mkfs

 

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 MKFS(8)                                                   MKFS(8)
 
 
 
NAME
        mkfs - build a Linux file system
 
SYNOPSIS
        mkfs  [ -V ] [ -t fstype ] [ fs-options ] filesys [ blocks
        ]
 
DESCRIPTION
        mkfs is used to build a Linux file  system  on  a  device,
        usually  a  hard  disk  partition.   filesys is either the
        device name (e.g.   /dev/hda1,  /dev/sdb2)  or  the  mount
        point  (e.g.  /, /usr, /home) for the file system.  blocks
        is the number of blocks to be used for the file system.
 
        The exit code returned by mkfs is 0 on success  and  1  on
        failure.
 
        In  actuality,  mkfs is simply a front-end for the various
        file system builders (mkfs.fstype) available under  Linux.
        The file system-specific builder is searched for in a num­
        ber  of  directories   like   perhaps   /sbin,   /sbin/fs,
        /sbin/fs.d,  /etc/fs, /etc (the precise list is defined at
        compile time but at least contains  /sbin  and  /sbin/fs),
        and  finally in the directories listed in the PATH enviro­
        ment  variable.   Please  see  the  file   system-specific
        builder manual pages for further details.
 
OPTIONS
        -V     Produce  verbose output, including all file system-
               specific commands that  are  executed.   Specifying
               this  option  more  than once inhibits execution of
               any file system-specific commands.  This is  really
               only useful for testing.
 
        -t fstype
               Specifies  the type of file system to be built.  If
               not specified, the default file system  type  (cur­
               rently ext2) is used.
 
        fs-options
               File  system-specific  options  to be passed to the
               real file system builder.  Although not guaranteed,
               the  following  options  are supported by most file
               system builders.
 
        -c     Check the device for bad blocks before building the
               file system.
 
        -l filename
               Read the bad blocks list from filename
 
        -v     Produce verbose output.
 
 BUGS
        All  generic options must precede and not be combined with
        file system-specific options.  Some  file  system-specific
        programs  do  not  support  the  -v  (verbose) option, nor
        return meaningful exit codes.  Also, some file system-spe­
        cific programs do not automatically detect the device size
        and require the blocks parameter to be specified.
 
AUTHORS
        David Engel (david@ods.com)
        Fred N. van Kempen (waltje@uwalt.nl.mugnet.org)
        Ron Sommeling (sommel@sci.kun.nl)
        The manual page was shamelessly adapted from  Remy  Card's
        version for the ext2 file system.
 
SEE ALSO
        fs(5),   badblocks(8),   fsck(8),  mkdosfs(8),  mke2fs(8),
        mkfs.ext2(8), mkfs.minix(8),  mkfs.msdos(8),  mkfs.xfs(8),
        mkfs.xiafs(8)
 
 
 
 Version 1.9                  Jun 1995                     MKFS(8)

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