ISO support - where is it?

[shag00]

Windows reports it as using the UDF file system.

[jglen490]

ISO9660 filesystem (not file format) is complicated. It's an image of other things, including files, data, and even other filesystems. There can be relationship among components which may require software that can read/execute the files and be able to traverse those relationships into other files that must read/execute the other file also. There are also limits such as 8.3 filenames, and the depth of directory structures, which can be seemingly violated via various extensions to the standard. But ISO9660 is just a complex image

Of course, it's not magic, it's just software, and Linux can do at least as well as any OS in reading the image(s) and files. It may just be a matter of execution. But ya'll are digging deep and learning things - doing good work!

[shag00]

I'm not sure we're on the same page, I don't doubt that linux can't do it, for me that was never the issue. For me, the issue is that there is not an easy way to do it. I would describe myself as a Ubuntu supporter and from a macro perspective Ubuntu needs to concentrate more effort on making the desktop a much more comfortable place to be. This is a shining example of built in failure. Ubuntu will never gain a large audience with these sorts of issues.People just want to do what they did on Windows. When they can't open their old tech ISO files they just say, **** it, it's to hard and walk away. The fact that it's a very easy problem to solve just shouts, this tech has been around for more than 10 years, big let-down. So we have an OS that is arguably better than Windows which people turn away from simply because it does not allow them to do what could reasonablly be described as basic stuff. It's a Canonical management issue, in the 10 years that a fully featured ISO mounter/reader could have been whipped up and made available at next to no cost, they choose instead to waste significant time and money on two major aborted projects: Unity and mobile OS. The great irony here of course is that a mobile OS needs to be fully graphics based and user friendly which is the area they are weakest in.

The market for the desktop is comprised mostly of people with similar or less competence in computer matters than I, we just want stuff to be graphics based and easy, which is not really an unreasonable ask. Having said that, it's still good to converse with people that know what they are doing.

[Don B. Cilly]

If the naming format follows the schema of 8.3, you'll be fine.

I really should have worked that out myself :·/
It was late last night... thing is, I had tried it on a simple folder with a couple of subfolders, all of which just happened to have 8(or less).3 names.

Still, it should be -l, right?
According to mkisofs --help
-J, -joliet Generate Joliet directory information
-l, -full-iso9660-filenames Allow full 31 character filenames for ISO9660 names

[Don B. Cilly]

Windows reports it as using the UDF file system.

So, sudo mount -t udf -o loop test1.iso /mountpoint does not work?
Sorry to ask, but you haven't explicitly stated it...

[EDIT] Mildly offtopic, but I wouldn't quite call the mobile OS "aborted". It's been taken over by UBports, and it works quite well.
I have an old Nexus 5 with Ubuntu Touch on it, and it works just fine, except for two things:
- It has Unity and therefore is quite annoying.
- It can't have whatsapp (due to Fakebook restrictions, not code itself - it was working and they had to forcibly scrap it) so I don't really use it because everyone and their granny whatsapps me and I can't tell them to install Telegram.

[shag00]

So, sudo mount -t udf -o loop test1.iso /mountpoint does not work?

Yes, this works.

[Don B. Cilly]

So you can have mountfunnyiso.desktop?
Like:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Service
X-KDE-ServiceTypes=KonqPopupMenu/Plugin
MimeType=application/x-cd-image;model/x.stl-binary
Actions=mfiso;
Encoding=UTF-8
Icon=application-x-cd-image

[Desktop Action mfiso]
Name=Mount Funny ISO
Icon=edit-redo
Exec=pkexec mount -t udf -o loop %F ~/.local/ISO; kdialog --title="Mount Funny ISO" --passivepopup="Mounted"

It would be good if sudo mount -t auto -o loop test1.iso /mountpoint worked too, because then you could have, say, mountallsortsofisos.desktop

[shag00]

I went with:

[Desktop Entry]
Exec=konsole --workdir /home/scott/Pictures -e sudo mount -t udf -o loop test.iso /media/cdmount
Icon=/home/scott/Pictures/icons/cd.jpg
Name=Mount UDF ISO
Path=
StartupNotify=true
Terminal=false
Type=Application
X-KDE-SubstituteUID=false

I just rename the iso, "test" each time, easy enough...

[jlittle]

While understand your sentiment...

...People just want to do what they did on Windows. When they can't ...

strictly IMO ... where I disagree with you is that you seem to hold Linux, the devs, the community, whatever, responsible for these failings. IMO, you could turn around, and look the other way. Microsoft work hard to make sure users can't just do what they want; they are responsible in many, many ways for making sure of that. There are so many things that don't work, and progress fixing them is hampered at every step by Microsoft and their influence, all the while inventing new ways to make things not work. Again, IMO, this is anticompetitive behaviour and illegal, or should be.

What Linux and its community can do is finite. The solution to many such problems, especially for old formats, has to be work-arounds found by searching.

So, IMO, complain about Microsoft's efforts to avoid competition, and other unethical practices, to the people who use Windows, and the people who elect politicians so easily corrupted by Microsoft. Complaining about Linux in this way is contributing to the problems, and is working for Microsoft.

[Don B. Cilly]

Actually, this thread sort of reminds me of an old English song.
It should be the thread's soundtrack

There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza,
There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, a hole.

Then mend it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,
Then mend it, dear Henry, dear Henry, mend it.

With what shall I mend it, dear Liza, dear Liza?
With what shall I mend it, dear Liza, with what?

With a straw, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,
With a straw, dear Henry, dear Henry, with straw.

The straw is too long, dear Liza, dear Liza,
The straw is too long, dear Liza, too long.

Then cut it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,
Then cut it, dear Henry, dear Henry, cut it.

With what shall I cut it, dear Liza, dear Liza?
With what shall I cut it, dear Liza, with what?

With a knife, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,
With a knife, dear Henry, dear Henry, a knife.

The knife is too dull, dear Liza, dear Liza,
The knife is too dull, dear Liza, too dull.

Then sharpen it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,
Then sharpen it, dear Henry, dear Henry, sharpen it.

With what shall I sharpen it, dear Liza, dear Liza?
With what shall I sharpen it, dear Liza, with what?

With a stone, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,
With a stone, dear Henry, dear Henry, a stone.

The stone is too dry, dear Liza, dear Liza,
The stone is too dry, dear Liza, too dry.

Then wet it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,
Then wet it, dear Henry, dear Henry, wet it.

With what shall I wet it, dear Liza, dear Liza?
With what shall I wet it, dear Liza, with what?

With water, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,
With water, dear Henry, dear Henry, with water.

In what shall I fetch it, dear Liza, dear Liza?
In what shall I fetch it, dear Liza, in what?

In a bucket, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,
In a bucket, dear Henry, dear Henry, in a bucket.

But there's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza,
There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, a hole.

[WWDERW]

mkisofs --help
-J, -joliet Generate Joliet directory information
-l, -full-iso9660-filenames Allow full 31 character filenames for ISO9660 names

That's truncated info. If you look at the online man page for mkisofs, you'll see that the -J option can allow up to 64 characters. There is a warning, don't they always have a warning, about interoperability concerns. Given that this appears to be an older utility, it may not have the most up to date info as to what can or can't be handled by other file systems. The most current date that I saw (and I may have missed a later date elsewhere) is 2001 on the man page, which would go along as to why MS-DOS kept on being mentioned (along with 9X OSs).

[Don B. Cilly]

Funniest version info I've seen so far

$ mkisofs --version
mkisofs 2.01 is not what you see here. This line is only a fake for too clever
GUIs and other frontend applications. In fact, this program is:
genisoimage 1.1.11 (Linux)

[shag00]

@jlittle,

seems we totally agree on the problems and their causes but differ on what to do about it. My view is that the management of Canonical has for the last decade pursued projects which were just a bridge to far at the expense of making the desktop a better, easier to use platform. It is worth noting that a decade ago, UDF was not considered an old format. I assume that by my airing this view you take the position that any negative comment about linux/Ubuntu is injurious to linux/Ubuntu. I would accept there is some merit in this position and would counter that any advertising (discussion) is positive. I would further suggest that the airing of this and like views has had a substantial positive effect of the direction that Canonical is now headed. Particularly in the last one or two years significant changes have been implemented to make linux/Ubuntu more user friendly, to the extent that I would call this a worthwhile project, replacing the former white elephant projects. I just bought a new, fairly high end, system and setting it up with all the bells and whistles was a breeze and installing everything is fast and a pleasant experience. It is a better experience than installing Windows (I dual boot).

The alternative to people like me airing these types of views is to say nothing and grin and bear it. Well, that's what happened and the result was somewhat less than a stellar success. Why Canonical, because they are the top dog in linux desktops. Just imagine that in 2010, Canonical had pursued a strategy of making Ubuntu as easy to use/navigate as Windows, there would not be an issue of mounting UDF ISO packages, among many other little annoying things. What seems to not be understood is that it is these little annoying things that stop people using linux. I know there are big things as well like software availability but these are not able to be fixed by Canonical.

To address your final point, my belief is the best way to frustrate Microsoft and it's ilk is to provide a compelling, read use friendly, alternative to Windows. I feel I am doing my bit, in part, by airing opinions that I feel need to be aired. I cannot claim to be a solo voice, rather part of a growing small chorus which I think is slowly gaining traction. Most long time linux users want to argue the technical prowess of linux but that is the wrong discussion to be having. The only discussion that will materially erode Microsoft's near monopoly is ease of use.

[jlittle]

...Just imagine that in 2010, Canonical had pursued a strategy of making Ubuntu as easy to use/navigate as Windows, there would not be an issue of mounting UDF ISO packages, among many other little annoying things. What seems to not be understood is that it is these little annoying things that stop people using linux.

You seem to assume that it is possible to fix the little annoying things, but my point is that it is not, because Microsoft will find or contrive more annoying incompatibilities and glitches. They try to do it behind the scenes, f.ex. shady deals with hardware and software providers, but if that doesn't achieve the result more overt measures come out, such as lawsuits and hijacking standards. If you are shading Canonical or whoever Microsoft has succeeded.

[shag00]

To a large extent, yes, I do, this ISO mounting issue being a case in point. I am completely convinced that the words ethical and Microsoft do not belong in the same sentence and the way to beat them is to provide an alternative that is easy and pleasant to use while looking good.