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WARNING! Found out that this patch is broken (thanks for
pointing this out laire;), so do not use it. I will try
to fix it later, meanwhile don't use it (or use it at
your own risk). Sorry.
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This is a patch that will allow you to use max. 62 character
file and dirnames with fastfilesystem.
IMPORTANT! Read this readme file carefully before trying to
install patched fastfilesystem. For each step try to
understand why it is done. Thank you.
A patched ffs version that I know will crash your hd, kill
your cat, run off with your SO and cause other assorted
nastiness.
Other than that, it works. That was just a warning. ;)
Anyways, if you will use it you need to compile it by yourself.
This is to prevent newbies from trashing their partitions.
SAS/C, StormC, or gcc should do. This might change in the
future.
Now that you have succefully compiled the program I suggest
you to get V43.19 (or later) fastfilesystem from
www.amiga.de/files/.
Now you should make a _bootable_ backup floppy disk containing
hdtoolbox, your current fastfilesystem (or none if you use ROM
ffs) and required libraries and stuff. Make sure this disk
really works and that you can start hdtoolbox with it. This
kind of disk is really handy to have around anyways.
If you currently have l:fastfilesystem rename it to
l:fastfilesystem.orig or something like that.
Then unarchive V43 fastfilesystem lha and do:
`patchffs some:path/fastfilesystem l:fastfilesystem'
you should see some output from patchffs. If you see
`patch <n> failed.' -messages something went wrong. In that
case I suggest you to rename original filesystem back and
forget it. ;)
If everything seems to be ok you can now install new
fastfilesystem to RigidDiskBlocks of your hard disk(s). Note
that this is absolutely required, copying patched filesystem
to l: directory does not install it.
You can either update old fastfilesystem or install patched
fastfilesystem as new one. Installing it as new is
recommended.
If you install filesystem as new one it is a fairly good idea
to 'or' 0x10 to ID number of filesystem ID. Like normally FFS
uses 0x444F5301 and for patched ffs you should use 0x444F5311.
That way only those partitions you choose should use patched
ffs (in theory, I'm not 100% sure about this).
If you want to play it safe, mount partitions manually
(remember to change the ID to 0x444F5311 though) using
c:mount.
After adding/updating filesystem, change chosen partitions to
use this patched filesystem. It is a `good idea (tm)' to test
it on some spare partition before really using it (and I
wouldn't install my precious files on such partition anyways.
This thing is ideal for mp3 partitions;). You might also want
to do this for other physical drives, in that case install
patched fastfilesystem on those too.
Now, reboot your amiga. If you just updated your old
fastfilesystem (eg. didn't change id 0x444F5301) your system
should work just as usual. You don't need to format partitions.
If you did install filesystem as new and changed id (to
0x444F5311) disks (might) appear NDOS. Then quickformat each
partition.
Now play around a bit. Create some files with long filenames.
Delete them. If everything seems to work fine (no weird
checksum errors or something like that) you have successfully
installed patched fastfilesystem. If somethins goes wrong read
this .readme again. If it seems to be my fault, I'm sorry about
that. It works for me. No guarantees it works for you. Standard
disclaimer.
Important notes, READ THIS!
Patched fastfilesystem is 100% downwards compatible. This means
that you can use normal ffs partition thru patched ffs without
need to reformat.
Patched fastfilesystem is 100% upwards compatible, *if* you
don't use *any* long filenames on the disk. If you accidently
use partition having long filenames with old fastfilesystem
the disk will appear corrupt (technical: this is because hash
calculated with max 30 characters differs from one calculated
with full filename lenght).
Try to prevent partitions using long filenames from getting
invalidated. I have no idea what will happen in automatic disk
validation process. It might well blow up.
Do NOT, in any conditions try to reorg, disksalv or qbtools
partition having long filenames. The disk *will* appear
corrupt. Backup your data (this might need some special
arrangements because files being backed up have long
filenames =) ).
Do not run any application that bangs ffs disk blocks directly.
There shouldn't be many such program around anyways (reorg
tools, disk recovery tools come to mind).
I don't know if directory caching works. Don't use it, it's
really not worth it anyways.
Even though dos.library supports 106 character filenames, ffs
can NOT. There is only 64 bytes space for file/dir name in ffs
disk block. BTW dos.library works just fine with long
filenames.
Even though patched fastfilesystem and dos.library support
long filenames, some applications might not. If you find out
that application does not support long filenames try to contact
its author and ask him to add support for long paths and
filenames. Usually this can be done in minutes (few changes to
code and recompile). Reorg, disk recovery etc. tools will need
more work. I hope we will see some support.
regards,
Harry "Piru" Sintonen
P.S For reasons I won't mention here my sintonen st.jyu.fi
email account has been (and is atm) down. Sorry for that.
Best way to reach me is to join #amigafin, #amycoders or
#amiga on ircnet.
- patchffs is freeware! Copyright © 1998 Harry "Piru" Sintonen.
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