ISO9660 reader cannot see deeply nested directories on Rock Ridge/Joliet images

[LSantha]

Summary

JNode's ISO9660 reader cannot see deeply nested directories on a Rock Ridge / Joliet ISO mastered with mkisofs -R -J. The directory and its files provably exist on the image (verified host-side with isoinfo), but on-guest the path reports "does not exist". Shallow directories on the same disc list fine.

Environment

• JNode 0.2.9-dev (x86 32-bit, cd-x86-lite), VirtualBox 7.2.6
• ISO mastered with mkisofs -o jnode-x86-lite.iso -R -J -b boot/grub/eltorito.s2 -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table <stage>
• Observed 2026-09-17

Reproduction

1. Stage a nested tree on the CD, e.g. ox/mauve/gnu/testlet/java/io/DataInputStream/ containing ReadReference.class, ReadStream.class (depth 7 incl. device root: sg0/ox/mauve/gnu/testlet/java/io/DataInputStream).
2. Re-master, cold boot (important: a snapshot-resume after an ISO change serves stale FS caches — always poweroff+start, see note below).
3. On guest:

   ls /devices/sg0/ox/mauve/gnu/testlet/java/io/DataInputStream
   # -> this file or directory does not exist
   ls /devices/sg0/ox/mauve
   # -> works, shows the [gnu] subdir and all loose files
   

4. Host-side verification that the files are on the image:

   isoinfo -R -f -i jnode-x86-lite.iso | grep DataInputStream
   # -> /ox/mauve/gnu/testlet/java/io/DataInputStream/ReadStream.class etc.
   ls staging/ox/mauve/gnu/testlet/java/io/DataInputStream/   # files present
   

Small subdirectories (2 files) at the same depth also fail, so this is not a multi-extent (large directory) problem — it looks like a maximum-depth limit or unhandled Rock Ridge relocation (RE) entries in fs/src/fs/org/jnode/fs/iso9660/.

A related symptom observed once (possibly confounded by a stale snapshot FS cache, so reported here only as a note): ls on an affected directory threw java.lang.StringIndexOutOfBoundsException: String index out of range from org.jnode.fs.iso9660.Descriptor.getDChars(Descriptor.java:172) via EntryRecord.getFileIdentifier(EntryRecord.java:140) / EntryRecord.<init>(EntryRecord.java:64). If directory parsing can fail, it should degrade to an error for that entry, not abort the whole listing.

Expected behavior

• Nested directories up to the ISO9660 limit (8 levels) list and read correctly, or
• a clear limitation is documented (help mount / filesystem docs).

Impact / workaround

Test corpora with package-shaped trees (e.g. mauve gnu/testlet/...) cannot be served from the CD; we fell back to staging loose files flat in one directory plus one explicitly-listed sibling (ReadStream.class). That caps corpus growth and forces per-file staging maintenance.

Triage Addendum (auto, 2026-09-25)

• Area / Kind: area/fs (Sub: ISO9660) / kind/bug
• Blast radius: L2 package (org.jnode.fs.iso9660; suspected EntryRecord/directory parsing, no public API or plugin-boundary change expected)
• Expected scope: pending trace; bound any fix to fs/src/fs/org/jnode/fs/iso9660/ and focused filesystem tests, with no ASM, public API, or boot-path changes
• Test path: sh build.sh -f fs/build-tests.xml all-junit, then cold-boot a cd-x86-lite image and repeat the nested lookup
• Merge signal: human-review (insufficient signal: incomplete bug repro and filesystem behavior change)
• Gaps: blocking: reporter must provide the JNode commit SHA, complete VirtualBox/QEMU cold-boot command, and 20-60 line console excerpt around the failed lookup or exception
• Full report: ## Triage comment below.

---

❌ Ticket Runner Status

Field	Value
Phase	FAILED
Turn	0/3
Retries	3/3
PR	-
Started	2026-09-25T00:53:32.241Z

[LSantha]

/oc triage

[LSantha]

Triage

• Area: area/fs (best match; Sub: ISO9660 directory-record parsing in org.jnode.fs.iso9660)
• Kind: kind/bug
• Repro: needs more info from reporter
• Blast radius: L2 package (org.jnode.fs.iso9660; likely EntryRecord/ISO9660Directory parsing, no plugin export indicated); exact scope pending the build and boot trace
• Expected scope: pending answers; likely ISO9660 directory-record parsing, with no ASM, public API, or boot-path changes unless the evidence requires them
• Test path: sh build.sh -f fs/build-tests.xml all-junit, plus a cold-boot ISO reproduction; exact VirtualBox/QEMU command is required
• Merge signal: human-review (insufficient signal)
• Gaps: blocking: exact JNode build command and commit SHA, exact cold-boot command, and a serial-console or test log excerpt around the failed lookup or StringIndexOutOfBoundsException
• Suggested next: needs-info
• Split proposal: none yet - focused
• Labels applied: kind/bug, area/fs, no-auto (retained)

Needs the following before work can start:

1. Provide the exact JNode build command and commit SHA used to produce the ISO.
2. Provide the complete VirtualBox or QEMU command used for the cold boot.
3. Attach a 20-60 line serial-console excerpt around the failing nested lookup; include the StringIndexOutOfBoundsException trace if reproducible.

Auto-run: skipped (no-auto)

[LSantha]

(empty)

opencode session  |  github run

[LSantha]

/run

[LSantha]

/oc Please proceed with this task.

[LSantha]

/oc Please proceed with this task.

[LSantha]

Working on this. Run: 36082952118\nPlan: reproduce the nested Rock Ridge/Joliet layout, patch ISO9660 directory parsing, and verify focused tests plus cold-boot lookup.

[LSantha]

/oc Please proceed with this task.