[$Header: D:/ext2-os2/doc/RCS/README,v 6.2 1996/06/01 19:15:18 Willm Exp Willm $]
ͻ
  Linux ext2 file system driver for OS/2 2.x and WARP - Allows OS/2 to 
  access your Linux ext2fs partitions as normal drive letters.         
  Copyright (C) 1995, 1996  Matthieu WILLM                             
                                                                       
  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify 
  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by 
  the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or    
  (at your option) any later version.                                  
                                                                       
  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,      
  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of       
  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the        
  GNU General Public License for more details.                         
                                                                       
  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License    
  along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software          
  Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.            
ͼ

                       EXT2-OS2 VERSION 0.9


WHAT IS EXT2-OS2  ?
-------------------

ext2-os2.ifs is a file system driver that allows OS/2 to seamlessly access
Linux native partitions (ext2fs partitions) in both read and write modes.
Once installed, Linux partitions appear as standard OS/2 drive letters, one
per Linux partition. It is a port of the original Linux ext2fs kernel code.

ext2-os2 can also boot OS/2 from a Linux ext2fs partition (but with a temporary
restriction : a FAT or HPFS partition is still required to store the swap file
(SWAPPER.DAT) and the WPS desktop tree). Please notice that this boot feature is
still at beta level stability. LILO 0.15 or later is required to make this new 
feature work.


INSTALLATION AND USAGE INSTRUCTIONS :
------------------------------------

Please consult the online help file (ext2-os2.inf) for
IMPORTANT installation and configuration instructions.
Please read the documentation BEFORE trying the driver !!

A HTML version of the documentation is also available (ext2-os2.htm)
This HTML version has been produced from the IPF version with IBM
Hyperwise. It can be viewed with any good web browser, such as the
WebExplorer included in the OS/2 Bonus Pack.

***********************************************
***** IMPORTANT WARNING - READ THIS FIRST *****
***********************************************

ext2-os2 is a FILE SYSTEM DRIVER. Being a driver it runs at the most
privileged level of the OS/2 operating system, known as "kernel mode".  
IN KERNEL MODE THERE IS NO MORE CRASH PROTECTION.  It means that if a bug 
occurs in the driver IT CAN CAUSE A HANG OR A SYSTEM HALT, AND THUS CAN 
CAUSE LOSS OF DATA.

 - I STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU TO MAKE A BACKUP OF ALL YOUR DATA (EVEN IF THEY 
   ARE NOT LOCATED ON A LINUX PARTITION) PRIOR TO USE THIS DRIVER.

 - DON'T USE THIS DRIVER ON A PRODUCTION MACHINE, OR IF YOU MANIPULATE
   CRITICAL DATA.

 - USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISKS, AND ONLY ON A TEST MACHINE YOU ACCEPT TO CRASH
   AND REINSTALL.

 - BE AWARE THAT THIS DRIVER WILL GIVE FULL UNRESTRICTED (ROOT) ACCESS TO 
   ALL YOUR EXT2FS PARTITIONS FROM OS/2.



MAIN NEW FEATURES SINCE V0.8 :
-----------------------------

- this version corrects a system halt that could occur in 0.8 at boot time.

INCLUDED IN THIS PACKAGE :
--------------------------

The package includes Deon van der Westhuysen's Linux partition filter V 1.2c
This filter driver will allow you to make you Linux partitions visible to OS/2 
without altering the partition table, so that ext2-os2.ifs can mount them.
Please look at the file ext2flt.doc and ext2-os2.inf for its usage and Deon's 
copyright notice. 

I recompiled ext2flt.flt with MS Visual C++ simply because I don't have borland C++, 
and I needed to temporarily include some debugging code to solve problems with 
strategy 2 I/Os (in fact the problems were in OS2DASD.DMD !). Normally this "MS 
Visual C++" version should behave absolutely like the original Borland compiled version.
But in case you prefer using the original version, you can find it on ftp-os2.nmsu.edu 
(/os2/diskutil/e2flt12b.zip) AND on quark.cs.sun.ac.za (/pub/ext2flt/e2flt12c.zip).
See the file ext2flt/makefile.msc for details on the changes I made.

DEFAULTS SETTINGS :
-------------------
 - The default behavior after installation is read only. To turn on read/write
   access you have to specify -rw on the ext2-os2.ifs command line AND /W
   on the ext2flt.flt command line.

WHERE TO FIND EXT2-OS2 :
------------------------

You can find ext2-os2 mainly on the following sites (or in their incoming directory):
ftp-os2.nmsu.edu
        /os2/diskutil/ext2_09b.zip
sunsite.unc.edu  
        /pub/Linux/system/Filesystems/ext2/ext2_09b.zip
ftp.leo.org  
        /pub/comp/os/os2/drivers/ifs/ext2_09b.zip
ftp-os2.cdrom.com
        /pub/os2/diskutil/ext2_09b.zip


Please feel free to contact me for any question on ext2-os2. I'd also like to get
some feedback on how it works on your system and what new features you would like
...this helps me improve it ! Success stories also interest me.


Matthieu WILLM
willm@ibm.net          (home)
mwillm@vnet.ibm.com    (work)


Note : file_id.diz contents, for BBS sysops !
---- Cut here ----
ext2-os2 V0.9b : Linux ext2fs IFS (file
system driver) for OS/2. Allows OS/2 to 
access Linux native partitions (ext2fs 
partitions) as normal OS/2 drive letters.
Includes also Deon van der Westhuysen's 
Linux partition filter driver (ext2flt.flt).
Licence agreement : GNU GPL.
Matthieu WILLM
Home : willm@ibm.net
Work : mwillm@vnet.ibm.com
---- Cut here ----
