| .TH MKFS.BTRFS 8 |
| .SH NAME |
| mkfs.btrfs \- create a btrfs filesystem |
| .SH SYNOPSIS |
| .B mkfs.btrfs |
| [ \fB\-A\fP\fI alloc-start\fP ] |
| [ \fB\-b\fP\fI byte-count\fP ] |
| [ \fB\-d\fP\fI data-profile\fP ] |
| [ \fB\-f\fP ] |
| [ \fB\-l\fP\fI leafsize\fP ] |
| [ \fB\-L\fP\fI label\fP ] |
| [ \fB\-m\fP\fI metadata profile\fP ] |
| [ \fB\-M\fP\fI mixed data+metadata\fP ] |
| [ \fB\-n\fP\fI nodesize\fP ] |
| [ \fB\-s\fP\fI sectorsize\fP ] |
| [ \fB\-r\fP\fI rootdir\fP ] |
| [ \fB\-K\fP ] |
| [ \fB\-h\fP ] |
| [ \fB\-V\fP ] |
| \fI device\fP [ \fIdevice ...\fP ] |
| .SH DESCRIPTION |
| .B mkfs.btrfs |
| is used to create a btrfs filesystem (usually in a disk partition, or an array |
| of disk partitions). |
| .I device |
| is the special file corresponding to the device (e.g \fI/dev/sdXX\fP ). |
| If multiple \fI devices \fP are specified, btrfs is created |
| spanning across the specified \fI devices\fP. |
| .SH OPTIONS |
| .TP |
| \fB\-A\fR, \fB\-\-alloc\-start \fIoffset\fR |
| Specify the offset from the start of the device to start the btrfs filesystem. The default value is zero, or the start of the device. |
| .TP |
| \fB\-b\fR, \fB\-\-byte\-count \fIsize\fR |
| Specify the size of the resultant filesystem. If this option is not used, |
| mkfs.btrfs uses all the available storage for the filesystem. |
| .TP |
| \fB\-d\fR, \fB\-\-data \fItype\fR |
| Specify how the data must be spanned across the devices specified. Valid |
| values are raid0, raid1, raid5, raid6, raid10 or single. |
| .TP |
| \fB\-f\fR, \fB\-\-force\fR |
| Force overwrite when an existing filesystem is detected on the device. |
| By default, mkfs.btrfs will not write to the device if it suspects that |
| there is a filesystem or partition table on the device already. |
| .TP |
| \fB\-l\fR, \fB\-\-leafsize \fIsize\fR |
| Specify the leaf size, the least data item in which btrfs stores data. The |
| default value is the page size. |
| .TP |
| \fB\-L\fR, \fB\-\-label \fIname\fR |
| Specify a label for the filesystem. |
| .TP |
| \fB\-m\fR, \fB\-\-metadata \fIprofile\fR |
| Specify how metadata must be spanned across the devices specified. Valid |
| values are raid0, raid1, raid5, raid6, raid10, single or dup. Single device |
| will have dup set by default except in the case of SSDs which will default to |
| single. This is because SSDs can remap blocks internally so duplicate blocks |
| could end up in the same erase block which negates the benefits of doing |
| metadata duplication. |
| .TP |
| \fB\-M\fR, \fB\-\-mixed\fR |
| Mix data and metadata chunks together for more efficient space |
| utilization. This feature incurs a performance penalty in |
| larger filesystems. It is recommended for use with filesystems |
| of 1 GiB or smaller. |
| .TP |
| \fB\-n\fR, \fB\-\-nodesize \fIsize\fR |
| Specify the nodesize. By default the value is set to the pagesize. |
| .TP |
| \fB\-s\fR, \fB\-\-sectorsize \fIsize\fR |
| Specify the sectorsize, the minimum block allocation. |
| .TP |
| \fB\-r\fR, \fB\-\-rootdir \fIrootdir\fR |
| Specify a directory to copy into the newly created fs. |
| .TP |
| \fB\-K\fR, \fB\-\-nodiscard \fR |
| Do not perform whole device TRIM operation by default. |
| .TP |
| \fB\-V\fR, \fB\-\-version\fR |
| Print the \fBmkfs.btrfs\fP version and exit. |
| .SH UNIT |
| As default the unit is the byte, however it is possible to append a suffix |
| to the arguments like \fBk\fP for KBytes, \fBm\fP for MBytes... |
| .SH AVAILABILITY |
| .B mkfs.btrfs |
| is part of btrfs-progs. Btrfs is currently under heavy development, |
| and not suitable for any uses other than benchmarking and review. |
| Please refer to the btrfs wiki |
| http://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org for further details. |
| .SH SEE ALSO |
| .BR btrfsck (8) |