Copying files from and to Haiku from within Linux

THIS FORUM POST IS LOCKED, article has been moved here: http://www.haiku-os.org/documents/dev/copying_files_from_and_to_haiku_from_within_linux_using_bfs_shell

This is a small tutorial on how to use the bfs_shell to copy files to and from a Haiku partition or image from within Linux.
Please use caution when you are working with partitions. In short, if you don’t know for sure what you’re doing here, please don’t, unless you have backups of everything and are willing to restore everything.
This tuturial assumes you have completed:

With that out of the way, there are two ways to do this:

The quick and dirty way

You can fire up the bfs_shell with jam and the path to the image or partition: sudo jam run ":<build>bfs_shell" /dev/sda57 This will unleash bfs_shell onto a fictitious partition /dev/sda57. Replace this path with the path to your haiku image or haiku partition you set up in the tutorial above. You might need sudo if you're accessing a partition, you can leave it out for an image. You will be greeted with the fssh:/> prompt.
pieter@pieter-laptop:~/develop/haiku/trunk$ sudo jam run ":<build>bfs_shell" /dev/sda57
...found 675 target(s)...
...updating 1 target(s)...
RunCommandLine1 run_0 
bfs: mounted "Haiku" (root node at 262144, device = /dev/sda57)
fssh:/> 
To find out what bfs_shell is capable of, type in help.
fssh:/> help
supported commands:
cd               - change current directory
chmod            - change file permissions
cp               - copy files and directories
exit             - quit the shell
help             - list supported commands
ln               - create a hard or symbolic link
ls               - list files or directories
mkdir            - create directories
mkindex          - create an index
query            - query for files
quit             - quit the shell
rm               - remove files and directories
sync             - syncs the file system
Pretty much the only thing this does not explain, is that paths on Linux should be preceded with a :. So let's try to browse around a bit.
fssh:/> ls
.:
drwxrwxrwx  0  0          0 2008-07-12 09:53:21 .
drwxrwxrwx  0  0          0 2008-07-12 09:53:21 ..
drwxr-xr-x  0  0       2048 2008-07-12 09:10:56 myfs
fssh:/> ls myfs
.:
drwxr-xr-x  0  0       2048 2008-07-12 09:10:56 .
drwxrwxrwx  0  0          0 2008-07-12 09:53:21 ..
drwxr-xr-x  0  0       2048 2008-07-12 11:13:53 apps
drwxr-xr-x  0  0       2048 2008-07-12 09:10:57 beos
drwxr-xr-x  0  0       2048 2008-07-12 09:10:57 common
drwxr-xr-x  0  0       2048 2008-07-12 11:13:53 develop
drwxr-xr-x  0  0       2048 2008-07-12 09:10:57 home
drwxr-xr-x  0  0       2048 2008-07-12 09:10:57 optional
drwxr-xr-x  0  0       2048 2008-07-12 11:13:53 preferences
drwxr-xr-x  0  0       2048 2008-07-12 09:10:57 var
fssh:/> ls myfs/home/config/settings
myfs/home/config/settings:
drwxr-xr-x  0  0       2048 2008-07-12 09:10:57 .
drwxr-xr-x  0  0       2048 2008-07-12 09:10:57 ..
-rw-r--r--  0  0        474 2008-07-12 11:43:47 Archive.zip
drwxrwxrwx  0  0       2048 2008-07-12 11:16:59 Cortex
-rw-r--r--  0  0          8 2008-07-12 11:13:52 Deskbar_security_code
-rw-r--r--  0  0         43 2008-07-12 11:45:42 Deskbar_settings
-rw-r--r--  0  0         28 2008-07-12 11:44:08 DiskProbe_data
-rw-r--r--  0  0        233 2008-07-12 11:24:08 DriveSetup
-rw-r--r--  0  0         31 2008-07-12 11:44:19 Expander_Settings
-rw-r--r--  0  0         50 2008-07-12 11:37:32 Font_Settings
-rw-r--r--  0  0       7691 2008-07-12 11:13:51 Key_map
----------  0  0         35 2008-07-12 11:37:32 Magnify_prefs
drwxr-xr-x  0  0       2048 2008-07-12 11:24:17 Media
-rw-r--r--  0  0         44 2008-07-12 11:16:42 MediaPrefs Settings
-rw-r--r--  0  0         44 2008-07-12 11:32:15 Mouse_settings
-rw-r--r--  0  0          8 2008-07-12 11:35:19 Screen_data
drwxr-xr-x  0  0       2048 2008-07-12 11:13:53 Tracker
-rw-r--r--  0  0          8 2008-07-12 11:17:16 VM_data
-rw-r--r--  0  0         55 2008-07-12 11:43:47 ZipOMatic.msg
drwxr-xr-x  0  0       2048 2008-07-12 09:11:28 beos_mime
drwxr-xr-x  0  0       2048 2008-07-12 09:10:57 kernel
-rw-r--r--  0  0        119 2008-07-12 11:45:43 print_server_settings
drwxr-xr-x  0  0       2048 2008-07-12 09:10:58 printers
drwxr-xr-x  0  0       2048 2008-07-12 11:13:50 system
-rw-------  0  0          1 2008-07-12 11:38:01 time_dststatus
-rw-r--r--  0  0         59 2008-07-12 11:45:42 x-vnd.Haiku-desklink
Now I'll copy a file I created in Haiku (/haiku/home/config/settings/Archive.zip) to Linux.
fssh:/> cp myfs/home/config/settings/Archive.zip :/home/pieter
The cp command copied source file myfs/home/config/settings/Archive.zip to destination path :/home/pieter. You can also copy something in the other direction. When you're done, type exit.
fssh:/> exit
...updated 1 target(s)...

The Profile Way

If I understand correctly, build profiles allow you to have different, well, build profiles. You can define a few and simply type jam -q @<profile_name> to compile that profile. When you've created build profiles, you will want to build Haiku this way now. Seems pretty useful to me, saves you a lot of modifying the UserBuildConfig if you have a lot of different images/partitions to build haiku on. If someone has more details on this, please let me know and I'll incorporate it here.
  1. Read the trunk/build/jam/UserBuildConfig.ReadMe. It has some useful things explained.
  2. Set up build profiles: Copy the Build Profiles section from the UserBuildConfig.ReadMe to UserBuildConfig. They should both be located in trunk/build/jam. If you don't have a UserBuildConfig yet, create one first.
  3. Use the jam -q @<profile_name> mount to start bfs_shell on a profile (pick the profile that applies to you, for me it is jam -q @disk mount). Again, you might need sudo for partitions, and you won't need it for images. If you previously had set up the UserBuildConfig from the tutorial linked above, you may want to move the usual lines you had and place them in the right case "<profile_name>" : { section of the UserBuildConfig.
  4. So after you've typed sudo jam -q @disk mount, you will be greeted by the fssh:/> prompt.
    pieter@pieter-laptop:~/develop/haiku/trunk$ sudo jam -q @disk mount
    ...found 675 target(s)...
    ...updating 1 target(s)...
    RunCommandLine1 run_0 
    bfs: mounted "Haiku" (root node at 262144, device = /dev/sda57)
    fssh:/>
    
    Now you work with the same commands as with the quick and dirty way. Start with help.

I hope this was useful, please let me know if you have any feedback.