System Administration Commands                           mkfs(1M)



NAME
     mkfs - construct a file system

SYNOPSIS
     mkfs [-F FSType] [genericoptions]
          [-o FSType-specificoptions] rawdevicefile
          [operands]


DESCRIPTION
     The  mkfs  utility  constructs  a   file   system   on   the
     rawdevicefile  by  calling  the specific mkfs module indi-
     cated by  -F FSType.


     Note:  ufs  file  systems  are  normally  created  with  the
     newfs(1M) command.


     genericoptions  are  independent  of  file   system   type.
     FSType-specificoptions   is   a  comma-separated   list  of
     keyword=value pairs (with no intervening spaces), which  are
     FSType-specific.  rawdevicefile  specifies the disk parti-
     tion on which to write the file system. It is  required  and
     must  be  the first argument following the  specificoptions
     (if any). operands are   FSType-specific.  See  the  FSType-
     specific  manual page of  mkfs (for example,  mkfsufs (1M))
     for a detailed description.

OPTIONS
     The following are the generic options for mkfs:

     -F    Specify the  FSType to be constructed. If  -F  is  not
           specified, the  FSType is determined from  /etc/vfstab
           by matching the  rawdevicefile with a  vfstab entry,
           or by consulting the  /etc/default/fs file.


     -V    Echo the complete command line, but do not execute the
           command.  The  command  line is generated by using the
           options and arguments  provided  and  adding  to  them
           information     derived     from     /etc/vfstab    or
           /etc/default/fs. This option may be used to verify and
           validate the command line.


     -m    Return the command line which was used to  create  the
           file  system. The file system must already exist. This
           option provides a means  of  determining  the  command
           used in constructing the file system.





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System Administration Commands                           mkfs(1M)



     -o    Specify  FSType-specific options. See the manual  page
           for the  mkfs module specific to the file system type.


USAGE
     See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of mkfs
     when  encountering  files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte (
     2^31 bytes).

FILES
     /etc/default/fs    Default file system type. Default  values
                        can  be  set  for  the following flags in
                        /etc/default/fs. For example: LOCAL=ufs

                        LOCAL    The default partition for a com-
                                 mand if no FSType is specified.



     /etc/vfstab        List of default parameters for each  file
                        system


ATRIBUTES
     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:



     
           ATRIBUTE TYPE               ATRIBUTE VALUE       
    
     Availability                 SUNWcsu                     
    


SEE ALSO
     mkfsufs(1M), newfs(1M),  vfstab(4),  attributes(5),  large-
     file(5)


     Manual pages for the  FSType-specific modules of  mkfs.

NOTES
     This command might not be supported for all FSTypes.


     You can use lofiadm to create a file that appears to a  mkfs
     command  as a raw device. You can then use a mkfs command to
     create a file system on that  device.  See  lofiadm(1M)  for
     examples of creating a UFS and a PC (FAT) file system (using
     mkfsufs(1M) and  mkfspcfs(1M))  on  a  device  created  by



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System Administration Commands                           mkfs(1M)



     lofiadm.






















































SunOS 5.11          Last change: 17 Nov 2000                    3