DISKDUMPFMT(8)						       DISKDUMPFMT(8)



NAME
       diskdumpfmt - format a dump device or a partition

SYNOPSIS
       diskdumpfmt [ -v ] [ -i ] [ [ -a ] [ -p ] [ -f ] | -c ] device

       diskdumpfmt -V

DESCRIPTION
       diskdumpfmt  is	a  program to format a block device file or partition
       device file that is to be specified as a disk dump  device.   However,
       diskdumpfmt  can	 format	 only  the  unmounted device.  If a device is
       mounted somewhere, diskdumpfmt cannot even check on whether the device
       is  a  dump device.  In that case, diskdumpfmt returns a value 7 which
       means the device has already been mounted.  There  are  two  types  of
       formatting.   The  first type is called the initial formatting, and it
       writes special signatures over every page-size block of the dump	 par-
       tition.	 The  second  type  is	called	the normal formatting, and it
       writes special signatures over all page-size blocks except  for	block
       #0.  Block #0 is used as the dump partition header, and is never modi-
       fied during a memory dump operation.  The administrator	must  run  an
       initial	formatting of each dump device partition only once.  The nor-
       mal formatting is required after each memory dump, but typically it is
       run  automatically by the diskdump rc script.  As for only device for-
       matting, diskdumpfmt returns 255 if it fails due to an  error.  Other-
       wise it returns 0.

OPTIONS
       -a     Format all blocks of the dump partition.	Unless this option is
	      specified, diskdumpfmt checks blocks only that  is  checked  by
	      kernel.  Then diskdumpfmt formats those blocks.

       -c     Check the status of the dump partition.
	      diskdumpfmt returns one of the following values.
		   0: the partition does not require formatting
		   1: the partition contains a memory dump
		   2: the partition requires initial formatting
		   3: the partition requires formatting
		   4: the partition is not suitable for diskdump
		   5: the partition is swap partition
		   6: the partition is swap partition which contains
		      a memory dump

       -f     Format  the dump partition forcibly without checking on whether
	      the partition is a diskdump-dedicated device.  That  is  called
	      the initial formatting.

       -p     Display progress for formatting.

       -v     Provide some verbose outputs.

       -i     Ignore that the diskdump module is not loaded.

       -V     Show version information and exit.

SEE ALSO
       diskdumpctl_proc(8), diskdumpctl_sysfs(8), savecore(8)




							       DISKDUMPFMT(8)

UNIX/Linux commands referenced on this page:

1. dump
2. file
3. as
4. which