| .\" Copyright 1996 Daniel Quinlan (Daniel.Quinlan@linux.org) |
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| .\" 2007-12-14 mtk Added Reiserfs, XFS, JFS. |
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| .TH FILESYSTEMS 5 2018-04-30 "Linux" "Linux Programmer's Manual" |
| .nh |
| .SH NAME |
| filesystems \- Linux filesystem types: ext, ext2, ext3, ext4, hpfs, iso9660, |
| JFS, minix, msdos, ncpfs nfs, ntfs, proc, Reiserfs, smb, sysv, umsdos, vfat, |
| XFS, xiafs, |
| .SH DESCRIPTION |
| When, as is customary, the |
| .B proc |
| filesystem is mounted on |
| .IR /proc , |
| you can find in the file |
| .I /proc/filesystems |
| which filesystems your kernel currently supports; |
| see |
| .BR proc (5) |
| for more details. |
| If you need a currently unsupported filesystem, insert the corresponding |
| module or recompile the kernel. |
| .PP |
| In order to use a filesystem, you have to |
| .I mount |
| it; see |
| .BR mount (8). |
| .PP |
| Below a short description of the available or historically available |
| filesystems in the Linux kernel. |
| See kernel documentation for a comprehensive |
| description of all options and limitations. |
| .TP 10 |
| .B ext |
| is an elaborate extension of the |
| .B minix |
| filesystem. |
| It has been completely superseded by the second version |
| of the extended filesystem |
| .RB ( ext2 ) |
| and has been removed from the kernel (in 2.1.21). |
| .TP |
| .B ext2 |
| is the high performance disk filesystem used by Linux for fixed disks |
| as well as removable media. |
| The second extended filesystem was designed as an extension of the |
| extended filesystem |
| .RB ( ext ). |
| See |
| .BR ext2 (5). |
| .TP |
| .B ext3 |
| is a journaling version of the |
| .B ext2 |
| filesystem. |
| It is easy to |
| switch back and forth between |
| .B ext2 |
| and |
| .BR ext3 . |
| See |
| .BR ext3 (5). |
| .TP |
| .B ext4 |
| is a set of upgrades to |
| .B ext3 |
| including substantial performance and |
| reliability enhancements, |
| plus large increases in volume, file, and directory size limits. |
| See |
| .BR ext4 (5). |
| .TP |
| .B hpfs |
| is the High Performance Filesystem, used in OS/2. |
| This filesystem is |
| read-only under Linux due to the lack of available documentation. |
| .TP |
| .B iso9660 |
| is a CD-ROM filesystem type conforming to the ISO 9660 standard. |
| .RS |
| .TP |
| .B "High Sierra" |
| Linux supports High Sierra, the precursor to the ISO 9660 standard for |
| CD-ROM filesystems. |
| It is automatically recognized within the |
| .B iso9660 |
| filesystem support under Linux. |
| .TP |
| .B "Rock Ridge" |
| Linux also supports the System Use Sharing Protocol records specified |
| by the Rock Ridge Interchange Protocol. |
| They are used to further describe the files in the |
| .B iso9660 |
| filesystem to a UNIX host, and provide information such as long |
| filenames, UID/GID, POSIX permissions, and devices. |
| It is automatically recognized within the |
| .B iso9660 |
| filesystem support under Linux. |
| .RE |
| .TP |
| .B JFS |
| is a journaling filesystem, developed by IBM, |
| that was integrated into Linux in kernel 2.4.24. |
| .TP |
| .B minix |
| is the filesystem used in the Minix operating system, the first to run |
| under Linux. |
| It has a number of shortcomings, including a 64\ MB partition size |
| limit, short filenames, and a single timestamp. |
| It remains useful for floppies and RAM disks. |
| .TP |
| .B msdos |
| is the filesystem used by DOS, Windows, and some OS/2 computers. |
| .B msdos |
| filenames can be no longer than 8 characters, followed by an |
| optional period and 3 character extension. |
| .TP |
| .B ncpfs |
| is a network filesystem that supports the NCP protocol, used by |
| Novell NetWare. |
| .IP |
| To use |
| .BR ncpfs , |
| you need special programs, which can be found at |
| .UR ftp://linux01.gwdg.de\:/pub\:/ncpfs |
| .UE . |
| .TP |
| .B nfs |
| is the network filesystem used to access disks located on remote computers. |
| .TP |
| .B ntfs |
| replaces Microsoft Window's FAT filesystems (VFAT, FAT32). |
| It has reliability, performance, and space-utilization enhancements |
| plus features like ACLs, journaling, encryption, and so on. |
| .TP |
| .B proc |
| is a pseudo filesystem which is used as an interface to kernel data |
| structures rather than reading and interpreting |
| .IR /dev/kmem . |
| In particular, its files do not take disk space. |
| See |
| .BR proc (5). |
| .TP |
| .B Reiserfs |
| is a journaling filesystem, designed by Hans Reiser, |
| that was integrated into Linux in kernel 2.4.1. |
| .TP |
| .B smb |
| is a network filesystem that supports the SMB protocol, used by |
| Windows for Workgroups, Windows NT, and Lan Manager. |
| See |
| .UR https://www.samba.org\:/samba\:/smbfs/ |
| .UE . |
| .TP |
| .B sysv |
| is an implementation of the SystemV/Coherent filesystem for Linux. |
| It implements all of Xenix FS, SystemV/386 FS, and Coherent FS. |
| .TP |
| .B umsdos |
| is an extended DOS filesystem used by Linux. |
| It adds capability for |
| long filenames, UID/GID, POSIX permissions, and special files |
| (devices, named pipes, etc.) under the DOS filesystem, without |
| sacrificing compatibility with DOS. |
| .TP |
| .B tmpfs |
| is a filesystem whose contents reside in virtual memory. |
| Since the files on such filesystems typically reside in RAM, |
| file access is extremely fast. |
| See |
| .BR tmpfs (5). |
| .TP |
| .B vfat |
| is an extended FAT filesystem used by Microsoft Windows95 and Windows NT. |
| .B vfat |
| adds the capability to use long filenames under the MSDOS filesystem. |
| .TP |
| .B XFS |
| is a journaling filesystem, developed by SGI, |
| that was integrated into Linux in kernel 2.4.20. |
| .TP |
| .B xiafs |
| was designed and implemented to be a stable, safe filesystem by |
| extending the Minix filesystem code. |
| It provides the basic most |
| requested features without undue complexity. |
| The |
| .B xiafs |
| filesystem is no longer actively developed or maintained. |
| It was removed from the kernel in 2.1.21. |
| .SH SEE ALSO |
| .BR fuse (4), |
| .BR btrfs (5), |
| .BR ext2 (5), |
| .BR ext3 (5), |
| .BR ext4 (5), |
| .BR nfs (5), |
| .BR proc (5), |
| .BR tmpfs (5), |
| .BR fsck (8), |
| .BR mkfs (8), |
| .BR mount (8) |
