e2fsck.conf(5)e2fsck.conf(5)NAMEe2fsck.conf - Configuration file for e2fsck
DESCRIPTIONe2fsck.conf is the configuration file for e2fsck(8). It controls the
default behavior of e2fsck(8) while it is checking ext2 or ext3
filesystems.
The e2fsck.conf file uses an INI-style format. Stanzas, or top-level
sections, are delimited by square braces: [ ]. Within each section,
each line defines a relation, which assigns tags to values, or to a
subsection, which contains further relations or subsections. An exam‐
ple of the INI-style format used by this configuration file follows
below:
[section1]
tag1 = value_a
tag1 = value_b
tag2 = value_c
[section 2]
tag3 = {
subtag1 = subtag_value_a
subtag1 = subtag_value_b
subtag2 = subtag_value_c
}
tag1 = value_d
tag2 = value_e
}
Comments are delimited by a semicolon (';') or a hash ('#') character
at the beginning of the comment, and are terminated by the end of line
character.
Tags and values must be quoted using double quotes if they contain spa‐
ces. Within a quoted string, the standard backslash interpretations
apply: "\n" (for the newline character), "\t" (for the tab character),
"\b" (for the backspace character), and "\\" (for the backslash charac‐
ter).
The following stanzas are used in the e2fsck.conf file. They will be
described in more detail in future sections of this document.
[options]
This stanza contains general configuration parameters for
e2fsck's behavior.
[problems]
This stanza allows the administrator to reconfigure how e2fsck
handles various filesystem inconsistencies.
[scratch_files]
This stanza controls when e2fsck will attempt to use scratch
files to reduce the need for memory.
THE [options] STANZA
The following relations are defined in the [options] stanza.
allow_cancellation
If this relation is set to a boolean value of true, then if the
user interrupts e2fsck using ^C, and the filesystem is not
explicitly flagged as containing errors, e2fsck will exit with
an exit status of 0 instead of 32. This setting defaults to
false.
buggy_init_scripts
Some buggy distributions (such as Ubuntu) have init scripts
and/or installers which fail to correctly set the system clock
before running e2fsck and/or formatting the filesystem ini‐
tially. Normally this happens because the hardware clock is
ticking localtime, instead of the more proper and less error-
prone UTC time. So while the kernel is booting, the system time
(which in Linux systems always ticks in UTC time) is set from
the hardware clock, but since the hardware clock is ticking
localtime, the system time is incorrect. Unfortunately, some
buggy distributions do not correct this before running e2fsck.
If this option is set to a boolean value of true, we attempt to
work around this situation by allowing the superblock last write
time, last mount time, and last check time to be in the future
by up to 24 hours.
clear_test_fs_flag
This boolean relation controls whether or not e2fsck(8) will
offer to clear the test_fs flag if the ext4 filesystem is avail‐
able on the system. It defaults to true.
defer_check_on_battery
This boolean relation controls whether or not the interval
between filesystem checks (either based on time or number of
mounts) should be doubled if the system is running on battery.
It defaults to true.
indexed_dir_slack_percentage
When e2fsck(8) repacks a indexed directory, reserve the speci‐
fied percentage of empty space in each leaf nodes so that a few
new entries can be added to the directory without splitting leaf
nodes, so that the average fill ratio of directories can be
maintained at a higher, more efficient level. This relation
defaults to 20 percent.
THE [problems] STANZA
Each tag in the [problems] stanza names a problem code specified with a
leading "0x" followed by six hex digits. The value of the tag is a
subsection where the relations in that subsection override the default
treatment of that particular problem code.
Note that inappropriate settings in this stanza may cause e2fsck to
behave incorrectly, or even crash. Most system administrators should
not be making changes to this section without referring to source code.
Within each problem code's subsection, the following tags may be used:
description
This relation allows the message which is printed when this
filesystem inconsistency is detected to be overridden.
preen_ok
This boolean relation overrides the default behavior controlling
whether this filesystem problem should be automatically fixed
when e2fsck is running in preen mode.
no_ok This boolean relation overrides the default behavior determining
whether or not the filesystem will be marked as inconsistent if
the user declines to fix the reported problem.
no_default
This boolean relation overrides whether the default answer for
this problem (or question) should be "no".
preen_nomessage
This boolean relation overrides the default behavior controlling
whether or not the description for this filesystem problem
should be suppressed when e2fsck is running in preen mode.
no_nomsg
This boolean relation overrides the default behavior controlling
whether or not the description for this filesystem problem
should be suppressed when e2fsck is run with the -n option.
THE [scratch_files] STANZA
The following relations are defined in the [scratch_files] stanza.
directory
If the directory named by this relation exists and is writeable,
then e2fsck will attempt to use this directory to store scratch
files instead of using in-memory data structures.
numdirs_threshold
If this relation is set, then in-memory data structures be used
if the number of directories in the filesystem are fewer than
amount specified.
dirinfo
This relation controls whether or not the scratch file directory
is used instead of an in-memory data structure for directory
information. It defaults to true.
icount This relation controls whether or not the scratch file directory
is used instead of an in-memory data structure when tracking
inode counts. It defaults to true.
EXAMPLES
The following recipe will prevent e2fsck from aborting during the boot
process when a filesystem contains orphaned files. (Of course, this is
not always a good idea, since critical files that are needed for the
security of the system could potentially end up in lost+found, and
starting the system without first having a system administrator check
things out may be dangerous.)
[problems]
0x040002 = {
preen_ok = true
description = "@u @i %i. "
}
FILES
/etc/e2fsck.conf
The configuration file for e2fsck(8).
SEE ALSOe2fsck(8)E2fsprogs version 1.41.9 August 2009 e2fsck.conf(5)
