1MKFS(8)                     System Manager's Manual                    MKFS(8)
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NAME

6       mkfs - build a Linux file system
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SYNOPSIS

9       mkfs [-V] [-t fstype] [fs-options] filesys [blocks]
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DESCRIPTION

12       mkfs  is  used to build a Linux file system on a device, usually a hard
13       disk partition.  filesys is either the device  name  (e.g.   /dev/hda1,
14       /dev/sdb2),  or  a  regular  file  that  shall contain the file system.
15       blocks is the number of blocks to be used for the file system.
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17       The exit code returned by mkfs is 0 on success and 1 on failure.
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19       In actuality, mkfs is simply a front-end for the  various  file  system
20       builders (mkfs.fstype) available under Linux.  The file system-specific
21       builder is searched for in a number of directories like perhaps  /sbin,
22       /sbin/fs,  /sbin/fs.d,  /etc/fs,  /etc  (the precise list is defined at
23       compile time but at least contains /sbin and /sbin/fs), and finally  in
24       the  directories  listed  in the PATH environment variable.  Please see
25       the file system-specific builder manual pages for further details.
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OPTIONS

28       -V     Produce verbose output, including all file system-specific  com‐
29              mands  that are executed.  Specifying this option more than once
30              inhibits execution of any file system-specific  commands.   This
31              is really only useful for testing.
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33       -t fstype
34              Specifies  the  type  of file system to be built.  If not speci‐
35              fied, the default file system type (currently ext2) is used.
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37       fs-options
38              File system-specific options to be passed to the real file  sys‐
39              tem builder.  Although not guaranteed, the following options are
40              supported by most file system builders.
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42       -c     Check the device for bad blocks before building the file system.
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44       -l filename
45              Read the bad blocks list from filename
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47       -v     Produce verbose output.
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BUGS

50       All generic options must precede and not be combined with file  system-
51       specific  options.   Some  file system-specific programs do not support
52       the -v (verbose) option, nor return meaningful exit codes.  Also,  some
53       file  system-specific  programs  do not automatically detect the device
54       size and require the blocks parameter to be specified.
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AUTHORS

57       David Engel (david@ods.com)
58       Fred N. van Kempen (waltje@uwalt.nl.mugnet.org)
59       Ron Sommeling (sommel@sci.kun.nl)
60       The manual page was shamelessly adapted from Remy  Card's  version  for
61       the ext2 file system.
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SEE ALSO

64       fs(5),   badblocks(8),  fsck(8),  mkdosfs(8),  mke2fs(8),  mkfs.bfs(8),
65       mkfs.ext2(8), mkfs.ext3(8), mkfs.ext4(8), mkfs.minix(8), mkfs.msdos(8),
66       mkfs.vfat(8), mkfs.xfs(8), mkfs.xiafs(8)
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AVAILABILITY

69       The  mkfs command is part of the util-linux-ng package and is available
70       from ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux-ng/.
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74Version 1.9                        Jun 1995                            MKFS(8)
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