# genext2fs + Node.js

[xgenext2fs](https://github.com/cartesi/genext2fs) is the ext2 filesystem generator Cartesi uses to turn a root filesystem into a drive image. This package binds it to Node.js as a native N-API addon, so a tar archive becomes an ext2 image without shelling out to a container or requiring `xgenext2fs` on the `PATH`.

```ts twoslash
import { tarToExt2 } from "@deroll/genext2fs";

await tarToExt2("rootfs.tar", "rootfs.ext2", {
    blockSize: 4096,
    faketime: true,
});
```

## Features

* **Self-contained**: the addon links against nothing but libc, so the install-time source build works anywhere `node-gyp` does, and prebuilt binaries ship for Linux and macOS on x64 and arm64;
* **Faithful**: [cartesi/genext2fs](https://github.com/cartesi/genext2fs) is compiled in unmodified, so images match what the CLI produces;
* **Reproducible**: with [faketime](/genext2fs/options) the same archive always yields byte-identical images;
* **Typed**: every CLI flag has a named, documented option;
* **Non-blocking**: images are generated off the main thread, with blocking counterparts available.

## Installation

:::code-group
```bash [pnpm]
pnpm add @deroll/genext2fs
```

```bash [npm]
npm install @deroll/genext2fs
```

```bash [yarn]
yarn add @deroll/genext2fs
```

```bash [bun]
bun add @deroll/genext2fs
```
:::

On Linux (x64, arm64) and macOS (x64, arm64) this installs a prebuilt addon — no compiler needed. Elsewhere the install script compiles from source, which needs only a C/C++ toolchain: the two upstream projects are vendored and built as part of the addon, with no system libraries to install first.

## License

This package is **GPL-2.0-only**, inherited from xgenext2fs, which it compiles in. That differs from the other deroll packages, which are Apache-2.0 — worth knowing before linking it into a distributed application.