NAME

       nbdkit-floppy-plugin - create virtual floppy disk from directory

SYNOPSIS

        nbdkit floppy [dir=]DIRECTORY
                      [label=LABEL]

DESCRIPTION

       "nbdkit-floppy-plugin" is a plugin for nbdkit(1) which creates a virtual FAT-formatted floppy disk image
       from a directory on the fly.  The files in the specified directory (and subdirectories) appear in the
       virtual floppy, which is served read-only over the NBD protocol.

       The virtual floppy disk will have a single partition (using an MBR partition table).  In that partition
       will be a virtual FAT32 filesystem containing the files.  Long filenames are supported.

       To create a CD/ISO, see nbdkit-iso-plugin(1).  To create a Linux compatible virtual disk, see
       nbdkit-linuxdisk-plugin(1).

       Note: The plugin does not save a temporary copy of the files, so you must leave the directory alone while
       nbdkit is running, else you may get an error (for example if the plugin tries to open one of the files
       which you have moved or deleted).  This is different from how nbdkit-iso-plugin(1) and
       nbdkit-linuxdisk-plugin(1) work, as both of those plugins keep a temporary copy of the files and
       directories.

EXAMPLE

       Create a virtual floppy disk:

        nbdkit floppy /path/to/directory

PARAMETERS

       [dir=]DIRECTORY
           Specify the directory containing files and subdirectories which will be added to the virtual floppy
           disk.  Files inside this directory will appear in the root directory of the virtual floppy.

           This parameter is required.

           "dir=" is a magic config key and may be omitted in most cases.  See "Magic parameters" in nbdkit(1).

       label=LABEL
           The optional volume label for the filesystem.  This may be up to 11 ASCII characters.  If omitted,
           "NBDKITFLOPY" is used.

LIMITATIONS

       The maximum size of the disk is around 2TB.  The maximum size of a single file is 4GB.  Non-regular files
       (such as block special, symbolic links, sockets) are not supported and will be ignored.

       The plugin does not support writes.

       The virtual floppy will not be bootable.  This could be added in future (using SYSLINUX) but requires
       considerable work.  As a workaround use nbdkit-iso-plugin(1) instead.

       FAT32 is always used, even for small disks (where dosfstools, for example, would choose FAT12 or FAT16).
       This results in extra wasted space, but since it is only virtual wasted space it isn't really important,
       and it simplifies the implementation greatly.

FILES

       $plugindir/nbdkit-floppy-plugin.so
           The plugin.

           Use "nbdkit --dump-config" to find the location of $plugindir.

VERSION

       "nbdkit-floppy-plugin" first appeared in nbdkit 1.8.

SEE ALSO

       nbdkit(1), nbdkit-plugin(3), nbdkit-file-plugin(1), nbdkit-linuxdisk-plugin(1), nbdkit-iso-plugin(1).

AUTHORS

       Richard W.M. Jones

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 2018 Red Hat Inc.

LICENSE

       Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided
       that the following conditions are met:

       •   Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and
           the following disclaimer.

       •   Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and
           the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

       •   Neither the name of Red Hat nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote
           products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

       THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY RED HAT AND CONTRIBUTORS ''AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES,
       INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
       PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL RED HAT OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
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       SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND
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