
	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.  It
allows you to view and edit disk blocks in hex or ASCII mode.  You can
also view inodes and the superblock (one day, possibly soon, editing
of the inode will be supported as an inode -- now you have to wade
through the disk as blocks if you want to modify something, but I was
able to restore an ext2fs partition upon which I had accidently created an
xiafs file system).

	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 which details what I think you might try to recover a
file.

	This project started as a major hack to fsck.  In the last few
months, most of the fsck code has evaporated as I have 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.

				Scott D. Heavner
				sdh@po.cwru.edu
				March 22, 1994

Original release date: November 11, 1993

	If you find this useful, send me money, email, or a postcard
-- you're welcome to do any or all three.  The code is GPL'ed, so
you're not obligated to do any.  I didn't get a single response
regarding the first release back in November -- maybe I need to get
myself a PR man.

To inspire you further:         Scott Heavner
                                12810 Fairhill #12
                                Shaker Heights, OH 44120 - USA


