xref: /original-bsd/sbin/fsck/fsck.8 (revision 0dd2f719)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1989, 1991 Regents of the University of California.
2.\" All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" %sccs.include.redist.roff%
5.\"
6.\"	@(#)fsck.8	6.11 (Berkeley) 05/14/93
7.\"
8.Dd
9.Dt FSCK 8
10.Os BSD 4
11.Sh NAME
12.Nm fsck
13.Nd filesystem consistency check and interactive repair
14.Sh SYNOPSIS
15.Nm fsck
16.Fl p
17.Op Fl m Ar mode
18.Nm fsck
19.Op Fl b Ar block#
20.Op Fl c Ar level
21.Op Fl y
22.Op Fl n
23.Op Fl m Ar mode
24.Op Ar filesystem
25.Ar ...
26.Sh DESCRIPTION
27The first form of
28.Nm fsck
29preens a standard set of filesystems or the specified filesystems.
30It is normally used in the script
31.Pa /etc/rc
32during automatic reboot.
33Here
34.Nm fsck
35reads the table
36.Pa /etc/fstab
37to determine which filesystems to check.
38Only partitions in fstab that are mounted ``rw,'' ``rq'' or ``ro''
39and that have non-zero pass number are checked.
40Filesystems with pass number 1 (normally just the root filesystem)
41are checked one at a time.
42When pass 1 completes, all remaining filesystems are checked,
43running one process per disk drive.
44The disk drive containing each filesystem is inferred from the longest prefix
45of the device name that ends in a digit; the remaining characters are assumed
46to be the partition designator.
47.Pp
48The kernel takes care that only a restricted class of innocuous filesystem
49inconsistencies can happen unless hardware or software failures intervene.
50These are limited to the following:
51.Bl -item -compact
52.It
53Unreferenced inodes
54.It
55Link counts in inodes too large
56.It
57Missing blocks in the free map
58.It
59Blocks in the free map also in files
60.It
61Counts in the super-block wrong
62.El
63.Pp
64These are the only inconsistencies that
65.Nm fsck
66with the
67.Fl p
68option will correct; if it encounters other inconsistencies, it exits
69with an abnormal return status and an automatic reboot will then fail.
70For each corrected inconsistency one or more lines will be printed
71identifying the filesystem on which the correction will take place,
72and the nature of the correction.  After successfully correcting a filesystem,
73.Nm fsck
74will print the number of files on that filesystem,
75the number of used and free blocks,
76and the percentage of fragmentation.
77.Pp
78If sent a
79.Dv QUIT
80signal,
81.Nm fsck
82will finish the filesystem checks, then exit with an abnormal
83return status that causes an automatic reboot to fail.
84This is useful when you want to finish the filesystem checks during an
85automatic reboot,
86but do not want the machine to come up multiuser after the checks complete.
87.Pp
88Without the
89.Fl p
90option,
91.Nm fsck
92audits and interactively repairs inconsistent conditions for filesystems.
93If the filesystem is inconsistent the operator is prompted for concurrence
94before each correction is attempted.
95It should be noted that some of the corrective actions which are not
96correctable under the
97.Fl p
98option will result in some loss of data.
99The amount and severity of data lost may be determined from the diagnostic
100output.
101The default action for each consistency correction
102is to wait for the operator to respond
103.Li yes
104or
105.Li no .
106If the operator does not have write permission on the filesystem
107.Nm fsck
108will default to a
109.Fl n
110action.
111.Pp
112.Nm Fsck
113has more consistency checks than
114its predecessors
115.Em check , dcheck , fcheck ,
116and
117.Em icheck
118combined.
119.Pp
120The following flags are interpreted by
121.Nm fsck .
122.Bl -tag -width indent
123.It Fl b
124Use the block specified immediately after the flag as
125the super block for the filesystem.  Block 32 is usually
126an alternate super block.
127.It Fl l
128Limit the number of parallel checks to the number specified in the following
129argument.
130By default, the limit is the number of disks, running one process per disk.
131If a smaller limit is given, the disks are checked round-robin, one filesystem
132at a time.
133.It Fl m
134Use the mode specified in octal immediately after the flag as the
135permission bits to use when creating the
136.Pa lost+found
137directory rather than the default 1777.
138In particular, systems that do not wish to have lost files accessible
139by all users on the system should use a more restrictive
140set of permissions such as 700.
141.It Fl y
142Assume a yes response to all questions asked by
143.Nm fsck ;
144this should be used with great caution as this is a free license
145to continue after essentially unlimited trouble has been encountered.
146.It Fl n
147Assume a no response to all questions asked by
148.Nm fsck
149except for
150.Ql CONTINUE? ,
151which is assumed to be affirmative;
152do not open the filesystem for writing.
153.It Fl c
154Convert the filesystem to the specified level.
155Note that the level of a filesystem can only be raised.
156.Bl -tag -width indent
157There are currently three levels defined:
158.It 0
159The filesystem is in the old (static table) format.
160.It 1
161The filesystem is in the new (dynamic table) format.
162.It 2
163The filesystem supports 32-bit uid's and gid's,
164short symbolic links are stored in the inode,
165and directories have an added field showing the file type.
166.El
167.Pp
168In interactive mode,
169.Nm fsck
170will list the conversion to be made
171and ask whether the conversion should be done.
172If a negative answer is given,
173no further operations are done on the filesystem.
174In preen mode,
175the conversion is listed and done if
176possible without user interaction.
177Conversion in preen mode is best used when all the filesystems
178are being converted at once.
179The format of a filesystem can be determined from the
180first line of output from
181.Xr dumpfs 8 .
182.El
183.Pp
184If no filesystems are given to
185.Nm fsck
186then a default list of filesystems is read from
187the file
188.Pa /etc/fstab .
189.Pp
190.Bl -enum -indent indent -compact
191Inconsistencies checked are as follows:
192.It
193Blocks claimed by more than one inode or the free map.
194.It
195Blocks claimed by an inode outside the range of the filesystem.
196.It
197Incorrect link counts.
198.It
199Size checks:
200.Bl -item -indent indent -compact
201.It
202Directory size not a multiple of DIRBLKSIZ.
203.It
204Partially truncated file.
205.El
206.It
207Bad inode format.
208.It
209Blocks not accounted for anywhere.
210.It
211Directory checks:
212.Bl -item -indent indent -compact
213.It
214File pointing to unallocated inode.
215.It
216Inode number out of range.
217.It
218Dot or dot-dot not the first two entries of a directory
219or having the wrong inode number.
220.El
221.It
222Super Block checks:
223.Bl -item -indent indent -compact
224.It
225More blocks for inodes than there are in the filesystem.
226.It
227Bad free block map format.
228.It
229Total free block and/or free inode count incorrect.
230.El
231.El
232.Pp
233Orphaned files and directories (allocated but unreferenced) are,
234with the operator's concurrence, reconnected by
235placing them in the
236.Pa lost+found
237directory.
238The name assigned is the inode number.
239If the
240.Pa lost+found
241directory does not exist, it is created.
242If there is insufficient space its size is increased.
243.Pp
244Because of inconsistencies between the block device and the buffer cache,
245the raw device should always be used.
246.Sh FILES
247.Bl -tag -width /etc/fstab -compact
248.It Pa /etc/fstab
249contains default list of filesystems to check.
250.El
251.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
252The diagnostics produced by
253.Nm fsck
254are fully enumerated and explained in Appendix A of
255.Rs
256.%T "Fsck \- The UNIX File System Check Program"
257.Re
258.Sh SEE ALSO
259.Xr fstab 5 ,
260.Xr fs 5 ,
261.Xr fsdb 8 ,
262.Xr newfs 8 ,
263.Xr mkfs 8 ,
264.Xr reboot 8
265