New option -append_partition, -as mkisofs -append_partition

libisoburn/trunk/xorriso/xorriso.1

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 .\" First parameter, NAME, should be all caps
 .\" Second parameter, SECTION, should be 1-8, maybe w/ subsection
 .\" other parameters are allowed: see man(7), man(1)
-.TH XORRISO 1 "Oct 13, 2010"
+.TH XORRISO 1 "Oct 18, 2010"
 .\" Please adjust this date whenever revising the manpage.
 .\"
 .\" Some roff macros, for reference:
@@ -2221,7 +2221,7 @@ xorriso adds the traditional 300k of padding by default to all images.
 .br
 For images which will never get to a CD it is safe to use -padding 0 .
 .TP
-.B El Torito bootable ISO images:
+.B Bootable ISO images:
 .PP
 Contrary to published specifications many BIOSes will load an El Torito
 record from the first session on media and not from the last one, which
@@ -2238,6 +2238,14 @@ it is advised to patch it
 when a follow-up session gets written. But one should not rely on the
 capability to influence the bootability of the existing sessions, unless one
 can assume overwriteable media.
+.br
+There are booting mechanisms which do not use an El Torito record but rather
+start at the first bytes of the image: PC-BIOS MBR for hard-disk-like devices,
+MIPS Volume Header for old SGI computers, DEC Boot Block for old DECstation.
+.br
+The boot firmware EFI may use programs which are located in a FAT filesystem
+and announced by an MBR partition table entry.
+.br
 .TP
 \fB\-boot_image\fR "any"|"isolinux"|"grub"
 .br
@@ -2411,13 +2419,42 @@ partition offset. 0 chooses a default value.
 .br
 \fBmips_path=\fRiso_rr_path declares a data file in the image to be a
 MIPS Big Endian boot file. Enable production of a MIPS Big Endian Volume
-Header. This is mutually exclusive with any MBR production. It will overwrite
-the first 512 bytes of any data eventually provided by system_area=.
+Header. This is mutually exclusive with MBR production and mipsel_path=.
+It will overwrite the first 512 bytes of any data eventually provided by
+system_area=.
 Up to 15 boot files can be declared by mips_path=.
 .br
+\fBmipsel_path=\fRiso_rr_path declares a data file in the image to be the
+MIPS Little Endian boot file. This is mutually exclusive with MBR production
+and mips_path=. It will overwrite the first 512 bytes of any data eventually
+provided by system_area=.
+Only a single boot file can be declared by mipsel_path=.
+.br
 \fBmips_discard\fR revokes any boot file declarations made by mips_path=.
 This removes the ban on MBR production.
 .br
+.br
+.TP
+\fB\-append_partition\fR partition_number type_code disk_path
+Cause a prepared filesystem image to be appended to the ISO image and to be
+described by a partition table entry in an MBR at the start of the emerging
+ISO image. The partition entry will bear the size of the submitted file
+rounded up to the next multiple of 2048 bytes.
+.br
+Beware of subsequent multi-session runs. The appended partition will get
+overwritten.
+.br
+partition_number may be 1 to 4. Number 1 will put the whole ISO image into
+the unclaimed space before partition 1. So together with most xorriso MBR
+features, number 2 would be the most natural choice.
+.br
+The type_code may be "FAT12", "FAT16", "Linux",
+or a hexadecimal number between 0x00 and 0xff. Not all those numbers will
+yield usable results. For a list of codes search the Internet for
+"Partition Types" or run fdisk command "L".
+.br
+The disk_path must provide the necessary data bytes at commit time.
+An empty disk_path disables this feature for the given partition number.
 .TP
 .B Jigdo Template Extraction:
 .PP
@@ -3417,6 +3454,8 @@ instead of -G to apply the effect of -boot_image isolinux partition_table=on.
 -partition_offset number is
 -boot_image any partition_offset=number.
 .br
+Option -append_partition is supported.
+.br
 The options of genisoimage Jigdo Template Extraction are recognized and
 performed via xorriso option -jigdo. See the "Alias:" names there for the
 meaning of the genisoimage options.