🔌 qemount

Mount anything by giving the image or data file to an operating system that understands it or has native tools for it, then exposing the result over 9P. qemount runs one small guest per image, using real kernels and filesystem implementations instead of reimplementing every format on the host. In future, it'll support archive formats and obscure data files too.

✅ STATUS

⚠️ unstable / pre-alpha / experimental ⚠️

🛑 STOP! 🛑

MAKE BACKUPS OF YOUR DISK IMAGES BEFORE USING THIS TOOL.

Currently, there's:

• guests for Linux 2.6, Linux 6.12, NetBSD 10.0, Dragonfly BSD, PureDarwin, AROS and Haiku. Most are x86 only, some have aarch64 builds.
• 9P2000.U support via a simple9p server and 9pfuse client.
• A huge collection of test data fixtures, with many custom mkfs and archive and compression tools.
• A Python-based podman-isolated build system that runs rootless and dodges dependency hell.
• A Rust library to detect and extract filesystems from many image formats.
• Full archival: sources, outputs and containers used to build everything, saved on archive.org for future historians.

Building

Install:

• podman, make, python3 (+ venv + pip) to build.
• fuse to mount images with the 9p client.
• xz if you want to archive the lot.

Everything else is installed in containers, use the qemount_build module or script to build stuff. It might take a while.

# install
make dev
source .venv/bin/activate

# list targets
qemount-build outputs

# pick one and build it
qemount-build build bin/qemu/x86_64-linux/6.12/boot/rootfs.img

# inspect or explicitly request cross-platform outputs
qemount-build outputs --output-arch i386
qemount-build outputs --output-platform x86_64-windows-gnu
qemount-build outputs --all-platforms

# record the catalogue artefacts currently present
qemount-build inventory

make help  # for a full list of targets.
# make     # or just build the world!

Ordinary builds default to outputs compatible with the build machine's architecture - an x86_64 build includes i386 outputs, but won't build aarch64 ones.

Guest and transport selection, the detection engine and launch layer are still under construction, see the todo list. There's ./scripts for data recovery though.

Catalogue and format encyclopedia can be found is in the src/qemount_build/ tree - there's no html builder yet.

Format support

Guest operating systems are the smallest thing I could get running with broadest support. This is what works so far; YMMV.

Partition tables

Partition Table	Linux 6.12	Linux 2.6	NetBSD 10	DragonFly 6.4	AROS i386	Haiku x86_64	PureDarwin 17.4	9front	Notes
MBR/DOS	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
GPT	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌
BSD disklabel	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	Native BSD partitioning
Apple APM	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	Classic Mac partition map
Amiga RDB	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Atari AHDI	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Atari ST/TOS
Sun VTOC	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Solaris/SunOS
SGI DVH	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	IRIX disks
LDM	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Windows dynamic disks
Minix	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Minix subpartitions
UBI	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	NAND flash volumes (not a PT)
Acorn	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	RISC OS partition map
AIX	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	IBM AIX PV headers
Ultrix	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	DEC Ultrix (VAX/MIPS)
SYSV68	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Motorola 68k System V
IBM DASD	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	S/390 mainframe
PC-98	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	NEC PC-98 (Japan)
Rio Karma	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Portable media player
OSF/1	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	DEC Alpha / Tru64
HP-UX LIF	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	PA-RISC / Itanium
QNX4 PT	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	QNX subpartitions
Plan 9	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	ASCII partition table
NetWare	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Novell
Hybrid MBR	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌
Protective MBR	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌
OpenBSD	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	16-partition disklabel
DragonFly	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Disklabel64 variant
NeXT	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	NeXTSTEP / OPENSTEP
CP/M-86	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Digital Research

Filesystems

Filesystem	Linux 6.12	Linux 2.6	NetBSD 10	DragonFly 6.4	AROS	Haiku x86_64	PureDarwin 17.4	9front	Notes
ext2	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌
ext3	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌	NetBSD and DragonFly mount as ext2
ext4	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌
FAT12	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅
FAT16/32	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅
exFAT	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅ ro	❌	❌
NTFS	✅ ntfs3	💩 ntfs	💩 ntfs	💩	❌	✅	❌	❌	DragonFly directory reads can panic
ISO9660	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅	9front drops Rock Ridge symlinks
UDF	✅	✅	✅	✅ ro	❌	✅ ro	❌	❌	DVD/Blu-ray
HFS	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	Classic Mac
HFS+	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	hfsplus
HFSX	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	Case-sensitive HFS Plus
UFS/FFS	💩	💩	✅	✅ UFS1	❌	❌	❌	❌	Linux UFS is limited
LFS	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	NetBSD log-structured
XFS	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
JFS	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	IBM journaled
Btrfs	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅ ro	❌	❌
F2FS	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Flash-friendly
bcachefs	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
EROFS	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Read-only compressed
ReiserFS	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅ ro	❌	❌	Removed in 6.13
Amiga OFS	✅	✅	💩 adosfs	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Amiga FFS	✅	✅	💩 adosfs	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
SFS	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
PFS	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
PAQFS	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	Read-only compressed
SACFS	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Reader uses obsolete 9P1
FlashFS	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
HJFS	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
GEFS	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
CWFS	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
V5/V6	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	Read-only
UNIX/32V	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	Read-only
V10	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	Read-only
Minix	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
V7	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	7th Edition UNIX
SysV	✅	💩	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	System V; symlinks crash 2.6
SquashFS	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Read-only compressed
CramFS	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Read-only compressed
RomFS	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Read-only
EFS	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	SGI IRIX
BeFS	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	BeOS/Haiku
HPFS	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	OS/2
QNX4	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
QNX6	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
ADFS	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Acorn
Filecore	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Acorn RISC OS
VxFS	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Veritas
OMFS	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Optimized MPEG FS
NILFS2	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Log-structured
GFS2	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Red Hat cluster
OCFS2	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Oracle cluster
Coda	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Distributed FS
BFS	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	SCO Boot FS
ZFS	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	OpenZFS (module, not in-kernel)
APFS	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Apple macOS 10.13+
ReFS	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Windows Resilient FS
HAMMER	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	DragonFly native
HAMMER2	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	DragonFly native
JFFS2	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	Flash journaling
UBIFS	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	UBI Flash FS
High Sierra	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	ISO9660 predecessor