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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 UltraSPARC-based computers.
86 .\" ==== BOOTCODE ====
90 .Op Fl p Ar partcode Fl i Ar index
110 .\" ==== DESTROY ====
149 utility is used to partition GEOM providers, normally disks.
150 The first argument of which is the action to be taken:
151 .Bl -tag -width ".Cm bootcode"
154 Add a new partition to the partitioning scheme given by
156 The partition begins on the logical block address given by the
159 Its size is expressed in logical block numbers and given by the
162 The type of the partition is given by the
165 Partition types are discussed below in the section entitled
166 .Sx "PARTITION TYPES" .
168 Additional options include:
171 The index in the partition table at which the new partition is to be
173 The index determines the name of the device special file used
174 to represent the partition.
176 The label attached to the partition.
177 This option is only valid when used on partitioning schemes that support
180 Additional operational flags.
181 See the section entitled
182 .Sx "OPERATIONAL FLAGS"
183 below for a discussion
186 .\" ==== BOOTCODE ====
188 Embed bootstrap code into the partitioning scheme's metadata on the
192 or write bootstrap code into a partition (using
196 Not all partitioning schemes have embedded bootstrap code, so the
198 option is scheme-specific in nature.
199 For the GPT scheme, embedded bootstrap code is supported.
200 The bootstrap code is embedded in the protective MBR rather than the GPT.
203 option specifies a file that contains the bootstrap code.
204 The contents and size of the file are determined by the partitioning
206 For the MBR scheme, it is a 512 byte file of which the first 446 bytes
207 are installed as bootstrap code.
210 option specifies a file that contains the bootstrap code intended to be
211 written to a partition.
212 The partition is specified by the
215 The size of the file must be smaller than the size of the partition.
217 Additional options include:
220 Additional operational flags.
221 See the section entitled
222 .Sx "OPERATIONAL FLAGS"
223 below for a discussion
228 Commit any pending changes for geom
230 All actions are being committed by default and will not result in
232 Actions can be modified with the
234 option so that they are not being committed by default.
235 As such, they become pending.
236 Pending changes are reflected by the geom and the
238 utility, but they are not actually written to disk.
241 action will write any and all pending changes to disk.
244 Create a new partitioning scheme on a provider given by
248 option determines the scheme to use.
249 The kernel needs to have support for a particular scheme before
250 that scheme can be used to partition a disk.
252 Additional options include:
255 The number of entries in the partition table.
256 Every partitioning scheme has a minimum and a maximum number of entries
257 and this option allows tables to be created with the number of entries
258 that lies anywhere between the minimum and the maximum.
259 Some schemes have a maximum equal to the minimum and some schemes have
260 a maximum large enough to be considered unlimited.
261 By default, partition tables are created with the minimum number of
264 Additional operational flags.
265 See the section entitled
266 .Sx "OPERATIONAL FLAGS"
267 below for a discussion
272 Delete a partition from geom
274 and further identified by the
277 The partition cannot be actively used by the kernel.
279 Additional options include:
282 Additional operational flags.
283 See the section entitled
284 .Sx "OPERATIONAL FLAGS"
285 below for a discussion
288 .\" ==== DESTROY ====
290 Destroy the partitioning scheme as implemented by geom
293 Additional options include:
296 Additional operational flags.
297 See the section entitled
298 .Sx "OPERATIONAL FLAGS"
299 below for a discussion
304 Modify a partition from geom
306 and further identified by the
309 Only the the type and/or label of the partition can be modified.
310 To change the type of a partition, specify the new type with the
313 To change the label of a partition, specify the new label with the
316 Not all partitioning schemes support labels and it is invalid to
317 try to change a partition label in such cases.
319 Additional options include:
322 Additional operational flags.
323 See the section entitled
324 .Sx "OPERATIONAL FLAGS"
325 below for a discussion
330 Set the named attribute on the partition entry.
332 Additional options include:
335 Additional operational flags.
336 See the section entitled
337 .Sx "OPERATIONAL FLAGS"
338 below for a discussion
343 Show the current partition information of the specified geoms
344 or all geoms if none are specified.
347 Revert any pending changes for geom
349 This action is the opposite of the
351 action and can be used to undo any changes that have not been committed.
354 Clear the named attribute on the partition entry.
356 Additional options include:
359 Additional operational flags.
360 See the section entitled
361 .Sx "OPERATIONAL FLAGS"
362 below for a discussion
370 utility uses symbolic names for common partition types to avoid that the
371 user needs to know what the partitioning scheme in question is and what
372 the actual number or identification needs to be used for a particular
376 utility also allows the user to specify scheme-specific partition types
377 for partition types that do not have symbol names.
378 The symbolic names currently understood are:
379 .Bl -tag -width ".Cm freebsd-vinum"
381 The system partition for computers that use the Extensible Firmware
383 In such cases, the GPT partitioning scheme is being used and the
384 actual partition type for the system partition can also be specified as
385 .Qq Li "!c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93ab" .
389 partition that uses the
391 disklabel to sub-divide the
392 partition into file systems.
393 This is a legacy partition type and should not be used for the APM
395 The scheme-specific types are
400 .Qq Li "!516e7cb4-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b"
405 partition dedicated to bootstrap code.
406 The scheme-specific type is
407 .Qq Li "!83bd6b9d-7f41-11dc-be0b-001560b84f0f"
412 partition dedicated to swap space.
413 The scheme-specific types are
414 .Qq Li "!FreeBSD-swap"
416 .Qq Li "!516e7cb5-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b"
421 partition that contains a UFS or UFS2 file system.
422 The scheme-specific types are
423 .Qq Li "!FreeBSD-UFS"
425 .Qq Li "!516e7cb6-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b"
430 partition that contains a Vinum volume.
431 The scheme-specific types are
432 .Qq Li "!FreeBSD-Vinum"
434 .Qq Li "!516e7cb8-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b"
439 partition that contains a ZFS volume.
440 The scheme-specific types are
441 .Qq Li "!FreeBSD-ZFS"
443 .Qq Li "!516e7cba-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b"
446 A partition that is sub-partitioned by a master boot record (MBR).
447 This type is known as
448 .Qq Li "!024dee41-33e7-11d3-9d69-0008c781f39f"
451 .Sh OPERATIONAL FLAGS
452 Actions other than the
456 actions take an optional
459 This option is used to specify action-specific operational flags.
464 flag so that the action is immediately
468 to have the action result in a pending change that can later, with
469 other pending changes, be committed as a single compound change with
472 action or reverted with the
476 Exit status is 0 on success, and 1 if the command fails.
480 .Bd -literal -offset indent
481 /sbin/gpart create -s GPT ad0
484 Embed GPT bootstrap code into protective MBR.
485 .Bd -literal -offset indent
486 /sbin/gpart bootcode -b /boot/pmbr ad0
491 partition that can boot
495 partition, and install bootstrap code into it.
496 This partition must be larger than
498 or the GPT boot you are planning to write.
499 A size of 15 blocks (7680 bytes) would be sufficient for
500 booting from UFS but let's use 128 blocks (64 KB) here in
501 this example, in order to reserve some space for potential
502 future need (e.g.\& from a ZFS partition).
503 .Bd -literal -offset indent
504 /sbin/gpart add -b 34 -s 128 -t freebsd-boot ad0
505 /sbin/gpart bootcode -p /boot/gptboot -i 1 ad0
510 partition that would contain UFS where the system boot from.
511 .Bd -literal -offset indent
512 /sbin/gpart add -b 162 -s 1048576 -t freebsd-ufs ad0
523 .An Marcel Moolenaar Aq marcel@FreeBSD.org