minfo

minfo [OPTIONS] Msdos_file [Msdos_file ...]

Where:
OPTIONS are zero or more of the command-line options.
Msdos_file refers to the path of the file(s) within the MS-DOS filesystem to query.

-n
    Do not print the filename before displaying the file information.

-r
    Produce raw output. This option prints the MS-DOS file attributes in their raw, numerical format.

-s
    Display statistics about the file, such as its size in bytes and the number of clusters it occupies.

-i
    Specify the MS-DOS image file (e.g., a disk image) from which to read the MS-DOS filesystem. If not provided, minfo will attempt to use default configurations or environment variables like MTOOLS_FAT_INFO to determine the target.

The minfo command is part of the mtools suite, a collection of utilities for accessing MS-DOS filesystems from Unix-like operating systems. It allows users to retrieve detailed information about specific files residing on an MS-DOS formatted disk, floppy image, or partition. This includes attributes like file size, creation date, last modification date, and MS-DOS file attributes (e.g., read-only, hidden, system, archive). It's particularly useful when dealing with legacy data or disk images where direct mounting of the MS-DOS filesystem might be impractical or undesirable, providing a non-intrusive way to inspect file metadata.

minfo primarily operates on MS-DOS file systems. It does not work directly with native Linux file systems. To function correctly, it often relies on the mtools configuration file (typically /etc/mtools.conf or ~/.mtools) to define the MS-DOS devices or disk images to be accessed. Without proper configuration or the -i option, minfo might not find the specified MS-DOS file.

The command's functionality is somewhat analogous to the stat command for native Linux files, but specifically adapted for the nuances of the MS-DOS filesystem structure and attributes. While stat provides metadata for files on native Linux filesystems, minfo extracts similar but DOS-specific metadata from files within an MS-DOS image or partition.

The mtools package, which includes minfo, has a long history dating back to the early days of Unix-like systems needing to interoperate with MS-DOS formatted media. It was developed to provide command-line utilities for accessing and manipulating MS-DOS filesystems without needing to mount them via the kernel's FAT filesystem driver. Its development was crucial before robust kernel-level FAT support became standard, allowing for easy transfer and management of files between DOS and Unix environments, particularly useful for floppy disk operations.

mtools(1), mdir(1), mcopy(1), mtype(1), mattrib(1), mformat(1), mkmanifest(1)