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1 | .\" Copyright 1996 Daniel Quinlan (Daniel.Quinlan@linux.org) |
2 | .\" | |
3 | .\" This is free documentation; you can redistribute it and/or | |
4 | .\" modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as | |
5 | .\" published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of | |
6 | .\" the License, or (at your option) any later version. | |
7 | .\" | |
8 | .\" The GNU General Public License's references to "object code" | |
9 | .\" and "executables" are to be interpreted as the output of any | |
10 | .\" document formatting or typesetting system, including | |
11 | .\" intermediate and printed output. | |
12 | .\" | |
13 | .\" This manual is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, | |
14 | .\" but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of | |
15 | .\" MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the | |
16 | .\" GNU General Public License for more details. | |
17 | .\" | |
18 | .\" You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public | |
19 | .\" License along with this manual; if not, write to the Free | |
20 | .\" Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, | |
21 | .\" USA. | |
22 | .\" | |
23 | .TH FILESYSTEMS 5 2001-12-07 "" "Linux Programmer's Manual" | |
24 | .nh | |
25 | .SH NAME | |
26 | filesystems \- Linux filesystem types: minix, ext, ext2, ext3, xia, msdos, | |
27 | umsdos, vfat, proc, nfs, iso9660, hpfs, sysv, smb, ncpfs | |
28 | .SH DESCRIPTION | |
29 | When, as is customary, the | |
30 | .B proc | |
31 | filesystem is mounted on | |
32 | .IR /proc , | |
33 | you can find in the file | |
34 | .I /proc/filesystems | |
35 | which filesystems your kernel currently supports. | |
36 | If you need a currently unsupported one, insert the corresponding | |
37 | module or recompile the kernel. | |
38 | ||
39 | In order to use a filesystem, you have to | |
40 | .I mount | |
41 | it, see | |
42 | .BR mount (8) | |
43 | for the mount command, and for the available mount options. | |
44 | ||
45 | Below a short description of a few of the available filesystems. | |
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46 | .TP |
47 | .B "minix" | |
48 | is the filesystem used in the Minix operating system, the first to run | |
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49 | under Linux. |
50 | It has a number of shortcomings: a 64MB partition size | |
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51 | limit, short filenames, a single time stamp, etc. |
52 | It remains useful for floppies and RAM disks. | |
53 | .TP | |
54 | .B ext | |
55 | is an elaborate extension of the | |
56 | .B minix | |
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57 | filesystem. |
58 | It has been completely superseded by the second version | |
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59 | of the extended filesystem |
60 | .RB ( ext2 ) | |
61 | and has been removed from the kernel (in 2.1.21). | |
62 | .TP | |
63 | .B ext2 | |
64 | is the high performance disk filesystem used by Linux for fixed disks | |
65 | as well as removable media. | |
66 | The second extended filesystem was designed as an extension of the | |
67 | extended file system | |
68 | .RB ( ext ). | |
69 | .B ext2 | |
70 | offers the best performance (in terms of speed and CPU usage) of | |
71 | the filesystems supported under Linux. | |
72 | .TP | |
73 | .B ext3 | |
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74 | is a journaling version of the ext2 filesystem. |
75 | It is easy to | |
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76 | switch back and forth between ext2 and ext3. |
77 | .TP | |
78 | .B xiafs | |
79 | was designed and implemented to be a stable, safe filesystem by | |
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80 | extending the Minix filesystem code. |
81 | It provides the basic most | |
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82 | requested features without undue complexity. |
83 | The | |
84 | .B xia | |
85 | filesystem is no longer actively developed or maintained. | |
86 | It was removed from the kernel in 2.1.21. | |
87 | .TP | |
88 | .B msdos | |
89 | is the filesystem used by DOS, Windows, and some OS/2 computers. | |
90 | .B msdos | |
91 | filenames can be no longer than 8 characters, followed by an | |
92 | optional period and 3 character extension. | |
93 | .TP | |
94 | .B umsdos | |
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95 | is an extended DOS filesystem used by Linux. |
96 | It adds capability for | |
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97 | long filenames, UID/GID, POSIX permissions, and special files |
98 | (devices, named pipes, etc.) under the DOS filesystem, without | |
99 | sacrificing compatibility with DOS. | |
100 | .TP | |
101 | .B vfat | |
102 | is an extended DOS filesystem used by Microsoft Windows95 and Windows NT. | |
103 | VFAT adds the capability to use long filenames under the MSDOS filesystem. | |
104 | .TP | |
105 | .B proc | |
106 | is a pseudo-filesystem which is used as an interface to kernel data | |
107 | structures rather than reading and interpreting | |
108 | .IR /dev/kmem . | |
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109 | In particular, its files do not take disk space. |
110 | See | |
b5cc2ffb | 111 | .BR proc (5). |
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112 | .TP |
113 | .B iso9660 | |
114 | is a CD-ROM filesystem type conforming to the ISO 9660 standard. | |
115 | .RS | |
116 | .TP | |
117 | .B "High Sierra" | |
118 | Linux supports High Sierra, the precursor to the ISO 9660 standard for | |
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119 | CD-ROM filesystems. |
120 | It is automatically recognized within the | |
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121 | .B iso9660 |
122 | filesystem support under Linux. | |
123 | .TP | |
124 | .B "Rock Ridge" | |
125 | Linux also supports the System Use Sharing Protocol records specified | |
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126 | by the Rock Ridge Interchange Protocol. |
127 | They are used to further describe the files in the | |
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128 | .B iso9660 |
129 | filesystem to a UNIX host, and provide information such as long | |
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130 | filenames, UID/GID, POSIX permissions, and devices. |
131 | It is automatically recognized within the | |
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132 | .B iso9660 |
133 | filesystem support under Linux. | |
134 | .RE | |
135 | .TP | |
136 | .B hpfs | |
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137 | is the High Performance Filesystem, used in OS/2. |
138 | This filesystem is | |
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139 | read-only under Linux due to the lack of available documentation. |
140 | .TP | |
141 | .B sysv | |
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142 | is an implementation of the SystemV/Coherent filesystem for Linux. |
143 | It implements all of Xenix FS, SystemV/386 FS, and Coherent FS. | |
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144 | .TP |
145 | .B nfs | |
146 | is the network filesystem used to access disks located on remote computers. | |
147 | .TP | |
148 | .B smb | |
149 | is a network filesystem that supports the SMB protocol, used by | |
150 | Windows for Workgroups, Windows NT, and Lan Manager. | |
151 | .sp | |
152 | To use | |
153 | .B smb | |
154 | fs, you need a special mount program, which can be found in the ksmbfs | |
155 | package, found at | |
156 | .IR ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/Filesystems/smbfs . | |
157 | .TP | |
158 | .B ncpfs | |
159 | is a network filesystem that supports the NCP protocol, used by | |
160 | Novell NetWare. | |
161 | .sp | |
162 | To use | |
163 | .BR ncpfs , | |
164 | you need special programs, which can be found at | |
165 | .IR ftp://linux01.gwdg.de/pub/ncpfs . | |
166 | .SH "SEE ALSO" | |
167 | .BR proc (5), | |
168 | .BR fsck (8), | |
169 | .BR mkfs (8), | |
170 | .BR mount (8) |