diff options
| author | Zachary Dremann <dremann@gmail.com> | 2021-08-01 11:39:17 -0400 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | David Oberhollenzer <david.oberhollenzer@sigma-star.at> | 2021-08-12 18:24:11 +0200 |
| commit | 915808aaf0660b03fc2e3fa5e95a2f2e2aaa6daf (patch) | |
| tree | e14bead66d73244b6e69373b63a5237193e478c0 /doc/format.txt | |
| parent | 10bdc4e191dc61c3baabe704580c5239b8a7deb5 (diff) | |
Strip space from first column of format.txt
This is to allow git to recognize that format.txt "moves" to format.adoc
in the next commit (with -M20, at least), which should allow easier
comparison for what has changed (and more importantly, what hasn't) in
converting to asciidoc. For instance, doing the diff with the following
options:
```
-M20 --ignore-all-space --word-diff
```
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/format.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/format.txt | 2274 |
1 files changed, 1137 insertions, 1137 deletions
diff --git a/doc/format.txt b/doc/format.txt index 4668e41..3eb4932 100644 --- a/doc/format.txt +++ b/doc/format.txt @@ -1,1216 +1,1216 @@ - Squashfs Binary Format - ********************** - - 0) Index - ******** - - 0............Index - 1............About - 2............Overview - 2.1........Packing File Data - 2.2........Packing Metadata - 2.3........Storing Lookup Tables - 3............The Superblock - 3.1........Compression Options - 3.1.1....GZIP - 3.1.2....XZ - 3.1.3....LZ4 - 3.1.4....ZSTD - 3.1.5....LZO - 4............Data and Fragment Blocks - 5............Inode Table - 5.1........Common Inode Header - 5.2........Directory inodes - 5.3........File Inodes - 5.4........Symbolic Links - 5.5........Device Special Files - 5.6........IPC inodes (FIFO or Socket) - 6............Directory Table - 6.1........Directory Index - 7............Fragment Table - 8............Export Table - 9............ID Table - 10...........Extended Attribute Table - - 1) About - ******** - - SquashFS is a compressed, read-only filesystem for Linux that can also be used - as a flexible, general purpose, compressed archive format, optimized for fast - random access with support for Unix permissions, sparse files and extended - attributes. - - SquashFS supports data and metadata compression through zlib, lz4, lzo, lzma, - xz or zstd. - - For fast random access, compressed files are split up in fixed size blocks - that are compressed separately. The block size can be set between 4k and 1M - (default for squashfs-tools and squashfs-tools-ng is 128K). - - - This document attempts to specify the on-disk format in detail. - - It is based on a previous on-line version that was originally written by - Zachary Dremann and subsequently expanded by David Oberhollenzer during - reverse engineering attempts and available here: - - https://dr-emann.github.io/squashfs/ - - - 2) Overview - *********** - - SquashFS always stores integers in little endian format. The data blocks that - make up the SquashFS archive are byte aligned, i.e. they typically do not care - for alignment. The implementation in the Linux kernel requires the archive - itself to be a multiple of either 1k or 4k in size (called the device block - size) and user space tools typically use 4k to be compatible with both. - - A SquashFS archive consists of a maximum of nine parts: - - _______________ - | | Important information about the archive, including - | Superblock | locations of other sections. - |_______________| - | | If non-default compression options have been used, - | Compression | they can optionally be stored here, to facilitate - | options | later, offline editing of the archive. - |_______________| - | | - | Data blocks | The contents of the files in the archive, - | & fragments | split into separately compressed blocks. - |_______________| - | | Metadata (ownership, permissions, etc) for - | Inode table | items in the archive. - |_______________| - | | - | Directory | Directory listings, including file names, and - | table | references to inodes. - |_______________| - | | - | Fragment | Description of fragment locations within the - | table | Datablocks & Fragments section. - |_______________| - | | A mapping from inode numbers to disk locations, - | Export table | required for NFS export. - |_______________| - | | - | UID/GID | A list of unique UID/GIDs. Inodes use an index into - | lookup table | this table to save memory. - |_______________| - | | - | Xattr | Extended attributes for items in the archive. - | table | - |_______________| - + Squashfs Binary Format + ********************** + +0) Index +******** + + 0............Index + 1............About + 2............Overview + 2.1........Packing File Data + 2.2........Packing Metadata + 2.3........Storing Lookup Tables + 3............The Superblock + 3.1........Compression Options + 3.1.1....GZIP + 3.1.2....XZ + 3.1.3....LZ4 + 3.1.4....ZSTD + 3.1.5....LZO + 4............Data and Fragment Blocks + 5............Inode Table + 5.1........Common Inode Header + 5.2........Directory inodes + 5.3........File Inodes + 5.4........Symbolic Links + 5.5........Device Special Files + 5.6........IPC inodes (FIFO or Socket) + 6............Directory Table + 6.1........Directory Index + 7............Fragment Table + 8............Export Table + 9............ID Table + 10...........Extended Attribute Table + +1) About +******** + +SquashFS is a compressed, read-only filesystem for Linux that can also be used +as a flexible, general purpose, compressed archive format, optimized for fast +random access with support for Unix permissions, sparse files and extended +attributes. + +SquashFS supports data and metadata compression through zlib, lz4, lzo, lzma, +xz or zstd. + +For fast random access, compressed files are split up in fixed size blocks +that are compressed separately. The block size can be set between 4k and 1M +(default for squashfs-tools and squashfs-tools-ng is 128K). + + +This document attempts to specify the on-disk format in detail. + +It is based on a previous on-line version that was originally written by +Zachary Dremann and subsequently expanded by David Oberhollenzer during +reverse engineering attempts and available here: + + https://dr-emann.github.io/squashfs/ + + +2) Overview +*********** + +SquashFS always stores integers in little endian format. The data blocks that +make up the SquashFS archive are byte aligned, i.e. they typically do not care +for alignment. The implementation in the Linux kernel requires the archive +itself to be a multiple of either 1k or 4k in size (called the device block +size) and user space tools typically use 4k to be compatible with both. + +A SquashFS archive consists of a maximum of nine parts: + + _______________ + | | Important information about the archive, including + | Superblock | locations of other sections. + |_______________| + | | If non-default compression options have been used, + | Compression | they can optionally be stored here, to facilitate + | options | later, offline editing of the archive. + |_______________| + | | + | Data blocks | The contents of the files in the archive, + | & fragments | split into separately compressed blocks. + |_______________| + | | Metadata (ownership, permissions, etc) for + | Inode table | items in the archive. + |_______________| + | | + | Directory | Directory listings, including file names, and + | table | references to inodes. + |_______________| + | | + | Fragment | Description of fragment locations within the + | table | Datablocks & Fragments section. + |_______________| + | | A mapping from inode numbers to disk locations, + | Export table | required for NFS export. + |_______________| + | | + | UID/GID | A list of unique UID/GIDs. Inodes use an index into + | lookup table | this table to save memory. + |_______________| + | | + | Xattr | Extended attributes for items in the archive. + | table | + |_______________| + - Although the super block details the exact positions of each section, most - implementations, including the one in the Linux kernel, insist on this exact - order. +Although the super block details the exact positions of each section, most +implementations, including the one in the Linux kernel, insist on this exact +order. - 2.1) Packing File Data +2.1) Packing File Data - The file data is packed into the archive after the super block (and optional - compressor options). +The file data is packed into the archive after the super block (and optional +compressor options). - Files are divided into fixed size blocks that are separately compressed and - stored in order. SquashFS supports optional tail-end-packing of files that - are not an exact multiple of the block size. The remaining ends can either - be treated as a short block, or can be packed together with the tail ends of - other files in a single "fragment block". Files that are less than block size - are treated the same way. +Files are divided into fixed size blocks that are separately compressed and +stored in order. SquashFS supports optional tail-end-packing of files that +are not an exact multiple of the block size. The remaining ends can either +be treated as a short block, or can be packed together with the tail ends of +other files in a single "fragment block". Files that are less than block size +are treated the same way. - If the size of a data or fragment block would exceed the input size after - compression, the original, uncompressed data is stored, so that the size of a - block after compression never exceeds the input block size. +If the size of a data or fragment block would exceed the input size after +compression, the original, uncompressed data is stored, so that the size of a +block after compression never exceeds the input block size. - 2.2) Packing Metadata +2.2) Packing Metadata - Metadata (e.g. inodes, directory listings, etc...) is treated as a continuous - stream of records that is chopped up into 8KiB blocks that are separately - compressed into special metadata blocks. +Metadata (e.g. inodes, directory listings, etc...) is treated as a continuous +stream of records that is chopped up into 8KiB blocks that are separately +compressed into special metadata blocks. - The input size of 8KiB is fixed and independent of the data block size. - Similar to data blocks, if the compressed size would exceed 8KiB, the - uncompressed block is stored instead, so the on-disk size of a metadata - block never exceeds 8KiB. +The input size of 8KiB is fixed and independent of the data block size. +Similar to data blocks, if the compressed size would exceed 8KiB, the +uncompressed block is stored instead, so the on-disk size of a metadata +block never exceeds 8KiB. - Individual entries are allowed to cross the block boundary, so e.g. an inode - may be located at the end of a metadata block with some part of it located at - the start of the next block. Both have to be read and decompressed when - reading this inode. If an entry is written across block boundaries, there - MUST NOT be any gap between the compressed metadata blocks on-disk. +Individual entries are allowed to cross the block boundary, so e.g. an inode +may be located at the end of a metadata block with some part of it located at +the start of the next block. Both have to be read and decompressed when +reading this inode. If an entry is written across block boundaries, there +MUST NOT be any gap between the compressed metadata blocks on-disk. - In contrast to data blocks, every metadata block is preceded by a single, - 16 bit unsigned integer. This integer holds the on-disk size of the block - that follows. The MSB is set if the block is stored uncompressed. Whenever - a metadata block is referenced, the position of this integer is given. +In contrast to data blocks, every metadata block is preceded by a single, +16 bit unsigned integer. This integer holds the on-disk size of the block +that follows. The MSB is set if the block is stored uncompressed. Whenever +a metadata block is referenced, the position of this integer is given. - To read a metadata block, seek to the indicated position and read the 16 bit - header. Sanity check that the lower 15 bit are less than 8KiB and proceed - to read that many bytes. If the highest bit of the header is cleared, - uncompress the data into an 8KiB buffer that MUST NOT overflow. +To read a metadata block, seek to the indicated position and read the 16 bit +header. Sanity check that the lower 15 bit are less than 8KiB and proceed +to read that many bytes. If the highest bit of the header is cleared, +uncompress the data into an 8KiB buffer that MUST NOT overflow. - In the SquashFS archive format, metadata entries (e.g. inodes) are often - referenced using a 64 bit integer. The lower 16 bit hold an offset into the - uncompressed block and the upper 48 bit point to the on-disk location of the - block. +In the SquashFS archive format, metadata entries (e.g. inodes) are often +referenced using a 64 bit integer. The lower 16 bit hold an offset into the +uncompressed block and the upper 48 bit point to the on-disk location of the +block. - The on-disk location is relative to the type of metadata entry, e.g. for - inodes it is relative to the start of the inode table given by the - super block. - - - 2.3) Storing Lookup Tables - - Lookup tables are arrays (i.e. sequences of identical sized records) that are - addressed by an index. - - Such tables are stored in the SquashFS format as metadata blocks, i.e. by - dividing the table data into 8KiB chunks that are separately compressed and - stored in sequence. - - To allow constant time lookup, a list of 64 bit unsigned integers is stored, - holding the on-disk locations of each metadata block. - - This list itself is stored uncompressed and not preceded by a header. - - When referring to a lookup table, the superblock gives the number of table - entries and points to this location list. - - Since the table entry size is a known, fixed value, the required number of - metadata blocks can be computed: - - block_count = ceil(table_count * entry_size / 8192) - - Which is also the number of 64 bit integers in the location list. - - - When resolving a lookup table index, first work out the index of the - metadata block: - - meta_index = floor(index * entry_size / 8192) - - Using this index on the location list yields the on-disk location of - the metadata block containing the entry. - - After reading this metadata block, the byte offset into the block can - be computed to get the entry: - - offset = index * entry_size % 8192 - - - The location list can be cached in memory. Resolving an index requires at - worst a single metadata block read (at most 8194 bytes fetched from an - unaligned on-disk location). - - - 2.4) Supported Compressors - - The SquashFS format supports the following compressors: - - - zlib deflate (referred to as "gzip" but only uses raw zlib streams) - - lzo - - lzma 1 (considered deprecated) - - lzma 2 (referred to as "xz") - - lz4 - - zstd - - The archive can only specify one compressor in the super block and has to use - it for both file data and metadata compression. Using one compressor for data - and switching to a different compressor for e.g. inodes is not supported. - - While it is technically not possible to pick a "null" compressor in the super - block, an implementation can still deliberately write only uncompressed blocks - to a SquashFS archive, or choose to store certain metadata blocks without - compression. - - The lzma 2 aka xz compressor MUST use CRC32 checksums only. Using SHA-256 is - not supported. - - - 3) The superblock - ***************** - - The superblock is the first section of a SquashFS archive. It is always - 96 bytes in size and contains important information about the archive, - including the locations of other sections. - - +======+===============+=====================================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +======+===============+=====================================================+ - | u32 | magic | Must be set to 0x73717368 ("hsqs" on disk). | - +------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | inode count | The number of inodes stored in the archive. | - +------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | mod time | Last modification time of the archive. Count seconds| - | | | since 00:00, Jan 1st 1970 UTC (not counting leap | - | | | seconds). This is unsigned, so it expires in the | - | | | year 2106 (as opposed to 2038). | - +------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | block size | The size of a data block in bytes. Must be a power | - | | | of two between 4096 (4k) and 1048576 (1 MiB) | - +------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | frag count | The number of entries in the fragment table | - +------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ - | u16 | compressor | An ID designating the compressor used for both data | - | | | and meta data blocks. | - | | | | - | | +-------+------+--------------------------------------+ - | | | Value | Name | Comment | - | | +-------+------+--------------------------------------+ - | | | 1 | GZIP | just zlib streams (no gzip headers!) | - | | | 2 | LZO | | - | | | 3 | LZMA | LZMA version 1 | - | | | 4 | XZ | LZMA version 2 as used by xz-utils | - | | | 5 | LZ4 | | - | | | 6 | ZSTD | | - +------+---------------+-------+------+--------------------------------------+ - | u16 | block log | The log2 of the block size. If the two fields do not| - | | | agree, the archive is considered corrupted. | - +------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ - | u16 | flags | Bit wise OR of the flag bits below. | - | | | | - | | +--------+--------------------------------------------+ - | | | Value | Meaing | - | | +--------+--------------------------------------------+ - | | | 0x0001 | Inodes are stored uncompressed. | - | | | 0x0002 | Data blocks are stored uncompressed. | - | | | 0x0008 | Fragments are stored uncompressed. | - | | | 0x0010 | Fragments are not used. | - | | | 0x0020 | Fragments are always generated. | - | | | 0x0040 | Data has been deduplicated. | - | | | 0x0080 | NFS export table exists. | - | | | 0x0100 | Xattrs are stored uncompressed. | - | | | 0x0200 | There are no Xattrs in the archive. | - | | | 0x0400 | Compressor options are present. | - | | | 0x0800 | The ID table is uncompressed. | - +------+---------------+--------+--------------------------------------------+ - | u16 | id count | The number of entries in the ID lookup table. | - +------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ - | u16 | version major | Major version of the format. Must be set to 4. | - +------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ - | u16 | version minor | Minor version of the format. Must be set to 0. | - +------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ - | u64 | root inode | A reference to the inode of the root directory. | - +------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ - | u64 | bytes used | The number of bytes used by the archive. Because | - | | | SquashFS archives must be padded to a multiple of | - | | | the underlying device block size, this can be less | - | | | than the actual file size. | - +------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ - | u64 | ID table | The byte offset at which the id table starts. | - +------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ - | u64 | Xattr table | The byte offset at which the xattr id table starts. | - +------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ - | u64 | Inode table | The byte offset at which the inode table starts. | - +------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ - | u64 | Dir. table | The byte offset at which the directory table starts.| - +------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ - | u64 | Frag table | The byte offset at which the fragment table starts. | - +------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ - | u64 | Export table | The byte offset at which the export table starts. | - +------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ - - The Xattr table, fragment table and export table are optional. If they are - omitted from the archive, the respective fields indicating their position - must be set to 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF (i.e. all bits set). - - Most of the flags only serve an informational purpose and are only useful - when editing the archive to convey the original packer settings. - - The only flag that actually carries information is the "Compressor options are - present" flag. In fact, this is the only flag that the Linux kernel - implementation actually tests for. - - The compressor options, however, are also only there for informal purpose, as - most compression libraries understand their own stream format irregardless of - the options used to compress and in fact don't provide any options for the - decompressor. In the Linux kernel, the XZ decompressor is currently the only - one that processes those options to pre-allocate the LZMA dictionary if a - non-default size was used. - - - 3.1) Compression Options - - If the compressor options flag is set in the superblock, the superblock is - immediately followed by a single metadata block, which is always uncompressed. - - The data stored in this block is compressor dependent. - - There are two special cases: - - For LZ4, the compressor options always have to be present. - - The LZMA compressor does not support compressor options, so this section - must never be present. - - For the compressors currently implemented, a 4 to 8 byte payload follows. - - The following sub sections outline the contents for each compressor that - supports options. The default values if the options are missing are outlined - as well. - - - 3.1.1) GZIP - - +======+===================+=================================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +======+===================+=================================================+ - | u32 | compression level | In the range 1 to 9 (inclusive). Defaults to 9. | - +------+-------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ - | u16 | window size | In the range 8 to 15 (inclusive) Defaults to 15.| - +------+-------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ - | u16 | strategies | A bit field describing the enabled strategies. | - | | | If no flags are set, the default strategy is | - | | | implicitly used. Please consult the ZLIB manual | - | | | for details on specific strategies. | - | | | | - | | +--------+----------------------------------------+ - | | | Value | Comment | - | | +--------+----------------------------------------+ - | | | 0x0001 | Default strategy. | - | | | 0x0002 | Filtered. | - | | | 0x0004 | Huffman Only. | - | | | 0x0008 | Run Length Encoded. | - | | | 0x0010 | Fixed. | - +------+-------------------+--------+----------------------------------------+ - - Note: The SquashFS writer typically tries all selected strategies (including - not setting any and letting zlib work with defaults) and stores the result - with the smallest size. - - - 3.1.2) XZ - - +======+===================+=================================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +======+===================+=================================================+ - | u32 | dictionary size | SHOULD be >= 8KiB, and must be either a power of| - | | | 2, or the sum of two consecutive powers of 2. | - +------+-------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | Filters | A bit field describing the additional enabled | - | | | filters attempted to better compress executable | - | | | code. | - | | | | - | | +--------+----------------------------------------+ - | | | Value | Comment | - | | +--------+----------------------------------------+ - | | | 0x0001 | x86 | - | | | 0x0002 | PowerPC | - | | | 0x0004 | IA64 | - | | | 0x0008 | ARM | - | | | 0x0010 | ARM thumb | - | | | 0x0020 | SPARC | - +------+-------------------+--------+----------------------------------------+ - - Note: A SquashFS writer typically tries all selected VLI filters (including - not setting any and letting libxz work with defaults) and stores the resulting - block that has the smallest size. - - Also note that further options, such as XZ presets, are not included. The - compressor typically uses the libxz defaults, i.e. level 6 and not using the - extreme flag. Likewise for lc, lp and pb (defaults are 3, 0 and 2 - respectively). - - If the encoder chooses to change those values, the decoder will still be - able to read the data, but there is currently no way to convey that those - values were changed. - - This is specifically problematic for the compression level, since increasing - the level can result in drastically increasing the decoders memory consumption. - - - 3.1.3) LZ4 - - +======+===================+=================================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +======+===================+=================================================+ - | u32 | Version | MUST be set to 1. | - +------+-------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | Flags | A bit field describing the enabled LZ4 flags. | - | | | There is currently only one possible flag: | - | | | | - | | +--------+----------------------------------------+ - | | | Value | Comment | - | | +--------+----------------------------------------+ - | | | 0x0001 | Use LZ4 High Compression(HC) mode. | - +------+-------------------+--------+----------------------------------------+ - - 3.1.4) ZSTD - - +======+===================+=================================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +======+===================+=================================================+ - | u32 | compression level | Should be in range 1 to 22 (inclusive). The real| - | | | maximum is the zstd defined ZSTD_maxCLevel(). | - | | | | - | | | The default value is 15. | - +------+-------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ - - 3.1.5) LZO - - +======+===================+=================================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +======+===================+=================================================+ - | u32 | algorithm | Which variant of LZO to use. | - | | | | - | | +--------+----------------------------------------+ - | | | Value | Comment | - | | +--------+----------------------------------------+ - | | | 0 | lzo1x_1 | - | | | 1 | lzo1x_1_11 | - | | | 2 | lzo1x_1_12 | - | | | 3 | lzo1x_1_15 | - | | | 4 | lzo1x_999 (default) | - +------+-------------------+--------+----------------------------------------+ - | u32 | compression level | For lzo1x_999, this can be a value between 0 | - | | | and 9 inclusive (defaults to 8). MUST be 0 | - | | | for all other algorithms. | - +------+-------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ - - - - 4) Data and Fragment Blocks - *************************** - - As outlined in 2.1, file data is packed by dividing the input files into fixed - size chunks (the block size from the super block) that are stored in sequence. - - The picture below tries to illustrate this concept: +The on-disk location is relative to the type of metadata entry, e.g. for +inodes it is relative to the start of the inode table given by the +super block. + + +2.3) Storing Lookup Tables + +Lookup tables are arrays (i.e. sequences of identical sized records) that are +addressed by an index. + +Such tables are stored in the SquashFS format as metadata blocks, i.e. by +dividing the table data into 8KiB chunks that are separately compressed and +stored in sequence. + +To allow constant time lookup, a list of 64 bit unsigned integers is stored, +holding the on-disk locations of each metadata block. + +This list itself is stored uncompressed and not preceded by a header. + +When referring to a lookup table, the superblock gives the number of table +entries and points to this location list. + +Since the table entry size is a known, fixed value, the required number of +metadata blocks can be computed: + + block_count = ceil(table_count * entry_size / 8192) + +Which is also the number of 64 bit integers in the location list. + + +When resolving a lookup table index, first work out the index of the +metadata block: + + meta_index = floor(index * entry_size / 8192) + +Using this index on the location list yields the on-disk location of +the metadata block containing the entry. + +After reading this metadata block, the byte offset into the block can +be computed to get the entry: + + offset = index * entry_size % 8192 + + +The location list can be cached in memory. Resolving an index requires at +worst a single metadata block read (at most 8194 bytes fetched from an +unaligned on-disk location). + + +2.4) Supported Compressors + +The SquashFS format supports the following compressors: + + - zlib deflate (referred to as "gzip" but only uses raw zlib streams) + - lzo + - lzma 1 (considered deprecated) + - lzma 2 (referred to as "xz") + - lz4 + - zstd + +The archive can only specify one compressor in the super block and has to use +it for both file data and metadata compression. Using one compressor for data +and switching to a different compressor for e.g. inodes is not supported. + +While it is technically not possible to pick a "null" compressor in the super +block, an implementation can still deliberately write only uncompressed blocks +to a SquashFS archive, or choose to store certain metadata blocks without +compression. + +The lzma 2 aka xz compressor MUST use CRC32 checksums only. Using SHA-256 is +not supported. + + +3) The superblock +***************** + +The superblock is the first section of a SquashFS archive. It is always +96 bytes in size and contains important information about the archive, +including the locations of other sections. + ++======+===============+=====================================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++======+===============+=====================================================+ +| u32 | magic | Must be set to 0x73717368 ("hsqs" on disk). | ++------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | inode count | The number of inodes stored in the archive. | ++------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | mod time | Last modification time of the archive. Count seconds| +| | | since 00:00, Jan 1st 1970 UTC (not counting leap | +| | | seconds). This is unsigned, so it expires in the | +| | | year 2106 (as opposed to 2038). | ++------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | block size | The size of a data block in bytes. Must be a power | +| | | of two between 4096 (4k) and 1048576 (1 MiB) | ++------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | frag count | The number of entries in the fragment table | ++------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ +| u16 | compressor | An ID designating the compressor used for both data | +| | | and meta data blocks. | +| | | | +| | +-------+------+--------------------------------------+ +| | | Value | Name | Comment | +| | +-------+------+--------------------------------------+ +| | | 1 | GZIP | just zlib streams (no gzip headers!) | +| | | 2 | LZO | | +| | | 3 | LZMA | LZMA version 1 | +| | | 4 | XZ | LZMA version 2 as used by xz-utils | +| | | 5 | LZ4 | | +| | | 6 | ZSTD | | ++------+---------------+-------+------+--------------------------------------+ +| u16 | block log | The log2 of the block size. If the two fields do not| +| | | agree, the archive is considered corrupted. | ++------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ +| u16 | flags | Bit wise OR of the flag bits below. | +| | | | +| | +--------+--------------------------------------------+ +| | | Value | Meaing | +| | +--------+--------------------------------------------+ +| | | 0x0001 | Inodes are stored uncompressed. | +| | | 0x0002 | Data blocks are stored uncompressed. | +| | | 0x0008 | Fragments are stored uncompressed. | +| | | 0x0010 | Fragments are not used. | +| | | 0x0020 | Fragments are always generated. | +| | | 0x0040 | Data has been deduplicated. | +| | | 0x0080 | NFS export table exists. | +| | | 0x0100 | Xattrs are stored uncompressed. | +| | | 0x0200 | There are no Xattrs in the archive. | +| | | 0x0400 | Compressor options are present. | +| | | 0x0800 | The ID table is uncompressed. | ++------+---------------+--------+--------------------------------------------+ +| u16 | id count | The number of entries in the ID lookup table. | ++------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ +| u16 | version major | Major version of the format. Must be set to 4. | ++------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ +| u16 | version minor | Minor version of the format. Must be set to 0. | ++------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ +| u64 | root inode | A reference to the inode of the root directory. | ++------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ +| u64 | bytes used | The number of bytes used by the archive. Because | +| | | SquashFS archives must be padded to a multiple of | +| | | the underlying device block size, this can be less | +| | | than the actual file size. | ++------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ +| u64 | ID table | The byte offset at which the id table starts. | ++------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ +| u64 | Xattr table | The byte offset at which the xattr id table starts. | ++------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ +| u64 | Inode table | The byte offset at which the inode table starts. | ++------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ +| u64 | Dir. table | The byte offset at which the directory table starts.| ++------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ +| u64 | Frag table | The byte offset at which the fragment table starts. | ++------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ +| u64 | Export table | The byte offset at which the export table starts. | ++------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ + +The Xattr table, fragment table and export table are optional. If they are +omitted from the archive, the respective fields indicating their position +must be set to 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF (i.e. all bits set). + +Most of the flags only serve an informational purpose and are only useful +when editing the archive to convey the original packer settings. + +The only flag that actually carries information is the "Compressor options are +present" flag. In fact, this is the only flag that the Linux kernel +implementation actually tests for. + +The compressor options, however, are also only there for informal purpose, as +most compression libraries understand their own stream format irregardless of +the options used to compress and in fact don't provide any options for the +decompressor. In the Linux kernel, the XZ decompressor is currently the only +one that processes those options to pre-allocate the LZMA dictionary if a +non-default size was used. + + +3.1) Compression Options + +If the compressor options flag is set in the superblock, the superblock is +immediately followed by a single metadata block, which is always uncompressed. + +The data stored in this block is compressor dependent. + +There are two special cases: + - For LZ4, the compressor options always have to be present. + - The LZMA compressor does not support compressor options, so this section + must never be present. + +For the compressors currently implemented, a 4 to 8 byte payload follows. + +The following sub sections outline the contents for each compressor that +supports options. The default values if the options are missing are outlined +as well. + + +3.1.1) GZIP + ++======+===================+=================================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++======+===================+=================================================+ +| u32 | compression level | In the range 1 to 9 (inclusive). Defaults to 9. | ++------+-------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ +| u16 | window size | In the range 8 to 15 (inclusive) Defaults to 15.| ++------+-------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ +| u16 | strategies | A bit field describing the enabled strategies. | +| | | If no flags are set, the default strategy is | +| | | implicitly used. Please consult the ZLIB manual | +| | | for details on specific strategies. | +| | | | +| | +--------+----------------------------------------+ +| | | Value | Comment | +| | +--------+----------------------------------------+ +| | | 0x0001 | Default strategy. | +| | | 0x0002 | Filtered. | +| | | 0x0004 | Huffman Only. | +| | | 0x0008 | Run Length Encoded. | +| | | 0x0010 | Fixed. | ++------+-------------------+--------+----------------------------------------+ + +Note: The SquashFS writer typically tries all selected strategies (including +not setting any and letting zlib work with defaults) and stores the result +with the smallest size. + + +3.1.2) XZ + ++======+===================+=================================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++======+===================+=================================================+ +| u32 | dictionary size | SHOULD be >= 8KiB, and must be either a power of| +| | | 2, or the sum of two consecutive powers of 2. | ++------+-------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | Filters | A bit field describing the additional enabled | +| | | filters attempted to better compress executable | +| | | code. | +| | | | +| | +--------+----------------------------------------+ +| | | Value | Comment | +| | +--------+----------------------------------------+ +| | | 0x0001 | x86 | +| | | 0x0002 | PowerPC | +| | | 0x0004 | IA64 | +| | | 0x0008 | ARM | +| | | 0x0010 | ARM thumb | +| | | 0x0020 | SPARC | ++------+-------------------+--------+----------------------------------------+ + +Note: A SquashFS writer typically tries all selected VLI filters (including +not setting any and letting libxz work with defaults) and stores the resulting +block that has the smallest size. + +Also note that further options, such as XZ presets, are not included. The +compressor typically uses the libxz defaults, i.e. level 6 and not using the +extreme flag. Likewise for lc, lp and pb (defaults are 3, 0 and 2 +respectively). + +If the encoder chooses to change those values, the decoder will still be +able to read the data, but there is currently no way to convey that those +values were changed. + +This is specifically problematic for the compression level, since increasing +the level can result in drastically increasing the decoders memory consumption. + + +3.1.3) LZ4 + ++======+===================+=================================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++======+===================+=================================================+ +| u32 | Version | MUST be set to 1. | ++------+-------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | Flags | A bit field describing the enabled LZ4 flags. | +| | | There is currently only one possible flag: | +| | | | +| | +--------+----------------------------------------+ +| | | Value | Comment | +| | +--------+----------------------------------------+ +| | | 0x0001 | Use LZ4 High Compression(HC) mode. | ++------+-------------------+--------+----------------------------------------+ + +3.1.4) ZSTD + ++======+===================+=================================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++======+===================+=================================================+ +| u32 | compression level | Should be in range 1 to 22 (inclusive). The real| +| | | maximum is the zstd defined ZSTD_maxCLevel(). | +| | | | +| | | The default value is 15. | ++------+-------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ + +3.1.5) LZO + ++======+===================+=================================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++======+===================+=================================================+ +| u32 | algorithm | Which variant of LZO to use. | +| | | | +| | +--------+----------------------------------------+ +| | | Value | Comment | +| | +--------+----------------------------------------+ +| | | 0 | lzo1x_1 | +| | | 1 | lzo1x_1_11 | +| | | 2 | lzo1x_1_12 | +| | | 3 | lzo1x_1_15 | +| | | 4 | lzo1x_999 (default) | ++------+-------------------+--------+----------------------------------------+ +| u32 | compression level | For lzo1x_999, this can be a value between 0 | +| | | and 9 inclusive (defaults to 8). MUST be 0 | +| | | for all other algorithms. | ++------+-------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ + + + +4) Data and Fragment Blocks +*************************** + +As outlined in 2.1, file data is packed by dividing the input files into fixed +size chunks (the block size from the super block) that are stored in sequence. + +The picture below tries to illustrate this concept: - _____ _____ _____ _ _____ _____ _ _ - File A: |__A__|__A__|__A__|A| File B: |__B__|__B__|B| File C: |C| - | | | | | | | | - | +---+ | | | | | | - | | +------+ | | | | | - | | | | | | | | - | | | +------|---------------+ | | | - | | | | +--|---------------------+ | | - | | | | | | | | - | | | | | +-----------------------+ | +------------+ - | | | | | | | | - V V V V V V V V - __ _ ___ ___ ___ __ Fragment block: |A|B|C| - Output: |_A|A|_A_|_B_|_B_|_F| | - __V__ - A |__F__| - | | - +------------------------+ + _____ _____ _____ _ _____ _____ _ _ + File A: |__A__|__A__|__A__|A| File B: |__B__|__B__|B| File C: |C| + | | | | | | | | + | +---+ | | | | | | + | | +------+ | | | | | + | | | | | | | | + | | | +------|---------------+ | | | + | | | | +--|---------------------+ | | + | | | | | | | | + | | | | | +-----------------------+ | +------------+ + | | | | | | | | + V V V V V V V V + __ _ ___ ___ ___ __ Fragment block: |A|B|C| + Output: |_A|A|_A_|_B_|_B_|_F| | + __V__ + A |__F__| + | | + +------------------------+ - Figure 2.1: Packing of File Data. +Figure 2.1: Packing of File Data. - In Figure 1, file A consists of 3 blocks and a single tail end, file B has - 2 blocks and one tail end while file C is smaller than block size. +In Figure 1, file A consists of 3 blocks and a single tail end, file B has +2 blocks and one tail end while file C is smaller than block size. - For each file, the blocks are individually compressed and stored on disk - in order. +For each file, the blocks are individually compressed and stored on disk +in order. - The tail ends of A and B, together with the entire contents of C are packed - together into a fragment block F, that is compressed and stored on disk once - it is full. +The tail ends of A and B, together with the entire contents of C are packed +together into a fragment block F, that is compressed and stored on disk once +it is full. - This tail-end-packing is completely optional. The tail ends (or in case of C - the entire file) can also be treated as truncated blocks that expand to less - than block size when uncompressed. +This tail-end-packing is completely optional. The tail ends (or in case of C +the entire file) can also be treated as truncated blocks that expand to less +than block size when uncompressed. - There are no headers in front of data or fragment blocks and there MUST NOT be - any gaps between data blocks from a single file, but a SquashFS packer is free - to leave gaps between two different files or fragment blocks. The packer is - also free to decide how to arrange fragments within a fragment block and what - fragments to pack together. - - - - To locate file data, the file inodes store the following information: - - - The uncompressed size of the file. From this, the number of blocks can - be computed: - - block_count = floor(file_size / block_size) if tail end packing is used - block_count = ceil(file_size / block_size) otherwise - - - The exact location of the first block, if one exists. - - For each consecutive block, the on-disk size. - - A 32 bit integer is used with bit 24 (i.e. 1 << 24) set if the block - is stored uncompressed. - - - If tail-end-packing was done, the location of the fragment block and a - byte offset into the uncompressed fragment block. The size of the tail - end can be computed easily: - - tail_end_size = file_size % block_size - - - Since a fragment block will likely be referred to by multiple files, inodes - don't store its on-disk location and size directly, but instead use a 32 bit - index into a fragment block lookup table (see section 7). +There are no headers in front of data or fragment blocks and there MUST NOT be +any gaps between data blocks from a single file, but a SquashFS packer is free +to leave gaps between two different files or fragment blocks. The packer is +also free to decide how to arrange fragments within a fragment block and what +fragments to pack together. + + + +To locate file data, the file inodes store the following information: + + - The uncompressed size of the file. From this, the number of blocks can + be computed: + + block_count = floor(file_size / block_size) if tail end packing is used + block_count = ceil(file_size / block_size) otherwise + + - The exact location of the first block, if one exists. + - For each consecutive block, the on-disk size. + + A 32 bit integer is used with bit 24 (i.e. 1 << 24) set if the block + is stored uncompressed. + + - If tail-end-packing was done, the location of the fragment block and a + byte offset into the uncompressed fragment block. The size of the tail + end can be computed easily: + + tail_end_size = file_size % block_size + + +Since a fragment block will likely be referred to by multiple files, inodes +don't store its on-disk location and size directly, but instead use a 32 bit +index into a fragment block lookup table (see section 7). - If a data block other than the last one unpacks to less than block size, the - rest of the buffer is filled with 0 bytes. This way, sparse files are - implemented. Specifically if a block has an on-disk size of 0 this translates - to an entire block filled with 0 bytes without having to retrieve any data - from disk. - - - The on-disk locations of file blocks MAY overlap and different file inodes are - free to refer to the same fragment. Typical SquashFS packers would explicitly - use this to for files that are duplicates of others. Doing so is NOT counted - as a hard link. - - If an inode references on-disk locations outside the data area, the result is - undefined. - - - 5) Inode Table - ************** - - Inodes are packed into metadata blocks and are not aligned, i.e. they can span - the boundary between metadata blocks. To save space, there are different - inodes for each type (regular file, directory, device, etc.) of varying - contents and size. - - To further save more space, inodes come in two flavors: simple inode types - optimized for a simple, standard use case, and extended inode types where - extra information has to be stored. - - SquashFS more or less supports 32 bit UIDs and GIDs. As an optimization, those - IDs are stored in a lookup table (see section 9) and the inodes themselves - hold a 16 bit index into this table. This allows to 32 bit UIDs/GIDs, but only - among 2^16 unique values. - - - The location of the first metadata block is indicated by the inode table start - in the superblock. The inode table ends at the start of the directory table. - - - 5.1) Common Inode Header - - All Inodes share a common header, which contains some common information, - as well as describing the type of Inode which follows. This header has the - following structure: - - +======+==============+======================================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +======+==============+======================================================+ - | u16 | type | The type of item described by the inode which follows| - | | | this header. | - | | | | - | | +-------+----------------------------------------------+ - | | | Value | Comment | - | | +-------+----------------------------------------------+ - | | | 1 | Basic Directory | - | | | 2 | Basic File | - | | | 3 | Basic Symlink | - | | | 4 | Basic Block Device | - | | | 5 | Basic Character Device | - | | | 6 | Basic Named Pipe (FIFO) | - | | | 7 | Basic Socket | - | | | 8 | Extended Directory | - | | | 9 | Extended File | - | | | 10 | Extended Symlink | - | | | 11 | Extended Block Device | - | | | 12 | Extended Character Device | - | | | 13 | Extended Named Pipe (FIFO) | - | | | 14 | Extended Socket | - +------+--------------+-------+----------------------------------------------+ - | u16 | permissions | A bit mask representing Unix file system permissions | - | | | for the inode. This only stores permissions, not the | - | | | type. The type is reconstructed from the field above.| - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u16 | uid | An index into the ID table, giving the user ID | - | | | of the owner. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u16 | gid | An index into the ID table, giving the group ID | - | | | of the owner. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | mtime | The unsigned number of seconds (not counting leap | - | | | seconds) since 00:00, Jan 1st, 1970 UTC when the item| - | | | described by the inode was last modified. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | inode number | Unique node number. Must be at least 1 and at most | - | | | the inode count from the super block. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - - Depending on the type, additional data follows, outlined in sections 5.2 - to 5.6. - - - - 5.2) Directory inodes - - Directory inodes mainly contain a reference into the directory table where - the listing of entries is stored. - - A basic directory has an entry listing of at most 64k (uncompressed) and - no extended attributes. The layout of the inode data is as follows: - - +======+==============+======================================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +======+==============+======================================================+ - | u32 | block index | The location of the metadata block in the directory | - | | | table where the entry information starts. This is | - | | | relative to the directory table location. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | link count | The number of hard links to this directory. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u16 | file size | Total (uncompressed) size in bytes of the entry | - | | | listing in the directory table, including headers. | - | | | | - | | | This value is 3 bytes larger than the real listing. | - | | | The Linux kernel creates "." and ".." entries for | - | | | offsets 0 and 1, and only after 3 looks into the | - | | | listing, subtracting 3 from the size. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u16 | block offset | The (uncompressed) offset within the metadata block | - | | | in the directory table where the directory listing | - | | | starts. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | parent inode | The inode number of the parent of this directory. If | - | | | this is the root directory, this SHOULD be 0. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - - - Note that for historical reasons, the hard link count of a directory includes - the number of entries in the directory and is initialized to 2 for an empty - directory. I.e. a directory with N entries has at least N + 2 link count. - - - If the "file size" is set to a value < 4, the directory is empty and there is - no corresponding listing in the directory table. - - - An extended directory can have a listing that is at most 4GiB in size, may - have extended attributes and can have an optional index for faster lookup: - - +======+==============+======================================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +======+==============+======================================================+ - | u32 | link count | Same as above. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | file size | Same as above. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | block index | Same as above. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | parent inode | Same as above. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u16 | index count | The number of directory index entries following the | - | | | inode structure. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u16 | block offset | Same as above. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | xattr index | An index into the xattr lookup table or 0xFFFFFFFF | - | | | if the inode has no extended attributes. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - - The index follows directly after the inode. See section 6.1 for details on - how the directory index is structured. - - - 5.3) File Inodes - - Basic files can be at most 4 GiB in size (uncompressed), must be located - within the first 4 GiB of the SquashFS image, cannot have any extended - attributes and don't support hard-link or sparse file accounting: - - +======+==============+======================================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +======+==============+======================================================+ - | u32 | blocks start | The offset from the start of the archive to the first| - | | | data block. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | frag index | An index into the fragment table which describes the | - | | | fragment block that the tail end of this file is | - | | | stored in. If not used, this is set to 0xFFFFFFFF. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | block offset | The (uncompressed) offset within the fragment block | - | | | where the tail end of this file is. See section 4 | - | | | for details. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | file size | The (uncompressed) size of this file. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32[]| block sizes | An array of consecutive block sizes. See section 4 | - | | | for details. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - - If 'frag index' is set to 0xFFFFFFFF, the number of blocks is computed as - - ceil(file_size / block_size) - - otherwise, if 'frag index' is a valid fragment index, the block count is - computed as - - floor(file_size / block_size) - - and the size of the tail end is - - file_size % block_size - - - To access a data block, first compute the block index as - - index = floor(offset / block_size) - - then compute the on-disk location of the block by summing up the sizes of the - blocks that come before it: - - location = block_start - - for i = 0; i < index; i++ - location += block_sizes[i] & 0x00FFFFFF - - - The tail end, if present, is accessed by resolving the fragment index through - the fragment lookup table (see section 7), loading the fragment block and - using the given 'block offset' into the fragment block. - - - - Extended files have a 64 bit location and size, have additional counters for - sparse file accounting and hard links, and can have extended attributes: - - - +======+==============+======================================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +======+==============+======================================================+ - | u64 | blocks start | Same as above (but larger). | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u64 | file size | Same as above (but larger). | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u64 | sparse | The number of bytes saved by omitting zero bytes. | - | | | Used in the kernel for sparse file accounting. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | link count | The number of hard links to this node. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | frag index | Same as above. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | block offset | Same as above. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | xattr index | An index into the xattr lookup table or 0xFFFFFFFF | - | | | if the inode has no extended attributes. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32[]| block sizes | Same as above. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - - - 5.4) Symbolic Links - - Symbolic links mainly have a target path stored directly after the inode - header, as well as a hard-link counter (yes, you can have hard links to - symlinks): - - +======+==============+======================================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +======+==============+======================================================+ - | u32 | link count | The number of hard links to this symlink. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | target size | The size in bytes of the target path this symlink | - | | | points to. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u8[] | target path | An array of bytes holding the target path this | - | | | symlink points to. The path is 'target size' bytes | - | | | long and NOT null-terminated. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - - The extended symlink type adds an additional extended attribute index: - - +======+==============+=======================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +======+==============+=======================================+ - | u32 | link count | Same as above. | - +------+--------------+---------------------------------------+ - | u32 | target size | Same as above. | - +------+--------------+---------------------------------------+ - | u8[] | target path | Same as above. | - +------+--------------+---------------------------------------+ - | u32 | xattr index | An index into the xattr lookup table. | - +------+--------------+---------------------------------------+ +If a data block other than the last one unpacks to less than block size, the +rest of the buffer is filled with 0 bytes. This way, sparse files are +implemented. Specifically if a block has an on-disk size of 0 this translates +to an entire block filled with 0 bytes without having to retrieve any data +from disk. + + +The on-disk locations of file blocks MAY overlap and different file inodes are +free to refer to the same fragment. Typical SquashFS packers would explicitly +use this to for files that are duplicates of others. Doing so is NOT counted +as a hard link. + +If an inode references on-disk locations outside the data area, the result is +undefined. + + +5) Inode Table +************** + +Inodes are packed into metadata blocks and are not aligned, i.e. they can span +the boundary between metadata blocks. To save space, there are different +inodes for each type (regular file, directory, device, etc.) of varying +contents and size. + +To further save more space, inodes come in two flavors: simple inode types +optimized for a simple, standard use case, and extended inode types where +extra information has to be stored. + +SquashFS more or less supports 32 bit UIDs and GIDs. As an optimization, those +IDs are stored in a lookup table (see section 9) and the inodes themselves +hold a 16 bit index into this table. This allows to 32 bit UIDs/GIDs, but only +among 2^16 unique values. + + +The location of the first metadata block is indicated by the inode table start +in the superblock. The inode table ends at the start of the directory table. + + +5.1) Common Inode Header + +All Inodes share a common header, which contains some common information, +as well as describing the type of Inode which follows. This header has the +following structure: + ++======+==============+======================================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++======+==============+======================================================+ +| u16 | type | The type of item described by the inode which follows| +| | | this header. | +| | | | +| | +-------+----------------------------------------------+ +| | | Value | Comment | +| | +-------+----------------------------------------------+ +| | | 1 | Basic Directory | +| | | 2 | Basic File | +| | | 3 | Basic Symlink | +| | | 4 | Basic Block Device | +| | | 5 | Basic Character Device | +| | | 6 | Basic Named Pipe (FIFO) | +| | | 7 | Basic Socket | +| | | 8 | Extended Directory | +| | | 9 | Extended File | +| | | 10 | Extended Symlink | +| | | 11 | Extended Block Device | +| | | 12 | Extended Character Device | +| | | 13 | Extended Named Pipe (FIFO) | +| | | 14 | Extended Socket | ++------+--------------+-------+----------------------------------------------+ +| u16 | permissions | A bit mask representing Unix file system permissions | +| | | for the inode. This only stores permissions, not the | +| | | type. The type is reconstructed from the field above.| ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u16 | uid | An index into the ID table, giving the user ID | +| | | of the owner. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u16 | gid | An index into the ID table, giving the group ID | +| | | of the owner. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | mtime | The unsigned number of seconds (not counting leap | +| | | seconds) since 00:00, Jan 1st, 1970 UTC when the item| +| | | described by the inode was last modified. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | inode number | Unique node number. Must be at least 1 and at most | +| | | the inode count from the super block. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ + +Depending on the type, additional data follows, outlined in sections 5.2 +to 5.6. + + + +5.2) Directory inodes + +Directory inodes mainly contain a reference into the directory table where +the listing of entries is stored. + +A basic directory has an entry listing of at most 64k (uncompressed) and +no extended attributes. The layout of the inode data is as follows: + ++======+==============+======================================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++======+==============+======================================================+ +| u32 | block index | The location of the metadata block in the directory | +| | | table where the entry information starts. This is | +| | | relative to the directory table location. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | link count | The number of hard links to this directory. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u16 | file size | Total (uncompressed) size in bytes of the entry | +| | | listing in the directory table, including headers. | +| | | | +| | | This value is 3 bytes larger than the real listing. | +| | | The Linux kernel creates "." and ".." entries for | +| | | offsets 0 and 1, and only after 3 looks into the | +| | | listing, subtracting 3 from the size. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u16 | block offset | The (uncompressed) offset within the metadata block | +| | | in the directory table where the directory listing | +| | | starts. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | parent inode | The inode number of the parent of this directory. If | +| | | this is the root directory, this SHOULD be 0. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ + + +Note that for historical reasons, the hard link count of a directory includes +the number of entries in the directory and is initialized to 2 for an empty +directory. I.e. a directory with N entries has at least N + 2 link count. + + +If the "file size" is set to a value < 4, the directory is empty and there is +no corresponding listing in the directory table. + + +An extended directory can have a listing that is at most 4GiB in size, may +have extended attributes and can have an optional index for faster lookup: + ++======+==============+======================================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++======+==============+======================================================+ +| u32 | link count | Same as above. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | file size | Same as above. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | block index | Same as above. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | parent inode | Same as above. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u16 | index count | The number of directory index entries following the | +| | | inode structure. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u16 | block offset | Same as above. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | xattr index | An index into the xattr lookup table or 0xFFFFFFFF | +| | | if the inode has no extended attributes. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ + +The index follows directly after the inode. See section 6.1 for details on +how the directory index is structured. + + +5.3) File Inodes + +Basic files can be at most 4 GiB in size (uncompressed), must be located +within the first 4 GiB of the SquashFS image, cannot have any extended +attributes and don't support hard-link or sparse file accounting: + ++======+==============+======================================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++======+==============+======================================================+ +| u32 | blocks start | The offset from the start of the archive to the first| +| | | data block. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | frag index | An index into the fragment table which describes the | +| | | fragment block that the tail end of this file is | +| | | stored in. If not used, this is set to 0xFFFFFFFF. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | block offset | The (uncompressed) offset within the fragment block | +| | | where the tail end of this file is. See section 4 | +| | | for details. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | file size | The (uncompressed) size of this file. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32[]| block sizes | An array of consecutive block sizes. See section 4 | +| | | for details. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ + +If 'frag index' is set to 0xFFFFFFFF, the number of blocks is computed as + + ceil(file_size / block_size) + +otherwise, if 'frag index' is a valid fragment index, the block count is +computed as + + floor(file_size / block_size) + +and the size of the tail end is + + file_size % block_size + + +To access a data block, first compute the block index as + + index = floor(offset / block_size) + +then compute the on-disk location of the block by summing up the sizes of the +blocks that come before it: + + location = block_start + + for i = 0; i < index; i++ + location += block_sizes[i] & 0x00FFFFFF + + +The tail end, if present, is accessed by resolving the fragment index through +the fragment lookup table (see section 7), loading the fragment block and +using the given 'block offset' into the fragment block. + + + +Extended files have a 64 bit location and size, have additional counters for +sparse file accounting and hard links, and can have extended attributes: + + ++======+==============+======================================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++======+==============+======================================================+ +| u64 | blocks start | Same as above (but larger). | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u64 | file size | Same as above (but larger). | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u64 | sparse | The number of bytes saved by omitting zero bytes. | +| | | Used in the kernel for sparse file accounting. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | link count | The number of hard links to this node. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | frag index | Same as above. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | block offset | Same as above. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | xattr index | An index into the xattr lookup table or 0xFFFFFFFF | +| | | if the inode has no extended attributes. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32[]| block sizes | Same as above. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ + + +5.4) Symbolic Links + +Symbolic links mainly have a target path stored directly after the inode +header, as well as a hard-link counter (yes, you can have hard links to +symlinks): + ++======+==============+======================================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++======+==============+======================================================+ +| u32 | link count | The number of hard links to this symlink. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | target size | The size in bytes of the target path this symlink | +| | | points to. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u8[] | target path | An array of bytes holding the target path this | +| | | symlink points to. The path is 'target size' bytes | +| | | long and NOT null-terminated. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ + +The extended symlink type adds an additional extended attribute index: + ++======+==============+=======================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++======+==============+=======================================+ +| u32 | link count | Same as above. | ++------+--------------+---------------------------------------+ +| u32 | target size | Same as above. | ++------+--------------+---------------------------------------+ +| u8[] | target path | Same as above. | ++------+--------------+---------------------------------------+ +| u32 | xattr index | An index into the xattr lookup table. | ++------+--------------+---------------------------------------+ - 5.5) Device Special Files +5.5) Device Special Files - Basic device special files only store a hard-link counter and a device number. - The layout is identical for both character and block devices: +Basic device special files only store a hard-link counter and a device number. +The layout is identical for both character and block devices: - +======+===============+=====================================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +======+===============+=====================================================+ - | u32 | link count | The number of hard links to this entry. | - +------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | device number | The system specific device number. | - | | | | - | | | On Linux, this consists of major and minor device | - | | | numbers that can be extracted as follows: | - | | | major = (dev & 0xFFF00) >> 8. | - | | | minor = (dev & 0x000FF) | ((dev >> 12) & 0xFFF00) | - +------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ - - The extended device file inode adds an additional extended attribute index: - - +======+===============+=========================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +======+===============+=========================================+ - | u32 | link count | Same as above. | - +------+---------------+-----------------------------------------+ - | u32 | device number | Same as above. | - +------+---------------+-----------------------------------------+ - | u32 | xattr index | An index into the xattr lookup table. | - +------+---------------+-----------------------------------------+ - - - 5.6) IPC inodes (FIFO or Socket) - - Named pipe (FIFO) and socket special files only add a hard-link counter - after the inode header: - - +======+=============+=========================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +======+=============+=========================================+ - | u32 | link count | The number of hard links to this entry. | - +------+-------------+-----------------------------------------+ - - The extended versions add an additional extended attribute index: - - +======+=============+=========================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +======+=============+=========================================+ - | u32 | link count | Same as above. | - +------+-------------+-----------------------------------------+ - | u32 | xattr index | An index into the xattr lookup table. | - +------+-------------+-----------------------------------------+ - - - - 6) Directory Table - ****************** - - For each directory inode, the directory table stores a linear list of all - entries, with references back to the inodes that describe those entries. - - The entry list itself is sorted ASCIIbetically by entry name and split into - multiple runs, each preceded by a short header. - - The directory inodes store the total, uncompressed size of the entire listing, - including headers. Using this size, a SquashFS reader can determine if another - header with further entries should be following once it reaches the end of a - run. - - To save space, the header indicates a metadata block and a reference inode - number. The entries that follow simply store a difference to that inode number - and an offset into the specified metadata block. - - Every time, the inode block changes or the difference of the inode number - to the reference in the header cannot be encoded in 16 bits anymore, a new - header is emitted. - - A header must be followed by AT MOST 256 entries. If there are more entries, - a new header MUST be emitted. - - Typically, inode allocation strategies would sort the children of a directory - and then allocate inode numbers incrementally, to optimize directory entry - listings. - - Since hard links might be further further away than +/- 32k of the reference - number, they might require a new header to be emitted. Inode number allocation - and picking of the reference could of course be optimized to prevent this. - - The directory header has the following structure: - - +======+==============+======================================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +======+==============+======================================================+ - | u32 | count | Number of entries following the header | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | start | The location of the metadata block in the inode table| - | | | where the inodes are stored. This is relative to the | - | | | inode table start from the super block. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | s32 | inode number | An arbitrary inode number. The entries that follow | - | | | store their inode number as a difference to this. | - +======+==============+======================================================+ - - The counter is stored off-by-one, i.e. a value of 0 indicates 1 entry follows. - This also makes it impossible to encode a size of 0, which wouldn't make any - sense. Empty directories simply have their size set to 0 in the inode instead, - so no extra dummy header has to be stored or looked up. - - - The header is followed by multiple entries that each have this structure: - - +======+==============+======================================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +======+==============+======================================================+ - | u16 | offset | An offset into the uncompressed inode metadata block.| - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | s16 | inode offset | The difference of this inodes number to the reference| - | | | stored in the header. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u16 | type | The inode type. For extended inodes, the basic type | - | | | is stored here instead. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u16 | name size | One less than the size of the entry name. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u8[] | name | The file name of the entry without a trailing null | - | | | byte. Has 'name size' + 1 bytes. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ ++======+===============+=====================================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++======+===============+=====================================================+ +| u32 | link count | The number of hard links to this entry. | ++------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | device number | The system specific device number. | +| | | | +| | | On Linux, this consists of major and minor device | +| | | numbers that can be extracted as follows: | +| | | major = (dev & 0xFFF00) >> 8. | +| | | minor = (dev & 0x000FF) | ((dev >> 12) & 0xFFF00) | ++------+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ + +The extended device file inode adds an additional extended attribute index: + ++======+===============+=========================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++======+===============+=========================================+ +| u32 | link count | Same as above. | ++------+---------------+-----------------------------------------+ +| u32 | device number | Same as above. | ++------+---------------+-----------------------------------------+ +| u32 | xattr index | An index into the xattr lookup table. | ++------+---------------+-----------------------------------------+ + + +5.6) IPC inodes (FIFO or Socket) + +Named pipe (FIFO) and socket special files only add a hard-link counter +after the inode header: + ++======+=============+=========================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++======+=============+=========================================+ +| u32 | link count | The number of hard links to this entry. | ++------+-------------+-----------------------------------------+ + +The extended versions add an additional extended attribute index: + ++======+=============+=========================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++======+=============+=========================================+ +| u32 | link count | Same as above. | ++------+-------------+-----------------------------------------+ +| u32 | xattr index | An index into the xattr lookup table. | ++------+-------------+-----------------------------------------+ + + + +6) Directory Table +****************** + +For each directory inode, the directory table stores a linear list of all +entries, with references back to the inodes that describe those entries. + +The entry list itself is sorted ASCIIbetically by entry name and split into +multiple runs, each preceded by a short header. + +The directory inodes store the total, uncompressed size of the entire listing, +including headers. Using this size, a SquashFS reader can determine if another +header with further entries should be following once it reaches the end of a +run. + +To save space, the header indicates a metadata block and a reference inode +number. The entries that follow simply store a difference to that inode number +and an offset into the specified metadata block. + +Every time, the inode block changes or the difference of the inode number +to the reference in the header cannot be encoded in 16 bits anymore, a new +header is emitted. + +A header must be followed by AT MOST 256 entries. If there are more entries, +a new header MUST be emitted. + +Typically, inode allocation strategies would sort the children of a directory +and then allocate inode numbers incrementally, to optimize directory entry +listings. + +Since hard links might be further further away than +/- 32k of the reference +number, they might require a new header to be emitted. Inode number allocation +and picking of the reference could of course be optimized to prevent this. + +The directory header has the following structure: + ++======+==============+======================================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++======+==============+======================================================+ +| u32 | count | Number of entries following the header | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | start | The location of the metadata block in the inode table| +| | | where the inodes are stored. This is relative to the | +| | | inode table start from the super block. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| s32 | inode number | An arbitrary inode number. The entries that follow | +| | | store their inode number as a difference to this. | ++======+==============+======================================================+ + +The counter is stored off-by-one, i.e. a value of 0 indicates 1 entry follows. +This also makes it impossible to encode a size of 0, which wouldn't make any +sense. Empty directories simply have their size set to 0 in the inode instead, +so no extra dummy header has to be stored or looked up. + + +The header is followed by multiple entries that each have this structure: + ++======+==============+======================================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++======+==============+======================================================+ +| u16 | offset | An offset into the uncompressed inode metadata block.| ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| s16 | inode offset | The difference of this inodes number to the reference| +| | | stored in the header. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u16 | type | The inode type. For extended inodes, the basic type | +| | | is stored here instead. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u16 | name size | One less than the size of the entry name. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u8[] | name | The file name of the entry without a trailing null | +| | | byte. Has 'name size' + 1 bytes. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - In the entry structure itself, the file names are stored without trailing null - bytes. Since a zero length name makes no sense, the name length is stored - off-by-one, i.e. the value 0 cannot be encoded. +In the entry structure itself, the file names are stored without trailing null +bytes. Since a zero length name makes no sense, the name length is stored +off-by-one, i.e. the value 0 cannot be encoded. - The inode type is stored in the entry, but always as the corresponding - basic type. +The inode type is stored in the entry, but always as the corresponding +basic type. - While the field is technically 16 bits, the kernel implementation currently - imposes an arbitrary limit of 255 on the name size field. Since the field is - off-by-one, this means that a file name in SquashFS can be at most 256 - characters long. +While the field is technically 16 bits, the kernel implementation currently +imposes an arbitrary limit of 255 on the name size field. Since the field is +off-by-one, this means that a file name in SquashFS can be at most 256 +characters long. - 6.1) Directory Index +6.1) Directory Index - To speed up lookups on directories with lots of entries, the extended - directory inode can store an index, holding the locations of all directory - headers and the name of the first entry after the header. +To speed up lookups on directories with lots of entries, the extended +directory inode can store an index, holding the locations of all directory +headers and the name of the first entry after the header. - When searching for an entry, the reader can then iterate over the index to - find a range of metadata blocks that should contain a given entry and then - only scan over the given range. +When searching for an entry, the reader can then iterate over the index to +find a range of metadata blocks that should contain a given entry and then +only scan over the given range. - To allow for even faster lookups, a new header should be emitted every time - the entry list crosses a metadata block boundary. This narrows the boundary - down to a single metadata block lookup in most cases. +To allow for even faster lookups, a new header should be emitted every time +the entry list crosses a metadata block boundary. This narrows the boundary +down to a single metadata block lookup in most cases. - The index entries have the following structure: +The index entries have the following structure: - +======+==============+======================================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +======+==============+======================================================+ - | u32 | index | This stores a byte offset from the first directory | - | | | header to the current header, as if the uncompressed | - | | | directory metadata blocks were laid out in memory | - | | | consecutively. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | start | Start offset of a directory table metadata block, | - | | | relative to the directory table start. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | name size | One less than the size of the entry name. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u8[] | name | The name of the first entry following the header | - | | | without a trailing null byte. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ ++======+==============+======================================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++======+==============+======================================================+ +| u32 | index | This stores a byte offset from the first directory | +| | | header to the current header, as if the uncompressed | +| | | directory metadata blocks were laid out in memory | +| | | consecutively. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | start | Start offset of a directory table metadata block, | +| | | relative to the directory table start. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | name size | One less than the size of the entry name. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u8[] | name | The name of the first entry following the header | +| | | without a trailing null byte. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - 7) Fragment Table - ***************** +7) Fragment Table +***************** - Tail-ends and smaller than block size files can be combined into fragment - blocks that are at most 'block size' bytes long. - - The fragment table describes the location and size of the fragment blocks - (not the tail-ends within them). +Tail-ends and smaller than block size files can be combined into fragment +blocks that are at most 'block size' bytes long. + +The fragment table describes the location and size of the fragment blocks +(not the tail-ends within them). - This is a lookup table which stores entries of the following shape: +This is a lookup table which stores entries of the following shape: - +======+==============+======================================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +======+==============+======================================================+ - | u64 | start | The offset within the archive where the fragment | - | | | block starts. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | size | The on-disk size of the fragment block. If the block | - | | | is uncompressed, bit 24 (i.e. 1 << 24) is set. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | unused | SHOULD be set to 0. | - +------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ - - - The table is stored on-disk as described in section 2.3. ++======+==============+======================================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++======+==============+======================================================+ +| u64 | start | The offset within the archive where the fragment | +| | | block starts. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | size | The on-disk size of the fragment block. If the block | +| | | is uncompressed, bit 24 (i.e. 1 << 24) is set. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | unused | SHOULD be set to 0. | ++------+--------------+------------------------------------------------------+ + + +The table is stored on-disk as described in section 2.3. - The fragment table location in the superblock points to an array of 64 bit - integers that store the on-disk locations of the metadata blocks containing - the lookup table. +The fragment table location in the superblock points to an array of 64 bit +integers that store the on-disk locations of the metadata blocks containing +the lookup table. - Each metadata block can store up to 512 entries (= 8129 / 16). +Each metadata block can store up to 512 entries (= 8129 / 16). - The "unused" field is there for alignment and SHOULD be set to 0, however the - Linux kernel currently ignores this field completely, making it impossible for - Linux to ever re-purpose this field. +The "unused" field is there for alignment and SHOULD be set to 0, however the +Linux kernel currently ignores this field completely, making it impossible for +Linux to ever re-purpose this field. - 8) Export Table - *************** +8) Export Table +*************** - To support NFS exports, SquashFS needs a fast way to resolve an inode number - to an inode structure. +To support NFS exports, SquashFS needs a fast way to resolve an inode number +to an inode structure. - For this purpose, a SquashFS archive can optionally contain an export table, - which is basically a flat array of 64 bit inode references, with the inode - number being used as an index into the array. +For this purpose, a SquashFS archive can optionally contain an export table, +which is basically a flat array of 64 bit inode references, with the inode +number being used as an index into the array. - Because the inode number 0 is not used (reserved as a sentinel value), the - array actually starts at inode number 1 and the index is thus - inode_number - 1. +Because the inode number 0 is not used (reserved as a sentinel value), the +array actually starts at inode number 1 and the index is thus +inode_number - 1. - The array itself is stored in a series of metadata blocks, as outlined in - section 2.3. +The array itself is stored in a series of metadata blocks, as outlined in +section 2.3. - Since each block can store 1024 references (= 8192 / 8), there will be - ceil(inode_count / 1024) metadata blocks for the entire array. +Since each block can store 1024 references (= 8192 / 8), there will be +ceil(inode_count / 1024) metadata blocks for the entire array. - 9) ID Table - *********** +9) ID Table +*********** - As outlined in section 5.1, SquashFS supports 32 bit user and group IDs. To - compact the inode table, the unique UID/GID values are collected in a lookup - table and a 16 bit table index is stored in the inode instead. +As outlined in section 5.1, SquashFS supports 32 bit user and group IDs. To +compact the inode table, the unique UID/GID values are collected in a lookup +table and a 16 bit table index is stored in the inode instead. - This lookup table is stored as outlined in section 2.3. +This lookup table is stored as outlined in section 2.3. - Each metadata block can store up to 2048 IDs (=8192 / 4). +Each metadata block can store up to 2048 IDs (=8192 / 4). - 10) Extended Attribute Table - **************************** +10) Extended Attribute Table +**************************** - Extended attributes are arbitrary key value pairs attached to inodes. The key - names use dots as separators to create a hierarchy of name spaces. +Extended attributes are arbitrary key value pairs attached to inodes. The key +names use dots as separators to create a hierarchy of name spaces. - The key value pairs of all inodes are stored consecutively in a series of - metadata blocks. +The key value pairs of all inodes are stored consecutively in a series of +metadata blocks. - The values can either be stored inline, i.e. a key entry is directly followed - by a value, or out-of-line to deduplicate identical values and use a reference - instead. Typically, the first occurrence of a value is stored in line and - every consecutive use of the same value uses an out-of-line reference back to - the first one. - - - The keys are stored using the following data structure: - - +======+===========+=========================================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +======+===========+=========================================================+ - | u16 | type | A prefix ID for the key name. If the value that follows | - | | | is stored out-of-line, the flag 0x0100 is ORed to the | - | | | type ID. | - | | | | - | | +-------+-------------------------------------------------+ - | | | Value | Comment | - | | +-------+-------------------------------------------------+ - | | | 0 | Prefix the name with "user." | - | | | 1 | Prefix the name with "trusted." | - | | | 2 | Prefix the name with "security." | - +------+-----------+-------+-------------------------------------------------+ - | u16 | name size | The number of key bytes that follows. | - +------+-----------+---------------------------------------------------------+ - | u8[] | name | The remainder of the key without the prefix and without | - | | | trailing null byte. | - +------+-----------+---------------------------------------------------------+ +The values can either be stored inline, i.e. a key entry is directly followed +by a value, or out-of-line to deduplicate identical values and use a reference +instead. Typically, the first occurrence of a value is stored in line and +every consecutive use of the same value uses an out-of-line reference back to +the first one. + + +The keys are stored using the following data structure: + ++======+===========+=========================================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++======+===========+=========================================================+ +| u16 | type | A prefix ID for the key name. If the value that follows | +| | | is stored out-of-line, the flag 0x0100 is ORed to the | +| | | type ID. | +| | | | +| | +-------+-------------------------------------------------+ +| | | Value | Comment | +| | +-------+-------------------------------------------------+ +| | | 0 | Prefix the name with "user." | +| | | 1 | Prefix the name with "trusted." | +| | | 2 | Prefix the name with "security." | ++------+-----------+-------+-------------------------------------------------+ +| u16 | name size | The number of key bytes that follows. | ++------+-----------+---------------------------------------------------------+ +| u8[] | name | The remainder of the key without the prefix and without | +| | | trailing null byte. | ++------+-----------+---------------------------------------------------------+ - Following the key, this structure is used to store the value: +Following the key, this structure is used to store the value: - +======+============+========================================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +======+============+========================================================+ - | u32 | value size | The size of the value string. If the value is stored | - | | | out of line, this is always 8, i.e. the size of an | - | | | unsigned 64 bit integer. | - +------+------------+--------------------------------------------------------+ - | u8[] | value | This is 'value size' bytes of arbitrary binary data. | - | | | If the value is stored out-of-line, this is a 64 bit | - | | | reference, i.e. a location of a metadata block, | - | | | shifted left by 16 and OR-ed with an offset into the | - | | | uncompressed block, giving the location of another | - | | | value structure. | - +------+------------+--------------------------------------------------------+ ++======+============+========================================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++======+============+========================================================+ +| u32 | value size | The size of the value string. If the value is stored | +| | | out of line, this is always 8, i.e. the size of an | +| | | unsigned 64 bit integer. | ++------+------------+--------------------------------------------------------+ +| u8[] | value | This is 'value size' bytes of arbitrary binary data. | +| | | If the value is stored out-of-line, this is a 64 bit | +| | | reference, i.e. a location of a metadata block, | +| | | shifted left by 16 and OR-ed with an offset into the | +| | | uncompressed block, giving the location of another | +| | | value structure. | ++------+------------+--------------------------------------------------------+ - The metadata block location given by an out-of-line reference is relative to - the location of the first block. +The metadata block location given by an out-of-line reference is relative to +the location of the first block. - To actually address a block of key value pairs associated with an inode, a - lookup table is used that specifies the start and size of a sequence of key - value pairs. +To actually address a block of key value pairs associated with an inode, a +lookup table is used that specifies the start and size of a sequence of key +value pairs. - All an inode needs to store is a 32 bit index into this table. If two inodes - have an identical attribute sets, the key/value sequence is only written once, - there is only one lookup table entry and both inodes have the same index. - - Each lookup table entry has the following structure: - - +======+============+========================================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +======+============+========================================================+ - | u64 | xattr ref | A reference to the start of the key value block, i.e. | - | | | the metadata block location shifted left by 16, OR-ed | - | | | with am offset into the uncompressed block. | - +------+------------+--------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | count | The number of key value pairs. | - +------+------------+--------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | size | The exact, uncompressed size in bytes of the entire | - | | | block of key value pairs, counting what has been | - | | | written to disk and including the key/value entry | - | | | structures. | - +------+------------+--------------------------------------------------------+ - - This lookup table is stored as outlined in section 2.3. - - Each metadata block can hold 512 (= 8192 / 16) entries. - - However, in contrast to section 2.3, additional data is given before the list - of metdata block locations, to locate the key-value pairs, as well as the - actual number of lookup table entries that are not specified in the super - block. - - - The 'Xattr table' entry in the superblock gives the absolute location of the - following data structure which is stored on-disk as is, uncompressed: - - +=======+===========+========================================================+ - | Type | Name | Description | - +=======+===========+========================================================+ - | u64 | kv start | The absolute position of the first metadata block | - | | | holding the key/value pairs. | - +-------+-----------+--------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | count | The number of entries in the lookup table. | - +-------+-----------+--------------------------------------------------------+ - | u32 | unused | SHOULD be set to 0, however Linux currently ignores | - | | | this field completely and squashfs-tools used to leak | - | | | stack data here, making it impossible for Linux to | - | | | ever re-purpose this field. | - +-------+-----------+--------------------------------------------------------+ - | u64[] | locations | An array holding the absolute on-disk location of each | - | | | metadata block of the lookup table. | - +-------+-----------+--------------------------------------------------------+ - - If an inode has a a valid xattr index (i.e. not 0xFFFFFFFF), the metadata - block index is computed as - - block_idx = floor(index / 512) - - which is then used to retrieve the metadata block index from the locations - array. - - Once the block has been read from disk and uncompressed, the byte offset into - the metadata block can be computed as - - offset = (index * 16) % 8192 - - From this position, the structure can be read that holds a reference to the - metadata block that contains the key/value pairs (and byte offset into the - uncompressed block where the pairs start), as well as the number of key/value - pairs and their total, uncompressed size. +All an inode needs to store is a 32 bit index into this table. If two inodes +have an identical attribute sets, the key/value sequence is only written once, +there is only one lookup table entry and both inodes have the same index. + +Each lookup table entry has the following structure: + ++======+============+========================================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++======+============+========================================================+ +| u64 | xattr ref | A reference to the start of the key value block, i.e. | +| | | the metadata block location shifted left by 16, OR-ed | +| | | with am offset into the uncompressed block. | ++------+------------+--------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | count | The number of key value pairs. | ++------+------------+--------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | size | The exact, uncompressed size in bytes of the entire | +| | | block of key value pairs, counting what has been | +| | | written to disk and including the key/value entry | +| | | structures. | ++------+------------+--------------------------------------------------------+ + +This lookup table is stored as outlined in section 2.3. + +Each metadata block can hold 512 (= 8192 / 16) entries. + +However, in contrast to section 2.3, additional data is given before the list +of metdata block locations, to locate the key-value pairs, as well as the +actual number of lookup table entries that are not specified in the super +block. + + +The 'Xattr table' entry in the superblock gives the absolute location of the +following data structure which is stored on-disk as is, uncompressed: + ++=======+===========+========================================================+ +| Type | Name | Description | ++=======+===========+========================================================+ +| u64 | kv start | The absolute position of the first metadata block | +| | | holding the key/value pairs. | ++-------+-----------+--------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | count | The number of entries in the lookup table. | ++-------+-----------+--------------------------------------------------------+ +| u32 | unused | SHOULD be set to 0, however Linux currently ignores | +| | | this field completely and squashfs-tools used to leak | +| | | stack data here, making it impossible for Linux to | +| | | ever re-purpose this field. | ++-------+-----------+--------------------------------------------------------+ +| u64[] | locations | An array holding the absolute on-disk location of each | +| | | metadata block of the lookup table. | ++-------+-----------+--------------------------------------------------------+ + +If an inode has a a valid xattr index (i.e. not 0xFFFFFFFF), the metadata +block index is computed as + + block_idx = floor(index / 512) + +which is then used to retrieve the metadata block index from the locations +array. + +Once the block has been read from disk and uncompressed, the byte offset into +the metadata block can be computed as + + offset = (index * 16) % 8192 + +From this position, the structure can be read that holds a reference to the +metadata block that contains the key/value pairs (and byte offset into the +uncompressed block where the pairs start), as well as the number of key/value +pairs and their total, uncompressed size. |