an UFS image:
    1- The UFS support wasn't yet added to the official tree of
Syslinux, then you will have to apply the following patches yourself:
    http://www.syslinux.org/pipermail/syslinux/2013-July/020491.html
    http://www.syslinux.org/pipermail/syslinux/2013-July/020492.html

    2- After applying the patches and reinstalling the extlinux
installer, just use the following command:
    sudo extlinux -i <mountpoint>;

    3- Finally, copy the initrd and the kernel image into the mount
point and set up the syslinux config file.

Hope you enjoyed it :)

Feel free to contact me at: raphael.scarv at gmail.com

Regards,
Raphael S. Carvalho


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