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1 SQUASHFS 4.0 FILESYSTEM
2 =======================
3
4 Squashfs is a compressed read-only filesystem for Linux.
5 It uses zlib/lzo/xz compression to compress files, inodes and directories.
6 Inodes in the system are very small and all blocks are packed to minimise
7 data overhead. Block sizes greater than 4K are supported up to a maximum
8 of 1Mbytes (default block size 128K).
9
10 Squashfs is intended for general read-only filesystem use, for archival
11 use (i.e. in cases where a .tar.gz file may be used), and in constrained
12 block device/memory systems (e.g. embedded systems) where low overhead is
13 needed.
14
15 Mailing list: squashfs-devel@lists.sourceforge.net
16 Web site: www.squashfs.org
17
18 1. FILESYSTEM FEATURES
19 ----------------------
20
21 Squashfs filesystem features versus Cramfs:
22
23 Squashfs Cramfs
24
25 Max filesystem size: 2^64 256 MiB
26 Max file size: ~ 2 TiB 16 MiB
27 Max files: unlimited unlimited
28 Max directories: unlimited unlimited
29 Max entries per directory: unlimited unlimited
30 Max block size: 1 MiB 4 KiB
31 Metadata compression: yes no
32 Directory indexes: yes no
33 Sparse file support: yes no
34 Tail-end packing (fragments): yes no
35 Exportable (NFS etc.): yes no
36 Hard link support: yes no
37 "." and ".." in readdir: yes no
38 Real inode numbers: yes no
39 32-bit uids/gids: yes no
40 File creation time: yes no
41 Xattr support: yes no
42 ACL support: no no
43
44 Squashfs compresses data, inodes and directories. In addition, inode and
45 directory data are highly compacted, and packed on byte boundaries. Each
46 compressed inode is on average 8 bytes in length (the exact length varies on
47 file type, i.e. regular file, directory, symbolic link, and block/char device
48 inodes have different sizes).
49
50 2. USING SQUASHFS
51 -----------------
52
53 As squashfs is a read-only filesystem, the mksquashfs program must be used to
54 create populated squashfs filesystems. This and other squashfs utilities
55 can be obtained from http://www.squashfs.org. Usage instructions can be
56 obtained from this site also.
57
58 The squashfs-tools development tree is now located on kernel.org
59 git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/fs/squashfs/squashfs-tools.git
60
61 3. SQUASHFS FILESYSTEM DESIGN
62 -----------------------------
63
64 A squashfs filesystem consists of a maximum of nine parts, packed together on a
65 byte alignment:
66
67 ---------------
68 | superblock |
69 |---------------|
70 | compression |
71 | options |
72 |---------------|
73 | datablocks |
74 | & fragments |
75 |---------------|
76 | inode table |
77 |---------------|
78 | directory |
79 | table |
80 |---------------|
81 | fragment |
82 | table |
83 |---------------|
84 | export |
85 | table |
86 |---------------|
87 | uid/gid |
88 | lookup table |
89 |---------------|
90 | xattr |
91 | table |
92 ---------------
93
94 Compressed data blocks are written to the filesystem as files are read from
95 the source directory, and checked for duplicates. Once all file data has been
96 written the completed inode, directory, fragment, export, uid/gid lookup and
97 xattr tables are written.
98
99 3.1 Compression options
100 -----------------------
101
102 Compressors can optionally support compression specific options (e.g.
103 dictionary size). If non-default compression options have been used, then
104 these are stored here.
105
106 3.2 Inodes
107 ----------
108
109 Metadata (inodes and directories) are compressed in 8Kbyte blocks. Each
110 compressed block is prefixed by a two byte length, the top bit is set if the
111 block is uncompressed. A block will be uncompressed if the -noI option is set,
112 or if the compressed block was larger than the uncompressed block.
113
114 Inodes are packed into the metadata blocks, and are not aligned to block
115 boundaries, therefore inodes overlap compressed blocks. Inodes are identified
116 by a 48-bit number which encodes the location of the compressed metadata block
117 containing the inode, and the byte offset into that block where the inode is
118 placed (<block, offset>).
119
120 To maximise compression there are different inodes for each file type
121 (regular file, directory, device, etc.), the inode contents and length
122 varying with the type.
123
124 To further maximise compression, two types of regular file inode and
125 directory inode are defined: inodes optimised for frequently occurring
126 regular files and directories, and extended types where extra
127 information has to be stored.
128
129 3.3 Directories
130 ---------------
131
132 Like inodes, directories are packed into compressed metadata blocks, stored
133 in a directory table. Directories are accessed using the start address of
134 the metablock containing the directory and the offset into the
135 decompressed block (<block, offset>).
136
137 Directories are organised in a slightly complex way, and are not simply
138 a list of file names. The organisation takes advantage of the
139 fact that (in most cases) the inodes of the files will be in the same
140 compressed metadata block, and therefore, can share the start block.
141 Directories are therefore organised in a two level list, a directory
142 header containing the shared start block value, and a sequence of directory
143 entries, each of which share the shared start block. A new directory header
144 is written once/if the inode start block changes. The directory
145 header/directory entry list is repeated as many times as necessary.
146
147 Directories are sorted, and can contain a directory index to speed up
148 file lookup. Directory indexes store one entry per metablock, each entry
149 storing the index/filename mapping to the first directory header
150 in each metadata block. Directories are sorted in alphabetical order,
151 and at lookup the index is scanned linearly looking for the first filename
152 alphabetically larger than the filename being looked up. At this point the
153 location of the metadata block the filename is in has been found.
154 The general idea of the index is to ensure only one metadata block needs to be
155 decompressed to do a lookup irrespective of the length of the directory.
156 This scheme has the advantage that it doesn't require extra memory overhead
157 and doesn't require much extra storage on disk.
158
159 3.4 File data
160 -------------
161
162 Regular files consist of a sequence of contiguous compressed blocks, and/or a
163 compressed fragment block (tail-end packed block). The compressed size
164 of each datablock is stored in a block list contained within the
165 file inode.
166
167 To speed up access to datablocks when reading 'large' files (256 Mbytes or
168 larger), the code implements an index cache that caches the mapping from
169 block index to datablock location on disk.
170
171 The index cache allows Squashfs to handle large files (up to 1.75 TiB) while
172 retaining a simple and space-efficient block list on disk. The cache
173 is split into slots, caching up to eight 224 GiB files (128 KiB blocks).
174 Larger files use multiple slots, with 1.75 TiB files using all 8 slots.
175 The index cache is designed to be memory efficient, and by default uses
176 16 KiB.
177
178 3.5 Fragment lookup table
179 -------------------------
180
181 Regular files can contain a fragment index which is mapped to a fragment
182 location on disk and compressed size using a fragment lookup table. This
183 fragment lookup table is itself stored compressed into metadata blocks.
184 A second index table is used to locate these. This second index table for
185 speed of access (and because it is small) is read at mount time and cached
186 in memory.
187
188 3.6 Uid/gid lookup table
189 ------------------------
190
191 For space efficiency regular files store uid and gid indexes, which are
192 converted to 32-bit uids/gids using an id look up table. This table is
193 stored compressed into metadata blocks. A second index table is used to
194 locate these. This second index table for speed of access (and because it
195 is small) is read at mount time and cached in memory.
196
197 3.7 Export table
198 ----------------
199
200 To enable Squashfs filesystems to be exportable (via NFS etc.) filesystems
201 can optionally (disabled with the -no-exports Mksquashfs option) contain
202 an inode number to inode disk location lookup table. This is required to
203 enable Squashfs to map inode numbers passed in filehandles to the inode
204 location on disk, which is necessary when the export code reinstantiates
205 expired/flushed inodes.
206
207 This table is stored compressed into metadata blocks. A second index table is
208 used to locate these. This second index table for speed of access (and because
209 it is small) is read at mount time and cached in memory.
210
211 3.8 Xattr table
212 ---------------
213
214 The xattr table contains extended attributes for each inode. The xattrs
215 for each inode are stored in a list, each list entry containing a type,
216 name and value field. The type field encodes the xattr prefix
217 ("user.", "trusted." etc) and it also encodes how the name/value fields
218 should be interpreted. Currently the type indicates whether the value
219 is stored inline (in which case the value field contains the xattr value),
220 or if it is stored out of line (in which case the value field stores a
221 reference to where the actual value is stored). This allows large values
222 to be stored out of line improving scanning and lookup performance and it
223 also allows values to be de-duplicated, the value being stored once, and
224 all other occurrences holding an out of line reference to that value.
225
226 The xattr lists are packed into compressed 8K metadata blocks.
227 To reduce overhead in inodes, rather than storing the on-disk
228 location of the xattr list inside each inode, a 32-bit xattr id
229 is stored. This xattr id is mapped into the location of the xattr
230 list using a second xattr id lookup table.
231
232 4. TODOS AND OUTSTANDING ISSUES
233 -------------------------------
234
235 4.1 Todo list
236 -------------
237
238 Implement ACL support.
239
240 4.2 Squashfs internal cache
241 ---------------------------
242
243 Blocks in Squashfs are compressed. To avoid repeatedly decompressing
244 recently accessed data Squashfs uses two small metadata and fragment caches.
245
246 The cache is not used for file datablocks, these are decompressed and cached in
247 the page-cache in the normal way. The cache is used to temporarily cache
248 fragment and metadata blocks which have been read as a result of a metadata
249 (i.e. inode or directory) or fragment access. Because metadata and fragments
250 are packed together into blocks (to gain greater compression) the read of a
251 particular piece of metadata or fragment will retrieve other metadata/fragments
252 which have been packed with it, these because of locality-of-reference may be
253 read in the near future. Temporarily caching them ensures they are available
254 for near future access without requiring an additional read and decompress.
255
256 In the future this internal cache may be replaced with an implementation which
257 uses the kernel page cache. Because the page cache operates on page sized
258 units this may introduce additional complexity in terms of locking and
259 associated race conditions.