🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <2136@polari.UUCP> sandy@polari.UUCP (sandy fifer) writes:
> I need to understand the format of files and directories on CD-ROMs, so
> I'd like to know if there's a readable description anywhere.

Yeah.  It's pretty bad, isn't it?

> I have a copy of the ISO standard (ISO 9660 -- ``Volume and file
> structure of CD-ROM for information interchange''), but I'm finding it
> difficult to get much out of it.

That's because it's recursively readable; to understand the current page, 
you must have first read every other page.

> Before I try reading this thing 15 or 20 times to get the whole
> picture, I thought I'd ask around.  I'd appreciate pointers to books,
> articles, or any other documentation on CD-ROM format.

The best (other) description is of High Sierra, the format from which ISO 
9660 was developed.  Read an article called "High Sierra Group Format 
Description" by John Einberger and Bill Zoellick.  It's part of 
  CD ROM volume 2: Optical Publishing
  Suzanne Ropiequet, editor
  Microsoft Press
  ISBN 1-55615-000-8

The following two papers have some peripheral description of ISO 9660, but 
don't really tell as much as the above-mentioned paper.  You can get a 
copy of Apple Technical Report 16, titled "CD-ROM & the Macintosh 
Computer" by sending email to corp.lib@applelink.apple.com.  Include a 
postal mail address, I suppose.  I'll try to put this paper up for 
anonymous ftp.  

I also recently wrote a description of some of the hacks that we had to go 
through to get High Sierra/ISO 9660 to work on the Macintosh.  It's called 
"The Ins and Outs of ISO 9660 and High Sierra," in the July 1990 issue of 
d e v e l o p magazine.  Contact information is:

  d e v e l o p magazine
  Apple Computer, Inc.
  P.O.Box 531
  Mt. Morris, IL 61054 USA
  800.545.9364
  815.734.6309
  619.738.4532
  dev.subs@applelink.apple.com

--Brian Bechtel     blob@apple.com     "My opinion, not Apple's"