cdrom(4) cdrom(4)
NAME [Toc] [Back]
cdrom - CD-ROM background information
DESCRIPTION [Toc] [Back]
This manual entry provides general information on existing CD-ROM
standards, terminology, data layout, and levels of support. More
detailed information is available in the standard documents listed in
SEE ALSO.
Not all topics discussed here are supported in the current HP-UX
release. Refer to the DEPENDENCIES section for details about the
contents of the current release.
Standard Formats [Toc] [Back]
Currently, two standard formats are defined for CD-ROM.
The High Sierra Group (HSG) standard was produced by the CD-ROM Ad Hoc
Advisory Committee, and is documented in a publication entitled The
Working Paper for Information Processing - Volume and File Structure
of Compact Read Only Optical Discs for Information Interchange. This
document is available from the National Information Standards
Organization (NISO).
The second standard, which evolved from the HSG standard, was produced
by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). This
standard is documented in a publication entitled Information
Processing - Volume and File Structure of CD-ROM for Information
Interchange, reference number ISO 9660: 1988 (E).
Data Layout [Toc] [Back]
The data layout on a CD-ROM can be represented as follows:
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_______________________________
System Area - 32 kilobytes
||_____________________________||
|| ||
|| Volume Descriptor ||
||_____________________________||
|| . ||
|| . ||
|| . ||
||_____________________________||
||Volume Descriptor Terminator ||
||_____________________________||
|| . ||
|| . ||
|| . ||
||_____________________________||
|| Path Table ||
||_____________________________||
|| Path Table ||
||_____________________________||
|| . ||
|| . ||
|| . ||
||_____________________________||
|| ||
|| Directory and File Data ||
|| . ||
|| . ||
|| . ||
||_____________________________||
There are typically four sections in the CD-ROM data (indicated by
double horizontal lines in the table above): Only the first two
sections must occur in the order shown above.
The System Area consists of the first sixteen 2048-byte blocks on the
media. The contents of this section are not specified by either
standard; here, the creator of the CD-ROM can put data that is
relevant to the system for which the CD-ROM is intended.
The Volume Descriptor typically contains one primary volume descriptor
and zero or more supplementary volume descriptors. Each volume
descriptor is 2048 bytes in length, and describes the attributes and
structure of a directory hierarchy on the CD-ROM. The list of volume
descriptors is terminated by one or more volume descriptor
terminators. A volume descriptor terminator is also 2048 bytes in
length, and simply signals the end of the volume descriptor section.
The Path Table contains all the path tables for all directory
hierarchies on the CD-ROM. Path tables do not have to be constrained
to this section of the CD-ROM data, but can be interspersed with
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Directory and File Data (described below) to minimize seek times.
The Directory and File Data contains data for all directory
hierarchies on the CD-ROM and, as described above, can be made
noncontiguous by the occasional inclusion of a path table.
Volumes and Directory Hierarchies [Toc] [Back]
A volume is a single physical CD-ROM. A directory hierarchy is a
hierarchical file system written on a volume. Multiple directory
hierarchies can be placed on a single volume, or a single directory
hierarchy can span multiple volumes. Each directory hierarchy on a
volume is described by a volume descriptor.
Directory hierarchies on the same volume can be totally independent of
each other with each one defining a totally unique and unrelated file
system. They can also be related to each other through the sharing of
data between them.
A volume set is a set of one or more volumes that are to be treated as
a unit. Each successive volume in the volume set updates or augments
the data on the volumes preceding it. Thus, the last volume in a
volume set is always the volume which describes the most up-to-date
directory hierarchy for the volume set. A unique and ascending value
called the volume sequence number, is assigned to each volume in a
volume set. Volume sets are useful for updating large multivolume
databases without having to rework the entire set.
Volume Descriptors [Toc] [Back]
Each directory hierarchy on a volume is described by a volume
descriptor. There are several types of volume descriptors, but the
two of most interest are the primary volume descriptor and the
supplementary volume descriptor. Their content is almost identical,
but they have different intended uses.
The primary volume descriptor describes the primary directory
hierarchy on a volume. If there are additional directory hierarchies
on the volume, or different ways to view the same directory hierarchy,
these are described by supplementary volume descriptors. In the case
of a volume set, the primary volume descriptor on each volume
describes the primary directory hierarchy for that volume and all
preceding volumes in the set thus far.
Volume descriptors contain the following information:
standard ID (identifies the format of the volume);
system ID;
volume ID;
size of the volume;
volume set size;
volume sequence number;
logical block size;
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path table size;
pointers to the path tables;
directory record for the root directory;
volume set ID;
publisher ID;
data preparer ID;
application ID;
copyright file name;
abstract file name;
bibliographic file name (ISO only);
volume creation date and time;
volume modification date and time;
volume expiration date and time;
volume effective date and time;
application use area.
Path Tables [Toc] [Back]
A path table defines a directory hierarchy structure within a volume.
Each path table contains a record for each directory in the hierarchy.
In each record are kept the directory's name, the length of any
extended attribute record associated with the directory, the logical
block number of the block in which the directory begins, and the
number of the parent directory for that directory. (All directories
in a path table are numbered according to the order in which they
appear in the path table.)
There are two types of path tables. One is a type-L path table in
which all numerical values in each path table record are recorded
least-significant-byte-first. The other type, type-M, is a path table
in which all numerical values are recorded most-significant-bytefirst.
One of each type of path table is required by both standards.
The ISO standard allows for one additional optional copy of each type
of path table, while the HSG standard allows for up to three
additional optional copies of each type. Additional copies of path
tables are useful for redundancy or seek time minimization.
Extended Attribute Records [Toc] [Back]
An extended attribute record (abbreviated XAR ) is a data structure
specifying additional information about the file or directory with
which the XAR is associated. An XAR contains the following
information:
owner id;
group id;
permissions;
creation date and time;
modification date and time;
expiration date and time;
effective date and time;
record information;
application use area.
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If an XAR is recorded, the XAR is written beginning at the first block
of the file or directory. The actual data for the file or directory
is written beginning at the next block after the block in which the
XAR ends.
Where possible, XAR information is mapped into the stat structure by
the stat() system call (see stat(2)). However, many items do not map
very well due to lack of appropriate fields in the stat structure for
information provided by the XAR. To preserve backward compatibility
of the stat structure, such information is discarded by stat(). The
fsctl() system call can be used to obtain the XAR for a particular
file or directory (see fsctl(2)).
Interleaving [Toc] [Back]
For performance reasons, data in a file can be interleaved when
recorded on the volume. This is accomplished by dividing the file
into pieces called file units. The size of each file unit (in logical
blocks) is called the file unit size. The interleaved file is then
recorded onto the volume by writing a file unit, skipping one or more
blocks, writing another file unit, skipping more blocks, and so on
until the entire file is recorded. The number of blocks to skip
between file units is called the interleave gap size. Blocks making
up the interleave gap are available for assignment to other files.
File unit and interleave gap sizes are kept in the directory record
for each file. Thus, the file unit and interleave gap sizes may
change from file to file, but cannot change within the same file
(unless the file is written in sections - see below).
Directories cannot be interleaved.
File Sections [Toc] [Back]
In order to be able to share data between files, a file can be broken
up into file sections. File sections for a particular file are not
necessarily all the same size.
Each file section is treated like a separate file in that each section
gets its own directory record. This implies that each file section
has its own size, its own XAR, and its own unique file unit and
interleave gap sizes. However, all file sections for the same file
must all share the same file name. The order of the file sections in
the file is determined by the order of the directory records for each
section. A bit in each directory record determines whether or not
that record is the last record for the file.
A file section can appear more than once in a single file, or appear
many times in many different files. A file section in one volume can
also be claimed by a file in a subsequent volume in a volume set (this
is how updates are accomplished).
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Each file section can have its own XAR. However, if the final file
section of a file has no associated XAR, the entire file is treated as
if it has no XAR. This is done to make updates work sensibly.
Directories must always consist of a single section.
Implementation and Interchange Levels [Toc] [Back]
CD-ROM standards define two levels of implementation and three levels
of interchange. implementation levels provide a way for receiving
systems that support CD-ROM to specify their level of support. The
implementation levels are:
Level 1 The system is permitted to ignore supplementary
volume descriptors, their associated path tables, and
all directory and file data associated with them.
Level 2 No restrictions apply.
In all cases, receiving systems must fulfill the receiving system
requirements specified in section 10 of the ISO standard (no
equivalent section exists for HSG).
Interchange levels provide a way to specify the data structure and
complexity that exists on a CD-ROM.
The levels are:
Level 1 Each file consists of a single file section. File
names contain no more than eight characters, and file
name extensions contain no more than three.
Directory names contain no more than eight
characters.
Level 2 Each file consists of a single file section.
Level 3 No restrictions apply.
DEPENDENCIES [Toc] [Back]
HP-UX supports only the primary volume descriptor. When a volume is
mounted, HP-UX mounts the directory hierarchy described by the first
primary volume descriptor it finds. Supplementary volume descriptors
are recognized and ignored, as are their associated directory
hierarchies.
Directory hierarchies spanning multiple volumes are not supported.
Volume sets consisting of more than one volume are not supported.
Path tables are ignored in HP-UX. The normal path name lookup scheme
used in HFS file systems is used instead. This is done to allow other
mountable file systems to be mounted on top of a mounted CDFS file
system. Also, since HP-UX maintains a cache of cdnodes for CDFS files
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(see cdnode(4)), the additional performance gains provided by path
tables are minimal.
HP-UX does not support multiple file sections. Each file must be
recorded in a single file section.
HP-UX supports level 1 implementation and level 2 interchange.
NOTES [Toc] [Back]
Additional CD-ROM formats are supported using PFS (Portable File
System) utilities. See pfs(4) for more details.
SEE ALSO [Toc] [Back]
fsctl(2), stat(2), cdnode(4), pfs(4).
Information Processing - Volume and File Structure of CD-ROM for
Information Interchange, Ref. No. ISO 9660: 1988 (E).
The Working Paper for Information Processing - Volume and File
Structure of Compact Read Only Optical Discs for Information
Interchange, National Information Standards Organization [Z39].
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