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3839e657 1.\" -*- nroff -*-
a418d3ad
TT
2.\" Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995 by Theodore Ts'o. All Rights Reserved.
3.\" This file may be copied under the terms of the GNU Public License.
98794d0e 4.\"
74becf3c 5.TH MKE2FS 8 "@E2FSPROGS_MONTH@ @E2FSPROGS_YEAR@" "E2fsprogs version @E2FSPROGS_VERSION@"
3839e657 6.SH NAME
a7ac1df3 7mke2fs \- create an ext2/ext3 filesystem
3839e657
TT
8.SH SYNOPSIS
9.B mke2fs
10[
11.B \-c
98794d0e 12|
3839e657 13.B \-l
1e3472c5 14.I filename
3839e657
TT
15]
16[
17.B \-b
1e3472c5 18.I block-size
3839e657
TT
19]
20[
21.B \-f
1e3472c5 22.I fragment-size
3839e657
TT
23]
24[
5e05541a
TT
25.B \-g
26.I blocks-per-group
27]
28[
9ba40002
TT
29.B \-G
30.I number-of-groups
31]
32[
3839e657 33.B \-i
1e3472c5 34.I bytes-per-inode
3839e657
TT
35]
36[
067911ae
AD
37.B \-I
38.I inode-size
39]
40[
85ef4ae8 41.B \-j
dc2ec525
TT
42]
43[
44.B \-J
8ddaa66b 45.I journal-options
85ef4ae8
TT
46]
47[
5515e6b4
TT
48.B \-N
49.I number-of-inodes
50]
51[
a26ba650 52.B \-n
2740156b
TT
53]
54[
3839e657 55.B \-m
1e3472c5
TT
56.I reserved-blocks-percentage
57]
58[
59.B \-o
60.I creator-os
3839e657
TT
61]
62[
98794d0e 63.B \-O
896938d5
TT
64.IR feature [,...]
65]
66[
f3db3566
TT
67.B \-q
68]
69[
caf8ce4c
TT
70.B \-r
71.I fs-revision-level
a29f4d30
TT
72]
73[
c6a44136
TT
74.B \-E
75.I extended-options
521e3685
TT
76]
77[
3839e657
TT
78.B \-v
79]
f3db3566 80[
74becf3c
TT
81.B \-F
82]
83[
1e3472c5
TT
84.B \-L
85.I volume-label
86]
87[
88.B \-M
89.I last-mounted-directory
90]
91[
f3db3566
TT
92.B \-S
93]
818180cd 94[
3d43836f
TT
95.B \-t
96.I fs-type
97]
98[
50787ea2 99.B \-T
3d43836f 100.I usage-type
50787ea2
TT
101]
102[
818180cd
TT
103.B \-V
104]
1e3472c5 105.I device
3839e657 106[
1e3472c5 107.I blocks-count
3839e657 108]
48015ced 109@JDEV@.sp
8d641749 110@JDEV@.B "mke2fs \-O journal_dev"
48015ced
TT
111@JDEV@[
112@JDEV@.B \-b
113@JDEV@.I block-size
114@JDEV@]
8d641749 115.\" No external-journal specific journal options yet (size is ignored)
48015ced
TT
116.\" @JDEV@[
117.\" @JDEV@.B \-J
118.\" @JDEV@.I journal-options
119.\" @JDEV@]
120@JDEV@[
121@JDEV@.B \-L
122@JDEV@.I volume-label
123@JDEV@]
124@JDEV@[
125@JDEV@.B \-n
126@JDEV@]
127@JDEV@[
128@JDEV@.B \-q
129@JDEV@]
130@JDEV@[
131@JDEV@.B \-v
132@JDEV@]
8d641749 133@JDEV@.I external-journal
2d15576d
AD
134@JDEV@[
135@JDEV@.I blocks-count
136@JDEV@]
3839e657
TT
137.SH DESCRIPTION
138.B mke2fs
f0865ce4 139is used to create an ext2/ext3 filesystem (usually in a disk partition).
3839e657 140.I device
98794d0e 141is the special file corresponding to the device (e.g
caf8ce4c 142.IR /dev/hdXX ).
3839e657
TT
143.I blocks-count
144is the number of blocks on the device. If omitted,
145.B mke2fs
0072f8de
AD
146automagically figures the file system size. If called as
147.B mkfs.ext3
148a journal is created as if the
149.B \-j
150option was specified.
3839e657
TT
151.SH OPTIONS
152.TP
caf8ce4c 153.BI \-b " block-size"
98794d0e 154Specify the size of blocks in bytes. Valid block-size values are 1024,
06968e7e 1552048 and 4096 bytes per block. If omitted,
98794d0e 156block-size is heuristically determined by the filesystem size and
c5290fae 157the expected usage of the filesystem (see the
06968e7e 158.B \-T
98794d0e 159option). If
c5290fae 160.I block-size
98794d0e 161is negative, then
c6a44136
TT
162.B mke2fs
163will use heuristics to determine the
c5290fae 164appropriate block size, with the constraint that the block size will be
98794d0e 165at least
c5290fae
TT
166.I block-size
167bytes. This is useful for certain hardware devices which require that
168the blocksize be a multiple of 2k.
3839e657 169.TP
caf8ce4c 170.B \-c
3ed57c27 171Check the device for bad blocks before creating the file system. If
98794d0e 172this option is specified twice, then a slower read-write
3ed57c27 173test is used instead of a fast read-only test.
3839e657 174.TP
c6a44136
TT
175.BI \-E " extended-options"
176Set extended options for the filesystem. Extended options are comma
177separated, and may take an argument using the equals ('=') sign. The
a26ba650 178.B \-E
98794d0e 179option used to be
a26ba650 180.B \-R
98794d0e 181in earlier versions of
c6a44136 182.BR mke2fs .
98794d0e 183The
a26ba650 184.B \-R
98794d0e 185option is still accepted for backwards compatibility. The
c6a44136
TT
186following extended options are supported:
187.RS 1.2i
188.TP
0c17cb25 189.BI stride= stride-size
c6a44136 190Configure the filesystem for a RAID array with
0c17cb25
TT
191.I stride-size
192filesystem blocks. This is the number of blocks read or written to disk
98794d0e 193before moving to the next disk, which is sometimes referred to as the
2ac7f066
TT
194.I chunk size.
195This mostly affects placement of filesystem metadata like bitmaps at
a4396e9d 196.B mke2fs
98794d0e
BS
197time to avoid placing them on a single disk, which can hurt performance.
198It may also be used by the block allocator.
0c17cb25
TT
199.TP
200.BI stripe-width= stripe-width
201Configure the filesystem for a RAID array with
202.I stripe-width
98794d0e 203filesystem blocks per stripe. This is typically stride-size * N, where
2ac7f066 204N is the number of data-bearing disks in the RAID (e.g. for RAID 5 there is one
98794d0e 205parity disk, so N will be the number of disks in the array minus 1).
0c17cb25
TT
206This allows the block allocator to prevent read-modify-write of the
207parity in a RAID stripe if possible when the data is written.
c6a44136
TT
208.TP
209.BI resize= max-online-resize
210Reserve enough space so that the block group descriptor table can grow
98794d0e
BS
211to support a filesystem that has
212.I max-online-resize
213blocks.
6cb27404 214.TP
43781b94 215.B lazy_itable_init\fR[\fb= \fI<0 to disable, 1 to enable>\fR]
a4396e9d 216If enabled and the uninit_bg feature is enabled, the inode table will
98794d0e 217not be fully initialized by
a4396e9d
TT
218.BR mke2fs .
219This speeds up filesystem
98794d0e 220initialization noticeably, but it requires the kernel to finish
a4396e9d 221initializing the filesystem in the background when the filesystem is
43781b94
TT
222first mounted. If the option value is omitted, it defaults to 1 to
223enable lazy inode table initialization.
a4396e9d 224.TP
6cb27404
TT
225.B test_fs
226Set a flag in the filesystem superblock indicating that it may be
227mounted using experimental kernel code, such as the ext4dev filesystem.
c6a44136
TT
228.RE
229.TP
caf8ce4c 230.BI \-f " fragment-size"
3839e657
TT
231Specify the size of fragments in bytes.
232.TP
48015ced 233.B \-F
98794d0e 234Force
48015ced 235.B mke2fs
c16e610c
AD
236to create a filesystem, even if the specified device is not a partition
237on a block special device, or if other parameters do not make sense.
98794d0e 238In order to force
c16e610c 239.B mke2fs
98794d0e 240to create a filesystem even if the filesystem appears to be in use
c16e610c
AD
241or is mounted (a truly dangerous thing to do), this option must be
242specified twice.
48015ced 243.TP
5e05541a
TT
244.BI \-g " blocks-per-group"
245Specify the number of blocks in a block group. There is generally no
98794d0e 246reason for the user to ever set this parameter, as the default is optimal
5e05541a
TT
247for the filesystem. (For administrators who are creating
248filesystems on RAID arrays, it is preferable to use the
249.I stride
250RAID parameter as part of the
e28a1bca 251.B \-E
98794d0e 252option rather than manipulating the number of blocks per group.)
5e05541a 253This option is generally used by developers who
98794d0e 254are developing test cases.
5e05541a 255.TP
9ba40002 256.BI \-G " number-of-groups"
98794d0e 257Specify the number of block groups that will be packed together to
9ba40002
TT
258create one large virtual block group on an ext4 filesystem. This
259improves meta-data locality and performance on meta-data heavy
98794d0e 260workloads. The number of groups must be a power of 2 and may only be
9ba40002
TT
261specified if the flex_bg filesystem feature is enabled.
262.TP
caf8ce4c 263.BI \-i " bytes-per-inode"
98794d0e 264Specify the bytes/inode ratio.
3839e657
TT
265.B mke2fs
266creates an inode for every
267.I bytes-per-inode
98794d0e 268bytes of space on the disk. The larger the
caf8ce4c 269.I bytes-per-inode
48015ced 270ratio, the fewer inodes will be created. This value generally shouldn't
98794d0e
BS
271be smaller than the blocksize of the filesystem, since in that case more
272inodes would be made than can ever be used. Be warned that it is not
273possible to expand the number
48015ced 274of inodes on a filesystem after it is created, so be careful deciding the
98794d0e 275correct value for this parameter.
067911ae
AD
276.TP
277.BI \-I " inode-size"
98794d0e 278Specify the size of each inode in bytes.
067911ae 279.B mke2fs
e67670c3
TT
280creates 256-byte inodes by default. In kernels after 2.6.10 and some
281earlier vendor kernels it is possible to utilize inodes larger than
98794d0e
BS
282128 bytes to store
283extended attributes for improved performance. The
067911ae 284.I inode-size
98794d0e 285value must be a power of 2 larger or equal to 128. The larger the
067911ae
AD
286.I inode-size
287the more space the inode table will consume, and this reduces the usable
98794d0e 288space in the filesystem and can also negatively impact performance.
e67670c3 289Extended attributes
067911ae
AD
290stored in large inodes are not visible with older kernels, and such
291filesystems will not be mountable with 2.4 kernels at all. It is not
292possible to change this value after the filesystem is created.
98794d0e 293.TP
48015ced
TT
294.B \-j
295Create the filesystem with an ext3 journal. If the
dc2ec525 296.B \-J
48015ced 297option is not specified, the default journal parameters will be used to
98794d0e 298create an appropriately sized journal (given the size of the filesystem)
48015ced
TT
299stored within the filesystem. Note that you must be using a kernel
300which has ext3 support in order to actually make use of the journal.
dc2ec525 301.TP
48015ced 302.BI \-J " journal-options"
dc2ec525 303Create the ext3 journal using options specified on the command-line.
8ddaa66b
TT
304Journal options are comma
305separated, and may take an argument using the equals ('=') sign.
48015ced
TT
306The following journal options are supported:
307.RS 1.2i
dc2ec525 308.TP
48015ced 309.BI size= journal-size
f0865ce4 310Create an internal journal (i.e., stored inside the filesystem) of size
98794d0e 311.I journal-size
8d641749 312megabytes.
98794d0e
BS
313The size of the journal must be at least 1024 filesystem blocks
314(i.e., 1MB if using 1k blocks, 4MB if using 4k blocks, etc.)
315and may be no more than 102,400 filesystem blocks.
48015ced
TT
316@JDEV@.TP
317@JDEV@.BI device= external-journal
8d641749
TT
318@JDEV@Attach the filesystem to the journal block device located on
319@JDEV@.IR external-journal .
320@JDEV@The external
321@JDEV@journal must already have been created using the command
322@JDEV@.IP
2d15576d
AD
323@JDEV@.B mke2fs -O journal_dev
324@JDEV@.I external-journal
8d641749
TT
325@JDEV@.IP
326@JDEV@Note that
327@JDEV@.I external-journal
328@JDEV@must have been created with the
329@JDEV@same block size as the new filesystem.
3024d887
TT
330@JDEV@In addition, while there is support for attaching
331@JDEV@multiple filesystems to a single external journal,
98794d0e 332@JDEV@the Linux kernel and
3024d887
TT
333@JDEV@.BR e2fsck (8)
334@JDEV@do not currently support shared external journals yet.
2d15576d
AD
335@JDEV@.IP
336@JDEV@Instead of specifying a device name directly,
337@JDEV@.I external-journal
338@JDEV@can also be specified by either
339@JDEV@.BI LABEL= label
340@JDEV@or
341@JDEV@.BI UUID= UUID
342@JDEV@to locate the external journal by either the volume label or UUID
343@JDEV@stored in the ext2 superblock at the start of the journal. Use
344@JDEV@.BR dumpe2fs (8)
345@JDEV@to display a journal device's volume label and UUID. See also the
346@JDEV@.B -L
347@JDEV@option of
348@JDEV@.BR tune2fs (8).
8d641749
TT
349.RE
350@JDEV@.IP
48015ced
TT
351@JDEV@Only one of the
352@JDEV@.BR size " or " device
353@JDEV@options can be given for a filesystem.
48015ced
TT
354.TP
355.BI \-l " filename"
356Read the bad blocks list from
98794d0e 357.IR filename .
3ed57c27 358Note that the block numbers in the bad block list must be generated
98794d0e
BS
359using the same block size as used by
360.BR mke2fs .
361As a result, the
3ed57c27 362.B \-c
98794d0e 363option to
3ed57c27
TT
364.B mke2fs
365is a much simpler and less error-prone method of checking a disk for bad
98794d0e 366blocks before formatting it, as
3ed57c27
TT
367.B mke2fs
368will automatically pass the correct parameters to the
369.B badblocks
370program.
48015ced 371.TP
6a7075df
TT
372.BI \-L " new-volume-label"
373Set the volume label for the filesystem to
374.IR new-volume-label .
375The maximum length of the
376volume label is 16 bytes.
48015ced
TT
377.TP
378.BI \-m " reserved-blocks-percentage"
98794d0e 379Specify the percentage of the filesystem blocks reserved for
029de632 380the super-user. This avoids fragmentation, and allows root-owned
98794d0e 381daemons, such as
029de632 382.BR syslogd (8),
98794d0e
BS
383to continue to function correctly after non-privileged processes are
384prevented from writing to the filesystem. The default percentage
029de632 385is 5%.
dc2ec525 386.TP
98794d0e
BS
387.BI \-M " last-mounted-directory"
388Set the last mounted directory for the filesystem. This might be useful
389for the sake of utilities that key off of the last mounted directory to
bcf5aea2 390determine where the filesystem should be mounted.
85ef4ae8 391.TP
caf8ce4c 392.B \-n
98794d0e
BS
393Causes
394.B mke2fs
395to not actually create a filesystem, but display what it
1f22ce34
TT
396would do if it were to create a filesystem. This can be used to
397determine the location of the backup superblocks for a particular
98794d0e
BS
398filesystem, so long as the
399.B mke2fs
400parameters that were passed when the
1f22ce34 401filesystem was originally created are used again. (With the
98794d0e 402.B \-n
1f22ce34 403option added, of course!)
2740156b 404.TP
caf8ce4c 405.BI \-N " number-of-inodes"
98794d0e
BS
406Overrides the default calculation of the number of inodes that should be
407reserved for the filesystem (which is based on the number of blocks and
408the
caf8ce4c 409.I bytes-per-inode
98794d0e 410ratio). This allows the user to specify the number
5515e6b4
TT
411of desired inodes directly.
412.TP
48015ced 413.BI \-o " creator-os"
98794d0e
BS
414Overrides the default value of the "creator operating system" field of the
415filesystem. The creator field is set by default to the name of the OS the
583ccdc3 416.B mke2fs
98794d0e 417executable was compiled for.
1e3472c5 418.TP
8d641749 419.B "\-O \fIfeature\fR[,...]"
98794d0e
BS
420Create a filesystem with the given features (filesystem options),
421overriding the default filesystem options. The features that are
9dc6ad1e
TT
422enabled by default are specified by the
423.I base_features
424relation, either in the
98794d0e 425.I [defaults]
9dc6ad1e
TT
426section in the
427.B /etc/mke2fs.conf
3d43836f 428configuration file,
98794d0e 429or in the
9dc6ad1e 430.I [fs_types]
98794d0e 431subsections for the usage types as specified by the
a26ba650 432.B \-T
3d43836f
TT
433option, further modified by the
434.I features
435relation found in the
98794d0e
BS
436.I [fs_types]
437subsections for the filesystem and usage types. See the
3d43836f
TT
438.BR mke2fs.conf (5)
439manual page for more details.
440The filesystem type-specific configuration setting found in the
9dc6ad1e
TT
441.I [fs_types]
442section will override the global default found in
98794d0e 443.IR [defaults] .
48015ced 444.sp
98794d0e
BS
445The filesystem feature set will be further edited
446using either the feature set specified by this option,
447or if this option is not given, by the
9dc6ad1e 448.I default_features
98794d0e
BS
449relation for the filesystem type being created, or in the
450.I [defaults]
9dc6ad1e
TT
451section of the configuration file.
452.sp
453The filesystem feature set is comprised of a list of features, separated
454by commas, that are to be enabled. To disable a feature, simply
98794d0e 455prefix the feature name with a caret ('^') character. The
9dc6ad1e 456pseudo-filesystem feature "none" will clear all filesystem features.
48015ced 457.RS 1.2i
7f88b043 458.TP
558df544
TT
459.B large_file
460Filesystem can contain files that are greater than 2GB. (Modern kernels
461set this feature automatically when a file > 2GB is created.)
462.TP
ccbed85a
TT
463.B dir_index
464Use hashed b-trees to speed up lookups in large directories.
f3db3566 465.TP
48015ced
TT
466.B filetype
467Store file type information in directory entries.
1e3472c5 468.TP
9ba40002
TT
469.B flex_bg
470Allow bitmaps and inode tables for a block group to be placed anywhere
a26ba650 471on the storage media (use with \-G option to group meta-data in order
9ba40002
TT
472to create a large virtual block group).
473.TP
48015ced
TT
474.B has_journal
475Create an ext3 journal (as if using the
476.B \-j
477option).
478@JDEV@.TP
8d641749 479@JDEV@.B journal_dev
48015ced 480@JDEV@Create an external ext3 journal on the given device
8d641749
TT
481@JDEV@instead of a regular ext2 filesystem.
482@JDEV@Note that
483@JDEV@.I external-journal
484@JDEV@must be created with the same
485@JDEV@block size as the filesystems that will be using it.
ccbed85a 486.TP
a4396e9d
TT
487.B extent
488Instead of using the indirect block scheme for storing the location of
489data blocks in an inode, use extents instead. This is a much more
490efficient encoding which speeds up filesystem access, especially for
491large files.
492.TP
2930dad2 493.B uninit_bg
98794d0e 494Create a filesystem without initializing all of the block groups. This
a4396e9d
TT
495feature also enables checksums and highest-inode-used statistics in each
496blockgroup. This feature can
497speed up filesystem creation time noticably (if lazy_itable_init is
498enabled), and can also reduce
98794d0e
BS
499.BR e2fsck
500time dramatically. It is only supported by the ext4 filesystem in
4237c73b
AD
501recent Linux kernels.
502.TP
59571a51
TT
503.B resize_inode
504Reserve space so the block group descriptor table may grow in the future.
98794d0e 505Useful for online resizing using
59571a51 506.BR resize2fs .
98794d0e 507By default
59571a51
TT
508.B mke2fs
509will attempt to reserve enough space so that the
510filesystem may grow to 1024 times its initial size. This can be changed
98794d0e 511using the
59571a51
TT
512.B resize
513extended option.
514.TP
ccbed85a
TT
515.B sparse_super
516Create a filesystem with fewer superblock backup copies
517(saves space on large filesystems).
48015ced 518.RE
1e3472c5 519.TP
8d641749 520.B \-q
98794d0e 521Quiet execution. Useful if
8d641749
TT
522.B mke2fs
523is run in a script.
524.TP
48015ced 525.BI \-r " revision"
a29f4d30 526Set the filesystem revision for the new filesystem. Note that 1.2
98794d0e 527kernels only support revision 0 filesystems. The default is to
48015ced 528create revision 1 filesystems.
a29f4d30 529.TP
caf8ce4c 530.B \-S
f3db3566
TT
531Write superblock and group descriptors only. This is useful if all of
532the superblock and backup superblocks are corrupted, and a last-ditch
98794d0e 533recovery method is desired. It causes
583ccdc3 534.B mke2fs
98794d0e 535to reinitialize the
f3db3566
TT
536superblock and group descriptors, while not touching the inode table
537and the block and inode bitmaps. The
538.B e2fsck
539program should be run immediately after this option is used, and there
48015ced
TT
540is no guarantee that any data will be salvageable. It is critical to
541specify the correct filesystem blocksize when using this option,
542or there is no chance of recovery.
8d641749
TT
543.\" .TP
544.\" .BI \-t " test"
545.\" Check the device for bad blocks before creating the file system
546.\" using the specified test.
818180cd 547.TP
3d43836f
TT
548.BI
549.BI \-t " fs-type"
98794d0e
BS
550Specify the filesystem (i.e., ext2, ext3, ext4, etc.) that is to be created.
551If this option is not specified,
552.B mke2fs
553will pick a default either via how
554the command was run (for example, using a name of the form mkfs.ext2,
3d43836f
TT
555mkfs.ext3, etc.) or via a default as defined by the
556.BR /etc/mke2fs.conf (5)
557file.
558.TP
559.BI \-T " usage-type[,...]"
98794d0e
BS
560Specify how the filesystem is going to be used, so that
561.B mke2fs
3d43836f
TT
562can choose optimal filesystem parameters for that use. The usage
563types that are supported are defined in the configuration file
364f9410 564.BR /etc/mke2fs.conf (5).
3d43836f
TT
565The user may specify one or more usage types
566using a comma separated list.
567.sp
568If this option is is not specified,
569.B mke2fs
570will pick a single default usage type based on the size of the filesystem to
571be created. If the filesystem size is less than or equal to 3 megabytes,
a4396e9d 572.B mke2fs
3d43836f
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573will use the filesystem type
574.IR floppy .
575If the filesystem size is greater than 3 but less than or equal to
576512 megabytes,
577.BR mke2fs (8)
578will use the filesystem
579.IR small .
580Otherwise,
581.BR mke2fs (8)
582will use the default filesystem type
583.IR default .
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584.TP
585.B \-v
586Verbose execution.
50787ea2 587.TP
caf8ce4c 588.B \-V
98794d0e 589Print the version number of
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590.B mke2fs
591and exit.
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592.SH AUTHOR
593This version of
594.B mke2fs
a418d3ad 595has been written by Theodore Ts'o <tytso@mit.edu>.
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596.SH BUGS
597.B mke2fs
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598accepts the
599.B \-f
600option but currently ignores it because the second
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601extended file system does not support fragments yet.
602.br
48015ced 603There may be other ones. Please, report them to the author.
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604.SH AVAILABILITY
605.B mke2fs
98794d0e 606is part of the e2fsprogs package and is available from
348e43dc 607http://e2fsprogs.sourceforge.net.
3839e657 608.SH SEE ALSO
9dc6ad1e 609.BR mke2fs.conf (5),
e72a9ba3 610.BR badblocks (8),
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611.BR dumpe2fs (8),
612.BR e2fsck (8),
613.BR tune2fs (8)