SYNOPSIS

       mkfs [ -V ] [ -t fstype ] [ fs-options ] filesys [ blocks ]

DESCRIPTION

       mkfs  is  used to build a Linux file system on a device, usually a hard
       disk partition.  filesys is either the device  name  (e.g.   /dev/hda1,
       /dev/sdb2)  or the mount point (e.g.  /, /usr, /home) for the file sys-
       tem.  blocks is the number of blocks to be used for the file system.

       The exit code returned by mkfs is 0 on success and 1 on failure.

       In actuality, mkfs is simply a front-end for the  various  file  system
       builders (mkfs.fstype) available under Linux.  The file system-specific
       builder is searched for in a number of directories like perhaps  /sbin,
       /sbin/fs,  /sbin/fs.d,  /etc/fs,  /etc  (the precise list is defined at
       compile time but at least contains /sbin and /sbin/fs), and finally  in
       the directories listed in the PATH enviroment variable.  Please see the
       file system-specific builder manual pages for further details.

OPTIONS

       -V     Produce verbose output, including all file system-specific  com-
              mands  that are executed.  Specifying this option more than once
              inhibits execution of any file system-specific  commands.   This
              is really only useful for testing.

       -t fstype
              Specifies  the  type  of file system to be built.  If not speci-
              fied, the default file system type (currently ext2) is used.

       fs-options
              File system-specific options to be passed to the real file  sys-
              tem builder.  Although not guaranteed, the following options are
              supported by most file system builders.

       -c     Check the device for bad blocks before building the file system.

       -l filename
              Read the bad blocks list from filename

       -v     Produce verbose output.

BUGS

       All  generic options must precede and not be combined with file system-
       specific options.  Some file system-specific programs  do  not  support
       the  -v (verbose) option, nor return meaningful exit codes.  Also, some
       file system-specific programs do not automatically  detect  the  device
       size and require the blocks parameter to be specified.

AUTHORS

       David Engel (david@ods.com)
       Fred N. van Kempen (waltje@uwalt.nl.mugnet.org)
       Ron Sommeling (sommel@sci.kun.nl)