Overview

The yaffs2utils is the collection of utilities to make/extract a YAFFS2/YAFFS1 image for Linux.

Currently, it inclueds the following tools: 1. mkyaffs2: making a yaffs2 (yaffs1) image. 1. unyaffs2: extract a yaffs2 (yaffs1) image made by mkyaffs2. 1. unspare2: extract the spare(oob) layout from the NAND device.

This project is developed under the Debian Linux 6 (code Squeeze). It can make a yaffs2 image to be ran under my embedded system (Linux 2.6.20), and extract a yaffs2 image made by itself.

Because of the OOB scheme of a image made from the official yaffs2.net utilities (mkyaffs2image) is defferend from the Linux MTD by default, a image made from its "mkyaffs2image" tool cannot be ran normally under my native Linux system. I re-wrote it almost and create the "mkyaffs2" tool to make a yaffs2 image for Linux 2.6.20. A tool named "unyaffs2" is also provided to extract the image made from its "mkyaffs2". The license for this package is stated as GPLv2 only.

Making a yaffs1 image to be ran properly is NOT verified, since I don't have an embedded system device with the old NAND flash (512k page). I will be glad if someone can help me to verify the integrity to make and extract a yaffs1 image.

Project Page

http://code.google.com/p/yaffs2utils/

HOW-TO

Building the source by "make", then enjoying them.

Usage

mkyaffs2 ./mkyaffs2 [-h|--help] [-e|--endian] [-p|--pagesize pagesize] [-s|--sparesize sparesize] [-o|--oobimg oobimg] [--all-root] [--yaffs-ecclayout] dirname imgfile

The tool "mkyaffs2" can create a YAFFS2 image 'imgfile' by files retrieved from the directory 'dirname'. After a image is made, the tool "nandwrite" from the mtd-utils can be used to write the raw data into the flash (with oob option), such as:

nandwrite -a -o /dev/mtd${MTDNUM} ${YAFFS2IMAGE}

Options '-p' and '-s' can specify the page and spare size of the images. The information of the page and spare size should be obtained from your NAND flash datasheet, or they would also be available by the "mtd_debug" tool in the mtd-utils, such as:

mtd_debug info /dev/mtd$(MTDNUM)

When the endian of a target system is different from your building machine, the option '-e' has to be specified to convert the endian for your target system.

The option '--all-root' could provide the capacity to make all files in the target system are owned by root (UID = 0, GID = 0).

By default, the oob scheme used by native Linux is different from the one used by the official "mkyaffs2image" tool. In Linux MTD subsystem, it use the first two byte in the oob free area to mark the bad block, but the official tool "mkyaffs2image" use all of the free area to record YAFFS2 private data (it has its own bad block marker mechanism). If a image is requested to be created compatibly with the one made from the official "mkyaffs2image" tool, the option '--yaffs-ecclayout' has to be specified. It will create a image that use the full free space in the oob area without shifting the first two byte for the bad block marker by Linux MTD subsystem default.

unyaffs2 ./unyaffs2 [-h|--help] [-e|--endian] [-p|--pagesize pagesize] [-s|--sparesize sparesize] [-o|--oobimg oobimg] [-f|--fileset file] [--yaffs-ecclayout] imgfile dirname

The tool "unyaffs2" can extract the content of the image 'imgfile', which was made by the 'mkyaffs2', into the directory "dirname".

As "mkyaffs2", it also provide the option '-p' and '-s' to specify the page and spare size, and the option '-e' to provide the endian convert. When the image is created by the tool using the YAFFS original oob scheme (such as the official tool "mkyaffs2image", or the "mkyaffs2" with the option '--yaffs-ecclayout'), the option '--yaffs-ecclayout' is also required.

When the option '-f' is applied, the "unyaffs2" can extract only the selection of files from the YAFFS image, instead of the whole image content.

At this moment, the tool "unyaffs2" can only extract a image which is made from the "mkyaffs2" exactly. Extractimg a image dumpped directly from the NAND device is still unsupported (TODO list).

unspare2 ./unspare2 [-h] [-e] devfile imgfile

When the oob layout is different from the Linux defailt, the "unspare2" has the capacity to dump the the oob scheme from the NAND device on the target into a file "imgfile", and the oob image file can be used by mkyaffs2/unyaffs2 with the option "-o" to create/extract the suitable image. The endian convert option '-e' is also provided while the endian of targets are different from the local building system.

LICENSE

The package "yaffs2utils is published as GNU GPL version 2. Detalis about the GNU GPL version 2 is shown in the file "COPYING".

TODO

1. Verify the implementation for yaffs1 images.
2. Extract the runtime image dumpped directly from the NAND flash.

NOTE

Files under "yaffs2" is branched from the official YAFFS2, because of the compiling issues of the inconstant naming rules in the official YAFFS2 source. These files are required by the current yaffs2utils. I will continue updating these files untils the oficial source is integrated into the Linux kernel or it has a stable release.