MKFS(8) 							       MKFS(8)



NAME
       mkfs - build a Linux file system

SYNOPSIS
       mkfs [ -V ] [ -t fstype ] [ fs-options ] filesys [ blocks ]

DESCRIPTION
       mkfs  is  used to build a Linux file system on a device, usually a hard
       disk partition.	filesys is either the device  name  (e.g.   /dev/hda1,
       /dev/sdb2)  or the mount point (e.g.  /, /usr, /home) for the file sys
       tem.  blocks is the number of blocks to be used for the file system.

       The exit code returned by mkfs is 0 on success and 1 on failure.

       In actuality, mkfs is simply a front-end for the  various  file	system
       builders (mkfs.fstype) available under Linux.  The file system-specific
       builder is searched for in a number of directories like perhaps	/sbin,
       /sbin/fs,  /sbin/fs.d,  /etc/fs,  /etc  (the precise list is defined at
       compile time but at least contains /sbin and /sbin/fs), and finally  in
       the directories listed in the PATH enviroment variable.	Please see the
       file system-specific builder manual pages for further details.

OPTIONS
       -V     Produce verbose output, including all file system-specific  com
	      mands  that are executed.  Specifying this option more than once
	      inhibits execution of any file system-specific  commands.   This
	      is really only useful for testing.

       -t fstype
	      Specifies  the  type  of file system to be built.  If not speci
	      fied, the default file system type (currently ext2) is used.

       fs-options
	      File system-specific options to be passed to the real file  sys
	      tem builder.  Although not guaranteed, the following options are
	      supported by most file system builders.

       -c     Check the device for bad blocks before building the file system.

       -l filename
	      Read the bad blocks list from filename

       -v     Produce verbose output.

BUGS
       All  generic options must precede and not be combined with file system-
       specific options.  Some file system-specific programs  do  not  support
       the  -v (verbose) option, nor return meaningful exit codes.  Also, some
       file system-specific programs do not automatically  detect  the	device
       size and require the blocks parameter to be specified.

AUTHORS
       David Engel (david@ods.com)
       Fred N. van Kempen (waltje@uwalt.nl.mugnet.org)
       Ron Sommeling (sommel@sci.kun.nl)
       The  manual  page  was shamelessly adapted from Remy Cards version for
       the ext2 file system.

SEE ALSO
       fs(5),  badblocks(8),  fsck(8),	mkdosfs(8),  mke2fs(8),   mkfs.bfs(8),
       mkfs.ext2(8), mkfs.ext3(8), mkfs.minix(8), mkfs.msdos(8), mkfs.vfat(8),
       mkfs.xfs(8), mkfs.xiafs(8)



Version 1.9			   Jun 1995			       MKFS(8)