Specifications

Feature mkisofs mkhybrid mkvcdfs
−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−
ISO 9660 yes yes no
RockRidge yes yes no
El Torito yes yes no
HFS no yes no
Joliet yes yes no
Multisession yes yes no
CD−Extra yes yes no
Video−CD no no yes
Table:
The most obvious difference between the ISO 9660 filesystem compared to the ReiserFS or Extended−2
filesystem is: you can't modify files once they are written. Other limitations of the ISO−9660−filesystem
include:
• only 8 levels of sub−directories allowed (counted from the top−level directory of the CD)
• maximum length for filenames: 32 characters
• 650 MB capacity
RockRidge is an extension to allow longer filenames and a deeper directory hierarchy for the ISO−9660
filesystem. When reading a CD−ROM with RockRidge extensions under Linux, all the known properties of
files like owner, group, permissions, symbolic links appear ("feels like a Unix filesystem"). These extensions
are not available when reading the CD−ROM under DOS or the heterogenous Windows−family of operating
systems.
El Torito can be used to produce bootable CD−ROMs. For this feature to work, the BIOS of your PC must
support it. Roughly speaking, the first 1.44 (or 2.88 if supported) Mbytes of the CD−ROM contains a
floppy−disk image supplied by you. This image is treated like a floppy by the BIOS and booted from. (As a
consequence, while booting from this virtual floppy, your original drive A: (/dev/fd0) may not be accessible.)
HFS lets a Macintosh read the CD−ROM as if it were an HFS volume (the native filesystem for MacOS).
Joliet brings long filenames (among other things) to newer variants of Windows (95, 98, NT). However, the
author knows of no tool that allows long filenames under plain DOS or Windows 3.11.
Video−CDs can be directly played on DVD−devices.
Section 2.8 lists the availability of the mentioned software.
1.7 Mailing Lists
If you want to join the development team (with the intention to actively help them), send e−mail to
cdwrite−[e-mail] and put the word subscribe in body of the message.
CD−Writing HOWTO
1.7 Mailing Lists 7