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/.