-.\" -*- nroff -*-
-.TH MKFS 8 "Jun 1995" "Version 1.9"
+.TH MKFS 8 "June 2011" "util-linux" "System Administration"
.SH NAME
-mkfs \- build a Linux file system
+mkfs \- build a Linux filesystem
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B mkfs
-[
-.B \-V
-]
-[
-.B \-t
-.I fstype
-]
-[
-.B fs-options
-]
-.I filesys
-[
-.I blocks
-]
+[options]
+.RB [ \-t
+.IR type "] [" fs-options ] " device " [ size ]
.SH DESCRIPTION
+.B This mkfs frontend is deprecated in favour of filesystem specific mkfs.<type> utils.
+.PP
.B mkfs
-is used to build a Linux file system on a device, usually
-a hard disk partition.
-.I filesys
-is either the device name (e.g.
+is used to build a Linux filesystem on a device, usually
+a hard disk partition. The
+.I device
+argument is either the device name (e.g.
.IR /dev/hda1 ,
-.IR /dev/sdb2 )
-or the mount point (e.g.
-.IR / ,
-.IR /usr ,
-.IR /home )
-for the file system.
-.I blocks
-is the number of blocks to be used for the file system.
+.IR /dev/sdb2 ),
+or a regular file that shall contain the filesystem. The
+.I size
+argument is the number of blocks to be used for the filesystem.
.PP
The exit code returned by
.B mkfs
.PP
In actuality,
.B mkfs
-is simply a front-end for the various file system builders
-(\fBmkfs\fR.\fIfstype\fR)
+is simply a front-end for the various filesystem builders
+(\fBmkfs.\fIfstype\fR)
available under Linux.
-The file system-specific builder is searched for in a number
-of directories like perhaps
-.IR /sbin ,
-.IR /sbin/fs ,
-.IR /sbin/fs.d ,
-.IR /etc/fs ,
-.I /etc
-(the precise list is defined at compile time but at least
-contains
-.I /sbin
-and
-.IR /sbin/fs ),
-and finally in the directories
-listed in the PATH environment variable.
-Please see the file system-specific builder manual pages for
+The filesystem-specific builder is searched for via your PATH
+environment setting only.
+Please see the filesystem-specific builder manual pages for
further details.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
-.B -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.
-.TP
-.BI -t \ fstype
-Specifies the type of file system to be built.
-If not specified, the default file system type
+.BR \-t , " \-\-type " \fItype\fR
+Specify the \fItype\fR of filesystem to be built.
+If not specified, the default filesystem type
(currently ext2) is used.
.TP
-.B 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.
+.I fs-options
+Filesystem-specific options to be passed to the real filesystem builder.
.TP
-.B -c
-Check the device for bad blocks before building the file system.
+.BR \-V , " \-\-verbose"
+Produce verbose output, including all filesystem-specific commands
+that are executed.
+Specifying this option more than once inhibits execution of any
+filesystem-specific commands.
+This is really only useful for testing.
.TP
-.BI -l \ filename
-Read the bad blocks list from
-.I filename
+.BR \-V , " \-\-version"
+Display version information and exit. (Option \fB\-V\fR will display
+version information only when it is the only parameter, otherwise it
+will work as \fB\-\-verbose\fR.)
.TP
-.B -v
-Produce verbose output.
+.BR \-h , " \-\-help"
+Display help text and exit.
.SH BUGS
All generic options must precede and not be combined with
-file system-specific options.
-Some file system-specific programs do not support the
-.I -v
-(verbose) option, nor return meaningful exit codes.
-Also, some file system-specific programs do not automatically
+filesystem-specific options.
+Some filesystem-specific programs do not automatically
detect the device size and require the
-.I blocks
+.I size
parameter to be specified.
.SH AUTHORS
David Engel (david@ods.com)
.br
-Fred N. van Kempen (waltje@uwalt.nl.mugnet.org)
+Fred N.\& van Kempen (waltje@uwalt.nl.mugnet.org)
.br
Ron Sommeling (sommel@sci.kun.nl)
.br
The manual page was shamelessly adapted from Remy Card's version
-for the ext2 file system.
+for the ext2 filesystem.
.SH SEE ALSO
+.na
.BR fs (5),
.BR badblocks (8),
.BR fsck (8),
.BR mkfs.bfs (8),
.BR mkfs.ext2 (8),
.BR mkfs.ext3 (8),
+.BR mkfs.ext4 (8),
.BR mkfs.minix (8),
.BR mkfs.msdos (8),
.BR mkfs.vfat (8),
-.BR mkfs.xfs (8),
-.BR mkfs.xiafs (8)
+.BR mkfs.xfs (8)
+.ad
.SH AVAILABILITY
-The mkfs command is part of the util-linux-ng package and is available from
-ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux-ng/.
+The mkfs command is part of the util-linux package and is available from
+https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/.
projects / thirdparty / util-linux.git / blobdiff