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32 .Nd "control utility for the disk partitioning GEOM class"
34 To add support for the disk partitioning GEOM class,
35 place one or more of the following
36 lines in your kernel configuration file:
37 .Bd -ragged -offset indent
38 .Cd "options GEOM_PART_APM"
39 .Cd "options GEOM_PART_BSD"
40 .Cd "options GEOM_PART_GPT"
41 .Cd "options GEOM_PART_MBR"
42 .Cd "options GEOM_PART_PC98"
43 .Cd "options GEOM_PART_VTOC8"
48 option adds support for the Apple Partition Map (APM)
49 found on Apple Macintosh computers.
52 option adds support for the traditional
57 option adds support for the GUID Partition Table (GPT)
58 found on Intel Itanium computers and Intel-based Macintosh computers.
61 option adds support for the Master Boot Record (MBR)
62 found on PCs and used on many removable media.
65 option adds support for the MBR variant as used on
69 option adds support for Sun's SMI VTOC8 label as
70 found on computers based on
89 .\" ==== BOOTCODE ====
93 .Op Fl p Ar partcode Fl i Ar index
113 .\" ==== DESTROY ====
159 utility is used to partition GEOM providers, normally disks.
160 The first argument of which is the action to be taken:
161 .Bl -tag -width ".Cm bootcode"
164 Add a new partition to the partitioning scheme given by
166 The partition begins on the logical block address given by the
169 Its size is expressed in logical block numbers and given by the
172 The type of the partition is given by the
175 Partition types are discussed below in the section entitled
176 .Sx "PARTITION TYPES" .
178 Additional options include:
181 The index in the partition table at which the new partition is to be
183 The index determines the name of the device special file used
184 to represent the partition.
186 The label attached to the partition.
187 This option is only valid when used on partitioning schemes that support
190 Additional operational flags.
191 See the section entitled
192 .Sx "OPERATIONAL FLAGS"
193 below for a discussion
196 .\" ==== BOOTCODE ====
198 Embed bootstrap code into the partitioning scheme's metadata on the
202 or write bootstrap code into a partition (using
206 Not all partitioning schemes have embedded bootstrap code, so the
208 option is scheme-specific in nature.
209 For the GPT scheme, embedded bootstrap code is supported.
210 The bootstrap code is embedded in the protective MBR rather than the GPT.
213 option specifies a file that contains the bootstrap code.
214 The contents and size of the file are determined by the partitioning
216 For the MBR scheme, it is a 512 byte file of which the first 446 bytes
217 are installed as bootstrap code.
220 option specifies a file that contains the bootstrap code intended to be
221 written to a partition.
222 For the VTOC8 scheme, it is a 8192 byte file of which the last 7680 bytes
223 are installed as bootstrap code.
224 The partition is specified by the
227 For the VTOC8 scheme, if the
229 option is omitted, the bootstrap code is written to all sufficiently large
231 The size of the file must be smaller than the size of the partition.
233 Additional options include:
236 Additional operational flags.
237 See the section entitled
238 .Sx "OPERATIONAL FLAGS"
239 below for a discussion
244 Commit any pending changes for geom
246 All actions are being committed by default and will not result in
248 Actions can be modified with the
250 option so that they are not being committed by default.
251 As such, they become pending.
252 Pending changes are reflected by the geom and the
254 utility, but they are not actually written to disk.
257 action will write any and all pending changes to disk.
260 Create a new partitioning scheme on a provider given by
264 option determines the scheme to use.
265 The kernel needs to have support for a particular scheme before
266 that scheme can be used to partition a disk.
268 Additional options include:
271 The number of entries in the partition table.
272 Every partitioning scheme has a minimum and a maximum number of entries
273 and this option allows tables to be created with the number of entries
274 that lies anywhere between the minimum and the maximum.
275 Some schemes have a maximum equal to the minimum and some schemes have
276 a maximum large enough to be considered unlimited.
277 By default, partition tables are created with the minimum number of
280 Additional operational flags.
281 See the section entitled
282 .Sx "OPERATIONAL FLAGS"
283 below for a discussion
288 Delete a partition from geom
290 and further identified by the
293 The partition cannot be actively used by the kernel.
295 Additional options include:
298 Additional operational flags.
299 See the section entitled
300 .Sx "OPERATIONAL FLAGS"
301 below for a discussion
304 .\" ==== DESTROY ====
306 Destroy the partitioning scheme as implemented by geom
309 Additional options include:
312 Additional operational flags.
313 See the section entitled
314 .Sx "OPERATIONAL FLAGS"
315 below for a discussion
320 Modify a partition from geom
322 and further identified by the
325 Only the the type and/or label of the partition can be modified.
326 To change the type of a partition, specify the new type with the
329 To change the label of a partition, specify the new label with the
332 Not all partitioning schemes support labels and it is invalid to
333 try to change a partition label in such cases.
335 Additional options include:
338 Additional operational flags.
339 See the section entitled
340 .Sx "OPERATIONAL FLAGS"
341 below for a discussion
346 Resize a partition from geom
348 and further identified by the
351 New partition size is expressed in logical block
352 numbers and can be given by the
357 option is ommited then new size is automatically calculated
358 to maximum available from given geom
361 Additional options include:
364 Additional operational flags.
365 See the section entitled
366 .Sx "OPERATIONAL FLAGS"
367 below for a discussion
372 Set the named attribute on the partition entry.
374 Additional options include:
377 Additional operational flags.
378 See the section entitled
379 .Sx "OPERATIONAL FLAGS"
380 below for a discussion
385 Show the current partition information of the specified geoms
386 or all geoms if none are specified.
389 Revert any pending changes for geom
391 This action is the opposite of the
393 action and can be used to undo any changes that have not been committed.
396 Clear the named attribute on the partition entry.
398 Additional options include:
401 Additional operational flags.
402 See the section entitled
403 .Sx "OPERATIONAL FLAGS"
404 below for a discussion
412 utility uses symbolic names for common partition types to avoid that the
413 user needs to know what the partitioning scheme in question is and what
414 the actual number or identification needs to be used for a particular
418 utility also allows the user to specify scheme-specific partition types
419 for partition types that do not have symbol names.
420 The symbolic names currently understood are:
421 .Bl -tag -width ".Cm freebsd-vinum"
423 The system partition for computers that use the Extensible Firmware
425 In such cases, the GPT partitioning scheme is being used and the
426 actual partition type for the system partition can also be specified as
427 .Qq Li "!c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93ab" .
431 partition that uses the
433 disklabel to sub-divide the
434 partition into file systems.
435 This is a legacy partition type and should not be used for the APM
437 The scheme-specific types are
442 .Qq Li "!516e7cb4-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b"
447 partition dedicated to bootstrap code.
448 The scheme-specific type is
449 .Qq Li "!83bd6b9d-7f41-11dc-be0b-001560b84f0f"
454 partition dedicated to swap space.
455 The scheme-specific types are
456 .Qq Li "!FreeBSD-swap"
458 .Qq Li "!516e7cb5-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b"
459 for GPT, and tag 0x0901 for VTOC8.
463 partition that contains a UFS or UFS2 file system.
464 The scheme-specific types are
465 .Qq Li "!FreeBSD-UFS"
467 .Qq Li "!516e7cb6-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b"
468 for GPT, and tag 0x0902 for VTOC8.
472 partition that contains a Vinum volume.
473 The scheme-specific types are
474 .Qq Li "!FreeBSD-Vinum"
476 .Qq Li "!516e7cb8-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b"
477 for GPT, and tag 0x0903 for VTOC8.
481 partition that contains a ZFS volume.
482 The scheme-specific types are
483 .Qq Li "!FreeBSD-ZFS"
485 .Qq Li "!516e7cba-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b"
486 for GPT, and 0x0904 for VTOC8.
488 A partition that is sub-partitioned by a master boot record (MBR).
489 This type is known as
490 .Qq Li "!024dee41-33e7-11d3-9d69-0008c781f39f"
493 .Sh OPERATIONAL FLAGS
494 Actions other than the
498 actions take an optional
501 This option is used to specify action-specific operational flags.
506 flag so that the action is immediately
510 to have the action result in a pending change that can later, with
511 other pending changes, be committed as a single compound change with
514 action or reverted with the
518 Exit status is 0 on success, and 1 if the command fails.
522 .Bd -literal -offset indent
523 /sbin/gpart create -s GPT ad0
526 Embed GPT bootstrap code into protective MBR.
527 .Bd -literal -offset indent
528 /sbin/gpart bootcode -b /boot/pmbr ad0
533 partition that can boot
537 partition, and install bootstrap code into it.
538 This partition must be larger than
540 or the GPT boot you are planning to write.
541 A size of 15 blocks (7680 bytes) would be sufficient for
542 booting from UFS but let's use 128 blocks (64 KB) here in
543 this example, in order to reserve some space for potential
544 future need (e.g.\& from a ZFS partition).
545 .Bd -literal -offset indent
546 /sbin/gpart add -b 34 -s 128 -t freebsd-boot ad0
547 /sbin/gpart bootcode -p /boot/gptboot -i 1 ad0
552 partition that would contain UFS where the system boots from.
553 .Bd -literal -offset indent
554 /sbin/gpart add -b 162 -s 1048576 -t freebsd-ufs ad0
557 Create VTOC8 scheme on
559 .Bd -literal -offset indent
560 /sbin/gpart create -s VTOC8 da0
565 partition that would contain UFS where the system boots from.
566 .Bd -literal -offset indent
567 /sbin/gpart add -b 0 -s 1048576 -t freebsd-ufs da0
570 After having created all required partitions, embed bootstrap code into them.
571 .Bd -literal -offset indent
572 /sbin/gpart bootcode -p /boot/boot1 da0
583 .An Marcel Moolenaar Aq marcel@FreeBSD.org