libisofs-legacy/doc/comments

/**
   @author Mario Danic, Thomas Schmitt

   @mainpage Libburn Documentation Index

   @section intro Introduction

Libburn is an open-source library for reading, mastering and writing
optical discs. For now this means only CD-R and CD-RW.

The project comprises of several more or less interdependent parts which
together strive to be a usable foundation for application development.
These are libraries, language bindings, and middleware binaries which emulate
classical (and valuable) Linux tools.

Our scope is currently Linux 2.4 and 2.6 and we will have a hard time to widen
this for now, because of our history. The project could need advise from or
membership of skilled kernel people and people who know how to talk CD/DVD
drives into doing things.

We do have a workable code base for burning data CDs, though. The burn API is
quite comprehensively documented and can be used to build a presentable
application.
We do have a functional binary which emulates parts of cdrecord in order to
prove that usability, and in order to allow you to explore libburn's scope
by help of existing cdrecord frontends.

The project components (list subject to growth, hopefully):

- libburn  the library by which preformatted data get onto optical media.
           It uses either /dev/sgN (e.g. on kernel 2.4 with ide-scsi) or
           /dev/hdX (e.g. on kernel 2.6).
           libburn is the foundation of our cdrecord emulation.

- libisofs the library to pack up hard disk files and directories into a
           ISO 9660 disk image. This may then be brought to CD via libburn.
           libisofs is to be the foundation of our upcoming mkisofs emulation.

- cdrskin  a limited cdrecord compatibility wrapper for libburn.
           cdrecord is a powerful GPL'ed burn program included in Joerg
           Schilling's cdrtools. cdrskin strives to be a second source for
           the services traditionally provided by cdrecord.
           cdrskin does not contain any bytes copied from cdrecord's sources.
           Many bytes have been copied from the message output of cdrecord
           runs, though.
           See cdrskin/README for more.

- test     a collection of application gestures and examples given by the
           authors of the library features. cdrskin for example originally
           emerged from test/burniso.c and you can see traces of my first
           steps in there. Explore these examples if you look for inspiration.

We plan to be a responsive upstream. Bear with us. We are still practicing.
Our build system is based on autotools which seem to be a bit smarter than me.
User experience tells us that you will need at least autotools version 1.7.

To build libburn and its subprojects it should be sufficient to go into
its toplevel directory and execute
   ./bootstrap  (needed if you downloaded from SVN and not a release tarball)
   ./configure
   make

To make the libraries accessible for running resp. developing applications 
   make install

   @section using Using the libraries

   Both libraries are written in C language and get built by autotools.
   Thus we expect them to be useable by a wide range of Linux-implemented
   languages and development tools.

   For the libburn library there is a reference and demo application
   test/libburner

   @subsection concepts Libburn library concepts

   There are a few concepts to introduce in order for you to understand how to
   use Libburn. So, lets start with them:

   <ol>
   <li> Read - The process of reading the data on a disc for storage or
        copying.
   <li> Write - The process of writing data onto a disc to create a new
        disc image or append to an existing one.
   <li> Drive - A Drive is a hardware device used to reading and/or writing
        discs. CD burners and CD-ROMs are examples of Drives.
   </ol>

   @subsection working Working with the library

   Now that you understand the above @ref concepts, you're ready to look at the
   actual use of the library.

   In general, using the library to perform a process consists of the following
   steps:

   <ol>
   <li> Initialize the library.
   <li> Depends on wether you know the persisten drive address in advance
      If yes:
      2a. Aquire this drive alone and directly by function
          burn_drive_scan_and_grab() and be done until step 5
      If no address known yet:
      2b. Scan for available Drives..
   <li>b Choose a Drive for reading/writing and inquire its persistent address.
   <li>b Shut down library, re-initialize it and like in step 2a aquire the
       chosen drive by function burn_drive_scan_and_grab()
   <li> Fill in the options for the operation.
   <li> Wait for the operation to complete, displaying status along the wayi
      if desired.
   <li> Release the Drive.
   <li> Destroy the library instance. (If you're done working with the library.)
   </ol>

   Here's a minimal demo application for the libburn library

   @include libburner.c
*/