Laurence Horrocks-Barlow 74b210a702 Add README, runbook, per-script docs, CHANGELOG and LICENSE.

Documents the organise-isos and generate-ventoy-json workflow end-to-end:
quick start in the README, full procedure with troubleshooting and recovery
in docs/RUNBOOK.md, and reference docs for each script covering parameters,
parsing rules, category groupings, and extensibility. Ships a YOLO licence
(no warranty) and seeds CHANGELOG.md for the v0.1.0 release.

2026-05-21 10:33:10 +01:00

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ventoy-extras

PowerShell helpers for keeping a tidy Ventoy USB drive. Drops a pile of randomly-named ISOs into a sensible directory tree, then generates a categorised ventoy.json so the boot menu groups them by OS family instead of vomiting one flat list.

Two scripts, no dependencies beyond Windows PowerShell 5.1 (or PowerShell 7+).

Scripts

Script	Purpose
`organise-isos.ps1`	Parse ISO filenames, infer `os/version/arch`, move into `iso-library\<os>\<version>\<arch>\`
`generate-ventoy-json.ps1`	Walk that tree and emit `ventoy.json` with a per-family submenu structure

Quick start

# 1. Drop all your downloaded ISOs into a working directory, then:
.\organise-isos.ps1 -SourceDir .\downloads -DestDir .\iso-library -DryRun
# Review the planned moves, then re-run without -DryRun
.\organise-isos.ps1 -SourceDir .\downloads -DestDir .\iso-library

# 2. Generate the ventoy menu config:
.\generate-ventoy-json.ps1 -IsoRoot .\iso-library -OutFile .\ventoy.json

# 3. Copy iso-library\ to the root of your Ventoy USB, and copy
#    ventoy.json into the ventoy\ folder on that same drive.

That's the whole workflow. See docs/RUNBOOK.md for the detailed operational walkthrough, and the per-script docs for the gory bits.

Documentation

docs/RUNBOOK.md — end-to-end procedure, troubleshooting, recovery
docs/organise-isos.md — parameters, naming rules, OS detection map
docs/generate-ventoy-json.md — parameters, category groupings, menu layout
docs/directory-layout.md — what the on-disk tree looks like and why

Directory layout produced

iso-library\
  ubuntu\
    24.04\
      x86_64\
        ubuntu-24.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso
  debian\
    12\
      x86_64\
        debian-12.5.0-amd64-netinst.iso
  rocky\
    9\
      aarch64\
        Rocky-9.3-aarch64-minimal.iso
  ...

Three levels: OS slug, version, architecture. Ventoy follows directories transparently, so the same tree is what ends up on the USB.

Requirements

Windows PowerShell 5.1 or PowerShell 7+
A Ventoy USB drive (set up separately — see ventoy.net)
Enough disk space to hold your ISO collection twice during reorganisation

License

YOLO LICENSE — do whatever you want with it, no warranty, things may blow up.

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