System Administration Commands mkfs(1M)
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 indi-
cated 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 areFSType-specific. raw_device_file specifies the disk parti-
tion on which to write the file system. It is required andmust 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. OPTIONSThe 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/vfstabby 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.SunOS 5.11 Last change: 17 Nov 2000 1
System Administration Commands mkfs(1M)
-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=ufsLOCAL The default partition for a com-
mand if no FSType is specified. /etc/vfstab List of default parameters for each file systemATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | SUNWcs ||_____________________________|_____________________________|
SEE ALSO
mkfs_ufs(1M), newfs(1M), vfstab(4), attributes(5), large-
file(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 (usingmkfs_ufs(1M) and mkfs_pcfs(1M)) on a device created by
SunOS 5.11 Last change: 17 Nov 2000 2
System Administration Commands mkfs(1M)
lofiadm.SunOS 5.11 Last change: 17 Nov 2000 3