mkfs(1M) System Administration Commands mkfs(1M)NAMEmkfs - construct a file system
SYNOPSISmkfs [-F FSType] [generic_options] [-o FSType-specific_options]
raw_device_file [operands]
DESCRIPTION
The mkfs utility constructs a file system on the raw_device_file by
calling the specific mkfs module indicated by -F FSType.
Note: ufs file systems are normally created with the newfs(1M) command.
generic_options are independent of file system type. FSType-spe‐
cific_options is a comma-separated list of keyword=value pairs (with
no intervening spaces), which are FSType-specific. raw_device_file
specifies the disk partition on which to write the file system. It is
required and must be the first argument following the spe‐
cific_options (if any). operands are FSType-specific. See the FSType-
specific manual page of mkfs (for example, mkfs_ufs (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 speci‐
fied, the FSType is determined from /etc/vfstab by matching
the raw_device_file with a vfstab entry, or by consulting
the /etc/default/fs file.
-V Echo the complete command line, but do not execute the com‐
mand. 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 sys‐
tem. The file system must already exist. This option provides
a means of determining the command used in constructing the
file system.
-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 command if
no FSType is specified.
/etc/vfstab List of default parameters for each file system
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
│ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│Availability │SUNWcsu │
└─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
SEE ALSOmkfs_ufs(1M), newfs(1M), vfstab(4), attributes(5), largefile(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 mkfs_ufs(1M) and mkfs_pcfs(1M)) on a device
created by lofiadm.
SunOS 5.10 17 Nov 2000 mkfs(1M)
