prep(8): document disk/edisk

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cinap_lenrek 2015-05-31 14:15:49 +02:00
parent 82aa1d5c78
commit 8278f6e34c

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@ -16,6 +16,16 @@ prep, fdisk, format, mbr \- prepare disks, floppies and flashes
]
.I plan9partition
.PP
.B disk/edisk
[
.B -abfprw
]
[
.B -s
.I sectorsize
]
.I disk
.PP
.B disk/fdisk
[
.B -abfprw
@ -67,12 +77,17 @@ prep, fdisk, format, mbr \- prepare disks, floppies and flashes
.SH DESCRIPTION
A partition table is stored on a hard disk to specify the division of
the physical disk into a set of logical units.
On PCs, the partition table is stored at the end of the master boot record
of the disk.
On PCs using traditional DOS partition table, the partition entries are stored
at the end of the master boot record of the disk.
Partitions of type
.B 0x39
are Plan 9 partitions.
The names of PC partitions are chosen by convention from the type:
EFI systems use GUID partition table (GPT) format where partition types
are identied by a 128-bit long identifiers. The randomly
generated GUID
.B C91818F9-8025-47AF-89D2-F030D7000C2C
is used to identify the Plan 9 partition type in this scheme.
The names of DOS and GPT partitions are chosen by convention from the type:
.BR dos ,
.BR plan9 ,
etc.
@ -172,7 +187,7 @@ swap partition.
.PD
.PP
.I Fdisk
edits the PC partition table and is usually
edits the DOS partition table and is usually
invoked with a disk like
.B /dev/sdC0/data
as its argument, while
@ -182,14 +197,21 @@ and is usually invoked with a disk partition
like
.B /dev/sdC0/plan9
as its argument.
.I Edisk
is similar to
.I fdisk
but edits the GPT partition table on EFI systems.
.I Fdisk
works in units of disk ``cylinders'': the cylinder
size in bytes is printed when
.I fdisk
starts.
.I Prep
and
.I edisk
works in units of disk sectors, which are almost always 512 bytes.
.I Fdisk
.IR Fdisk ,
.I edisk
and
.I prep
share most of their options:
@ -199,6 +221,8 @@ share most of their options:
.B -a
Automatically partition the disk.
.I Fdisk
and
.I edisk
will create a Plan 9
partition in the largest unused area on the disk,
doing nothing if a
@ -237,15 +261,17 @@ will translate the printed sectors by the partition's offset
within the disk.
Since
.I fdisk
operates on a table of unnamed partitions,
it assigns names based on the partition type
and
.I edisk
operate on a table of unnamed partitions,
they assign names based on the partition type
(e.g.,
.BR plan9 ,
.BR dos ,
.BR ntfs ,
.BR linux ,
.BR linuxswap )
and resolves collisions by appending a numbered suffix.
and resolve collisions by appending a numbered suffix.
(e.g.,
.BR dos ,
.BR dos.1 ,
@ -257,7 +283,8 @@ In the absence of the
and
.B -w
flags,
.I prep
.IR prep ,
.I edisk
and
.I fdisk
enter an interactive partition editor;
@ -268,7 +295,8 @@ flag runs the editor in read-only mode.
.BI -s " sectorsize"
Specify the disk's sector size.
In the absence of this flag,
.I prep
.IR prep ,
.I edisk
and
.I fdisk
look for a disk
@ -291,12 +319,13 @@ If neither the
flag nor the
.B -w
flag is given,
.I prep
.IR prep ,
.I edisk
and
.I fdisk
enter an interactive partition editor that
operates on named partitions.
The PC partition table distinguishes between
The DOS partition table distinguishes between
primary partitions, which can be listed in the boot
sector at the beginning of the disk,
and secondary (or extended) partitions, arbitrarily
@ -308,6 +337,12 @@ secondary partitions
.BR s \fIn\fR.
The number of primary partitions plus number of contiguous chains of
secondary partitions cannot exceed four.
The GPT partition table is a fixed array of partition
entries (usually 128). Partitions are named
.BR p \fIn\fR,
where
.I n
indexes the entry in array starting from 1 for the first entry.
.PP
The commands are as follows.
In the descriptions, read ``sector'' as ``cylinder'' when using
@ -328,16 +363,14 @@ If
.I start
or
.I end
are omitted,
.I prep
and
.I fdisk
will prompt for them.
are omitted, the editor will prompt for them.
In
.IR fdisk ,
the newly created partition has type
.RB `` PLAN9 ;''
to set a different type, use the
.I fdisk
and
.I edisk
the newly created partition is of the
.B Plan 9
type; to set a different type, use the
.B t
command (q.v.).
.I Start
@ -450,10 +483,7 @@ partition table.
The write will fail if any programs have any
of the disk's partitions open.
If the write fails (for this or any other reason),
.I prep
and
.I fdisk
will attempt to restore the partition table to
the program will attempt to restore the partition table to
its former state.
.TP
.B q
@ -474,16 +504,30 @@ Set the named partition active.
The active partition is the one whose boot block is used
when booting a PC from disk.
.TP
.B e
Print the names of empty slots in the partition table, i.e., the
valid names to use when creating a new partition.
.TP
.BI t " \fR[\fI type \fR]
.BI t " name \fR[\fI type \fR]
Set the partition type. If it is not given,
.I fdisk
will display a list of choices and then prompt for it.
.PD
.PP
.I Edisk
also has the following commands.
.TF "t \fR[\fI type \fR]
.PD
.TP
.BI t " name \fR[\fI type \fR]
Set the partition type; like
.I fdisk
above.
.PD
.TP
.BI f " name \fR[\fI +-attr \fR]
Set or clear partition attributes.
.PD
.TP
.BI l " name \fR[\fI label \fR]
Set the partition label.
.PP
.I Format
prepares for use the floppy diskette or hard disk partition in the file named
.IR disk ,