e2tools is a simple set of GPL'ed utilities to read, write, and manipulate files in an ext2/ext3 filesystem. These utilities access a filesystem directly using the ext2fs library. I wrote these tools in order to copy files into a linux filesystem on a machine that does not have ext2 support. Of course, they can also be used on a Linux machine to read/write to disk images or floppies without having to mount them or have root access.
Supported functionality:
- copy files:
e2cp - move files:
e2mv - remove files:
e2rm - create directory:
e2mkdir - create hard links:
e2ln - list files/directories:
e2ls - output the last part of a file:
e2tail
Requirements:
- e2fsprogs-1.27 or later - http://e2fsprogs.sourceforge.net/
- gcc - e2fsprogs will not compile with some proprietary compilers (ie SCO's)
For questions, suggestions, or remarks please open an issue at
https://github.com/ndim/e2tools/issues
For patches, please create a pull request at
https://github.com/ndim/e2tools/pulls
or open an issue with a patch attached.
In general, to specify a directory or file on an ext2 filesystem for the e2tools utilities, use the following form:
filesystem:directory_path
The filesystem can be an unmounted partition or a regular file that's been formatted to contain an ext2 filesystem. In general, if a command takes multiple file names on the command line, if the first one contains an ext2 file specification, the rest of the files are assumed to be on the same filesystem until another one is explicitly stated:
/tmp/boot.img:/tmp/file1 /tmp/file2 /tmp/file3 /tmp/boot2.img:/tmp/file4
Files 1-3 are on /tmp/boot.img and the last file is on /tmp/boot2.img
This program copies files to/from an e2fs filesystem from/to the machine's native filesystem.
e2cp [-0apv][-P mode][-O uid][-G gid][-d dest_dir][-s src_dir][file1..N dest]
-0 Input lines terminated by a null character
-a Absolute directory names - create directories instead of just copying
into the destination. Only valid for copying into an ext2fs filesystem
-d Destination of files to be copied. May be in the ext2fs filesystem or
the host filesystem.
-G Set the default group to gid.
-O Set the default file owner to uid.
-p Preserve host file attributes (permissions, times, etc.) when copying
files.
-P Set the file permissions (ie 755, 666).
-s The source of the files to be copied.
-v Be verbose.
A `-` by itself means to use standard input/output
Copy a file and use the default permission and ownership of the current user:
e2cp README.txt /tmp/boot.img:/tmp
Do the same thing, but keep permissions & ownership:
e2cp -p README.txt /tmp/boot.img:/tmp
Dump a file to standard out:
e2cp /tmp/boot.img:/tmp/README.txt - | wc
Get a file from standard input and put it on an unmounted partition:
tar cf - /data/logs|gzip| e2cp - /dev/hdb1:/backup/logs.tar.gz
Copy the files from one directory and put them under another directory on an unmounted partition, keeping the original paths, permissions & ownership:
find /data -type f |tee filelist | e2cp -apv -d /dev/hdb1:/mirror
Copy files from a directory on an unmounted partition to a local directory (Note: this does not recreate the directories in the local filesystem, yet). The list of files are read from standard input:
e2cp -pv -s /dev/hdb1:/mirror -d /data2 < filelist
Copy a file to a file system and make the group and ownership root
e2cp -G 0 -O 0 myfile /tmp/boot.img/boot/rootfile
This program moves or renames files on an ext2fs filesystem.
e2mv [-vfs] source1 [... sourceN] destination
-f Force the operation to remove any existing files
-s Swap names of the two files
-v Be verbose
Note: The source files must be explicitly stated. It does not use regular
expressions, yet.
Rename a file:
e2cp -v /tmp/boot.img:/boot/grub/grub.conf /boot/grub/grub.conf.old
If /boot/grub/grub.conf.old already exists and is not a directory, this
will fail. Use -f to force removal.
Move a file to a different directory (/data/processed):
e2cp -v /dev/hdb1:/data/input0.txt /data/processed
To swap the names of two files:
e2cp -vs /tmp/boot.img:/boot/grub/grub.conf /boot/grub/grub.conf.bk
To swap two files and use a new name for the first one:
e2cp -vs boot.img:/boot/grub/grub.conf /boot/grub/grub.c2 /boot/grub/grub.c1
/boot/grub/grub.conf is now /boot/grub/grub.c1 and
/boot/grub/grub.c2 is now /boot/grub/grub.conf .
This program removes files and directories on an ext2 filesystem.
e2rm [-vr] filesystem:filepath ...fileN
-r Recursively delete files if a directory name is givne
-v Be verbose
Note: This program expects to have a full ext2 file specification for each argument.
Remove a file
e2rm -v boot.img:/boot/grub/grub.c1 /boot/grub/grub.c2
Remove a directory and all the files
e2rm -r boot.img:/boot/grub
This program creates a directory on an ext2 filesystem. It behaves similar
to mkdir -p.
e2mkdir [-G gid][-O uid][-P mode][-v] filesystem:directory...dirN
-G Set the default group to gid.
-O Set the default file owner to uid.
-P Set the file permissions (ie 755, 666).
-v Be verbose.
Note: This program expects to have a full ext2 file specification for each argument.
This creates the directory /boot/grub with on boot.img with the current
user and group ids:
e2mkdir boot.img:/boot/grub
To override the default ownership and permissions:
e2mkdir -O 100 -P 700 /dev/hdb1:/data/backup
This program is used to create hard links on an ext2 filesystem.
e2ln [-vsf] source destination
-f Force the operation to remove any existing files
-s Create a symlink
-v Be verbose
Note: creating symlinks is not operational at this time.
This will remove /data/process_status if it exists and isn't already a hard
link to /data/info/status.
e2ln -vf /dev/hdb1:/data/info/status /data/process_status
This program is used to list files and directories on an ext2 filesystem.
e2ls [-acDfilrt][-d dir] file_specification
-a Show hidden directories
-c Sort by creation time (must include -t when using -l)
-d dir Open the ext2 filesystem specified by dir
-D Show deleted files bracketed with ><.
-f No sorting of the file list
-i Show the inodes (very useful for the -l option)
-l Long listing
-r Reverse the sort order
-t Sort by time
Note: Files deleted via e2rm sometimes will show up even without the -D
option. It is being investigated.
e2ls -a boot.img:.
e2ls -l /dev/hdb1:/data
This program implements a basic version of the tail command.
e2tail [-n num_lines][-fF][-s sleep_interval] file
-n The number of lines to display
-f Output appended data as the file grows. This is inode dependent, so if
the file is renamed, it will keep checking it.
-F Output appended data as the file grows. This is file name dependent,
so if the file is renamed, it will check on any new files with the same
name as the original. This is useful for watching log files that may
be rotated out occasionally. This was requested by a person in the
computer security field for monitoring 'honeypot' type machines.
-s The number of seconds to sleep before checking if the file has grown
while in 'follow' mode. The default is 1.
Check /var/log/messages on /dev/sdc1 every 10 seconds
e2tail -s 10 -F /dev/sdc1:/var/log/messages