xref: /original-bsd/sbin/fsck/fsck.8 (revision cba8738a)
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@(#)fsck.8 6.9 (Berkeley) 04/20/91

FSCK 8 ""
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NAME
fsck - file system consistency check and interactive repair
SYNOPSIS
fsck -p [ -m mode ]

fsck [ -b block# ] [ -c ] [ -y ] [ -n ] [ -m mode ] [ filesystem ] ...

DESCRIPTION
The first form of fsck preens a standard set of filesystems or the specified file systems. It is normally used in the script /etc/rc during automatic reboot. Here fsck reads the table /etc/fstab to determine which file systems to check. Only partitions in fstab that are mounted ``rw,'' ``rq'' or ``ro'' and that have non-zero pass number are checked. Filesystems with pass number 1 (normally just the root filesystem) are checked one at a time. When pass 1 completes, all remaining filesystems are checked, running one process per disk drive. The disk drive containing each filesystem is inferred from the longest prefix of the device name that ends in a digit; the remaining characters are assumed to be the partition designator.

The system takes care that only a restricted class of innocuous inconsistencies can happen unless hardware or software failures intervene. These are limited to the following:

Unreferenced inodes .ns
Link counts in inodes too large .ns
Missing blocks in the free map .ns
Blocks in the free map also in files .ns
Counts in the super-block wrong

These are the only inconsistencies that fsck with the -p option will correct; if it encounters other inconsistencies, it exits with an abnormal return status and an automatic reboot will then fail. For each corrected inconsistency one or more lines will be printed identifying the file system on which the correction will take place, and the nature of the correction. After successfully correcting a file system, fsck will print the number of files on that file system, the number of used and free blocks, and the percentage of fragmentation.

If sent a QUIT signal, fsck will finish the file system checks, then exit with an abnormal return status that causes an automatic reboot to fail. This is useful when to finish the file system checks during an automatic reboot, but do not want the machine to come up multiuser after the checks complete.

Without the -p option, fsck audits and interactively repairs inconsistent conditions for file systems. If the file system is inconsistent the operator is prompted for concurrence before each correction is attempted. It should be noted that some of the corrective actions which are not correctable under the -p option will result in some loss of data. The amount and severity of data lost may be determined from the diagnostic output. The default action for each consistency correction is to wait for the operator to respond yes or no. If the operator does not have write permission on the file system fsck will default to a "-n " action.

Fsck has more consistency checks than its predecessors "check, dcheck, fcheck, " "and" " icheck" combined.

The following flags are interpreted by fsck.

6 -b Use the block specified immediately after the flag as the super block for the file system. Block 32 is usually an alternate super block.

6 -l Limit the number of parallel checks to the number specified in the following argument. By default, the limit is the number of disks, running one process per disk. If a smaller limit is given, the disks are checked round-robin, one filesystem at a time.

6 -m Use the mode specified in octal immediately after the flag as the permission bits to use when creating the lost+found directory rather than the default 1777. In particular, systems that do not wish to have lost files accessible by all users on the system should use a more restrictive set of permissions such as 700.

6 -y Assume a yes response to all questions asked by fsck ; this should be used with great caution as this is a free license to continue after essentially unlimited trouble has been encountered.

6 -n Assume a no response to all questions asked by fsck except for ``CONTINUE?'', which is assumed to be affirmative; do not open the file system for writing.

6 -c If the file system is in the old (static table) format, convert it to the new (dynamic table) format. If the file system is in the new format, convert it to the old format provided the old format can support the filesystem configuration. In interactive mode, fsck will list the direction the conversion is to be made and ask whether the conversion should be done. If a negative answer is given, no further operations are done on the filesystem. In preen mode, the direction of the conversion is listed and done if possible without user interaction. Conversion in preen mode is best used when all the file systems are being converted at once. The format of a file system can be determined from the first line of output from dumpfs (8).

If no filesystems are given to fsck then a default list of file systems is read from the file /etc/fstab .

Inconsistencies checked are as follows:

6 1. Blocks claimed by more than one inode or the free map.

.ns

6 2. Blocks claimed by an inode outside the range of the file system.

.ns

6 3. Incorrect link counts.

.ns

6 4. Size checks:

.ns

"" 12
Directory size not of proper format.

Partially truncated file.

.ns

6 5. Bad inode format.

.ns

6 6. Blocks not accounted for anywhere.

.ns

6 7. Directory checks:

.ns

"" 12
File pointing to unallocated inode.

Inode number out of range.

Dot or dot-dot not the first two entries of a directory or having the wrong inode number.

.ns

6 8. Super Block checks:

.ns

"" 12
More blocks for inodes than there are in the file system.

.ns

6 9. Bad free block map format.

.ns

6 10. Total free block and/or free inode count incorrect.

Orphaned files and directories (allocated but unreferenced) are, with the operator's concurrence, reconnected by placing them in the lost+found directory. The name assigned is the inode number. If the lost+found directory does not exist, it is created. If there is insufficient space its size is increased.

Because of inconsistencies between the block device and the buffer cache, the raw device should always be used.

FILES

.ns

21 /etc/fstab contains default list of file systems to check.

DIAGNOSTICS
The diagnostics produced by fsck are fully enumerated and explained in Appendix A of ``Fsck - The UNIX File System Check Program'' (SMM:5).
"SEE ALSO"
fstab(5), fs(5), fsdb(8), newfs(8), mkfs(8), reboot(8)