
	This is lde, the Linux disk editor, for Minix/Linux partitions.
It currently supports what I would guess are the three most popular
file systems under Linux: ext2fs, minix, and xiafs (with minimal
support for msdos FAT file systems and also a nofs system: lde will
function as a binary editor).  It allows you to view and edit disk
blocks in hex or ASCII mode, view a block that contains directory
entries in a readable fashion, and view and edit formatted inodes.

	lde can also be used to recover files which may have been
accidentally erased or just to poke around the file system to see what
it's made of.  I've written a LaTeX introduction to the Minix file
system and am including it with the distribution, one day it may work
it's way into the LDP.  I also threw in some docs on the ext2fs,
mostly just data out of <linux/ext2_fs.h> formatted as tables to make
wading through the disk blocks a little bit easier.  There is also a
document UNERASE (in doc/UNERASE) which details what I think you might
try to recover a file.  I've included some other stuff that I've
written to aid people who have lost data and included them in the
crash_recovery directory.

	There is no tutorial, but there is a man page.  Look at
docs/lde.man or docs/lde.man.text for information on running lde
from the command line or using its ncurses interface.  For more
information on compiling, installing, or running lde for the first
time, see INSTALL.

	This project started as a major hack to fsck.  In the first
few months of the project, most of the fsck code evaporated as I added
support for the xiafs and ext2fs file systems, but there is still some
code which should be credited to Linus Torvalds.  Also, some of the
code in ext2fs.c has worked its way out of Remy Card's e2fsprogs-0.4a.

	There is a ncurses interface which is intended to be the
preferred usage method of lde, but most of the functions can be
accessed with command line options.  They allow you do dump single or
multiple inodes or blocks to standard out.  Also, there is some
primitive search code to aid in recovering trashed files.

	Periodically, I make pre-releases and release them to the
people who have emailed me with problems.  If you don't think the
version you are using is new enough, you can ftp to
vandoren.rec.mhmc.org (199.190.226.121) and login as linux, password
linus.  You should come up in the right directory, if not look in
/pub/pub/Linux.  I'm sorry that it has taken so long for this release,
but I've really only been working on lde when someone mails me with a
new problem.  I haven't stopped to make sure all the hacks got fully
incorporated into lde, but I really should have posted something to
fix the segvs that were prevalent with "later" (V1.0+) versions of
linux.

				Scott D. Heavner
				sdh@po.cwru.edu
				September 14, 1996

Original release date: November 11, 1993

	If you find this useful, send me email and a postcard -- email
for instant gratification and a postcard, so I'll have some tangible
evidence of a userbase.  I won't turn away cash or gifts if you feel
any urges to bestow them upon me.

To inspire you further:         Scott Heavner
                                2783 Lancashire Road #7
                                Cleveland Hts, OH 44106


