Computer Science
MKFS(8) Linux System Administrator's Manual MKFS(8)
NAME
mkfs - make a Linux MINIX filesystem
SYNOPSIS
mkfs [ -c | -l filename ] [ -n namelength ] [ -i inode-
count ] [ -v ] device [ size-in-blocks ]
DESCRIPTION
mkfs creates a Linux MINIX file-system on a device (usu-
ally a disk partition).
The device is usually of the following form:
/dev/hda[1-8] (IDE disk 1)
/dev/hdb[1-8] (IDE disk 2)
/dev/sda[1-8] (SCSI disk 1)
/dev/sdb[1-8] (SCSI disk 2)
The size-in-blocks parameter is the desired size of the
file system, in blocks. This information can be deter-
mined from the fdisk(8) or cfdisk(8) program. If omitted
it will be determined automaticaly. Only block counts
strictly greater than 10 and strictly less than 65536 are
allowed.
OPTIONS
-c Check the device for bad blocks before creating the
file system. If any are found, the count is
printed.
-n namelength
Specify the maximum length of filenames. Cur-
rently, the only allowable values are 14 and 30.
30 is the default.
-i inodecount
Specify the number of inodes for the filesystem.
-l filename
Read the bad blocks list from filename. The file
has one bad block number per line. The count of
bad blocks read is printed.
-v Make a Minix version 2 filesystem.
EXIT CODES
The exit code returned by mkfs.minix is one of the follow-
ing:
0 No errors
8 Operational error
16 Usage or syntax error
SEE ALSO
fsck(8), mkefs(8), efsck(8), reboot(8)
Util-linux 2.6 2 July 1996 1
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