In this document, you will find instructions on how to get started using Linsk on macOS.
# How Linsk works
As you probably have realized from the initial README, Linsk takes use of a lightweight Alpine Linux virtual machine to tap into the rich world of Linux filesystems.
Linsk will pass through the disk as a raw block device to an ephemeral virtual machine, set up a file share, and then expose it to your host computer, along with logging the file share connection details. It's as simple as that.
## Step 2. Use `linsk ls` to see what partitions are available in the VM
Run `linsk ls` while specifying the block device path you obtained in the previous step:
```sh
sudo linsk ls dev:/dev/diskX
```
You will then see something like this:
```
# linsk command output
time=2023-09-03T10:37:35.728+01:00 level=WARN msg="Using raw block device passthrough. Please note that it's YOUR responsibility to ensure that no device is mounted in your OS and the VM at the same time. Otherwise, you run serious risks. No further warnings will be issued." caller=vm
time=2023-09-03T10:37:35.730+01:00 level=INFO msg="Booting the VM" caller=vm
time=2023-09-03T10:37:45.742+01:00 level=INFO msg="The VM is up, setting it up" caller=vm
time=2023-09-03T10:37:48.578+01:00 level=INFO msg="The VM is ready" caller=vm
NAME SIZE FSTYPE LABEL
vda 1G
├─vda1 300M ext4
├─vda2 256M swap
└─vda3 467M ext4
vdb 10.5T
├─vdb1 2T crypto_LUKS
├─vdb2 1.5T ext4
├─vdb3 1.5T crypto_LUKS
└─vdb4 5.5T LVM2_member
├─vghdd-archive 3T crypto_LUKS
└─vghdd-media 2.5T xfs
time=2023-09-03T10:37:49.075+01:00 level=WARN msg="Canceling the VM context" caller=vm
time=2023-09-03T10:37:49.105+01:00 level=WARN msg="Sending poweroff command to the VM" caller=vm
time=2023-09-03T10:37:49.117+01:00 level=INFO msg="Shutting the VM down safely" caller=vm
```
Filtering the logs out, this is the point of your interest:
```
NAME SIZE FSTYPE LABEL
vda 1G
├─vda1 300M ext4
├─vda2 256M swap
└─vda3 467M ext4
vdb 10.5T
├─vdb1 2T crypto_LUKS
├─vdb2 1.5T ext4
├─vdb3 1.5T crypto_LUKS
└─vdb4 5.5T LVM2_member
├─vghdd-archive 3T crypto_LUKS
└─vghdd-media 2.5T xfs
```
This is an output of `lsblk` command Linsk ran for you under the VM's hood.
You should ignore `vda` drive as this is the system drive you have the Alpine Linux installation on. Assuming that you used raw device passthrough, commonly, `vdb` is going to be the drive you passed through. But please note that this may not always be the case, and you should inspect the output above and confirm that the partitions shown match your drive.
## Step 3. Run Linsk
Let's assume that we decided to run Linsk with the `vdb2``ext4` volume we found in the previous step. To do so, you may execute the following command:
-`dev:dev/diskX` - Tell Linsk to pass through the drive path you obtained from step 1.
-`vdb2` - Tell Linsk to mount `/dev/vdb2` inside the filesystem. This was gathered from step 2.
-`ext4` - Tell Linsk to use the Ext4 file system. As with the `vdb2`, this was acquired from step 2. **NOTE:** Specifying the file system is **REQUIRED**—you need to explicitly tell Linsk what filesystem you want to use.
Upon running, you will see logs similar to this in your terminal:
```
# linsk command output
time=2023-09-03T10:53:57.385+01:00 level=WARN msg="Using raw block device passthrough. Please note that it's YOUR responsibility to ensure that no device is mounted in your OS and the VM at the same time. Otherwise, you run serious risks. No further warnings will be issued." caller=vm
time=2023-09-03T10:53:57.387+01:00 level=INFO msg="Booting the VM" caller=vm
time=2023-09-03T10:54:07.397+01:00 level=INFO msg="The VM is up, setting it up" caller=vm
time=2023-09-03T10:54:11.662+01:00 level=INFO msg="The VM is ready" caller=vm
time=2023-09-03T10:54:11.906+01:00 level=INFO msg="Mounting the device" dev=vdb2 fs=ext4 luks=false
time=2023-09-03T10:54:12.363+01:00 level=INFO msg="Started the network share successfully" backend=afp
===========================
[Network File Share Config]
The network file share was started. Please use the credentials below to connect to the file server.
At this point, you can start Finder, hit Command+K and put in the server URL copied from the output above, along with a static `linsk` username and a randomly generated password. If you need help, you can find more information on this here: https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/mchlp1140/mac.
**That's it!** After that, you should see the network share mounted successfully. That means that you can now access the files on the `vdb2` Ext4 volume right from your Mac.
Linsk supports LVM2. You can mount LVM2 drives by specifying `mapper/<device name>` as the VM device name. Let's assume that you want to mount `vghdd-media` with XFS filesystem you found in the `linsk ls` output above. To do so, you may run:
sudo linsk run dev:/dev/diskX mapper/vghdd-media xfs
```
## Use LUKS with `cryptsetup`
As well as with LVM2, LUKS via `cryptsetup` is natively supported by Linsk. To mount LUKS volumes, you may specify the `-l` flag in `linsk run` command. Let's assume that we want to access LUKS-encrypted volume `vghdd-archive` we found in the `linsk ls` example provided in step 2. To mount it, you may execute:
sudo linsk run -l dev:/dev/diskX mapper/vghdd-archive ext4
```
`-l` flag tells Linsk that it is a LUKS volume, and Linsk will prompt you for the password. Combined, your terminal will look like this:
```
# linsk command output
time=2023-09-03T11:44:55.962+01:00 level=WARN msg="Using raw block device passthrough. Please note that it's YOUR responsibility to ensure that no device is mounted in your OS and the VM at the same time. Otherwise, you run serious risks. No further warnings will be issued." caller=vm
time=2023-09-03T11:44:55.964+01:00 level=INFO msg="Booting the VM" caller=vm
time=2023-09-03T11:45:05.975+01:00 level=INFO msg="The VM is up, setting it up" caller=vm
time=2023-09-03T11:45:08.472+01:00 level=INFO msg="The VM is ready" caller=vm
time=2023-09-03T11:45:08.709+01:00 level=INFO msg="Mounting the device" dev=mapper/vghdd-archive fs=ext4 luks=true
time=2023-09-03T11:45:08.740+01:00 level=INFO msg="Attempting to open a LUKS device" caller=file-manager vm-path=/dev/mapper/vghdd-archive
Enter Password: <you will get prompted for the password here>
time=2023-09-03T11:46:08.444+01:00 level=INFO msg="LUKS device opened successfully" caller=file-manager vm-path=/dev/mapper/vghdd-archive
time=2023-09-03T11:46:08.642+01:00 level=INFO msg="Started the network share successfully" backend=afp
===========================
[Network File Share Config]
The network file share was started. Please use the credentials below to connect to the file server.
This example showed how you can use LUKS with LVM2 volumes, but that doesn't mean that you can't use volumes without LVM. You can specify plain device paths like `vdb3` without any issue.
