2 replies to this topic

[erwan.l]

Hi Olof,

 

Today, to add extra file support to ImDisk, one needs to use a proxy which means an extra process/daemon (such as devio).

 

Would it possible to use such a proxy (a dll actually) straight from the ImDisk command line (with an extra parameter)?

This would allow to extend ImDisk significantly by adding modules supporting extra file formats : vmdk, vhd, vdi, qcow, etc ...

 

Regards,

Erwan

[Olof Lagerkvist]

The dll needs to run within a process anyway, so there needs to be a user mode process that stays alive and hosts the dll while the virtual disk using the dll is mounted. Of course, imdisk.exe could be modified so that it starts devio.exe with a specified module using a parameter to imdisk.exe, but it would not make much change. From a script that creates an ImDisk device using a proxy it would practically just merge the calls to devio.exe and imdisk.exe into one call. That would be more clean and straightforward in one way, but I am not sure if it is really worth the work needed to implement it.

[erwan.l]

Ok, I understand.

Indeed, I had overlooked the fact that the proxy stands in user mode, hence the need for a hosting process...

 

Having imdisk.exe call devio.exe would not be much of an added value compared to script.

 

Maybe something to consider for the imdisk GUI but the user would then have to understand that once he closes the gui, the proxy is gone...