Introduction
============

Ext2tools allows to read files from a ext2/ext3 formatted disk or 
partition using the ext2tools programs from the DOS command line. 
There are currently no programs for writing to an ext2 file system.

It is a quick port of e2fsprogs-1.40 to DOS based on a project by 
Michael Meeks, Fridrich Strba - 2009
This project is again based on work by Claus Tondering in 1995.


Installation
============

First install DJGPP and set the required environment variables for DJGPP.

Download the package from github using the following URL:
https://github.com/georgp24/ext2tools/archive/master.zip

Unpack it and get into the ex2tools directory. In there enter "make". It
should compile the entire source code and put the generated programs into
the bin directory. No further installation is necessary, you can call the
programs from within the bin directory. However, since the source code is
compiled with DJGPP it needs cwsdpmi.exe in the same directory as the 
executable files or somewhere in your PATH.

Usage
=====

1. e2part
=========

SYNOPSIS
	E2PART diskno

DESCRIPTION
	The E2PART program lists the partitions that are available on a
	particular physical disk. 

EXAMPLE
	e2part 128
    
	The number (128 in the above example) identifies the physical
	disk on which the ext2 file system is located. The number is used as
	the second parameter to the DOS biosdisk() routine. Typical values
	are:
	128 for first hard disk
	129 for second hard disk

	(Your BIOS may use different values, especially if you have an SCSI
	drive.)


BUGS
	The program is not very good at identifying MSDOS file systems.


2. E2DEV environment variable
=============================

SYNOPSIS
    E2DEV= sdxn
    
DESCRIPTION
    The ext2tools programs use this variable to locate the disk to 
    be read.
    x = a,b,c and so on. a=first hard disk, b=second hard disk
    n = partition number on hard disk

EXAMPLE
    set E2DEV=/dev/sdb2
    Sets the E2DEV environment variable to the second partition on the
    second hard disk installed.


3. E2LS
=======

SYNOPSIS
	E2LS [-adiltr] pathname

DESCRIPTION
	The pathname must identify an ext2 directory or file. The E2LS
	program provides a list of the contents of that directory in a
	manner similar to the Linux ls program.

	The following options are supported:
	-a	Include file names starting with . in listing.
	-d	List only pathname, even if it is a directory.
	-i	Include inode number in listing.
	-l	Produce a long listing.
	-t	Sort by modification time.
	-r	Reverse the sort order.

EXAMPLE
    e2ls -l /
	
    This command produces a long list of the files in the 
    '/' directory (root) of the disk specified in the E2DEV 
    environment variable.
	

E2CAT
-----

SYNOPSIS
	E2CAT [-bt] pathname

DESCTIPTION
	The E2CAT program will copy the contents of the file identified
	by ext2 pathname to the standard output.

	The following options are available:
	-b	Binary mode. No translation performed.
	-t	Text mode (default). LF translated to CR/LF.

EXAMPLE
    e2cat /etc/passwd
    
	This command displays the contents of the file /etc/passwd of 
    the disk specified in the E2DEV environment variable on
    the console.


E2CP
----

SYNOPSIS
	E2CP [-bt] file1 file2

DESCTIPTION
	The E2CP program will copy the contents of the file identified
	by the ext2 pathname 'file1' to the MSDOS file 'file2'.

	The following options are available:
	-b	Binary mode (default). No translation performed.
	-t	Text mode. LF translated to CR/LF.

EXAMPLE

    e2cp /etc/passwd passwd.txt
	This command copies the file /etc/passwd on the disk specified 
    in the E2DEV environment variable to the file passwd.txt in the
    current directory on the DOS disk.


10th December 2015 Georg Potthast