2 .\" Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995 by Theodore Ts'o. All Rights Reserved.
3 .\" This file may be copied under the terms of the GNU Public License.
5 .TH E2FSCK 8 "@E2FSPROGS_MONTH@ @E2FSPROGS_YEAR@" "E2fsprogs version @E2FSPROGS_VERSION@"
7 e2fsck \- check a Linux second extended file system
31 @JDEV@.I external-journal
40 is used to check a Linux second extended file system (ext2fs).
43 supports ext2 filesystems countaining a journal, which are
44 also sometimes known as ext3 filesystems, by first applying the journal
45 to the filesystem before continuing with normal
47 processing. After the journal has been applied, a filesystem will
48 normally be marked as clean. Hence, for ext3 filesystems,
50 will normally run the journal and exit, unless its superblock
51 indicates that further checking is required.
54 is the device file where the filesystem is stored (e.g.
59 This option does the same thing as the
61 option. It is provided for backwards compatibility only; it is
62 suggested that people use
64 option whenever possible.
67 Instead of using the normal superblock, use an alternative superblock
70 This option is normally used when the primary superblock has been
71 corrupted. The location of the backup superblock is dependent on the
72 filesystem's blocksize. For filesystems with 1k blocksizes, a backup
73 superblock can be found at block 8193; for filesystems with 2k
74 blocksizes, at block 16384; and for 4k blocksizes, at block 32768.
76 Additional backup superblocks can be determined by using the
80 option to print out where the superblocks were created. The
84 which specifies blocksize of the filesystem must be specified in order
85 for the superblock locations that are printed out to be accurate.
87 If an alternative superblock is specified and
88 the filesystem is not opened read-only, e2fsck will make sure that the
89 primary superblock is updated appropriately upon completion of the
95 will search for the superblock at various different
96 block sizes in an attempt to find the appropriate block size.
97 This search can be fooled in some cases. This option forces
99 to only try locating the superblock at a particular blocksize.
100 If the superblock is not found,
102 will terminate with a fatal error.
109 program to find any blocks which are bad on the filesystem,
110 and then marks them as bad by adding them to the bad block inode.
111 If this option is specified twice, then the bad block scan will be done
112 using a non-destructive read-write test.
117 to write completion information to the specified file descriptor
118 so that the progress of the filesystem
119 check can be monitored. This option is typically used by programs
122 If the file descriptor specified is 0,
124 will print a completion bar as it goes about its business. This requires
125 that e2fsck is running on a video console or terminal.
128 Print debugging output (useless unless you are debugging
132 Optimize directories in filesystem. This option causes e2fsck to
133 try to optimize all directories, either by reindexing them if the
134 filesystem supports directory indexing, or by sorting and compressing
135 directories for smaller directories, or for filesystems using
136 traditional linear directories.
138 .BI \-E " extended_options"
139 Set e2fsck extended options. Extended options are comma
140 separated, and may take an argument using the equals ('=') sign. The
141 following options are supported:
144 .BI ea_ver= extended_attribute_version
145 Assume the format of the extended attribute blocks in the filesystem is
146 the specified version number. The version number may be 1 or 2. The
147 default extended attribute version format is 2.
151 Force checking even if the file system seems clean.
154 Flush the filesystem device's buffer caches before beginning. Only
155 really useful for doing
159 @JDEV@.BI \-j " external-journal"
160 @JDEV@Set the pathname where the external-journal for this filesystem can be
164 Add the block numbers listed in the file specified by
166 to the list of bad blocks. The format of this file is the same as the
169 program. Note that the block numbers are based on the blocksize
170 of the filesystem. Hence,
172 must be given the blocksize of the filesystem in order to obtain correct
173 results. As a result, it is much simpler and safer to use the
177 since it will assure that the correct parameters are passed to the
182 Set the bad blocks list to be the list of blocks specified by
184 (This option is the same as the
186 option, except the bad blocks list is cleared before the blocks listed
187 in the file are added to the bad blocks list.)
190 Open the filesystem read-only, and assume an answer of `no' to all
193 to be used non-interactively. (Note: if the
198 options are specified in addition to the
200 option, then the filesystem will be opened read-write, to permit the
201 bad-blocks list to be updated. However, no other changes will be made
205 Automatically repair ("preen") the file system without any questions.
208 This option does nothing at all; it is provided only for backwards
212 This option will byte-swap the filesystem so that it is using the normalized,
213 standard byte-order (which is i386 or little endian). If the filesystem is
214 already in the standard byte-order,
219 This option will byte-swap the filesystem, regardless of its current
223 Print timing statistics for
225 If this option is used twice, additional timing statistics are printed
226 on a pass by pass basis.
232 Print version information and exit.
235 Assume an answer of `yes' to all questions; allows
237 to be used non-interactively.
239 The exit code returned by
241 is the sum of the following conditions:
245 \ 1\ \-\ File system errors corrected
247 \ 2\ \-\ File system errors corrected, system should
251 \ 4\ \-\ File system errors left uncorrected
253 \ 8\ \-\ Operational error
255 \ 16\ \-\ Usage or syntax error
257 \ 32\ \-\ E2fsck canceled by user request
259 \ 128\ \-\ Shared library error
262 The following signals have the following effect when sent to
268 to start displaying a completion bar. (See discussion of the
275 to stop displaying a completion bar.
277 Almost any piece of software will have bugs. If you manage to find a
278 filesystem which causes
282 is unable to repair, please report it to the author.
284 Please include as much information as possible in your bug report.
285 Ideally, include a complete transcript of the
287 run, so I can see exactly what error messages are displayed. If you
288 have a writeable filesystem where the transcript can be stored, the
290 program is a handy way to save the output of
294 It is also useful to send the output of
296 If a specific inode or inodes seems to be giving
298 trouble, try running the
300 command and send the output of the
302 command run on the relevant inode(s). If the inode is a directory, the
305 command will allow you to extract the contents of the directory inode,
306 which can sent to me after being first run through
309 Always include the full version string which
311 displays when it is run, so I know which version you are running.
315 was written by Theodore Ts'o <tytso@mit.edu>.