BeOS filesystem for Linux
  
  Document last updated: Dec 6, 2001
  
  WARNING
  =======
  Make sure you understand that this is alpha software.  This means that the
  implementation is neither complete nor well-tested. 

  I DISCLAIM ALL RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY POSSIBLE BAD EFFECTS OF THIS CODE!

  
  LICENSE
  =====
  This software is covered by the GNU General Public License. 
  See the file COPYING for the complete text of the license.
  Or the GNU website: <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html>
  
  AUTHOR
  =====
  The largest part of the code written by Will Dyson <will_dyson@pobox.com>
  He has been working on the code since Aug 13, 2001. See the changelog for
  details.
  
  Original Author: Makoto Kato <m_kato@ga2.so-net.ne.jp>

  His original code can still be found at:

  <http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA008030/bfs/>
  Does anyone know of a more current email address for Makoto? He doesn't
  respond to the address given above...

  This filesystem doesn't have a maintainer.

  
  WHAT IS THIS DRIVER?
  ==================

  This module implements the native filesystem of BeOS http://www.beincorporated.com/ 

  for the linux 2.4.1 and later kernels. Currently it is a read-only
  implementation.
  
  Which is it, BFS or BEFS?
  ================
  Be, Inc said, "BeOS Filesystem is officially called BFS, not BeFS". 
  But Unixware Boot Filesystem is called bfs, too. And they are already in

  the kernel. Because of this naming conflict, on Linux the BeOS

  filesystem is called befs.
  
  HOW TO INSTALL
  ==============
  step 1.  Install the BeFS  patch into the source code tree of linux.
  
  Apply the patchfile to your kernel source tree.
  Assuming that your kernel source is in /foo/bar/linux and the patchfile
  is called patch-befs-xxx, you would do the following:
  
  	cd /foo/bar/linux
  	patch -p1 < /path/to/patch-befs-xxx
  
  if the patching step fails (i.e. there are rejected hunks), you can try to
  figure it out yourself (it shouldn't be hard), or mail the maintainer 
  (Will Dyson <will_dyson@pobox.com>) for help.

  step 2.  Configuration & make kernel

  
  The linux kernel has many compile-time options. Most of them are beyond the
  scope of this document. I suggest the Kernel-HOWTO document as a good general

  reference on this topic. http://www.linuxdocs.org/HOWTOs/Kernel-HOWTO-4.html 

  
  However, to use the BeFS module, you must enable it at configure time.
  
  	cd /foo/bar/linux
  	make menuconfig (or xconfig)
  
  The BeFS module is not a standard part of the linux kernel, so you must first
  enable support for experimental code under the "Code maturity level" menu.
  
  Then, under the "Filesystems" menu will be an option called "BeFS
  filesystem (experimental)", or something like that. Enable that option
  (it is fine to make it a module).
  
  Save your kernel configuration and then build your kernel.
  
  step 3.  Install
  
  See the kernel howto <http://www.linux.com/howto/Kernel-HOWTO.html> for
  instructions on this critical step.
  
  USING BFS
  =========
  To use the BeOS filesystem, use filesystem type 'befs'.
  
  ex)
      mount -t befs /dev/fd0 /beos
  
  MOUNT OPTIONS
  =============
  uid=nnn        All files in the partition will be owned by user id nnn.
  gid=nnn	       All files in the partition will be in group nnn.
  iocharset=xxx  Use xxx as the name of the NLS translation table.
  debug          The driver will output debugging information to the syslog.
  
  HOW TO GET LASTEST VERSION
  ==========================
  
  The latest version is currently available at:
  <http://befs-driver.sourceforge.net/>
  
  ANY KNOWN BUGS?
  ===========
  As of Jan 20, 2002:
  	
  	None
  
  SPECIAL THANKS
  ==============
  Dominic Giampalo ... Writing "Practical file system design with Be filesystem"
  Hiroyuki Yamada  ... Testing LinuxPPC.