Creating a filesystem with mkfs

Once a disk is formatted the next step is to define the filesystem. The mkfs(1M) command is used for this purpose:

mkfs [-F FSType] [-V] [-m] [current_options] [-o specific_options] special [operands]

mkfs constructs a filesystem by writing on the special file. The filesystem is created based on the FSType specified with the -F option, the specific_options, and operands specified on the command line.

-F

Use the -F option to specify the FSType on which the command must act. You must either specify FSType on the command line or let mkfs determine it from /etc/vfstab by matching an entry in that file with one of the operands specified. (See ``The vfstab filesystem table'' for information on the vfstab file.)

-V

The -V option causes the command to echo the completed command line. The echoed line will include additional information derived from /etc/vfstab. This option can be used to verify and validate the command line. It does not cause the command to execute.

-m

The -m option returns the command line that created the filesystem. The filesystem must already exist and this option provides a means of determining the attributes used in constructing the filesystem. Note that filesystems cannot be constructed for all filesystem types. Care must be taken to specify a valid FSType. See mkfs(1M) for a list of valid types.

current_options

current_options are options supported by the s5-specific module of mkfs.

-o

The -o option specifies FSType-specific options, if any. specific_options are options specified in a comma-separated list of keywords and/or keyword-attribute pairs for interpretation by the FSType-specific module of the command.

operands

operands are FSType-specific; consult the FSType-specific manual page of the command for a detailed description.