mkfs

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 sys-
       tem.  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 number 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 enviroment variable.  Please see the
       file system-specific builder manual pages for further details.

OPTIONS
       -V     Produce verbose output, including all file system-specific  com-
              mands  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 speci-
              fied, the default file system type (currently ext2) is used.

       fs-options
              File system-specific options to be passed to the real file  sys-
              tem 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-specific 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.bfs(8),
       mkfs.ext2(8), mkfs.ext3(8), mkfs.minix(8), mkfs.msdos(8), mkfs.vfat(8),
       mkfs.xfs(8), mkfs.xiafs(8)



Version 1.9                        Jun 1995                            MKFS(8)