1e2fsck.conf(5)                File Formats Manual               e2fsck.conf(5)
2
3
4

NAME

6       e2fsck.conf - Configuration file for e2fsck
7

DESCRIPTION

9       e2fsck.conf  is  the configuration file for e2fsck(8).  It controls the
10       default behavior of  e2fsck(8)  while  it  is  checking  ext2  or  ext3
11       filesystems.
12
13       The  e2fsck.conf  file uses an INI-style format.  Stanzas, or top-level
14       sections, are delimited by square braces: [ ].   Within  each  section,
15       each  line  defines  a  relation, which assigns tags to values, or to a
16       subsection, which contains further relations or subsections.  An  exam‐
17       ple  of  the  INI-style  format used by this configuration file follows
18       below:
19
20            [section1]
21                 tag1 = value_a
22                 tag1 = value_b
23                 tag2 = value_c
24
25            [section 2]
26                 tag3 = {
27                      subtag1 = subtag_value_a
28                      subtag1 = subtag_value_b
29                      subtag2 = subtag_value_c
30                 }
31                 tag1 = value_d
32                 tag2 = value_e
33            }
34
35       Comments are delimited by a semicolon (';') or a hash  ('#')  character
36       at  the beginning of the comment, and are terminated by the end of line
37       character.
38
39       Tags and values must be quoted using double quotes if they contain spa‐
40       ces.   Within  a  quoted string, the standard backslash interpretations
41       apply: "\n" (for the newline character), "\t" (for the tab  character),
42       "\b" (for the backspace character), and "\\" (for the backslash charac‐
43       ter).
44
45       The following stanzas are used in the e2fsck.conf file.  They  will  be
46       described in more detail in future sections of this document.
47
48       [options]
49              This   stanza  contains  general  configuration  parameters  for
50              e2fsck's behavior.
51
52       [problems]
53              This stanza allows the administrator to reconfigure  how  e2fsck
54              handles various filesystem inconsistencies.
55
56       [scratch_files]
57              This  stanza  controls  when  e2fsck will attempt to use scratch
58              files to reduce the need for memory.
59

THE [options] STANZA

61       The following relations are defined in the [options] stanza.
62
63       allow_cancellation
64              If this relation is set to a boolean value of true, then if  the
65              user  interrupts  e2fsck  using  ^C,  and  the filesystem is not
66              explicitly flagged as containing errors, e2fsck will  exit  with
67              an  exit  status  of  0 instead of 32.  This setting defaults to
68              false.
69
70       accept_time_fudge
71              Unfortunately, due to Windows' unfortunate  design  decision  to
72              configure  the  hardware clock to tick localtime, instead of the
73              more proper and less error-prone UTC time, many users end up  in
74              the  situation  where the system clock is incorrectly set at the
75              time when e2fsck is run.
76
77              Historically this was usually due to some  distributions  having
78              buggy  init  scripts  and/or  installers  that  didn't correctly
79              detect this case and take appropriate countermeasures.  However,
80              it's still possible, despite the best efforts of init script and
81              installer authors to not be able to  detect  this  misconfigura‐
82              tion,  usually  due  to  a buggy or misconfigured virtualization
83              manager or the installer not having access  to  a  network  time
84              server during the installation process.  So by default, we allow
85              the superblock times to be fudged by up to 24 hours.   This  can
86              be disabled by setting accept_time_fudge to the boolean value of
87              false.  This setting defaults to true.
88
89       broken_system_clock
90              The e2fsck(8) program has some heuristics that assume  that  the
91              system clock is correct.  In addition, many system programs make
92              similar assumptions.  For example, the UUID library  depends  on
93              time  not going backwards in order for it to be able to make its
94              guarantees about issuing universally unique ID's.  Systems  with
95              broken  system clocks, are well, broken.  However, broken system
96              clocks, particularly in embedded systems, do exist.  E2fsck will
97              attempt  to  use  heuristics to determine if the time can not be
98              trusted; and to skip time-based checks if this is true.  If this
99              boolean  is set to true, then e2fsck will always assume that the
100              system clock can not be trusted.
101
102       clear_test_fs_flag
103              This boolean relation controls whether  or  not  e2fsck(8)  will
104              offer to clear the test_fs flag if the ext4 filesystem is avail‐
105              able on the system.  It defaults to true.
106
107       defer_check_on_battery
108              This boolean relation  controls  whether  or  not  the  interval
109              between  filesystem  checks  (either  based on time or number of
110              mounts) should be doubled if the system is running  on  battery.
111              This setting defaults to true.
112
113       indexed_dir_slack_percentage
114              When  e2fsck(8)  repacks a indexed directory, reserve the speci‐
115              fied percentage of empty space in each leaf nodes so that a  few
116              new entries can be added to the directory without splitting leaf
117              nodes, so that the average fill  ratio  of  directories  can  be
118              maintained  at  a  higher,  more efficient level.  This relation
119              defaults to 20 percent.
120

THE [problems] STANZA

122       Each tag in the [problems] stanza names a problem code specified with a
123       leading  "0x"  followed  by  six hex digits.  The value of the tag is a
124       subsection where the relations in that subsection override the  default
125       treatment of that particular problem code.
126
127       Note  that  inappropriate  settings  in this stanza may cause e2fsck to
128       behave incorrectly, or even crash.  Most system  administrators  should
129       not be making changes to this section without referring to source code.
130
131       Within each problem code's subsection, the following tags may be used:
132
133       description
134              This  relation  allows  the  message  which is printed when this
135              filesystem inconsistency is detected to be overridden.
136
137       preen_ok
138              This boolean relation overrides the default behavior controlling
139              whether  this  filesystem  problem should be automatically fixed
140              when e2fsck is running in preen mode.
141
142       no_ok  This boolean relation overrides the default behavior determining
143              whether  or not the filesystem will be marked as inconsistent if
144              the user declines to fix the reported problem.
145
146       no_default
147              This boolean relation overrides whether the default  answer  for
148              this problem (or question) should be "no".
149
150       preen_nomessage
151              This boolean relation overrides the default behavior controlling
152              whether or not  the  description  for  this  filesystem  problem
153              should be suppressed when e2fsck is running in preen mode.
154
155       no_nomsg
156              This boolean relation overrides the default behavior controlling
157              whether or not  the  description  for  this  filesystem  problem
158              should be suppressed when e2fsck is run with the -n option.
159

THE [scratch_files] STANZA

161       The following relations are defined in the [scratch_files] stanza.
162
163       directory
164              If the directory named by this relation exists and is writeable,
165              then e2fsck will attempt to use this directory to store  scratch
166              files instead of using in-memory data structures.
167
168       numdirs_threshold
169              If  this relation is set, then in-memory data structures be used
170              if the number of directories in the filesystem  are  fewer  than
171              amount specified.
172
173       dirinfo
174              This relation controls whether or not the scratch file directory
175              is used instead of an in-memory  data  structure  for  directory
176              information.  It defaults to true.
177
178       icount This relation controls whether or not the scratch file directory
179              is used instead of an in-memory  data  structure  when  tracking
180              inode counts.  It defaults to true.
181

EXAMPLES

183       The  following recipe will prevent e2fsck from aborting during the boot
184       process when a filesystem contains orphaned files.  (Of course, this is
185       not  always  a  good idea, since critical files that are needed for the
186       security of the system could potentially  end  up  in  lost+found,  and
187       starting  the  system without first having a system administrator check
188       things out may be dangerous.)
189
190            [problems]
191                 0x040002 = {
192                      preen_ok = true
193                      description = "@u @i %i.  "
194                 }
195

FILES

197       /etc/e2fsck.conf
198              The configuration file for e2fsck(8).
199

SEE ALSO

201       e2fsck(8)
202
203
204
205E2fsprogs version 1.41.12          May 2010                     e2fsck.conf(5)
Impressum