NAME

       fsck.minix - check consistency of Minix filesystem

SYNOPSIS

       fsck.minix [-larvsmf] device

DESCRIPTION

       fsck.minix performs a consistency check for the Linux MINIX filesystem.  The current version supports the
       14 character and 30 character filename options.

       The  program  assumes  the  filesystem  is  quiescent.  fsck.minix should not be used on a mounted device
       unless you can be sure nobody is writing to it (and remember that the kernel can  write  to  it  when  it
       searches for files).

       The device name will usually have the following form:
              /dev/hda[1-63] (IDE disk 1)
              /dev/hdb[1-63] (IDE disk 2)
              /dev/sda[1-15] (SCSI disk 1)
              /dev/sdb[1-15] (SCSI disk 2)

       If  the filesystem was changed (i.e., repaired), then fsck.minix will print "FILE SYSTEM HAS CHANGED" and
       will sync(2) three times before exiting.  Since Linux does not currently have raw devices,  there  is  no
       need to reboot at this time.

WARNING

       fsck.minix  should not be used on a mounted filesystem.  Using fsck.minix on a mounted filesystem is very
       dangerous, due to the possibility that deleted files are  still  in  use,  and  can  seriously  damage  a
       perfectly  good  filesystem!  If you absolutely have to run fsck.minix on a mounted filesystem (i.e., the
       root filesystem), make sure nothing is writing to the disk, and that no files are "zombies"  waiting  for
       deletion.

OPTIONS

       -l     List all filenames.

       -r     Perform interactive repairs.

       -a     Perform  automatic  repairs.   (This  option  implies -r and serves to answer all of the questions
              asked with the default.)  Note that this can be extremely  dangerous  in  the  case  of  extensive
              filesystem damage.

       -v     Be verbose.

       -s     Output super-block information.

       -m     Activate MINIX-like "mode not cleared" warnings.

       -f     Force  a  filesystem check even if the filesystem was marked as valid (this marking is done by the
              kernel when the filesystem is unmounted).

SEE ALSO

       fsck(8), fsck.ext(8), fsck.ext2(8), fsck.xiafs(8),  mkfs(8),  mkfs.minix(8),  mkfs.ext(8),  mkfs.ext2(8),
       mkfs.xiafs(8), reboot(8)

DIAGNOSTICS

       There  are  numerous  diagnostic  messages.  The ones mentioned here are the most commonly seen in normal
       usage.

       If the device does not exist, fsck.minix will print "unable to read super block".  If the device  exists,
       but is not a MINIX filesystem, fsck.minix will print "bad magic number in super-block".

EXIT CODES

       The exit code returned by fsck.minix is the sum of the following:

       0      No errors

       3      Filesystem errors corrected, system should be rebooted if filesystem was mounted

       4      Filesystem errors left uncorrected

       8      Operational error

       16     Usage or syntax error

       In point of fact, only 0, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 16 can ever be returned.

AUTHOR

       Linus Torvalds (torvalds@cs.helsinki.fi)
       Error code values by Rik Faith (faith@cs.unc.edu)
       Added support for filesystem valid flag: Dr. Wettstein (greg%wind.uucp@plains.nodak.edu)
       Check to prevent fsck of mounted filesystem added by Daniel Quinlan (quinlan@yggdrasil.com)
       Minix  v2  fs  support  by  Andreas  Schwab (schwab@issan.informatik.uni-dortmund.de), updated by Nicolai
       Langfeldt (janl@math.uio.no)
       Portability patch by Russell King (rmk@ecs.soton.ac.uk).

AVAILABILITY

       The   fsck.minix   command   is   part   of   the   util-linux   package   and    is    available    from
       ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/.

util-linux                                          July 1996                                            FSCK(8)