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newfs(8)

NAME

     newfs -- construct a new UFS1/UFS2 file system

SYNOPSIS

     newfs [-NUln] [-L volname] [-O filesystem-type] [-S sector-size]
	   [-T disktype] [-a maxcontig] [-b block-size]
	   [-c blocks-per-cylinder-group] [-d max-extent-size] [-e maxbpg]
	   [-f frag-size] [-g avgfilesize] [-h avgfpdir] [-i bytes]
	   [-m free-space] [-o optimization] [-s size] special

DESCRIPTION

     The newfs utility is used to initialize and clear file systems before
     first use.  Before running newfs the disk must be labeled using
     bsdlabel(8).  The newfs utility builds a file system on the specified
     special file.  (We often refer to the ``special file'' as the ``disk'',
     although the special file need not be a physical disk.  In fact, it need
     not even be special.)  Typically the defaults are reasonable, however
     newfs has numerous options to allow the defaults to be selectively over-
     ridden.

     The following options define the general layout policies:

     -L volname
	     Add a volume label to the new file system.

     -N      Cause the file system parameters to be printed out without really
	     creating the file system.

     -O filesystem-type
	     Use 1 to specify that a UFS1 format file system be built; use 2
	     to specify that a UFS2 format file system be built.  The default
	     format is UFS2.

     -T disktype
	     For backward compatibility.

     -U      Enable soft updates on the new file system.

     -a maxcontig
	     Specify the maximum number of contiguous blocks that will be laid
	     out before forcing a rotational delay.  The default value is 16.
	     See tunefs(8) for more details on how to set this option.

     -b block-size
	     The block size of the file system, in bytes.  It must be a power
	     of 2.  The default size is 16384 bytes, and the smallest allow-
	     able size is 4096 bytes.  The optimal block:fragment ratio is
	     8:1.  Other ratios are possible, but are not recommended, and may
	     produce poor results.

     -c blocks-per-cylinder-group
	     The number of blocks per cylinder group in a file system.	The
	     default is to compute the maximum allowed by the other parame-
	     ters.  This value is dependent on a number of other parameters,
	     in particular the block size and the number of bytes per inode.

     -d max-extent-size
	     cating blocks from another cylinder group.  The default is about
	     one quarter of the total blocks in a cylinder group.  See
	     tunefs(8) for more details on how to set this option.

     -f frag-size
	     The fragment size of the file system in bytes.  It must be a
	     power of two ranging in value between blocksize/8 and blocksize.
	     The default is 2048 bytes.

     -g avgfilesize
	     The expected average file size for the file system.

     -h avgfpdir
	     The expected average number of files per directory on the file
	     system.

     -i bytes
	     Specify the density of inodes in the file system.	The default is
	     to create an inode for every (4 * frag-size) bytes of data space.
	     If fewer inodes are desired, a larger number should be used; to
	     create more inodes a smaller number should be given.  One inode
	     is required for each distinct file, so this value effectively
	     specifies the average file size on the file system.

     -l      Enable multilabel MAC on the new file system.

     -m free-space
	     The percentage of space reserved from normal users; the minimum
	     free space threshold.  The default value used is defined by
	     MINFREE from <ufs/ffs/fs.h>, currently 8%.  See tunefs(8) for
	     more details on how to set this option.

     -n      Do not create a .snap directory on the new filesystem.  The
	     resulting filesystem will not support snapshot generation, so
	     dump(8) in live mode and background fsck(8) will not function
	     properly.	The traditional fsck(8) and offline dump(8) will work
	     on the filesystem.  This option is intended primarily for memory
	     or vnode filesystems that do not require dump or fsck support.

     -o optimization
	     (space or time).  The file system can either be instructed to try
	     to minimize the time spent allocating blocks, or to try to mini-
	     mize the space fragmentation on the disk.	If the value of min-
	     free (see above) is less than 8%, the default is to optimize for
	     space; if the value of minfree is greater than or equal to 8%,
	     the default is to optimize for time.  See tunefs(8) for more
	     details on how to set this option.

     -s size
	     The size of the file system in sectors.  This value defaults to
	     the size of the raw partition specified in special (in other
	     words, newfs will use the entire partition for the file system).

     The following options override the standard sizes for the disk geometry.
     Their default values are taken from the disk label.  Changing these
     defaults is useful only when using newfs to build a file system whose raw
     image will eventually be used on a different type of disk than the one on
     which it is initially created (for example on a write-once disk).	Note

	   newfs /dev/ad3s1a

     Creates a new ufs file system on ad3s1a.  The newfs utility will use a
     block size of 16384 bytes, a fragment size of 2048 bytes and the largest
     possible number of blocks per cylinders group.  These values tend to pro-
     duce better performance for most applications than the historical
     defaults (8192 byte block size and 1024 byte fragment size).  This large
     fragment size may lead to much wasted space on file systems that contain
     many small files.

SEE ALSO

     fdformat(1), disktab(5), fs(5), bsdlabel(8), camcontrol(8), dump(8),
     dumpfs(8), fsck(8), mount(8), tunefs(8), vinum(8)

     M. McKusick, W. Joy, S. Leffler, and R. Fabry, "A Fast File System for
     UNIX", ACM Transactions on Computer Systems 2, 3, pp 181-197, August
     1984, (reprinted in the BSD System Manager's Manual).

HISTORY

     The newfs utility appeared in 4.2BSD.

FreeBSD 5.4			 May 18, 2002			   FreeBSD 5.4

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