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MTREE(5)		      File Formats Manual		      MTREE(5)

NAME
       mtree --	format of mtree	dir hierarchy files

DESCRIPTION
       The  mtree  format  is  a textual format	that describes a collection of
       filesystem objects.  Such files are typically used to create or	verify
       directory hierarchies.

   General Format
       An mtree	file consists of a series of lines, each providing information
       about  a	 single	 filesystem  object.  Leading whitespace is always ig-
       nored.

       When encoding file or pathnames,	any backslash character	 or  character
       outside of the 95 printable ASCII characters must be encoded as a back-
       slash  followed	by  three octal	digits.	 When reading mtree files, any
       appearance of a backslash followed by three octal digits	should be con-
       verted into the corresponding character.

       Each line is interpreted	independently as one of	the following types:

       Blank	   Blank lines are ignored.

       Comment	   Lines beginning with	# are ignored.

       Special	   Lines beginning with	/ are special commands that  influence
		   the interpretation of later lines.

       Relative	   If the first	whitespace-delimited word has no / characters,
		   it  is  the	name  of a file	in the current directory.  Any
		   relative entry that describes a directory changes the  cur-
		   rent	directory.

       dot-dot	   As  a  special  case, a relative entry with the filename ..
		   changes the current directory to the	parent directory.  Op-
		   tions on dot-dot entries are	always ignored.

       Full	   If the first	whitespace-delimited word has  a  /  character
		   after  the  first  character,  it is	the pathname of	a file
		   relative to the starting directory.	There can be  multiple
		   full	entries	describing the same file.

       Some tools that process mtree files may require that multiple lines de-
       scribing	 the  same  file occur consecutively.  It is not permitted for
       the same	file to	be mentioned using both	a relative  and	 a  full  file
       specification.

   Special commands
       Two special commands are	currently defined:

       /set	   This	 command  defines  default values for one or more key-
		   words.  It is followed on the same  line  by	 one  or  more
		   whitespace-separated	 keyword  definitions.	 These defini-
		   tions apply to all following	files that do  not  specify  a
		   value for that keyword.

       /unset	   This	 command  removes  any default value set by a previous
		   /set	command.  It is	followed on the	same line  by  one  or
		   more	keywords separated by whitespace.

   Keywords
       After  the  filename, a full or relative	entry consists of zero or more
       whitespace-separated keyword definitions.  Each	such  definition  con-
       sists  of  a key	from the following list	immediately followed by	an '='
       sign and	a value.  Software programs reading mtree  files  should  warn
       about unrecognized keywords.

       Currently supported keywords are	as follows:

       cksum	   The checksum	of the file using the default algorithm	speci-
		   fied	by the cksum(1)	utility.

       device	   The	device number for block	or char	file types.  The value
		   must	be one of the following	forms:

		   format,major,minor[,subunit]
			 A device  with	 major,	 minor	and  optional  subunit
			 fields.   Their  meaning  is specified	by the operat-
			 ing's system format.  See below for valid formats.

		   number
			 Opaque	number (as stored on the file system).

		   The following values	for  format  are  recognized:  native,
		   386bsd,  4bsd,  bsdos,  freebsd,  hpux, isc,	linux, netbsd,
		   osf1, sco, solaris, sunos, svr3, svr4, and ultrix.

		   See mknod(8)	for more details.

       contents	   The full pathname of	a file that holds the contents of this
		   file.

       flags	   The file flags as a symbolic	name.  See chflags(1) for  in-
		   formation  on  these	 names.	 If no flags are to be set the
		   string "none" may be	used to	override the current default.

       gid	   The file group as a numeric value.

       gname	   The file group as a symbolic	name.

       ignore	   Ignore any file hierarchy below this	file.

       inode	   The inode number.

       link	   The target of the symbolic link when	type=link.

       md5	   The MD5 message digest of the file.

       md5digest   A synonym for md5.

       mode	   The current file's permissions as a numeric (octal) or sym-
		   bolic value.

       nlink	   The number of hard links the	file is	expected to have.

       nochange	   Make	sure this file or directory exists but	otherwise  ig-
		   nore	all attributes.

       optional	   The	file is	optional; do not complain about	the file if it
		   is not in the file hierarchy.

       resdevice   The "resident" device number	of the file, e.g.  the	ID  of
		   the	device that contains the file.	Its format is the same
		   as the one for device.

       ripemd160digest
		   The RIPEMD160 message digest	of the file.

       rmd160	   A synonym for ripemd160digest.

       rmd160digest
		   A synonym for ripemd160digest.

       sha1	   The FIPS 160-1 ("SHA-1") message digest of the file.

       sha1digest  A synonym for sha1.

       sha256	   The FIPS 180-2 ("SHA-256") message digest of	the file.

       sha256digest
		   A synonym for sha256.

       sha384	   The FIPS 180-2 ("SHA-384") message digest of	the file.

       sha384digest
		   A synonym for sha384.

       sha512	   The FIPS 180-2 ("SHA-512") message digest of	the file.

       sha512digest
		   A synonym for sha512.

       size	   The size, in	bytes, of the file.

       time	   The last modification time of the file.

       type	   The type of the file; may be	set to any one of the  follow-
		   ing:

		   block       block special device
		   char	       character special device
		   dir	       directory
		   fifo	       fifo
		   file	       regular file
		   link	       symbolic	link
		   socket      socket

       uid	   The file owner as a numeric value.

       uname	   The file owner as a symbolic	name.

SEE ALSO
       cksum(1), find(1), mtree(8)

HISTORY
       The  mtree  utility appeared in 4.3BSD-Reno.  The MD5 digest capability
       was added in FreeBSD 2.1, in response to	the widespread use of programs
       which can spoof cksum(1).  The SHA-1 and	RIPEMD160 digests  were	 added
       in  FreeBSD  4.0,  as  new attacks have demonstrated weaknesses in MD5.
       The SHA-256 digest was added in FreeBSD 6.0.  Support  for  file	 flags
       was added in FreeBSD 4.0, and mostly comes from NetBSD.	The "full" en-
       try format was added by NetBSD.

FreeBSD	Ports 14.quarterly     September 4, 2013		      MTREE(5)

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