soutzis / ext2-filesystem-reader

An EXT2-Filesystem reader, written in pure Java.

Release

You can find the latest release here.

The source code in this repository uses the "unlicense" license (see here). Basically you can do whatever the f*** you want with it.

This project exists on GitHub, thanks to my friends Andrew and Mark who persuaded me to improve what started as just some shitty code, into an interesting project that would be publicly available and benefit everyone.

The ext2-filesystem image does not come bundled within the release. You can use "ext2img" which was taken from this repository and is included with the source-code in /master, or just use your own.

Usage Instructions

Just run the .jar from the latest release (command: java -jar ext2reader.jar) and you will be asked to provide the path to your ext2-filesystem image.

Overview

EXT2 Filesystem Reader is a program written in pure Java, that can read the contents of an ext2 filesystem image. It imitates some of the core utilities of GNU.

The most recent version implements the following GNU commands/utilities, but currently there is no support for options (flags) or pipes:

1. cd
2. ls
3. cat
4. exit

Structure

The first 1024 bytes of an ext2 disk is the boot block, hence the super-block offset is 1024 and the group-descriptor offset is 2048.

Boot-block

The contents of the boot-block are reserved for the partition boot sectors and are unused by the Ext2 filesystem (taken from here).

I had started writing a walkthrough here, but I have no free time to do it now and won't ever update it. If anyone wants to contribute and do it, then feel free to contact me/open a pull request. Andrew and Mark, love ya boys!