xref: /dragonfly/sbin/disklabel32/disklabel32.8 (revision 52f9f0d9)
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35.\"	@(#)disklabel.8	8.2 (Berkeley) 4/19/94
36.\" $FreeBSD: src/sbin/disklabel/disklabel.8,v 1.15.2.22 2003/04/17 17:56:34 trhodes Exp $
37.\" $DragonFly: src/sbin/disklabel/disklabel.8,v 1.30 2008/09/16 20:45:36 thomas Exp $
38.\"
39.Dd September 28, 2009
40.Dt DISKLABEL32 8
41.Os
42.Sh NAME
43.Nm disklabel32
44.Nd read and write 32 bit disk pack label
45.Sh SYNOPSIS
46.Nm
47.Op Fl r
48.Ar disk
49.Nm
50.Fl w
51.Op Fl r
52.Op Fl n
53.Ar disk Ar disktype Ns / Ns Cm auto
54.Oo Ar packid Oc
55.Nm
56.Fl e
57.Op Fl r
58.Op Fl n
59.Ar disk
60.Nm
61.Fl R
62.Op Fl r
63.Op Fl n
64.Ar disk Ar protofile
65.Nm
66.Op Fl NW
67.Ar disk
68.Pp
69.Nm
70.Fl B
71.Oo
72.Fl b Ar boot1
73.Fl s Ar boot2
74.Oc
75.Ar disk
76.Oo Ar disktype Ns / Ns Cm auto Oc
77.Nm
78.Fl w
79.Fl B
80.Op Fl n
81.Oo
82.Fl b Ar boot1
83.Fl s Ar boot2
84.Oc
85.Ar disk Ar disktype Ns / Ns Cm auto
86.Oo Ar packid Oc
87.Nm
88.Fl R
89.Fl B
90.Op Fl n
91.Oo
92.Fl b Ar boot1
93.Fl s Ar boot2
94.Oc
95.Ar disk Ar protofile
96.Oo Ar disktype Ns / Ns Cm auto Oc
97.Nm
98.Fl f Ar slice_start_lba
99.Oo Ar options Oc
100.Sh DESCRIPTION
101The
102.Nm
103utility
104installs, examines or modifies a 32 bit label on a disk drive or pack.
105When writing
106the label, it can be used to change the drive identification, the disk
107partitions on the drive, or to replace a damaged label.
108There are several forms
109of the command that read (display), install or edit the label on a disk.
110In
111addition,
112.Nm
113can install bootstrap code.
114.Ss Raw or in-core label
115The disk label resides close to or at the beginning of each disk slice.
116For faster access, the kernel maintains a copy in core at all times.
117By
118default, most forms of the
119.Nm
120command access the in-core copy of the label.
121To access the raw (on-disk)
122copy, use the
123.Fl r
124option.
125This option allows a label to be installed on a disk without kernel
126support for a label, such as when labels are first installed on a system; it
127must be used when first installing a label on a disk.
128The specific effect of
129.Fl r
130is described under each command.
131.Ss Disk device name
132All
133.Nm
134forms require a disk device name, which should always be the raw
135device name representing the disk or slice.
136.Dx
137uses the following scheme for slice numbering:
138If the disk doesn't use GPT (typically laid out by
139.Xr gpt 8 ) ,
140but e.g.\& MBR (typically laid out by
141.Xr fdisk 8 ) ,
142then slice 0, e.g.\&
143.Pa da0s0 ,
144represents the entire disk regardless of any DOS partitioning.
145Slice 0 is called the compatibility slice,
146and slice 1 and onward, e.g.\&
147.Pa da0s1 ,
148represents a
149.Bx
150slice.
151If the disk does use GPT, then all slices are
152.Bx
153slices, slice 0 isn't special, it is just the first slice on the disk.
154You do not have to include the
155.Pa /dev/
156path prefix when specifying the device.
157The
158.Nm
159utility will automatically prepend it.
160.Ss Reading the disk label
161To examine the label on a disk drive, use
162.Nm
163without options:
164.Pp
165.Nm
166.Op Fl r
167.Ar disk
168.Pp
169.Ar disk
170represents the raw disk in question, and may be in the form
171.Pa da0s1
172or
173.Pa /dev/da0s1 .
174It will display all of the parameters associated with the drive and its
175partition layout.
176Unless the
177.Fl r
178flag is given,
179the kernel's in-core copy of the label is displayed;
180if the disk has no label, or the partition types on the disk are incorrect,
181the kernel may have constructed or modified the label.
182If the
183.Fl r
184flag is given,
185.Nm
186reads the label from the raw disk and displays it.
187Both versions are usually
188identical except in the case where a label has not yet been initialized or
189is corrupt.
190.Ss Writing a standard label
191To write a standard label, use the form
192.Pp
193.Nm
194.Fl w
195.Op Fl r
196.Op Fl n
197.Ar disk Ar disktype Ns / Ns Cm auto
198.Oo Ar packid Oc
199.Pp
200The required arguments to
201.Nm
202are the drive to be labeled and the drive type as described in the
203.Xr disktab 5
204file.
205The drive parameters and partitions are taken from that file.
206If
207different disks of the same physical type are to have different partitions, it
208will be necessary to have separate disktab entries describing each, or to edit
209the label after installation as described below.
210The optional argument is a
211pack identification string, up to 16 characters long.
212The pack id must be
213quoted if it contains blanks.
214.Pp
215If the
216.Fl n
217flag is given, no data will be written to the device, and instead the
218disklabel that would have been written will be printed to stdout.
219.Pp
220If the
221.Fl r
222flag is given, the disk sectors containing the label and bootstrap
223will be written directly.
224A side-effect of this is that any existing bootstrap code will be overwritten
225and the disk rendered unbootable.
226See the boot options below for a method of
227writing the label and the bootstrap at the same time.
228If
229.Fl r
230is not specified,
231the existing label will be updated via the in-core copy and any bootstrap
232code will be unaffected.
233If the disk does not already have a label, the
234.Fl r
235flag must be used.
236In either case, the kernel's in-core label is replaced.
237.Pp
238For a virgin disk that is not known to
239.Xr disktab 5 ,
240.Ar disktype
241can be specified as
242.Cm auto .
243In this case, the driver is requested to produce a virgin label for the
244disk.
245This might or might not be successful, depending on whether the
246driver for the disk is able to get the required data without reading
247anything from the disk at all.
248It will likely succeed for all SCSI
249disks, most IDE disks, and vnode devices.
250Writing a label to the
251disk is the only supported operation, and the
252.Ar disk
253itself must be provided as the canonical name, i.e.\& not as a full
254path name.
255.Pp
256For most harddisks, a label based on percentages for most partitions (and
257one partition with a size of
258.Ql * )
259will produce a reasonable configuration.
260.Pp
261PC-based systems have special requirements in order for the BIOS to properly
262recognize a
263.Dx
264disklabel.
265Older systems may require what is known as a
266.Dq dangerously dedicated
267disklabel, which creates a fake DOS partition to work around problems older
268BIOSes have with modern disk geometries.
269On newer systems you generally want
270to create a normal DOS partition using
271.Ar fdisk
272and then create a
273.Dx
274disklabel within that slice.
275This is described
276later on in this page.
277.Pp
278Installing a new disklabel does not in of itself allow your system to boot
279a kernel using that label.
280You must also install boot blocks, which is
281described later on in this manual page.
282.Ss Editing an existing disk label
283To edit an existing disk label, use the form
284.Pp
285.Nm
286.Fl e
287.Op Fl r
288.Op Fl n
289.Ar disk
290.Pp
291This command reads the label from the in-core kernel copy, or directly from the
292disk if the
293.Fl r
294flag is also specified.
295The label is written to a file in ASCII and then
296supplied to an editor for changes.
297If no editor is specified in an
298.Ev EDITOR
299environment variable,
300.Xr vi 1
301is used.
302When the editor terminates, the label file is used to rewrite the disk label.
303Existing bootstrap code is unchanged regardless of whether
304.Fl r
305was specified.
306If
307.Fl n
308is specified, no data will be written to the device, and instead the
309disklabel that would have been written will be printed to stdout.
310This is
311useful to see how a partitioning scheme will work out for a specific disk.
312.Ss Restoring a disk label from a file
313To restore a disk label from a file, use the form
314.Pp
315.Nm
316.Fl R
317.Op Fl r
318.Op Fl n
319.Ar disk Ar protofile
320.Pp
321.Nm
322is capable of restoring a disk label that was previously saved in a file
323in ASCII format.
324The prototype file used to create the label should be in the same format
325as that produced when reading or editing a label.
326Comments are delimited by
327.Ql #
328and newline.
329As when writing a new label, any existing bootstrap code will be
330clobbered if
331.Fl r
332is specified and will be unaffected otherwise.
333See the boot options below for a
334method of restoring the label and writing the bootstrap at the same time.
335If
336.Fl n
337is used, no data will be written to the device, and instead the
338disklabel that would have been written will be printed to stdout.
339This is
340useful to see how a partitioning scheme will work out for a specific disk.
341.Ss Enabling and disabling writing to the disk label area
342By default, it is not possible to write to the disk label area at the beginning
343of a disk.
344The disk driver arranges for
345.Xr write 2
346and similar system calls
347to return
348.Er EROFS
349on any attempt to do so.
350If you need
351to write to this area (for example, to obliterate the label), use the form
352.Pp
353.Nm
354.Fl W
355.Ar disk
356.Pp
357To disallow writing to the label area after previously allowing it,
358use the command
359.Pp
360.Nm
361.Fl N
362.Ar disk
363.Ss Installing bootstraps
364The final three forms of
365.Nm
366are used to install bootstrap code, which allows boot from a
367.Xr UFS 5
368file system.
369If you are creating a
370.Dq dangerously-dedicated
371slice for compatibility with older PC systems,
372you generally want to specify the compatibility slice, such as
373.Pa da0s0 .
374If you are creating a label within an existing DOS slice,
375you should specify
376the slice name such as
377.Pa da0s1 .
378Making a slice bootable can be tricky.
379If you are using a normal DOS
380slice you typically install (or leave) a standard MBR on the base disk and
381then install the
382.Dx
383bootblocks in the slice.
384.Pp
385.Nm
386.Fl B
387.Oo
388.Fl b Ar boot1
389.Fl s Ar boot2
390.Oc
391.Ar disk
392.Oo Ar disktype Ns / Ns Cm auto Oc
393.Pp
394This form installs the bootstrap only.
395It does not change the disk label.
396You should never use this command on the compatibility slice unless you
397intend to create a
398.Dq dangerously-dedicated
399disk, such as
400.Ar da0s0 .
401This command is typically run on a
402.Bx
403slice such as
404.Ar da0s1 .
405.Pp
406.Nm
407.Fl w
408.Fl B
409.Op Fl n
410.Oo
411.Fl b Ar boot1
412.Fl s Ar boot2
413.Oc
414.Ar disk Ar disktype Ns / Ns Cm auto
415.Oo Ar packid Oc
416.Pp
417This form corresponds to the
418.Dq write label
419command described above.
420In addition to writing a new volume label, it also installs the bootstrap.
421If run on the compatibility slice this command will create a
422.Dq dangerously-dedicated
423label.
424This command is normally run on a
425.Bx
426slice rather than the compatibility slice.
427If
428.Fl n
429is used, no data will be written to the device, and instead the
430disklabel that would have been written will be printed to stdout.
431.Pp
432.Nm
433.Fl R
434.Fl B
435.Op Fl n
436.Oo
437.Fl b Ar boot1
438.Fl s Ar boot2
439.Oc
440.Ar disk Ar protofile
441.Oo Ar disktype Ns / Ns Cm auto Oc
442.Pp
443This form corresponds to the
444.Dq restore label
445command described above.
446In addition to restoring the volume label, it also installs the bootstrap.
447If run on the compatibility slice this command will create a
448.Dq dangerously-dedicated
449label.
450This command is normally run on a
451.Bx
452slice rather than the compatibility
453slice.
454.Pp
455The bootstrap commands always access the disk directly,
456so it is not necessary to specify the
457.Fl r
458flag.
459If
460.Fl n
461is used, no data will be written to the device, and instead the
462disklabel that would have been written will be printed to stdout.
463.Pp
464The bootstrap code is comprised of two boot programs.
465Specify the name of the
466boot programs to be installed in one of these ways:
467.Bl -enum
468.It
469Specify the names explicitly with the
470.Fl b
471and
472.Fl s
473flags.
474.Fl b
475indicates the primary boot program and
476.Fl s
477the secondary boot program.
478The boot programs are normally located in
479.Pa /boot .
480.It
481If the
482.Fl b
483and
484.Fl s
485flags are not specified, but
486.Ar disktype
487was specified, the names of the programs are taken from the
488.Dq b0
489and
490.Dq b1
491parameters of the
492.Xr disktab 5
493entry for the disk if the disktab entry exists and includes those parameters.
494.It
495Otherwise, the default boot image names are used:
496.Pa /boot/boot1
497and
498.Pa /boot/boot2
499for the standard stage1 and stage2 boot images.
500.El
501.Ss Initializing/Formatting a bootable disk from scratch
502To initialize a disk from scratch the following sequence is recommended.
503Please note that this will wipe everything that was previously on the disk,
504including any
505.No non- Ns Dx
506slices.
507.Bl -enum
508.It
509Use
510.Xr gpt 8
511or
512.Xr fdisk 8
513to initialize the hard disk, and create a GPT or MBR slice table,
514referred to as the
515.Dq "partition table"
516in
517.Tn DOS .
518.It
519Use
520.Nm
521or
522.Xr disklabel64 8
523to define partitions on
524.Dx
525slices created in the previous step.
526.It
527Finally use
528.Xr newfs_hammer 8
529or
530.Xr newfs 8
531to create file systems on new partitions.
532.El
533.Pp
534A typical partitioning scheme would be to have an
535.Ql a
536partition
537of approximately 512MB to hold the root file system, a
538.Ql b
539partition for
540swap (usually 4GB), a
541.Ql d
542partition for
543.Pa /var
544(usually 2GB), an
545.Ql e
546partition for
547.Pa /var/tmp
548(usually 2GB), an
549.Ql f
550partition for
551.Pa /usr
552(usually around 4GB),
553and finally a
554.Ql g
555partition for
556.Pa /home
557(usually all remaining space).
558If you are tight on space all sizes can be halved.
559Your mileage may vary.
560.Pp
561.Dl "fdisk -BI da0"
562.Dl "disklabel32 -w -B da0s1 auto"
563.Dl "disklabel32 -e da0s1"
564.Ss Manual offset
565.Dx
566no longer snoop-adjusts the on-disk label when reading or writing
567raw labels.
568.Nm
569is now responsible for adjusting the label when operating in raw mode.
570Traditional (32 bit,
571.Bx )
572disklabels store offsets as absolute block numbers
573rather than slice-relative block numbers.
574If
575.Nm
576is unable to issue the
577.Dv DIOCGPART
578ioctl to get slice information it will
579refuse to read or write the label in raw mode.
580The
581.Fl f
582option may be used to force the operation by supplying a manual offset.
583.Sh FILES
584.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /etc/disktab" -compact
585.It Pa /boot/boot1
586Default stage1 boot image.
587.It Pa /boot/boot2
588Default stage2 boot image.
589.It Pa /etc/disktab
590Disk description file.
591.El
592.Sh SAVED FILE FORMAT
593The
594.Nm
595utility uses an
596.Tn ASCII
597version of the label when examining, editing, or restoring a disk label.
598The format is:
599.Bd -literal -offset 4n
600# /dev/ad4s4:
601type: unknown
602disk: amnesiac
603label: fictitious
604flags:
605bytes/sector: 512
606sectors/track: 63
607tracks/cylinder: 24
608sectors/cylinder: 1512
609cylinders: 161098
610sectors/unit: 243581184
611rpm: 3600
612interleave: 1
613trackskew: 0
614cylinderskew: 0
615headswitch: 0		# milliseconds
616track-to-track seek: 0	# milliseconds
617drivedata: 0
618
61916 partitions:
620#          size     offset    fstype
621  a:    1048560         16    4.2BSD	#     511.992MB
622  b:    8388608    1048576      swap	#    4096.000MB
623  c:  243581184          0    unused	#  118936.125MB
624  d:    4194304    9437184    4.2BSD	#    2048.000MB
625  e:    4194304   13631488    4.2BSD	#    2048.000MB
626  f:    8388608   17825792    4.2BSD	#    4096.000MB
627  h:  196395264   26214400    HAMMER	#   95896.125MB
628  i:   10485760  222609664       ccd	#    5120.000MB
629  j:   10485760  233095424     vinum	#    5120.000MB
630.Ed
631.Pp
632Lines starting with a
633.Ql #
634mark are comments.
635Most of the other specifications are no longer used.
636The ones which must still be set correctly are:
637.Bl -inset
638.It Ar label
639is an optional label, set by the
640.Ar packid
641option when writing a label.
642.It Ar flags
643may be
644.Cm removable , ecc
645or
646.Cm badsect .
647.Cm removable
648is set for removable media drives, but no current
649.Dx
650driver evaluates this
651flag.
652.Cm ecc
653is no longer supported;
654.Cm badsect
655specifies that the drive can perform bad sector remapping.
656.It Ar sectors/unit
657describes the total size of the disk.
658This value must be correct.
659.It Ar "the partition table"
660is the
661.Ux
662partition table, not the
663.Tn DOS
664partition table described in
665.Xr fdisk 8 .
666.El
667.Pp
668The partition table can have up to 16 entries.
669It contains the following information:
670.Bl -tag -width indent
671.It Ar #
672The partition identifier is a single letter in the range
673.Ql a
674to
675.Ql p .
676By convention, partition
677.Ql c
678is reserved to describe the entire disk.
679.It Ar size
680The size of the partition in sectors,
681.Cm K
682(kilobytes - 1024),
683.Cm M
684(megabytes - 1024*1024),
685.Cm G
686(gigabytes - 1024*1024*1024),
687.Cm %
688(percentage of free space
689.Em after
690removing any fixed-size partitions other than partition
691.Ql c ) ,
692or
693.Cm *
694(all remaining free space
695.Em after
696fixed-size and percentage partitions).
697For partition
698.Ql c ,
699a size of
700.Cm *
701indicates the entire disk.
702Lowercase versions of
703.Cm K , M ,
704and
705.Cm G
706are allowed.
707Size and type should be specified without any spaces between them.
708.Pp
709Example: 2097152, 1G, 1024M and 1048576K are all the same size
710(assuming 512-byte sectors).
711.It Ar offset
712The offset of the start of the partition from the beginning of the
713drive in sectors, or
714.Cm *
715to have
716.Nm
717calculate the correct offset to use (the end of the previous partition plus
718one, ignoring partition
719.Ql c .
720For partition
721.Ql c ,
722.Cm *
723will be interpreted as an offset of 0.
724.It Ar fstype
725Describes the purpose of the partition.
726The example shows all currently used partition types.
727For
728.Xr UFS 5
729file systems, use type
730.Cm 4.2BSD .
731For
732.Xr HAMMER 5
733file systems, use type
734.Cm HAMMER .
735For
736.Xr ccd 4
737partitions, use type
738.Cm ccd .
739For Vinum drives, use type
740.Cm vinum .
741Other common types are
742.Cm swap
743and
744.Cm unused .
745By convention, partition
746.Ql c
747represents the entire slice and should be of type
748.Cm unused ,
749though
750.Nm
751does not enforce this convention.
752The
753.Nm
754utility
755also knows about a number of other partition types,
756none of which are in current use.
757(See
758.Dv fstypenames
759in
760.In sys/dtype.h
761for more details).
762.El
763.Pp
764The remainder of the line is a comment and shows the size of
765the partition in MB.
766.Sh EXAMPLES
767.Dl "disklabel32 da0s1"
768.Pp
769Display the in-core label for the first slice of the
770.Pa da0
771disk, as obtained via
772.Pa /dev/da0s1 .
773(If the disk is
774.Dq dangerously-dedicated ,
775the compatibility slice name should be specified, such as
776.Pa da0s0 . )
777.Pp
778.Dl "disklabel32 da0s1 > savedlabel"
779.Pp
780Save the in-core label for
781.Pa da0s1
782into the file
783.Pa savedlabel .
784This file can be used with the
785.Fl R
786option to restore the label at a later date.
787.Pp
788.Dl "disklabel32 -w -r /dev/da0s1 da2212 foo"
789.Pp
790Create a label for
791.Pa da0s1
792based on information for
793.Dq da2212
794found in
795.Pa /etc/disktab .
796Any existing bootstrap code will be clobbered
797and the disk rendered unbootable.
798.Pp
799.Dl "disklabel32 -e -r da0s1"
800.Pp
801Read the on-disk label for
802.Pa da0s1 ,
803edit it, and reinstall in-core as well as on-disk.
804Existing bootstrap code is unaffected.
805.Pp
806.Dl "disklabel32 -e -r -n da0s1"
807.Pp
808Read the on-disk label for
809.Pa da0s1 ,
810edit it, and display what the new label would be (in sectors).
811It does
812.Em not
813install the new label either in-core or on-disk.
814.Pp
815.Dl "disklabel32 -r -w da0s1 auto"
816.Pp
817Try to auto-detect the required information from
818.Pa da0s1 ,
819and write a new label to the disk.
820Use another
821.Nm Fl e
822command to edit the
823partitioning and file system information.
824.Pp
825.Dl "disklabel32 -R da0s1 savedlabel"
826.Pp
827Restore the on-disk and in-core label for
828.Pa da0s1
829from information in
830.Pa savedlabel .
831Existing bootstrap code is unaffected.
832.Pp
833.Dl "disklabel32 -R -n da0s1 label_layout"
834.Pp
835Display what the label would be for
836.Pa da0s1
837using the partition layout in
838.Pa label_layout .
839This is useful for determining how much space would be allotted for various
840partitions with a labelling scheme using
841.Cm % Ns -based
842or
843.Cm *
844partition sizes.
845.Pp
846.Dl "disklabel32 -B da0s1"
847.Pp
848Install a new bootstrap on
849.Pa da0s1 .
850The boot code comes from
851.Pa /boot/boot1
852and possibly
853.Pa /boot/boot2 .
854On-disk and in-core labels are unchanged.
855.Pp
856.Dl "disklabel32 -w -B /dev/da0s1 -b newboot1 -s newboot2 da2212"
857.Pp
858Install a new label and bootstrap.
859The label is derived from disktab information for
860.Dq da2212
861and installed both in-core and on-disk.
862The bootstrap code comes from the files
863.Pa newboot1
864and
865.Pa newboot2 .
866.Pp
867.Dl "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/da0 bs=512 count=32"
868.Dl "fdisk -BI da0"
869.Dl "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/da0s1 bs=512 count=32"
870.Dl "disklabel32 -w -B da0s1 auto"
871.Dl "disklabel32 -e da0s1"
872.Pp
873Completely wipe any prior information on the disk, creating a new bootable
874disk with a DOS partition table containing one
875.Dq whole-disk
876slice.
877Then
878initialize the slice, then edit it to your needs.
879The
880.Pa dd
881commands are optional, but may be necessary for some BIOSes to properly
882recognize the disk.
883.Pp
884.Dl "disklabel32 -W da0s1"
885.Dl "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/da0s1 bs=512 count=32"
886.Dl "disklabel64 -r -w da0s1 auto"
887.Dl "disklabel64 -N da0s1"
888.Pp
889Completely wipe any prior information on the slice,
890changing label format to 64 bit.
891The wiping is needed as
892.Nm disklabel64
893and
894.Nm ,
895as a safety measure,
896won't do any operations if label with other format is already installed.
897.Pp
898This is an example disklabel that uses some of the new partition size types
899such as
900.Cm % , M , G ,
901and
902.Cm * ,
903which could be used as a source file for
904.Pp
905.Dl "disklabel32 -R ad0s1 new_label_file"
906.Bd -literal -offset 4n
907# /dev/ad0s1:
908type: ESDI
909disk: ad0s1
910label:
911flags:
912bytes/sector: 512
913sectors/track: 63
914tracks/cylinder: 16
915sectors/cylinder: 1008
916cylinders: 40633
917sectors/unit: 40959009
918rpm: 3600
919interleave: 1
920trackskew: 0
921cylinderskew: 0
922headswitch: 0		# milliseconds
923track-to-track seek: 0	# milliseconds
924drivedata: 0
925
92616 partitions:
927#          size     offset    fstype
928  a:       400M          0    4.2BSD
929  b:         1G          *      swap
930  c:          *          *    unused
931  e:     204800          *    4.2BSD
932  f:         5g          *    4.2BSD
933  g:          *          *    4.2BSD
934.Ed
935.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
936The kernel device drivers will not allow the size of a disk partition
937to be decreased or the offset of a partition to be changed while it is open.
938Some device drivers create a label containing only a single large partition
939if a disk is unlabeled; thus, the label must be written to the
940.Ql a
941partition of the disk while it is open.
942This sometimes requires the desired
943label to be set in two steps, the first one creating at least one other
944partition, and the second setting the label on the new partition while
945shrinking the
946.Ql a
947partition.
948.Pp
949On some machines the bootstrap code may not fit entirely in the area
950allocated for it by some file systems.
951As a result, it may not be possible to have file systems on some partitions
952of a
953.Dq bootable
954disk.
955When installing bootstrap code,
956.Nm
957checks for these cases.
958If the installed boot code would overlap a partition of type
959.Dv FS_UNUSED
960it is marked as type
961.Dv FS_BOOT .
962The
963.Xr newfs 8
964utility will disallow creation of file systems on
965.Dv FS_BOOT
966partitions.
967Conversely, if a partition has a type other than
968.Dv FS_UNUSED
969or
970.Dv FS_BOOT ,
971.Nm
972will not install bootstrap code that overlaps it.
973.Sh COMPATIBILITY
974Due to
975.Xr disklabel32 5
976storing sector numbers in 32 bit format
977.Nm
978is restricted to 2TB, using the prevalent sector size of 512B.
979.Xr disklabel64 5
980labels should be used to partition larger disks.
981.Pp
982The various
983.Bx Ns s
984use slightly different versions of
985.Bx
986disklabels
987and are not generally compatible.
988The
989.Dx
990kernel can often use labels from other
991.Bx Ns s
992for read-only operation.
993.Sh SEE ALSO
994.Xr dd 1 ,
995.Xr ccd 4 ,
996.Xr disklabel32 5 ,
997.Xr disktab 5 ,
998.Xr boot0cfg 8 ,
999.Xr diskinfo 8 ,
1000.Xr disklabel64 8 ,
1001.Xr fdisk 8 ,
1002.Xr gpt 8 ,
1003.Xr newfs 8 ,
1004.Xr newfs_hammer 8 ,
1005.Xr vinum 8
1006.Sh BUGS
1007For the i386 architecture, the primary bootstrap sector contains
1008an embedded
1009.Em fdisk
1010table.
1011The
1012.Nm
1013utility takes care to not clobber it when installing a bootstrap only
1014.Pq Fl B ,
1015or when editing an existing label
1016.Pq Fl e ,
1017but it unconditionally writes the primary bootstrap program onto
1018the disk for
1019.Fl w
1020or
1021.Fl R ,
1022thus replacing the
1023.Em fdisk
1024table by the dummy one in the bootstrap program.
1025This is only of
1026concern if the disk is fully dedicated, so that the
1027.Bx
1028disklabel
1029starts at absolute block 0 on the disk.
1030.Pp
1031The
1032.Nm
1033utility
1034does not perform all possible error checking.
1035Warning
1036.Em is
1037given if partitions
1038overlap; if an absolute offset does not match the expected offset; if the
1039.Ql c
1040partition does not start at 0 or does not cover the entire slice; if a
1041partition runs past the end of the device; and a number of other errors; but
1042no warning is given if space remains unused.
1043