poka.sh

Docs

EXT4

Generated by scripts/gen-format-pages.py from docs/data/format-metadata/, FILE_FORMATS.csv and docs/formats-master.csv. Do not edit by hand: change the source, then run the script.

ext4 Superblock Preview.

At a glance

Purpose An ext2, ext3 or ext4 file-system image: the Linux file system with a superblock at byte 1,024.
Extensions .ext4
Poka parser poka-ext4
Viewer poka-tree-viewer
Depth tier Parser with a shared viewer (see Depth tiers)
Breadth tier B4 Summary (see Breadth tiers)

How much Poka reads

B4 Summary. The container and metadata are read and summarised (counts, properties, structure), but the main content is not rendered.

Confidence: medium (the reviewer read the code). Basis: Reviewed 2026-10-26: read parsers/poka-ext4/src/main.rs (502 lines) and plugin.json. No unit tests or tests/samples.rs; the corpus has dissect-extfs_ext4_symlink_test1.ext4, read by no test. Covers .ext4, .ext2, .ext3, .ext4-fs and .extfs. The tree reads only the superblock: version, volume name, UUID, total and free size, block and inode sizes, inode and block counts, blocks per group, state, last mount point and times, mount count, and the compatible, incompatible and read-only feature flags. Judgement: B4: the file system's metadata is decoded, but no directory or file is read.

What Poka does not read

  • No directory or file is listed: inodes, directories and extents are not read
  • Group descriptors, the journal and backup superblocks are not read
  • A partitioned disk image (superblock not at byte 1,024) is not recognised
  • Superblock checksums are not verified

Libraries

Libraries Poka uses or has assessed for this format, with the status, licence and language the registry records.

Sources

  • parsers/poka-ext4/src/main.rs
  • parsers/poka-ext4/plugin.json