xref: /netbsd/sbin/disklabel/disklabel.8 (revision c4a72b64)
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37.\"	@(#)disklabel.8	8.2 (Berkeley) 4/19/94
38.\"
39.Dd December 14, 2001
40.Dt DISKLABEL 8
41.Os
42.Sh NAME
43.Nm disklabel
44.Nd read and write disk pack label
45.Sh SYNOPSIS
46.Nm ""
47.Op Fl rt
48.Op Fl C
49.Ar disk
50.Nm ""
51.Fl w
52.Op Fl r
53.Op Fl f Ar disktab
54.Ar disk Ar disktype
55.Oo Ar packid Oc
56.Nm ""
57.Fl e
58.Op Fl r
59.Op Fl I
60.Op Fl C
61.Ar disk
62.Nm ""
63.Fl i
64.Op Fl I
65.Op Fl r
66.Ar disk
67.Nm ""
68.Fl R
69.Op Fl r
70.Ar disk Ar protofile
71.Nm ""
72.Op Fl NW
73.Ar disk
74.sp
75.Nm ""
76.Fl B
77.Op Fl f Ar disktab
78.Oo
79.Fl b Ar boot1
80.Op Fl s Ar boot2
81.Oc
82.Ar disk
83.Oo Ar disktype Oc
84.Nm ""
85.Fl w
86.Fl B
87.Op Fl f Ar disktab
88.Oo
89.Fl b Ar boot1
90.Op Fl s Ar boot2
91.Oc
92.Ar disk Ar disktype
93.Oo Ar packid Oc
94.Nm ""
95.Fl R
96.Fl B
97.Op Fl f Ar disktab
98.Oo
99.Fl b Ar boot1
100.Op Fl s Ar boot2
101.Oc
102.Ar disk Ar protofile
103.Oo Ar disktype Oc
104.Sh DESCRIPTION
105.Nm
106can be used to install, examine or modify the label on a disk drive or pack.
107When writing the label, it can be used
108to change the drive identification,
109the disk partitions on the drive,
110or to replace a damaged label.
111On some systems,
112.Nm
113can be used to install bootstrap code as well.
114.Pp
115There are several forms of the command that read (display), install or edit
116the label on a disk.
117Each form has an additional option,
118.Fl r ,
119which causes the label to be read from or written to the disk directly,
120rather than going through the system's in-core copy of the label.
121This option may allow a label to be installed on a disk
122without kernel support for a label, such as when labels are first installed
123on a system; it must be used when first installing a label on a disk.
124Any special effects of the
125.Fl r
126flag are described with the affected commands.
127.Pp
128The read and install forms also support the
129.Fl B
130option to install bootstrap code on some platforms,
131e.g., hp300, vax, and arm32.
132The
133.Fl B
134option is not supported on all platforms.
135These variants are described later.
136.Pp
137The first form of the command (read) is used to examine the label on the named
138disk drive (e.g., sd0 or /dev/rsd0c).
139It will display all of the parameters associated with the drive
140and its partition layout.
141Unless the
142.Fl r
143flag is given,
144the kernel's in-core copy of the label is displayed;
145if the disk has no label, or the partition types on the disk are incorrect,
146the kernel may have constructed or modified the label.
147If the
148.Fl r
149flag is given, the label from the raw disk will be displayed rather
150than the in-core label.
151If the
152.Fl t
153flag is given, then the label will be formatted as a
154.Xr disktab 5
155entry.
156.Pp
157The second form of the command, with the
158.Fl w
159flag, is used to write a standard label on the designated drive.
160The required arguments to
161.Nm
162are the drive to be labelled (e.g. sd0), and
163the drive type as described in the
164.Xr disktab 5
165file.
166The drive parameters and partitions are taken from that file.
167If different disks of the same physical type are to have different
168partitions, it will be necessary to have separate disktab entries
169describing each, or to edit the label after installation as described below.
170The optional argument is a pack identification string,
171up to 16 characters long.
172The pack id must be quoted if it contains blanks.
173If the disk does not already have a label, the
174.Fl r
175flag must be used.
176In either case, the kernel's in-core label is replaced.
177.Pp
178An alternate
179.Xr disktab 5
180file may be specified with the
181.Fl f Ar disktab
182option.
183.Pp
184An existing disk label may be edited by using the
185.Fl e
186flag.
187The label is formatted and then supplied to an editor for changes.
188If no editor is specified in an
189.Ev EDITOR
190environment variable,
191.Xr vi 1
192is used.
193When the editor terminates, the formatted label is reread
194and used to rewrite the disk label.
195.Pp
196Labels can also created interactively using the
197.Fl i
198flag.
199.Pp
200The
201.Fl C
202flag causes the partition offset and size values to be displayed in
203.Aq cylinder/track/sector
204format.
205Note that, regardless of whether
206.Fl C
207was specified, this format is always accepted by
208.Nm
209on input with either the
210.Fl e
211or
212.Fl R
213flag.
214.Pp
215With the
216.Fl R
217flag,
218.Nm
219is capable of restoring a disk label that was formatted
220in a prior operation and saved in an ascii file.
221The prototype file used to create the label should be in the same format
222as that produced when reading or editing a label.
223Comments are delimited by
224.Ar \&#
225and newline.
226.Pp
227The
228.Fl NW
229flags for
230.Nm
231explicitly disallow and
232allow, respectively, writing of the pack label area on the selected disk.
233.Pp
234The final three forms of
235.Nm
236are used to install bootstrap code on machines where the bootstrap is part
237of the label.
238The bootstrap code is composed of one or two boot programs depending on
239the machine.
240The
241.Fl B
242option is used (on some platforms only, see above) to denote that
243bootstrap code is to be installed.
244The
245.Fl r
246flag is implied by
247.Fl B
248and never needs to be specified.
249The name of the boot program(s) to be installed can be selected in a
250variety of ways.
251First, the names can be specified explicitly via the
252.Fl b
253and
254.Fl s
255flags.
256On machines with only a single level of boot program,
257.Fl b
258is the name of that program.
259For machines with a two-level bootstrap,
260.Fl b
261indicates the primary boot program and
262.Fl s
263the secondary boot program.
264If the names are not explicitly given, standard boot programs will be used.
265The boot programs are located in
266.Pa /usr/mdec .
267The names of the programs are taken from the
268.Dq b0
269and
270.Dq b1
271parameters of the
272.Xr disktab 5
273entry for the disk if
274.Ar disktype
275was given and its disktab entry exists and includes those parameters.
276Otherwise, boot program names are derived from the name of the disk.
277These names are of the form
278.Pa basename Ns boot
279for the primary (or only) bootstrap, and
280.Pf boot Pa basename
281for the secondary bootstrap;
282for example,
283.Pa /usr/mdec/sdboot
284and
285.Pa /usr/mdec/bootsd
286if the disk device is
287.Em sd0 .
288.Pp
289The first of the three boot-installation forms is used to install
290bootstrap code without changing the existing label.
291It is essentially a read command with respect to the disk label
292itself and all options are related to the specification of the boot
293program as described previously.
294The final two forms are analogous to the basic write and restore versions
295except that they will install bootstrap code in addition to a new label.
296.Sh FILES
297.Bl -tag -width /usr/mdec/xxboot -compact
298.It Pa /etc/disktab
299.It Pa /usr/mdec/ Ns Em xx Ns boot
300.It Pa /usr/mdec/boot Ns Em xx
301.El
302.Sh EXAMPLES
303.Dl disklabel sd0
304.Pp
305Display the in-core label for sd0 as obtained via
306.Pa /dev/rsd0c .
307.Pp
308.Dl disklabel -w -r /dev/rsd0c sd2212 foo
309.Pp
310Create a label for sd0 based on information for
311.Dq sd2212
312found in
313.Pa /etc/disktab ,
314using
315.Pa foo
316as the disk pack label.
317Any existing bootstrap code will be clobbered.
318If you do not have an entry for your disk in
319.Pa /etc/disktab ,
320you can use this style to put
321an initial label onto a new disk.
322Then dump the label to a file (using
323.Em disklabel sd0 \*[Gt]
324.Em protofile ) ,
325editing the file, and replacing the label with
326.Em disklabel -R sd0
327.Em protofile .
328.Pp
329.Dl disklabel -e -r sd0
330.Pp
331Read the on-disk label for sd0, edit it and reinstall in-core as well
332as on-disk.
333Existing bootstrap code is unaffected.
334.Pp
335.Dl disklabel -e -I sd0
336.Pp
337As previous, but don't fail if there was no label on the disk yet;
338provide some default values instead.
339.Pp
340.Dl disklabel -i -I sd0
341.Pp
342As previous, only use the built-in interactive editor.
343.Pp
344.Dl disklabel -R sd0 mylabel
345.Pp
346Restore the on-disk and in-core label for sd0 from information in
347.Pa mylabel .
348Existing bootstrap code is unaffected.
349.Pp
350.Dl disklabel -B sd0
351.Pp
352Install a new bootstrap on sd0 (only for platforms which support the
353.Fl B
354option, see above).
355The boot code comes from
356.Pa /usr/mdec/sdboot
357and possibly
358.Pa /usr/mdec/bootsd .
359On-disk and in-core labels are unchanged.
360.Pp
361.Dl disklabel -w -B /dev/rsd0c -b newboot sd2212
362.Pp
363Install a new label and bootstrap (on platforms which support the
364.Fl B
365option, see above).
366The label is derived from disktab information for
367.Dq sd2212
368and installed both in-core and on-disk.
369The bootstrap code comes from the file
370.Pa /usr/mdec/newboot .
371.Pp
372.Dl disklabel -R -r sd0 \*[Lt]protofile\*[Gt]
373.Pp
374Install a new label and bootstrap on a disk, from a prototype label
375file.
376This is a good way to install a label on a previously unlabeled
377disk for which no entry appears in
378.Pa  /etc/disktab ,
379if you create the
380prototype file by dumping some other disk's label to a file and editing
381it appropriately (total size, partition offsets, types, etc.)
382.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
383The kernel device drivers will not allow the size of a disk partition
384to be decreased or the offset of a partition to be changed while it is open.
385Some device drivers create a label containing only a single large partition
386if a disk is unlabeled; thus, the label must be written to the
387.Dq a
388partition of the disk while it is open.
389This sometimes requires the desired label to be set in two steps,
390the first one creating at least one other partition,
391and the second setting the label on the new partition
392while shrinking the
393.Dq a
394partition.
395.Pp
396On some machines the bootstrap code may not fit entirely in the area
397allocated for it by some filesystems.
398As a result, it may not be possible to have filesystems on some partitions
399of a
400.Dq bootable
401disk.
402When installing bootstrap code,
403.Nm
404checks for these cases.
405If the installed boot code would overlap a partition of type FS_UNUSED
406it is marked as type FS_BOOT.
407The
408.Xr newfs 8
409utility will disallow creation of filesystems on FS_BOOT partitions.
410Conversely, if a partition has a type other than FS_UNUSED or FS_BOOT,
411.Nm
412will not install bootstrap code that overlaps it.
413.Sh SEE ALSO
414.Xr disklabel 5 ,
415.Xr disktab 5 ,
416.Xr fdisk 8 ,
417.Xr installboot 8 ,
418.Xr mbrlabel 8
419.Sh BUGS
420If the disk partition is not specified in the disk name
421(i.e.,
422.Dq xy0
423instead of
424.Dq /dev/rxy0c ) ,
425.Nm
426will construct the full pathname of the disk and use the
427.Dq d
428partition on i386, hpcmips, or arc, and the
429.Dq c
430partition on all others.
431.Pp
432On the sparc, sparc64, sun2, and sun3
433.Nx
434systems, the size of each partition must be a multiple of the number
435of sectors per cylinder (i.e., each partition must be an integer
436number of cylinders), or the boot ROMs will declare the label
437invalid and fail to boot the system.
438.Pp
439In addition, the
440.Fl r
441option should never be used on a sparc, sparc64, sun2 or sun3 system
442boot disk - the
443.Nx
444kernel translates the
445.Nx
446disk label into a SunOS compatible format (which is required by the
447boot PROMs) when it writes the label.
448Using the
449.Fl r
450flag causes
451.Nm
452to write directly to disk, and bypass the format translation.
453This will result in a disk label that the PROMs will not recognize,
454and that therefore cannot be booted from.
455