man5/filesystems.5

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  24 .\" 2007-12-14 mtk Added Reiserfs, XFS, JFS.
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  26 .TH FILESYSTEMS 5 2018-04-30 "Linux" "Linux Programmer's Manual"
  27 .nh
  28 .SH NAME
  29 filesystems \- Linux filesystem types: ext, ext2, ext3, ext4, hpfs, iso9660,
  30 JFS, minix, msdos, ncpfs nfs, ntfs, proc, Reiserfs, smb, sysv, umsdos, vfat,
  31 XFS, xiafs
  32 .SH DESCRIPTION
  33 When, as is customary, the
  34 .B proc
  35 filesystem is mounted on
  36 .IR /proc ,
  37 you can find in the file
  38 .I /proc/filesystems
  39 which filesystems your kernel currently supports;
  40 see
  41 .BR proc (5)
  42 for more details.
  43 There is also a legacy
  44 .BR sysfs (2)
  45 system call (whose availability is controlled by the
  46 .\" commit: 6af9f7bf3c399e0ab1eee048e13572c6d4e15fe9
  47 .B CONFIG_SYSFS_SYSCALL
  48 kernel build configuration option since Linux 3.15)
  49 that enables enumeration of the currently available filesystem types
  50 regardless of
  51 .I /proc
  52 availability and/or sanity.
  53 .PP
  54 If you need a currently unsupported filesystem, insert the corresponding
  55 kernel module or recompile the kernel.
  56 .PP
  57 In order to use a filesystem, you have to
  58 .I mount
  59 it; see
  60 .BR mount (2)
  61 and
  62 .BR mount (8).
  63 .PP
  64 The following list provides a
  65 short description of the available or historically available
  66 filesystems in the Linux kernel.
  67 See the kernel documentation for a comprehensive
  68 description of all options and limitations.
  69 .TP 10
  70 .B ext
  71 is an elaborate extension of the
  72 .B minix
  73 filesystem.
  74 It has been completely superseded by the second version
  75 of the extended filesystem
  76 .RB ( ext2 )
  77 and has been removed from the kernel (in 2.1.21).
  78 .TP
  79 .B ext2
  80 is the high performance disk filesystem used by Linux for fixed disks
  81 as well as removable media.
  82 The second extended filesystem was designed as an extension of the
  83 extended filesystem
  84 .RB ( ext ).
  85 See
  86 .BR ext2 (5).
  87 .TP
  88 .B ext3
  89 is a journaling version of the
  90 .B ext2
  91 filesystem.
  92 It is easy to
  93 switch back and forth between
  94 .B ext2
  95 and
  96 .BR ext3 .
  97 See
  98 .BR ext3 (5).
  99 .TP
 100 .B ext4
 101 is a set of upgrades to
 102 .B ext3
 103 including substantial performance and
 104 reliability enhancements,
 105 plus large increases in volume, file, and directory size limits.
 106 See
 107 .BR ext4 (5).
 108 .TP
 109 .B hpfs
 110 is the High Performance Filesystem, used in OS/2.
 111 This filesystem is
 112 read-only under Linux due to the lack of available documentation.
 113 .TP
 114 .B iso9660
 115 is a CD-ROM filesystem type conforming to the ISO 9660 standard.
 116 .RS
 117 .TP
 118 .B "High Sierra"
 119 Linux supports High Sierra, the precursor to the ISO 9660 standard for
 120 CD-ROM filesystems.
 121 It is automatically recognized within the
 122 .B iso9660
 123 filesystem support under Linux.
 124 .TP
 125 .B "Rock Ridge"
 126 Linux also supports the System Use Sharing Protocol records specified
 127 by the Rock Ridge Interchange Protocol.
 128 They are used to further describe the files in the
 129 .B iso9660
 130 filesystem to a UNIX host, and provide information such as long
 131 filenames, UID/GID, POSIX permissions, and devices.
 132 It is automatically recognized within the
 133 .B iso9660
 134 filesystem support under Linux.
 135 .RE
 136 .TP
 137 .B JFS
 138 is a journaling filesystem, developed by IBM,
 139 that was integrated into Linux in kernel 2.4.24.
 140 .TP
 141 .B minix
 142 is the filesystem used in the Minix operating system, the first to run
 143 under Linux.
 144 It has a number of shortcomings, including a 64\ MB partition size
 145 limit, short filenames, and a single timestamp.
 146 It remains useful for floppies and RAM disks.
 147 .TP
 148 .B msdos
 149 is the filesystem used by DOS, Windows, and some OS/2 computers.
 150 .B msdos
 151 filenames can be no longer than 8 characters, followed by an
 152 optional period and 3 character extension.
 153 .TP
 154 .B ncpfs
 155 is a network filesystem that supports the NCP protocol, used by
 156 Novell NetWare.
 157 .IP
 158 To use
 159 .BR ncpfs ,
 160 you need special programs, which can be found at
 161 .UR ftp://linux01.gwdg.de\:/pub\:/ncpfs
 162 .UE .
 163 .TP
 164 .B nfs
 165 is the network filesystem used to access disks located on remote computers.
 166 .TP
 167 .B ntfs
 168 replaces Microsoft Window's FAT filesystems (VFAT, FAT32).
 169 It has reliability, performance, and space-utilization enhancements
 170 plus features like ACLs, journaling, encryption, and so on.
 171 .TP
 172 .B proc
 173 is a pseudo filesystem which is used as an interface to kernel data
 174 structures rather than reading and interpreting
 175 .IR /dev/kmem .
 176 In particular, its files do not take disk space.
 177 See
 178 .BR proc (5).
 179 .TP
 180 .B Reiserfs
 181 is a journaling filesystem, designed by Hans Reiser,
 182 that was integrated into Linux in kernel 2.4.1.
 183 .TP
 184 .B smb
 185 is a network filesystem that supports the SMB protocol, used by
 186 Windows for Workgroups, Windows NT, and Lan Manager.
 187 See
 188 .UR https://www.samba.org\:/samba\:/smbfs/
 189 .UE .
 190 .TP
 191 .B sysv
 192 is an implementation of the System V/Coherent filesystem for Linux.
 193 It implements all of Xenix FS, System V/386 FS, and Coherent FS.
 194 .TP
 195 .B umsdos
 196 is an extended DOS filesystem used by Linux.
 197 It adds capability for
 198 long filenames, UID/GID, POSIX permissions, and special files
 199 (devices, named pipes, etc.) under the DOS filesystem, without
 200 sacrificing compatibility with DOS.
 201 .TP
 202 .B tmpfs
 203 is a filesystem whose contents reside in virtual memory.
 204 Since the files on such filesystems typically reside in RAM,
 205 file access is extremely fast.
 206 See
 207 .BR tmpfs (5).
 208 .TP
 209 .B vfat
 210 is an extended FAT filesystem used by Microsoft Windows95 and Windows NT.
 211 .B vfat
 212 adds the capability to use long filenames under the MSDOS filesystem.
 213 .TP
 214 .B XFS
 215 is a journaling filesystem, developed by SGI,
 216 that was integrated into Linux in kernel 2.4.20.
 217 .TP
 218 .B xiafs
 219 was designed and implemented to be a stable, safe filesystem by
 220 extending the Minix filesystem code.
 221 It provides the basic most
 222 requested features without undue complexity.
 223 The
 224 .B xiafs
 225 filesystem is no longer actively developed or maintained.
 226 It was removed from the kernel in 2.1.21.
 227 .SH SEE ALSO
 228 .BR fuse (4),
 229 .BR btrfs (5),
 230 .BR ext2 (5),
 231 .BR ext3 (5),
 232 .BR ext4 (5),
 233 .BR nfs (5),
 234 .BR proc (5),
 235 .BR sysfs (5),
 236 .BR tmpfs (5),
 237 .BR xfs (5),
 238 .BR fsck (8),
 239 .BR mkfs (8),
 240 .BR mount (8)