0.0.9

🎉 MkPFS 0.0.9 is released!

🤖 What's Changed

• Add full exFAT support: pure-Python exFAT writer/reader and a new pack exfat command (create raw .exfat images).
• Default pack folder now produces an exFAT-wrapped .ffpfsc (more compatible); keep --raw to opt out and pack PFS directly.
• Unpack/verify/tree now understand wrapped exFAT images:
  • tree --deep lists files inside a wrapped exFAT
  • unpack --deep --only lets you cherry-pick files/folders from a wrapped exFAT
  • verify can compare/inspect exFAT images
• Performance improvements: multicore compression for the fused exFAT path and faster unpacking (zlib-ng backend).
• Stability and memory safety: bound in-flight blocks in the multi-worker PFSC encoder to cap memory usage.
• Sanity fixes: exclude OS-generated metadata from source/image verification comparisons.
• Quality-of-life: option to hide progress bars on some commands, various docs/README updates and dependency upgrades.

🚀 Quick Start

# Install/Update using pip
python -m pip install -U "mkpfs"

# Creating Images: Option 1: .exfat -> .ffpfsc (Works with ShadowMountPlus)  (Maximum compatibility)
python -m mkpfs pack file './BREW1234.exfat' './BREW1234.ffpfsc'

# Creating Images: Option 2: .ffpkg -> .ffpfsc (Works with ShadowMountPlus) 
python -m mkpfs pack file './BREW1234.ffpkg' './BREW1234.ffpfsc'

# Creating Images: Option 3: Game folder -> .ffpfsc in one pass (default: exFAT-wrapped, no temp file)
python -m mkpfs pack folder './BREW1234-app' './BREW1234.ffpfsc'

# Creating Images: Option 4: Game folder packed directly as PFS (advanced single-pass)
python -m mkpfs pack folder --raw './BREW1234-app/' './BREW1234.ffpfs'

# Creating Images: Option 5: Game folder wrapped twice into PFS (advanced two-pass)
python -m mkpfs pack folder --raw --no-compress --no-adjust-output-file-extension './BREW1234-app' './pfs_image.dat'
python -m mkpfs pack file './pfs_image.dat' './BREW1234.ffpfsc'
rm './pfs_image.dat'

# Extracting Existing Images (Reverse operation; --deep lists/extracts inside a wrapped exFAT)
python -m mkpfs unpack  --deep './BREW1234.ffpfsc' './BREW1234-extracted/'

⚠️ Limitations and Known Issues

• exfat->ffpfsc is the most stable format for compressed game backups. pack folder produces this layout by
  default: it wraps the folder in an exFAT image and compresses that into the .ffpfsc in a single pass, with no
  temporary .exfat on disk.
• pack folder --raw packs the folder directly into a PFS image without the exFAT wrapper. When file compression is
  enabled, the image is created and verification passes, but the console reads the files incorrectly due to technical
  limitations, so this advanced option provides no practical benefit for game backups. Prefer the default wrapped
  layout.
• With the default --block-size 65536, very small files can cause significant block-alignment waste, which may make
  the resulting image larger than the source in corner cases.
  • For small-file-heavy folders, prefer the two-pass strategy (raw-folder -> .dat -> .ffpfsc) or try a smaller
    block size such as --block-size 16384 or --block-size 32768.
• Antivirus scanning can reduce conversion speed, especially during the write phase or when processing many loose
  files. If you trust this software in your environment and need higher throughput, temporarily disabling real-time
  scanning can help. If you are unsure, keep antivirus enabled and expect slower conversions.

💖 Sponsorship

MkPFS is easier to sustain when users who benefit from it help fund it.

☕ Contributions

Other changes

• Add an option to hide progress bar in some commands (#70) @RenanGBarreto
• Add support to unpack, verify, and list files from exfat images (#68) @RenanGBarreto
• Platform-independent exFAT: pure-Python writer/reader, one-pass pack folder, deep read (#65) @rdmrocha
• AMPR emulation automated index and OS-metadata exclusion for folder packing (#63) @rdmrocha
• Faster unpack compression backend (#62) @rdmrocha
• Fix pack file command defaults and documentation (#59) @RenanGBarreto
• Improved logging (#58) @RenanGBarreto

Full Changelog: 0.0.8...0.0.9

0.0.8

🎉 MkPFS 0.0.8 is released!

🤖 What's Changed

• Several improvements and fixes related to image packing, unpacking, and verification.
• Added warnings to let the user know when they use experimental flag combinations
• Automatically rename inner image to avoid bad special characters introduced by the user

🚀 Quick Start

# Install/Update using pip
python -m pip install -U "mkpfs"

# Creating Images: Option 1: .exfat -> .ffpfsc (Works with ShadowMountPlus)  (Maximum compatibility)
python -m mkpfs pack file './BREW1234.exfat' './BREW1234.ffpfsc'

# Creating Images: Option 2: .ffpkg -> .ffpfsc (Works with ShadowMountPlus) 
python -m mkpfs pack file './BREW1234.ffpkg' './BREW1234.ffpfsc'

# Creating Images: Option 3: Game folder wrapped twice into .ffpfsc (two-pass) (Works with ShadowMountPlus) 
python -m mkpfs pack folder --no-compress --no-adjust-output-file-extension './BREW1234-app' './pfs_image.dat'
python -m mkpfs pack file './pfs_image.dat' './BREW1234.ffpfsc'
rm './pfs_image.dat'

# Creating Images: Option 4: Game folder without a wrapper (single-pass) (--no-compress) (Avoid; See Notes!)
python -m mkpfs pack folder --no-compress './BREW1234-app/' './BREW1234.ffpfs'

# Extracting Existing Images (Reverse operation)
python -m mkpfs unpack './BREW1234.ffpfs' './BREW1234-extracted/'

⚠️ Limitations and Known Issues

• exfat->ffpfsc is currently the most stable format for compressed game backups.
• Packing an application folder directly into an image without a wrapper (single-pass) does not work when
  file compression is enabled. Although the image is created and verification passes, the console reads the files
  incorrectly due to technical limitations, so this option provides no practical benefit.
• With the default --block-size 65536, very small files can cause significant block-alignment waste, which may make
  the resulting image larger than the source in corner cases.
  • For small-file-heavy folders, prefer the two-pass strategy (raw-folder -> .dat -> .ffpfsc) or try a smaller
    block size such as --block-size 16384 or --block-size 32768.
• Antivirus scanning can reduce conversion speed, especially during the write phase or when processing many loose
  files. If you trust this software in your environment and need higher throughput, temporarily disabling real-time
  scanning can help. If you are unsure, keep antivirus enabled and expect slower conversions.

💖 Sponsorship

MkPFS is easier to sustain when users who benefit from it help fund it.

☕ Contributions

Other changes

• feat(cli): stream pack files by default, add --use-spool opt-out (#54) @RenanGBarreto
• Make post-pack verification much faster by default (#53) @RenanGBarreto
• Add warnings and make compression task more stable for remote volumes (#52) @RenanGBarreto
• Fix inner image names that could break mounts (#51) @RenanGBarreto
• Warn when packing game/app folders directly with compression enabled or invalid configs (#48) @RenanGBarreto

Full Changelog: 0.0.7...0.0.8

0.0.7

🎉 MkPFS 0.0.7 is released!

🤖 What's Changed

• Several improvements and fixes related to image packing, unpacking, and verification.
• IMPORTANT: This version fixes a major bug related to compressing game backup folders (methods 3 and 4 below).
  • ⚠️ At this time, converting a game backup with exfat -> ffpfsc (method 1) remains the most stable workflow.
  • Direct conversion from a game folder may work for some titles, but it is still experimental.
  • The conversion methods below are ordered from best to worst.
  • If you run into issues, please report them at: https://github.com/PSBrew/MkPFS/issues

🚀 Quick Start

# Install/Update using pip
python -m pip install -U "mkpfs"

# Creating Images: Option 1: .exfat -> .ffpfsc (Works with ShadowMountPlus)  (Maximum compatibility)
python -m mkpfs pack file --verify './BREW1234.exfat' './BREW1234.exfat.ffpfsc'

# Creating Images: Option 2: .ffpkg -> .ffpfsc (Works with ShadowMountPlus) 
python -m mkpfs pack file --verify './BREW1234.ffpkg' './BREW1234.ffpkg.ffpfsc'

# Creating Images: Option 3: Game folder wrapped twice into .ffpfsc (two-pass) (Works with ShadowMountPlus) 
python -m mkpfs pack folder --verify --no-compress --no-adjust-output-file-extension './BREW1234-app' './pfs_image.dat'
python -m mkpfs pack file --verify './pfs_image.dat' './BREW1234.ffpfsc'
rm './pfs_image.dat'

# Creating Images: Option 4: Game folder without a wrapper (single-pass) (UNSTABLE) (Works with ShadowMountPlus) 
python -m mkpfs pack folder --verify './BREW1234-app/' './BREW1234.ffpfsc'

# Extracting Existing Images (Reverse operation)
python -m mkpfs unpack './BREW1234.ffpfs' './BREW1234-extracted/'

Note on conversion speed:

• Antivirus scanning can reduce conversion speed, especially during the writing phase or when processing many loose files.
  If you plan to convert many titles in bulk and you trust this software in your environment, you may temporarily disable
  real-time antivirus protection to speed up the process. If you are unsure, keep antivirus enabled and expect slower conversions.

Notes on stability:

• exfat->ffpfsc is the most stable solution at this moment.
• raw folder compression works, but has limitations for large game backups or if the folder contains too many small files. In that case, use exfat->ffpfsc instead.

💖 Sponsorship

MkPFS is easier to sustain when users who benefit from it help fund it.

☕ Contributions

Other changes

• Fixed corrupted PFS images on large game folders caused by wrong inode mapping after flat_path_table collisions (#43) @RenanGBarreto
• fix: preflight PFSC temp spool space checks (#34) @Eamo5
• fix: clean PFSC spools after compression failures (#38) @Eamo5
• Skip compression for executables or files that are too small (#33) @RenanGBarreto
• fix(cli): default min-compress-size to resolved block size (#32) @RenanGBarreto
• Several performance improvements (#30) @RenanGBarreto
• Spool-free streaming pack file (--no-spool) with flat-memory verify/unpack/tree (#19) @rdmrocha

Full Changelog: 0.0.6...0.0.7

0.0.6

🎉 MkPFS 0.0.6 is released!

MkPFS is a command-line tool and Python library for building, verifying, inspecting, browsing, and extracting
PlayStation FileSystem (PFS) disk images. It works with common image naming conventions such as .ffpfs, .ffpfsc,
.pfs, .dat, and .bin, and fits both direct image workflows and PKG or FPKG inner-PFS generation.

🤖 What's Changed

• Several performance improvements
• Better windows compatibility
• Reduce memory usage
• Made the default flags and parameters compatible with ShadowMountPlus
• Fixed issues related to temporary directories
• And other minor fixes

🚀 Quick Start

# Install/Update using pip
python -m pip install -U "mkpfs"

# Creating Images: Option 1: .exfat -> .ffpfsc (Works with ShadowMountPlus)  (Maximum compatibility)
python -m mkpfs pack file './BREW1234.exfat' './BREW1234.exfat.ffpfsc'

# Creating Images: Option 2: .ffpkg -> .ffpfsc (Works with ShadowMountPlus) 
python -m mkpfs pack file './BREW1234.ffpkg' './BREW1234.ffpkg.ffpfsc'

# Creating Images: Option 3: Game folder wrapped twice into .ffpfsc (two-pass) (Works with ShadowMountPlus) 
python -m mkpfs pack folder --no-compress --no-adjust-output-file-extension './BREW1234-app' './pfs_image.dat'
python -m mkpfs pack file './pfs_image.dat' './BREW1234.ffpfsc'
rm './pfs_image.dat'

# Creating Images: Option 4: Game folder without a wrapper (single-pass) (Experimental) (Works with ShadowMountPlus) 
python -m mkpfs pack folder './BREW1234-app/' './BREW1234.ffpfsc'

# Extracting Existing Images (Reverse operation)
python -m mkpfs unpack './BREW1234.ffpfs' './BREW1234-extracted/'

Note on conversion speed: Antivirus scanning can reduce conversion speed, especially during the writing phase or when processing many loose files.
If you plan to convert many titles in bulk and you trust this software in your environment, you may temporarily disable real-time antivirus protection to speed up the process.
If you are unsure, keep antivirus enabled and expect slower conversions.

💖 Sponsorship

MkPFS is easier to sustain when users who benefit from it help fund it.

☕ Contributions

• Several performance improvements (#30) @RenanGBarreto
• Spool-free streaming pack file (--no-spool) with flat-memory verify/unpack/tree (#19) @rdmrocha
• test(cli): assert help/output titles using dynamic version helpers (#28) @RenanGBarreto
• fix: fail-fast on non-ASCII filenames before compression starts (#25) @zyfcjtc
• Fix single-file staging fallback and gate game-file warnings in verify (#24) @copilot-swe-agent[bot]
• Add README note about antivirus impact on conversion speed (#20) @copilot-swe-agent[bot]
• Fix temp dir location for cross-drive hardlink failures on Windows (#15) @cherryduck

Full Changelog: 0.0.5...0.0.6

0.0.5

MAJOR BUG FIX

This relase solves a major issue present in versions 0.0.3 and 0.0.4. The files created by those versions were causing KP or not being loaded correctly due to an issue with the compression algorithm.

Full Changelog: 0.0.2...0.0.5

0.0.2

Python 3.8+ Support.

Full Changelog: 0.0.1...0.0.2

0.0.1

What's Changed

• First stable release with file compression support.

New Contributors

• @RenanGBarreto