e2fsck
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NAME
e2fsck - check a Linux second extended file system
SYNOPSIS
e2fsck [ -pacnyrdfvtFV ] [ -b superblock ] [ -B blocksize
] [ -l|-L bad_blocks_file ] device
DESCRIPTION
e2fsck is used to check a Linux second extended file sys-
tem.
device is the special file corresponding to the device
(e.g /dev/hdXX).
OPTIONS
-a This option does the same thing as the -p option.
It is provided for backwards compatibility only; it
is suggested that people use -p option whever pos-
sible.
-b superblock
Instead of using the normal superblock, use the
alternative superblock specified by superblock.
-B blocksize
Normally, e2fsck will search for the superblock at
various different block sizes in an attempt to find
the appropriate block size. This search can be
fooled in some cases. This option forces e2fsck to
only try locating the superblock at a particular
blocksize. If the superblock is not found, e2fsck
will terminate with a fatal error.
-c This option causes e2fsck to run the badblocks(8)
program to find any blocks which are bad on the
filesystem, and then marks them as bad by adding
them to the bad block inode.
-d Print debugging output (useless unless you are
debugging e2fsck ).
-f Force checking even if the file system seems clean.
-F Flush the filesystem device's buffer caches before
beginning. Only really useful for doing e2fsck
time trials.
-l filename
Add the blocks listed in the file specified by
filename to the list of bad blocks.
-L filename
Set the bad blocks list to be the list of blocks
specified by filename. (This option is the same as
the -l option, except the bad blocks list is
cleared before the blocks listed in the file are
added to the bad blocks list.)
-n Open the filesystem read-only, and assume an answer
of ``no'' to all questions. Allows e2fsck to be
used non-interactively. (Note: if the -c, -l, or
-L options are specified in addition to the -n
option, then the filesystem will be opened read-
write, to permit the bad-blocks list to be updated.
However, no other changes will be made to the
filesystem.)
-p Automatically repair ("preen") the file system
without any questions.
-r This option does nothing at all; it is provided
only for backwards compatibility.
-t Print timing statistics for e2fsck. If this option
is used twice, additional timing statistics are
printed on a pass by pass basis.
-v Verbose mode.
-V Print version information and exit.
-y Assume an answer of ``yes'' to all questions;
allows e2fsck to be used non-interactively.
EXIT CODE
The exit code returned by e2fsck is the sum of the follow-
ing conditions:
0 - No errors
1 - File system errors corrected
2 - File system errors corrected, system should
be rebooted if file system was mounted
4 - File system errors left uncorrected
8 - Operational error
16 - Usage or syntax error
128 - Shared library error
BUGS
Almost any piece of software will have bugs. If you man-
age to find a filesystem which causes e2fsck to crash, or
which e2fsck is unable to repair, please report it to the
author.
Please include as much information as possible in your bug
report. Ideally, include a complete transcript of the
e2fsck run, so I can see exactly what error messages are
displayed. If you have a writeable filesystem where the
transcript can be stored, the script(1) program is a handy
way to save the output of to a file.
It is also useful to send the output of dumpe2fs(8). If a
specific inode or inodes seems to be giving e2fsck trou-
ble, try running the debugfs(8) command and send the out-
put of the stat command run on the relevant inode(s). If
the inode is a directory, the debugfs dump command will
allow you to extract the contents of the directory inode,
which can sent to me after being first run through uuen-
code(1).
Always include the full version string which e2fsck dis-
plays when it is run, so I know which version you are run-
ning.
AUTHOR
This version of e2fsck is written by Theodore Ts'o
<tytso@mit.edu>.
SEE ALSO
mke2fs(8), tune2fs(8), dumpe2fs(8), debugfs(8)
Hurricane Electric Internet Services
Copyright (C) 1998
Hurricane Electric.
All Rights Reserved.