TUNE2FS(8) TUNE2FS(8)
NAME
tune2fs - adjust tunable filesystem parameters on ext2/ext3/ext4 filesystems
SYNOPSIS
tune2fs [ -l ] [ -c max-mount-counts ] [ -e errors-behavior ] [ -f ] [ -i interval-between-checks ] [ -j ] [ -J journal-
options ] [ -m reserved-blocks-percentage ] [ -o [^]mount-options[,...] ] [ -r reserved-blocks-count ] [ -s sparse-super-
flag ] [ -u user ] [ -g group ] [ -C mount-count ] [ -E extended-options ] [ -L volume-name ] [ -M last-mounted-directory ]
[ -O [^]feature[,...] ] [ -Q quota-options ] [ -T time-last-checked ] [ -U UUID ] device
DESCRIPTION
tune2fs allows the system administrator to adjust various tunable filesystem parameters on Linux ext2, ext3, or ext4
filesystems. The current values of these options can be displayed by using the -l option to tune2fs(8) program, or by
using the dumpe2fs(8) program.
The device specifier can either be a filename (i.e., /dev/sda1), or a LABEL or UUID specifier: "LABEL=volume-name" or
"UUID=uuid". (i.e., LABEL=home or UUID=e40486c6-84d5-4f2f-b99c-032281799c9d).
OPTIONS
-c max-mount-counts
Adjust the number of mounts after which the filesystem will be checked by e2fsck(8). If max-mount-counts is 0 or
-1, the number of times the filesystem is mounted will be disregarded by e2fsck(8) and the kernel.
Staggering the mount-counts at which filesystems are forcibly checked will avoid all filesystems being checked at
one time when using journaled filesystems.
You should strongly consider the consequences of disabling mount-count-dependent checking entirely. Bad disk
drives, cables, memory, and kernel bugs could all corrupt a filesystem without marking the filesystem dirty or in
error. If you are using journaling on your filesystem, your filesystem will never be marked dirty, so it will not
normally be checked. A filesystem error detected by the kernel will still force an fsck on the next reboot, but it
may already be too late to prevent data loss at that point.
See also the -i option for time-dependent checking.
-C mount-count
Set the number of times the filesystem has been mounted. If set to a greater value than the max-mount-counts param‐
eter set by the -c option, e2fsck(8) will check the filesystem at the next reboot.
-e error-behavior
Change the behavior of the kernel code when errors are detected. In all cases, a filesystem error will cause
e2fsck(8) to check the filesystem on the next boot. error-behavior can be one of the following:
continue Continue normal execution.
remount-ro Remount filesystem read-only.
panic Cause a kernel panic.
-E extended-options
Set extended options for the filesystem. Extended options are comma separated, and may take an argument using the
equals ('=') sign. The following extended options are supported:
clear_mmp
Reset the MMP block (if any) back to the clean state. Use only if absolutely certain the device is not
currently mounted or being fscked, or major filesystem corruption can result. Needs '-f'.
mmp_update_interval=interval
Adjust the initial MMP update interval to interval seconds. Specifying an interval of 0 means to use
the default interval. The specified interval must be less than 300 seconds. Requires that the mmp fea‐
ture be enabled.
stride=stride-size
Configure the filesystem for a RAID array with stride-size filesystem blocks. This is the number of
blocks read or written to disk before moving to next disk. This mostly affects placement of filesystem
metadata like bitmaps at mke2fs(2) time to avoid placing them on a single disk, which can hurt the per‐
formance. It may also be used by block allocator.
stripe_width=stripe-width
Configure the filesystem for a RAID array with stripe-width filesystem blocks per stripe. This is typi‐
cally be stride-size * N, where N is the number of data disks in the RAID (e.g. RAID 5 N+1, RAID 6 N+2).
This allows the block allocator to prevent read-modify-write of the parity in a RAID stripe if possible
when the data is written.
hash_alg=hash-alg
Set the default hash algorithm used for filesystems with hashed b-tree directories. Valid algorithms
accepted are: legacy, half_md4, and tea.
mount_opts=mount_option_string
Set a set of default mount options which will be used when the file system is mounted. Unlike the bit‐
mask-based default mount options which can be specified with the -o option, mount_option_string is an
arbitrary string with a maximum length of 63 bytes, which is stored in the superblock.
The ext4 file system driver will first apply the bitmask-based default options, and then parse the
mount_option_string, before parsing the mount options passed from the mount(8) program.
This superblock setting is only honored in 2.6.35+ kernels; and not at all by the ext2 and ext3 file
system drivers.
test_fs
Set a flag in the filesystem superblock indicating that it may be mounted using experimental kernel
code, such as the ext4dev filesystem.
^test_fs
Clear the test_fs flag, indicating the filesystem should only be mounted using production-level filesys‐
tem code.
-f Force the tune2fs operation to complete even in the face of errors. This option is useful when removing the
has_journal filesystem feature from a filesystem which has an external journal (or is corrupted such that it appears
to have an external journal), but that external journal is not available.
WARNING: Removing an external journal from a filesystem which was not cleanly unmounted without first replaying the
external journal can result in severe data loss and filesystem corruption.
-g group
Set the group which can use the reserved filesystem blocks. The group parameter can be a numerical gid or a group
name. If a group name is given, it is converted to a numerical gid before it is stored in the superblock.
-i interval-between-checks[d|m|w]
Adjust the maximal time between two filesystem checks. No suffix or d will interpret the number interval-between-
checks as days, m as months, and w as weeks. A value of zero will disable the time-dependent checking.
It is strongly recommended that either -c (mount-count-dependent) or -i (time-dependent) checking be enabled to
force periodic full e2fsck(8) checking of the filesystem. Failure to do so may lead to filesystem corruption (due
to bad disks, cables, memory, or kernel bugs) going unnoticed, ultimately resulting in data loss or corruption.
-j Add an ext3 journal to the filesystem. If the -J option is not specified, the default journal parameters will be
used to create an appropriately sized journal (given the size of the filesystem) stored within the filesystem. Note
that you must be using a kernel which has ext3 support in order to actually make use of the journal.
If this option is used to create a journal on a mounted filesystem, an immutable file, .journal, will be created in
the top-level directory of the filesystem, as it is the only safe way to create the journal inode while the filesys‐
tem is mounted. While the ext3 journal is visible, it is not safe to delete it, or modify it while the filesystem
is mounted; for this reason the file is marked immutable. While checking unmounted filesystems, e2fsck(8) will
automatically move .journal files to the invisible, reserved journal inode. For all filesystems except for the root
filesystem, this should happen automatically and naturally during the next reboot cycle. Since the root filesystem
is mounted read-only, e2fsck(8) must be run from a rescue floppy in order to effect this transition.
On some distributions, such as Debian, if an initial ramdisk is used, the initrd scripts will automatically convert
an ext2 root filesystem to ext3 if the /etc/fstab file specifies the ext3 filesystem for the root filesystem in
order to avoid requiring the use of a rescue floppy to add an ext3 journal to the root filesystem.
-J journal-options
Override the default ext3 journal parameters. Journal options are comma separated, and may take an argument using
the equals ('=') sign. The following journal options are supported:
size=journal-size
Create a journal stored in the filesystem of size journal-size megabytes. The size of the journal must
be at least 1024 filesystem blocks (i.e., 1MB if using 1k blocks, 4MB if using 4k blocks, etc.) and may
be no more than 102,400 filesystem blocks. There must be enough free space in the filesystem to create
a journal of that size.
device=external-journal
Attach the filesystem to the journal block device located on external-journal. The external journal
must have been already created using the command
mke2fs -O journal_dev external-journal
Note that external-journal must be formatted with the same block size as filesystems which will be using
it. In addition, while there is support for attaching multiple filesystems to a single external jour‐
nal, the Linux kernel and e2fsck(8) do not currently support shared external journals yet.
Instead of specifying a device name directly, external-journal can also be specified by either
LABEL=label or UUID=UUID to locate the external journal by either the volume label or UUID stored in the
ext2 superblock at the start of the journal. Use dumpe2fs(8) to display a journal device's volume label
and UUID. See also the -L option of tune2fs(8).
Only one of the size or device options can be given for a filesystem.
-l List the contents of the filesystem superblock, including the current values of the parameters that can be set via
this program.
-L volume-label
Set the volume label of the filesystem. Ext2 filesystem labels can be at most 16 characters long; if volume-label
is longer than 16 characters, tune2fs will truncate it and print a warning. The volume label can be used by
mount(8), fsck(8), and /etc/fstab(5) (and possibly others) by specifying LABEL=volume_label instead of a block spe‐
cial device name like /dev/hda5.
-m reserved-blocks-percentage
Set the percentage of the filesystem which may only be allocated by privileged processes. Reserving some number of
filesystem blocks for use by privileged processes is done to avoid filesystem fragmentation, and to allow system
daemons, such as syslogd(8), to continue to function correctly after non-privileged processes are prevented from
writing to the filesystem. Normally, the default percentage of reserved blocks is 5%.
-M last-mounted-directory
Set the last-mounted directory for the filesystem.
-o [^]mount-option[,...]
Set or clear the indicated default mount options in the filesystem. Default mount options can be overridden by
mount options specified either in /etc/fstab(5) or on the command line arguments to mount(8). Older kernels may not
support this feature; in particular, kernels which predate 2.4.20 will almost certainly ignore the default mount
options field in the superblock.
More than one mount option can be cleared or set by separating features with commas. Mount options prefixed with a
caret character ('^') will be cleared in the filesystem's superblock; mount options without a prefix character or
prefixed with a plus character ('+') will be added to the filesystem.
The following mount options can be set or cleared using tune2fs:
debug Enable debugging code for this filesystem.
bsdgroups
Emulate BSD behavior when creating new files: they will take the group-id of the directory in which they
were created. The standard System V behavior is the default, where newly created files take on the
fsgid of the current process, unless the directory has the setgid bit set, in which case it takes the
gid from the parent directory, and also gets the setgid bit set if it is a directory itself.
user_xattr
Enable user-specified extended attributes.
acl Enable Posix Access Control Lists.
uid16 Disables 32-bit UIDs and GIDs. This is for interoperability with older kernels which only store and
expect 16-bit values.
journal_data
When the filesystem is mounted with journalling enabled, all data (not just metadata) is committed into
the journal prior to being written into the main filesystem.
journal_data_ordered
When the filesystem is mounted with journalling enabled, all data is forced directly out to the main
file system prior to its metadata being committed to the journal.
journal_data_writeback
When the filesystem is mounted with journalling enabled, data may be written into the main filesystem
after its metadata has been committed to the journal. This may increase throughput, however, it may
allow old data to appear in files after a crash and journal recovery.
nobarrier
The file system will be mounted with barrier operations in the journal disabled. (This option is cur‐
rently only supported by the ext4 file system driver in 2.6.35+ kernels.)
block_validity
The file system will be mounted with the block_validity option enabled, which causes extra checks to be
performed after reading or writing from the file system. This prevents corrupted metadata blocks from
causing file system damage by overwriting parts of the inode table or block group descriptors. This
comes at the cost of increased memory and CPU overhead, so it is enabled only for debugging purposes.
(This option is currently only supported by the ext4 file system driver in 2.6.35+ kernels.)
discard
The file system will be mounted with the discard mount option. This will cause the file system driver
to attempt to use the trim/discard feature of some storage devices (such as SSD's and thin-provisioned
drives available in some enterprise storage arrays) to inform the storage device that blocks belonging
to deleted files can be reused for other purposes. (This option is currently only supported by the ext4
file system driver in 2.6.35+ kernels.)
nodelalloc
The file system will be mounted with the nodelalloc mount option. This will disable the delayed alloca‐
tion feature. (This option is currently only supported by the ext4 file system driver in 2.6.35+ ker‐
nels.)
-O [^]feature[,...]
Set or clear the indicated filesystem features (options) in the filesystem. More than one filesystem feature can be
cleared or set by separating features with commas. Filesystem features prefixed with a caret character ('^') will
be cleared in the filesystem's superblock; filesystem features without a prefix character or prefixed with a plus
character ('+') will be added to the filesystem.
The following filesystem features can be set or cleared using tune2fs:
dir_index
Use hashed b-trees to speed up lookups in large directories.
dir_nlink
Allow more than 65000 subdirectories per directory.
filetype
Store file type information in directory entries.
flex_bg
Allow bitmaps and inode tables for a block group to be placed anywhere on the storage media. Tune2fs
will not reorganize the location of the inode tables and allocation bitmaps, as mke2fs(8) will do when
it creates a freshly formatted file system with flex_bg enabled.
has_journal
Use a journal to ensure filesystem consistency even across unclean shutdowns. Setting the filesystem
feature is equivalent to using the -j option.
large_file
Filesystem can contain files that are greater than 2GB. (Modern kernels set this feature automatically
when a file > 2GB is created.)
resize_inode
Reserve space so the block group descriptor table may grow in the future. Tune2fs only supports clear‐
ing this filesystem feature.
mmp Enable or disable multiple mount protection (MMP) feature. MMP helps to protect the filesystem from
being multiply mounted and is useful in shared storage environments.
sparse_super
Limit the number of backup superblocks to save space on large filesystems.
uninit_bg
Allow the kernel to initialize bitmaps and inode tables and keep a high watermark for the unused inodes
in a filesystem, to reduce e2fsck(8) time. This first e2fsck run after enabling this feature will take
the full time, but subsequent e2fsck runs will take only a fraction of the original time, depending on
how full the file system is.
After setting or clearing sparse_super, uninit_bg, filetype, or resize_inode filesystem features, e2fsck(8) must be
run on the filesystem to return the filesystem to a consistent state. Tune2fs will print a message requesting that
the system administrator run e2fsck(8) if necessary. After setting the dir_index feature, e2fsck -D can be run to
convert existing directories to the hashed B-tree format. Enabling certain filesystem features may prevent the
filesystem from being mounted by kernels which do not support those features. In particular, the uninit_bg and
flex_bg features are only supported by the ext4 filesystem.
-p mmp_check_interval
Set the desired MMP check interval in seconds. It is 5 seconds by default.
-r reserved-blocks-count
Set the number of reserved filesystem blocks.
-Q quota-options
Sets 'quota' feature on the superblock and works on the quota files for the given quota type. Quota options could be
one or more of the following:
[^]usrquota
Sets/clears user quota inode in the superblock.
[^]grpquota
Sets/clears group quota inode in the superblock.
-T time-last-checked
Set the time the filesystem was last checked using e2fsck. The time is interpreted using the current (local) time‐
zone. This can be useful in scripts which use a Logical Volume Manager to make a consistent snapshot of a filesys‐
tem, and then check the filesystem during off hours to make sure it hasn't been corrupted due to hardware problems,
etc. If the filesystem was clean, then this option can be used to set the last checked time on the original
filesystem. The format of time-last-checked is the international date format, with an optional time specifier, i.e.
YYYYMMDD[HH[MM[SS]]]. The keyword now is also accepted, in which case the last checked time will be set to the
current time.
-u user
Set the user who can use the reserved filesystem blocks. user can be a numerical uid or a user name. If a user
name is given, it is converted to a numerical uid before it is stored in the superblock.
-U UUID
Set the universally unique identifier (UUID) of the filesystem to UUID. The format of the UUID is a series of hex
digits separated by hyphens, like this: "c1b9d5a2-f162-11cf-9ece-0020afc76f16". The UUID parameter may also be one
of the following:
clear clear the filesystem UUID
random generate a new randomly-generated UUID
time generate a new time-based UUID
The UUID may be used by mount(8), fsck(8), and /etc/fstab(5) (and possibly others) by specifying UUID=uuid instead
of a block special device name like /dev/hda1.
See uuidgen(8) for more information. If the system does not have a good random number generator such as /dev/random
or /dev/urandom, tune2fs will automatically use a time-based UUID instead of a randomly-generated UUID.
BUGS
We haven't found any bugs yet. That doesn't mean there aren't any...
AUTHOR
tune2fs was written by Remy Card . It is currently being maintained by Theodore Ts'o
. tune2fs uses the ext2fs library written by Theodore Ts'o . This manual page was
written by Christian Kuhtz . Time-dependent checking was added by Uwe Ohse .
AVAILABILITY
tune2fs is part of the e2fsprogs package and is available from http://e2fsprogs.sourceforge.net.
SEE ALSO
debugfs(8), dumpe2fs(8), e2fsck(8), mke2fs(8)
E2fsprogs version 1.42.5 July 2012 TUNE2FS(8)
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