mkfs

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
       /etc/fs first, then in /etc 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 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 type is deduced by searching for
              filesys  in  /etc/fstab and using the corresponding
              entry.  If the type can not be deduced, the default
              file system type (currently minix) 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

       fsck(8),    mkfs.minix(8),    mkfs.ext(8),   mkfs.ext2(8),
       mkfs.xiafs(8).