MKFS linux command manual

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-spe-
       cific 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 sys-
              tem.

       -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)