2.11BSD/man/cat8/newfs.0
NEWFS(8) UNIX Programmer's Manual NEWFS(8)
NAME
newfs - construct a new file system
SYNOPSIS
/sbin/newfs [ -N ] [ -m free-gap ] [ -n free-modulus ] [ -i
bytes ] [ -s size ] [ -T disk-type ] special
DESCRIPTION
Newfs is a ``friendly'' front-end to the mkfs(8) program.
Newfs(8) will normally read the disklabel from the drive to
determine the partition sizes. If the driver for the disk
does not support disklabels the -T option must be used to
force a search of /_e_t_c/_d_i_s_k_t_a_b for partition information
about _d_r_i_v_e-_t_y_p_e. Newfs calculates the appropriate parame-
ters to use in calling mkfs, then builds the file system by
forking mkfs.
-N causes the mkfs command which would be executed to be
printed out without actually creating the file system. The
disk specified by special must be online though so that
newfs can read the disklabel.
-m allows the specification of the block interleaving of the
free list. If not specified or outside the range 1 thru 32
then a value of 2 is used.
-n parameter is the freelist modulus (when the -m pattern
repeats) and is calculated by newfs to be 1 cylinder in size
by default.
-i specifies how many bytes per inode to assume when calcu-
lating how many inodes to allocate. The default is 4096
bytes per inode. If this results in too few inodes being
allocated (there is an absolute maximum of 65500) then
decrease the _b_y_t_e_s number (which must lie between 512 and
65536).
-T must be used if the disk specified by _s_p_e_c_i_a_l has not
been labeled with the disklabel(8) program. In this case
_d_i_s_k-_t_y_p_e is used by getdisklabel(3) when searching
/_e_t_c/_d_i_s_k_t_a_b. This option is used when the underlying dev-
ice driver does not support disklabels. Care must be taken
that the contents of /etc/disktab match the partition tables
in the kernel.
-s specifies how many sectors the file system is to contain.
There are two sectors per file system block, therefore _s_i_z_e
should be even. This parameter must be less than or equal
to the partition size (as determined from the disklabel or
/etc/disktab). An error is printed and no action is taken
if the partition size is 0 or too large.
Printed 11/24/99 April 12, 1996 1
NEWFS(8) UNIX Programmer's Manual NEWFS(8)
NOTE: Mkfs deals in units of filesystem blocks not sec-
tors. Newfs uses sectors.
FILES
/etc/disktab disk geometry and partition information
mkfs to actually build the file system
SEE ALSO
getdisklabel(3), disklabel(8), disktab(5), diskpart(8),
fs(5), fsck(8), mkfs(8)
BUGS
newfs(8) no longer places boot blocks on the filesystem.
That duty has been moved to the disklabel(8) program. If
you must place a boot block on a disk whose driver does not
support disklabels use dd(1).
Printed 11/24/99 April 12, 1996 2