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@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@ +miragextract FAQ (sort-of) +-------------------------- + +These are not really 'frequently asked', because nobody's asked me a +single question about miragextract yet (it's brand new). Maybe this +should be called the SAQ (Someday Asked Questions) or the NYAQ (Not Yet +Asked Questions). + +Q1. How does miragextract work? +A1. Basically, miragextract is a command-line wrapper for libmirage, +plus 'glue' to connect it to libsndfile. These libraries do all the +real work. + +Q2. Why did you write it? +A1. There are a lot of little tools made to convert various CD image +formats to something useful. Most of them just convert to ISO, meaning +they don't handle audio tracks. Each image format has its own tool, and +a lot of them are old and unmaintained so they don't keep up with changes +in the proprietary formats. The libmirage developers gave us a wonderful +library, but previously the only way to use it was to use cdemu, which +works great but requires root privileges, uses an out-of-tree kernel +module, and only works on Linux. I thought it'd be nice to have a simple +tool that's at leat potentially portable, so here it is. + +Q3. What would I use miragextract for? +A3. Well, I use it for extracting ISO images and audio files from old game +CDs, for use with modern game engines (e.g. Raze or NBlood), or sometimes +just to listen to the audio tracks. You can use it for anything you want +(it's licensed WTFPL, so that means *anything*). + +Q4. Why is there no '-f mp3' option? +A4. Because I use libsndfile to write the audio files, and its developer +has chosen not to include mp3 support. If you really need mp3 (if ogg and/or +flac just won't satisfy you), you can always convert to wav and use any +mp3 converter (lame, ffmpeg, etc). Someday I may actually add lame support +to miragextract, but don't hold your breath. + +Q5. Why do my extracted audio tracks sound like white noise? +A5. Try the -s flag. If you're on a big-endian platform and you have this +issue, I'd like to hear from you (email address found in README). + +Q6. This track01.iso I just extracted isn't an ISO, it's a Macintosh DMG. +How come it's got .iso in the filename? +A6. There's no way for miragextract to tell what type of image a data +track actually contains. Adding support for this would be possible, +but it's not there yet. Currently, the file will get called .iso because +that's what most images contain. Just rename it if it's wrong. + +Q7. I built a static binary of miragextract, but it fails (or still requires +shared libraries). Why? +A7. libmirage uses a plugin system for supporting the various formats it +knows about. This means it's basically impossible to compile libmirage +statically, so miragextract can't really be static either. It's probably +possible to make it work with an appropriate invocation of 'statifier' +but I haven't tried this yet. + +Q8. Does it work on Windows, OSX, FreeBSD, ...? +A8. In principle, there's nothing Linux-specific in miragextract, libmirage, +or libsndfile. Porting to other OSes will require more knowledge of those OSes +(and more time) than I currently have available, but I'll accept patches. + +Q9. Can I use it with real CDs? +A9. No. libmirage doesn't support reading real CDs. Use regular CD-ripping +software to get audio tracks, and 'dd' to extract an iso image. |