.TH cpio 1

'''

.SH NAME

\fBcpio\fR \- initramfs image manipulation tool

'''

.SH SYNOPSIS

\fBcpio\fR [\fBc\fR|\fBcreate\fR] \fIfile.cpio\fR \fIdirectory\fR

.br

Pack the contents of \fIdirectory\fR into \fIfile.cpio\fR.

.P

\fBcpio\fR [\fBx\fR|\fBextract\fR] \fIfile.cpio\fR \fIdirectory\fR

.br

Unpack \fIfile.cpio\fR into \fIdirectory\fR.

.P

\fBcpio\fR [\fBp\fR|\fBpack\fR] \fIfile.cpio\fR \fIinput.list\fR [\fIdirectory\fR]

.br

Create archive containing files listed in \fIinput.list\fR.

.P

\fBcpio\fR [\fBt\fR|\fBlist\fR] \fIfile.cpio\fR

.br

List file names packed in \fIfile.cpio\fR.

'''

.SH NOTES

This tool is only meant to be used to pack, unpack and examine initramfs

images for Linux.

'''

.SH ARCHIVE DESCRIPTION FORMAT

The \fBpack\fR command takes a text file in the following format:

.P

.ni

# comment

path/to/foo.bin

> some/dir

path/to/bar.bin

@link-name path/to/target

=file-name path/to/source

> some/other/dir

path/to/another/file.img

.fi

.P

Each non-prefix line is a path name to a file in the local filesystem.

The file will be opened using its path name, but in the archive only its base

name will remain. The \fB>\fR lines describe the directory structure within

the archive. Files following a directory line are packed inside that directory

within the archive.

.P

The example above describes an archive with the following structure:

.P

.ni

foo.bin

some/dir/bar.bin

some/dir/link-name

some/other/dir/file.img

.fi

.P

The description instructs \fBcpio\fR to read the contents for \fIfoo.bin\fR,

\fIbar.bin\fR and \fIfile.img\fR from local files named respectively

.P

.ni

path/to/foo.bin

path/to/bar.bin

path/to/another/file.img

.fi

.P

and create a symlink \fIsome/dir/link-name\fR within the archive poiting to

\fIpath/to/target\fR.