jacques@solucorp.qc.ca
/sbin/umssync
/sbin/umssync at boot time
/mnt/linux
/mnt/linux
/mnt/linux is correctly setup
The Umsdos project was started in 1992 and made available to the net in January 1994 as a patch. It was included in the standard kernel distribution in July, starting with kernel 1.1.36.
Umsdos was early adopted in the Slackware distribution even before it was officially included in the official kernel.
Umsdos was improved starting at kernel 1.1.60. Its performance has been dramatically enhanced, especially for writing. Since 1.1.70 (around this), it is stable again.
A major bug was solve in Linux 1.2.2. This bug was causing some grief to users since the beginning (some file were silently renamed, giving the sad impression that they were deleted). Beware that Slackware 2.2 is still shipping release 1.2.1 of the kernel, so has this bug.
It is available as a patch for kernel 1.0.x. It is built-in for kernel 1.2. It can be compiled in or load as a module. Beware that for now, if you intend to load umsdos as a module, you must also use the Ms-DOS fs as a module. This come from a limitation in the module system (some symbols are only export when the drivers is installed as a module).
So far, I think only Slackware does support it. I am surely wrong, so please send me info to correct this.
The home site for Umsdos is sunsite.unc.edu. Look in
the directory /pub/Linux/system/Filesystems/umsdos.
There is quite a lot of documentation about the internal of
Umsdos. It is available both in HTML and text format
at the same location as the utilities.
As far as I know, the HTML version is not available online
on any web site. You must down-load it and "UN-tar" it and
read it locally.
Jacques Gelinas jacques@solucorp.qc.ca
With Umsdos, Linux can be installed in a standard DOS partition. Linux is then installed as a second (or third) OS in the partition. To avoid name collision (there is maybe a bin or tmp directory in the drive C: already), Umsdos use a smart trick: The pseudo-root.
All Linux files are installed in a DOS subdirectory
called linux, generally C: LINUX. The normal
Linux/Unix directory structure goes there. So you
get
C:\LINUX\BIN
C:\LINUX\ETC
C:\LINUX\LIB
C:\LINUX\ROOT
C:\LINUX\SBIN
C:\LINUX\TMP
C:\LINUX\USR
C:\LINUX\VAR
When the Umsdos boot, it probes for the directory linux
and then /linux/etc. If it exist, it activates
the pseudo-root mode.
Mostly, the pseudo-root mode switch the root of the partition
to C:\\LINUX giving the conventional Unix directory
layout
/bin
/etc
/lib
/root
/sbin
/tmp
/usr
/var
To this list, it adds a new one called DOS. This one is
a virtual directory.
/mnt, you will
find all your linux directory in
/mnt/linux/bin, /mnt/linux/etc and so on.
You can use the same mount option as for the Ms-DOS file system. The option conv= is questionable on a Umsdos system. I suggest to avoid it. Mostly the option you may want to look at are
Just remember that Umsdos manage non promoted directory the same way as the Ms-DOS file system. The option above will apply globally to all non promoted directory. uid setup the default owner, gid setup the default group and umask setup the default permissions.
umssetup was created to provide at run time default ownership for the root partition. For other Umsdos partition, mount option may be used or umssetup. Storing mount option in /etc/fstab is the prefered way for non root partition. Here is an example. Put this in /etc/rc.d/rc.S.
/sbin/umssetup -u jack -g group -m 0755 /
Using a swap file is generally slower than a swap partition. It is however much more flexible. You can setup a swap file in a Umsdos partition the same way you do it for any other Linux file systems. For example, to setup a 8 megabytes swap file in the root directory:
dd if=/dev/zero bs=1024k count=8 of=/swap
mkswap /swap 8192
sync
swapon /swap
Once done, you can put the following line in /etc/fstab
/swap swap swap default
And the swap file will be activated at each boot (There is
generally a "swapon -a" in /etc/rc.d/rc.S).
The package lodlin15.tgz available from sunsite.unc.edu
in /pub/Linux/system/Bootutils. This utility
is particularly suited to boot a Umsdos system. Generally
all you need to do is
Boot DOS
C:>loadlinx zimage root=D:
where zimage is a normal kernel image (compressed) simply copied
somewhere in the DOS drive. D: is the DOS drive where you
have installed Linux.
Booting a Umsdos system from a floppy is not different from
booting a Ext2 system. You need a kernel zImage file properly
initialize to locate your root Umsdos partition. This
is generally achieved using the command rdev. The following
sequence will initialize a zImage and put it on a floppy.
rdev zImage /dev/hda1
rdev -R zImage 0
dd if=zImage bs=8192 of=/dev/fd0
If this looks confusing, just format a boot-able DOS floppy and put the following component on it.
and setup the autoexec.bat like this
loadlinx zimage rw root=C:
LILO, the official Linux boot loader can also be used to boot a Umsdos system. I have no experience with it though. Since 1.1.60, it should work. Please email if you know something.
It can be done using any popular DOS tool. There is nothing particular about file produced by Umsdos. And Umsdos do not expect anything particular (directory layout, directory entry sequence, etc...) from the file system under it.
As far as I know, there is no Linux tool to achieve this.
Umsdos rely on the --linux-.--- which rely on the
DOS directory. Some users may want to experiment
a bit. The utility udosctl part of the umsdos_progs
package (containing umssync and umssetup) allows
basic directory operation (listing, deletion) independently
on the --linux-.--- and the DOS directory.
Umsdos map Linux files directly to Ms-DOS files. This is a one for one translation. File content is not manipulated at all. Umsdos only works on names. For special files (links and devices for example), it introduces special management.
For each directory, there is a file named --linux-.---.
Umsdos can be thought as a general purpose superset of the Ms-DOS file system of linux. In fact this capability or flexibility yields much confusion about Umsdos. Here is why. Try to mount a newly formatted DOS floppy like this.
mount -t umsdos /dev/fd0 /mnt
And do this,
ls / >/mnt/LONGFILENAME
ls -l /mnt
You will get the following result
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 302 Apr 14 23:25 longfile
So far, it seems that the Umsdos file system does not do much more (in fact nothing at all) than the normal Ms-DOS file system of Linux.
???
Pretty unimpressive so far. Here is the trick. Unless promoted
a DOS directory will be managed the same way with Umsdos
than the Ms-DOS file-system will. Umsdos use a special
file in each subdirectory to achieve the translation between
the extended capabilities (long name, ownership, etc...) of
Umsdos and the limitation of the DOS file-system.
This file is invisible to Umsdos users, but visible when
you boot DOS. To avoid cluttering the DOS partition
with those file (--linux-.---) uselessly, the file is now
optional. If absent, Umsdos behave like Ms-DOS.
When a directory is promoted, any subsequent operation will be done with the full semantic normally available to Unix and Linux users. And all subdirectory created afterward will be silently promoted.
This feature allows you to logically organize your DOS partition
into DOS stuff and Linux stuff. It is important to
understand that those --linux-.--- file do take some place
(generally 2k per directory). DOS generally use large
cluster (as big as 16k for a 500meg partition), so avoiding
putting --linux-.--- everywhere can save your day.
/sbin/umssync
A directory can be promoted any time using /sbin/umssync.
It can be used at any time. Promoting a directory do the
following operation
--linux-.---.--linux-.---
and the current content of the directory./sbin/umssync maintain an existing --linux-.--- file.
It does not create it from scratch all the time. It simply add
missing entries in it (Files created during a DOS session).
It will also removed files which do not exist anymore in the
DOS directory from the --linux-.---. umssync gets
its name from that. It put --linux-.--- in sync with
the underlying DOS directory.
/sbin/umssync at boot time
It is a good idea to place a call to /sbin/umssync
at the end of your /etc/rc.d/rc.S if it's not there. The following
command is adequate for most system:
/sbin/umssync -r99 -c -i+ /
The -c option prevent umssync from promoting
directories. It will only update existing --linux-.---.
This command is useful if you access Linux directory during a DOS session. Linux has no efficient way to tell that a directory has been modified by DOS so Umsdos can't do a umssync operation as needed.
Remove the --linux-.--- file using DOS. You will
be sorry.
Unless you use umssync on a directory where files have
been added or removed by DOS, you will notice some problems:
/var/adm/syslog).
The installation of a Umsdos is not much different from the installation of an ordinary (Ext2 based) Linux system.
There are two main differences.
/mnt/linux
The normal steps for an installation are
/mnt.With Umsdos, the step 1 is not required (wasn't it the goal of Umsdos not to reformat ?).
It is possible to install a Umsdos system just by copying
all packages into /mnt. This will certainly work. But it
will create a
bunch of subdirectories into your DOS root directory (C:) and
you won't like it. This is the reason all Umsdos installation
use the pseudo-root. And this is the major difference between
a normal Ext2 installation and a Umsdos one: All files
are copied into /mnt/linux.
/mnt/linux
/mnt/linux is not an ordinary directory. It has to
be promoted so it will correctly handle Linux long file name
and special files (links, device). The step required to
setup /mnt/linux are:
mkdir /mnt/linuxumssync /mnt/linuxThat's it!
/mnt/linux is correctly setup
Even if the setup of /mnt/linux is pretty simple, there
are many installation package out there who get it wrong. How can ?
The biggest installation problem come from an incompatible
umssync program. Umsdos has been update in
linux 1.1.88 (Can't remember exactly) and a flaw was uncovered
in umssync. To avoid confusion in the Linux
community, it was decided to raise the compatibility
level required for all Umsdos tools. Old version
of the tools were simply rejected.
It sounds like many distribution did not update their
umssync utility on the installation disk.
There are still many distribution like this out there. The net result
is that the directory /mnt/linux is not promoted at all
and will truncate all long file name and will reject all special
file.
It is possible to do a test very early during the installation to find out if something went wrong. Thanks to the pseudo console mechanism of Linux, you can do that without leaving the installation program. Do the following steps:
Alt-F2 (Alt key at the same time
as the F2 key).cd /mnt/linux
If this fail, you are trying this too early. A good time
to do this is at the end of the packages selection.>TOTOls -l
You should see an empty file TOTO in uppercase. If you
see it in lowercase, something went wrong. Try to do
the umssync step again. umssync can be use over
and over without problem.
umssync .
If there is no error message, try the TOTO test again.
If
TOTO appears fine, then all is OK. Something is strange
in this installation, but you just save it. Continue
Alt-F1 to get back to the installation screen.If the test fail, the best fix is to get a newer installation
root disk. You can generally fix this root disk by installing
a newer version of umssync. This is not difficult but
required a working Linux system. You simply have to
mount the root disk floppy and replace the offending
umssync with a new one.
Most Umsdos installation which fail, do this by printing this strange message. This is not a bug in Umsdos although the message looks strange. Here are the known causes.
The Slackware installation try to setup a swap file very early during the installation. To do so, it asks you to select a partition (dos drive), then mount it and set the swap file.
When installing a Slackware system, you must setup
the target partition prior to install. This normally
mounts the DOS partition on /mnt, creates
the /mnt/linux directory and applies umssync
on it.
This is where most problems come from. Most user just
forget the "setup target partition" step and go directly
to the rest of the installation. Since /mnt is
already mounted, this mistake goes unnotice.
This means that /mnt/linux
was not created properly (Not promoted). All special files
and links and long names can't be created properly.
/mnt/linux was improperly setup-ed. Generally caused
by an improper umssync utility on the installation
root disk.
There was a bug in Umsdos prior to Linux 1.2.2. The
pseudo-root mode would not activate properly if the
file /etc/init was missing. init is now located
in /sbin. You can fix it by getting a newer kernel.
This is recommended because another bug was uncover and fixed
in 1.2.2.
If you can't upgrade, do this
mount -t umsdos /dev/hdXX /mnt
where /dev/hdXX is your DOS partition.cd /mnt/linux/etcln -s ../sbin/init initcd /Ctrl-Alt-DelUnfortunatly, the first two (Installation problems) produce a completly unusable installation. Uninstall it (See next section) and install again.
One neat thing about Umsdos and its pseudo-root
mechanism, is that you can UN-install it without pain. You
just boot DOS and recursively delete the linux
directory. That's all. Umsdos requires no special
drivers in the config.sys, nor it creates anything
special outside of the linux directory.
This can be done from Linux or from DOS.
You just have to copy recursively the linux directory
from one drive to the other. After that you will have to
adjust you boot mechanism (generally loadlin command) and
the /etc/fstab file.
Umsdos can live on any DOS drive. There is no
need to install it on the C: drive, nor it is important
to have it on the first hard drive. It does not matter at
all.
In fact, one may decide to have several Umsdos installations on different drive just to do experiments.
How about installing a bunch of Linux systems in no time ?
Umsdos systems are living in a DOS world. You can take advantage of this if you wish to install Linux easily.
You can install and configure a Umsdos system at your site.
When you are satisfied with the configuration and the different
packages you have selected, you can boot DOS and copy
the complete linux directory to your DOS file
server. Then you go to other DOS station and simply
copy the files on the network drive to the local drive.
That's it. Only adjust the boot script (Loadlinx) and go.
With minimal adjustment (Host name, IP number), anyone will be able to install a Linux system in a matter of minute.
Interest readers may note that installing Linux systems by copying running system also works for any other Linux systems, including Ext2 based one.
One beauty of Linux is that there is no hidden files which have to be install by magic installation program.
Umsdos has some use even for Ext2 (Native Linux file-system) users. One common scenario is this:
Umsdos may save the day here. You can setup a Linux
directory in the DOS partition and use it without restriction
for Linux usage. For example, say you want to setup a new
directory named "extra" in your C: drive. And you want this
directory to behave as a normal Linux directory. Do this
(assuming that C: is /dev/hda1).
mkdir /c
/sbin/mount -t umsdos /dev/hda1 /c
mkdir /c/extra
umssync /c/extra
You must be root to do this.
By setting up /etc/fstab like this, you will always
have access to the /c/extra directory.
Explaining how to operate or install a Umsdos system is not enough. Most people are seeking some advises about using Umsdos or not.
The goal of Umsdos was to ease the installation of
Linux. An other goal was to ease its UN-installation.
The idea here was to promote the spreading of Linux.
Installing a new OS on a system is always troublesome. OS/2
for one will happily pollute your C: root with a bunch of
new directories. If you are clever like me, it will also erase
your config.sys and autoexec.bat files :-(
The pseudo-root feature of Umsdos avoid this unwanted invasion. Linux can be UN-install without side effect.
If you have a small hard drive, Umsdos will allow you to share disk space between DOS and Linux. A disk below 300 megs is in my opinion a small disk. This opinion is based on the size of the different package available today. One popular word processor may eat as much as 70 megabytes if you select all features.
If you have a larger drive, you may consider having a dedicated Linux partition running the Ext2 file-system. Ext2 use a smaller cluster size that DOS (1k in fact) so installing many small files will eat less space than in a Umsdos partition.
The following point apply to Umsdos compared with Ext2.
FAT located
at the beginning of the hard drive. The DOS
file-system is probably more fragile because of this.