NAME
mkfs − construct a file system
SYNOPSIS
mkfs [-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-specific_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 specific_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 specified, 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 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. | ||
|
-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:
SEE ALSO
mkfs_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.