text: """
  Copyright 2019, CCL (SOLUTIONS) Group Ltd.
  
  Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated
  documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the
  rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit
  persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
  
  The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the
  Software.
  
  THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE
  WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR
  COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR
  OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
  """
  
  __version__ = "0.1.0"
  __description__ = "Dumps a full image from a chain of differencing VHDX files"
  __contact__ = "Alex Caithness"
  
  import sys
  import pathlib
  import ccl_vhdx
  
  # TODO: define a way for providing fallback metas?
  
  
  def main(args):
      out_path = pathlib.Path(args[0])
      is_resilient = True
  
      virtual_disks = []
      for i, p in enumerate(args[1:]):
          fallback_meta = dict(ccl_vhdx.SENSIBLE_FALLBACK_METAS)
          fallback_meta["HasParent"] = i != 0
          vhdx_path = pathlib.Path(p)
          if not vhdx_path.is_file():
              print(f"ERROR: \"{p}\" does not exist.")
              exit(1)
  
          v = ccl_vhdx.VhdxFile(vhdx_path, ignore_faults=is_resilient, fallback_metas=fallback_meta)
          if i == 0 and v.metas["HasParent"]:
              print("ERROR: The first VHDX cannot be differencing.")
              exit(1)
  
          virtual_disks.append(v)
  
      if not virtual_disks:
          print("ERROR: You must provide at least one VHDX file as input")
  
      # we take the sector count from the base vhdx
      sector_count = virtual_disks[0].virtual_disk_size // virtual_disks[0].logical_sector_size
  
      with out_path.open("xb") as out:
          for sector_number in range(sector_count):
              allocated_vhdx = None
              for i in range(len(virtual_disks) - 1, -1, -1):
                  if virtual_disks[i].is_sector_allocated(sector_number):
                      allocated_vhdx = virtual_disks[i]
                      break
              if allocated_vhdx is None:
                  raise ValueError(f"No disk was allocated for sector {sector_number}")  # should be impossible
              out.write(allocated_vhdx.get_sector(sector_number))
  
  
  if __name__ == '__main__':
      if len(sys.argv) < 2:
          me = pathlib.Path(sys.argv[0]).name
          print("Dumps allocated data from a chain of VHDX files into an image file, attempting to deal with missing/"
                "invalid data")
          print(f"USAGE: {me} <out_file_path> [vhdx_file 1] [vhdx_file 2] ...")
          print()
          print("out_file_path: Output file (cannot already exist)")
          print("vhdx_file:     One or more VHDX files, ordered parent first")
          print()
          exit(0)
      main(sys.argv[1:])
  