sync

NAME

       sync - flush Linux filesystem buffers

SYNOPSIS

       sync

DESCRIPTION

       sync   executes  sync(2),  which  flushes  the  filesystem
       buffers to disk.  sync should be called before the proces-
       sor is halted in an unusual manner (i.e., before causing a
       kernel panic when debugging new kernel code).  In general,
       the  processor  should  be  halted using the reboot(8), or
       halt(8) commands, which will attempt to put the system  in
       a quiescent state before calling sync(2).

       From Linus: "Note that sync is only guaranteed to schedule
       the dirty blocks for writing: it can actually take a short
       time  before  all  the blocks are finally written.  If you
       are doing the sync with the  expectation  of  killing  the
       machine  soon  after,  please  take  this into account and
       sleep for a few seconds.   [The  reboot(8)  command  takes
       these precautions.]

SEE ALSO

       sync(2), update(8), reboot(8), halt(8)

AUTHOR

       Linus Torvalds (torvalds@cs.helsinki.fi)