rosapps/applications/sysutils/mkdosfs/mkdosfs.8

   1 .\" -*- nroff -*-
   2 .TH MKDOSFS 8 "5 May 1995" "Version 2.x"
   3 .SH NAME
   4 .B mkdosfs
   5 \- create an MS-DOS file system under Linux
   6 .SH SYNOPSIS
   7 .B mkdosfs
   8 [
   9 .B \-A
  10 ]
  11 [
  12 .B \-b
  13 .I sector-of-backup
  14 ]
  15 [
  16 .B \-c
  17 ]
  18 [
  19 .B \-l
  20 .I filename
  21 ]
  22 [
  23 .B \-C
  24 ]
  25 [
  26 .B \-f
  27 .I number-of-FATs
  28 ]
  29 [
  30 .B \-F
  31 .I FAT-size
  32 ]
  33 [
  34 .B \-i
  35 .I volume-id
  36 ]
  37 .RB [ " \-I " ]
  38 [
  39 .B \-m
  40 .I message-file
  41 ]
  42 [
  43 .B \-n
  44 .I volume-name
  45 ]
  46 [
  47 .B \-r
  48 .I root-dir-entries
  49 ]
  50 [
  51 .B \-R
  52 .I number-of-reserved-sectors
  53 ]
  54 [
  55 .B \-s
  56 .I sectors-per-cluster
  57 ]
  58 [
  59 .B \-S
  60 .I logical-sector-size
  61 ]
  62 [
  63 .B \-v
  64 ]
  65 .I device
  66 [
  67 .I block-count
  68 ]
  69 .SH DESCRIPTION
  70 .B mkdosfs
  71 is used to create an MS-DOS file system under Linux on a device (usually
  72 a disk partition).
  73 .I device
  74 is the special file corresponding to the device (e.g /dev/hdXX).
  75 .I block-count
  76 is the number of blocks on the device.  If omitted,
  77 .B mkdosfs
  78 automatically determiness the file system size.
  79 .SH OPTIONS
  80 .TP
  81 .B \-A
  82 Use Atari variation of the MS-DOS filesystem. This is default if
  83 \fBmkdosfs\fP is run on an Atari, then this option turns off Atari
  84 format. There are some differences when using Atari format: If not
  85 directed otherwise by the user, \fBmkdosfs\fP will always use 2
  86 sectors per cluster, since GEMDOS doesn't like other values very much.
  87 It will also obey the maximum number of sectors GEMDOS can handle.
  88 Larger filesystems are managed by raising the logical sector size.
  89 Under Atari format, an Atari-compatible serial number for the
  90 filesystem is generated, and a 12 bit FAT is used only for filesystems
  91 that have one of the usual floppy sizes (720k, 1.2M, 1.44M, 2.88M), a
  92 16 bit FAT otherwise. This can be overridden with the \fB\-F\fP
  93 option. Some PC-specific boot sector fields aren't written, and a boot
  94 message (option \fB\-m\fP) is ignored.
  95 .TP
  96 .BI \-b " sector-of-backup "
  97 Selects the location of the backup boot sector for FAT32. Default
  98 depends on number of reserved sectors, but usually is sector 6. The
  99 backup must be within the range of reserved sectors.
 100 .TP
 101 .B \-c
 102 Check the device for bad blocks before creating the file system.
 103 .TP
 104 .B \-C
 105 Create the file given as \fIdevice\fP on the command line, and write
 106 the to-be-created file system to it. This can be used to create the
 107 new file system in a file instead of on a real device, and to avoid
 108 using \fBdd\fP in advance to create a file of appropriate size. With
 109 this option, the \fIblock-count\fP must be given, because otherwise
 110 the intended size of the file system wouldn't be known. The file
 111 created is a sparse file, which actually only contains the meta-data
 112 areas (boot sector, FATs, and root directory). The data portions won't
 113 be stored on the disk, but the file nevertheless will have the
 114 correct size. The resulting file can be copied later to a floppy disk
 115 or other device, or mounted through a loop device.
 116 .TP
 117 .BI \-f " number-of-FATs"
 118 Specify the number of file allocation tables in the file system.  The
 119 default is 2.  Currently the Linux MS-DOS file system does not support
 120 more than 2 FATs.
 121 .TP
 122 .BI \-F " FAT-size"
 123 Specifies the type of file allocation tables used (12, 16 or 32 bit).
 124 If nothing is specified, \fBmkdosfs\fR will automatically select
 125 between 12 and 16 bit, whatever fits better for the filesystem size.
 126 32 bit FAT (FAT32 format) must (still) be selected explicitly if you
 127 want it.
 128 .TP
 129 .BI \-i " volume-id"
 130 Sets the volume ID of the newly created filesystem;
 131 .I volume-id
 132 is a 32-bit hexadecimal number (for example, 2e24ec82).  The default
 133 is a number which depends on the filesystem creation time.
 134 .TP
 135 .B \-I
 136 Normally you are not allowed to use any 'full' fixed disk devices.
 137 .B mkdosfs
 138 will complain and tell you that it refuses to work.  This is different
 139 when usind MO disks.  One doesn't always need partitions on MO disks.
 140 The filesytem can go directly to the whole disk.  Under other OSes
 141 this is known as the 'superfloppy' format.
 142
 143 This switch will force
 144 .B mkdosfs
 145 to work properly.
 146 .TP
 147 .BI \-l " filename"
 148 Read the bad blocks list from
 149 .IR filename .
 150 .TP
 151 .BI \-m " message-file"
 152 Sets the message the user receives on attempts to boot this filesystem
 153 without having properly installed an operating system.  The message
 154 file must not exceed 418 bytes once line feeds have been converted to
 155 carriage return-line feed combinations, and tabs have been expanded.
 156 If the filename is a hyphen (-), the text is taken from standard input.
 157 .TP
 158 .BI \-n " volume-name"
 159 Sets the volume name (label) of the filesystem.  The volume name can
 160 be up to 11 characters long.  The default is no label.
 161 .TP
 162 .BI \-r " root-dir-entries"
 163 Select the number of entries available in the root directory.  The
 164 default is 112 or 224 for floppies and 512 for hard disks.
 165 .TP
 166 .BI \-R " number-of-reserved-sectors "
 167 Select the number of reserved sectos. With FAT32 format at least 2
 168 reserved sectors are needed, the default is 32. Otherwise the default
 169 is 1 (only the boot sector).
 170 .TP
 171 .BI \-s " sectors-per-cluster"
 172 Specify the number of disk sectors per cluster.  Must be a power of 2,
 173 i.e. 1, 2, 4, 8, ... 128.
 174 .TP
 175 .BI \-S " logical-sector-size"
 176 Specify the number of bytes per logical sector.  Must be a power of 2
 177 and greater than or equal to 512, i.e. 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192,
 178 16384, or 32768.
 179 .TP
 180 .B \-v
 181 Verbose execution.
 182 .SH BUGS
 183 None are know at the moment.  If you find any, please report it them
 184 to <hpa@yggdrasil.com>.  Please include the version number (Yggdrasil 0.3a).
 185 .SH AUTHOR
 186 Dave Hudson - <dave@humbug.demon.co.uk>; modified by Peter Anvin
 187 <hpa@yggdrasil.com>. Fixes and additions by Roman Hodek
 188 <Roman.Hodek@informatik.uni-erlangen.de> for Debian/GNU Linux.
 189 .SH ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
 190 .B mkdosfs
 191 is based on code from
 192 .BR mke2fs
 193 (written by Remy Card - <card@masi.ibp.fr>) which is itself based on
 194 .BR mkfs
 195 (written by Linus Torvalds - <torvalds@cs.helsinki.fi>).
 196 .SH SEE ALSO
 197 .BR dosfsck (8),
 198 .BR mkfs (8)