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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"
46 The GEOM_PART_APM option adds support for the Apple Partition Map (APM)
47 found on Apple Macintosh computers.
48 The GEOM_PART_BSD option adds support for the traditional BSD disklabel.
49 The GEOM_PART_GPT option adds support for the GUID Partition Table (GPT)
50 found on Intel Itanium computers and Intel-based Macintosh computers.
51 The GEOM_PART_MBR option adds support for the Master Boot Record (MBR)
52 found on PCs and used on many removable media.
53 The GEOM_PART_PC98 option adds support for the MBR variant as used on
55 The GEOM_PART_VTOC8 option adds support for Sun's SMI VTOC8 label as
56 found on UltraSPARC-based computers.
72 .\" ==== BOOTCODE ====
76 .Op Fl p Ar partcode Fl i Ar index
135 utility is used to partition GEOM providers, normally disks.
136 The first argument of which is the action to be taken:
137 .Bl -tag -width ".Cm wwwwwww"
140 Add a new partition to the partitioning scheme given by
142 The partition begins on the logical block address given by the
145 Its size is expressed in logical block numbers and given by the
148 The type of the partition is given by the
151 Partition types are discussed in the section entitled "Partition Types".
153 Addition options include:
154 .Bl -tag -width ".Fl w Ar wwwwwwww"
156 The index in the partition table at which the new partition is to be
157 placed. The index determines the name of the device special file used
158 to represent the partition.
160 The label attached to the partition.
161 This option is only valid when used on partitioning schemes that support
164 Additional operational flags.
165 See the section entitled "Operational flags" below for a discussion
168 .\" ==== BOOTCODE ====
170 Embed bootstrap code into the partitioning scheme's metadata on the
174 or write bootstrap code into a partition (using
178 Not all partitioning schemes have embedded bootstrap code, so the
180 option is scheme-specific in nature.
181 For the GPT scheme, embedded bootstrap code is supported.
182 The bootstrap code is embedded in the protective MBR rather than the GPT.
185 option specifies a file that contains the bootstrap code.
186 The contents and size of the file are determined by the partitioning
188 For the MBR scheme, it's a 512 byte file of which the first 446 bytes
189 are installed as bootstrap code.
192 option specifies a file that contains the bootstrap code intended to be
193 written to a partition.
194 The partition is specified by the
197 The size of the file must be smaller than the size of the partition.
199 Addition options include:
200 .Bl -tag -width ".Fl w Ar wwwwwww"
202 Additional operational flags.
203 See the section entitled "Operational flags" below for a discussion
208 Commit any pending changes for geom
210 All actions are being committed by default and will not result in
212 Actions can be modified with the
214 option so that they are not being committed by default.
215 As such, they become pending.
216 Pending changes are reflected by the geom and the
218 utility, but they are not actually written to disk.
221 action will write any and all pending changes to disk.
224 Create a new partitioning scheme on a provider given by
228 option determines the scheme to use.
229 The kernel needs to have support for a particular scheme before
230 that scheme can be used to partition a disk.
232 Addition options include:
233 .Bl -tag -width ".Fl w Ar wwwwwww"
235 The number of entries in the partition table.
236 Every partitioning scheme has a minimum and a maximum number of entries
237 and this option allows tables to be created with the number of entries
238 that lies anywhere between the minimum and the maximum.
239 Some schemes have a maximum equal to the minimum and some schemes have
240 a maximum large enough to be considered unlimited.
241 By default, partition tables are created with the minimum number of
244 Additional operational flags.
245 See the section entitled "Operational flags" below for a discussion
250 Delete a partition from geom
252 and further identified by the
255 The partition cannot be actively used by the kernel.
257 Addition options include:
258 .Bl -tag -width ".Fl w Ar wwwwwww"
260 Additional operational flags.
261 See the section entitled "Operational flags" below for a discussion
264 .\" ==== DESTROY ====
266 Destroy the partitioning scheme as implemented by geom
269 Addition options include:
270 .Bl -tag -width ".Fl w Ar wwwwwww"
272 Additional operational flags.
273 See the section entitled "Operational flags" below for a discussion
278 Modify a partition from geom
280 and further identified by the
283 Only the the type and/or label of the partition can be modified.
284 To change the type of a partition, specify the new type with the
287 To change the label of a partition, specify the new label with the
290 Not all partitioning schemes support labels and it is invalid to
291 try to change a partition label in such cases.
293 Addition options include:
294 .Bl -tag -width ".Fl w Ar wwwwwww"
296 Additional operational flags.
297 See the section entitled "Operational flags" below for a discussion
302 Set the named attribute on the partition entry.
304 Addition options include:
305 .Bl -tag -width ".Fl w Ar wwwwwww"
307 Additional operational flags.
308 See the section entitled "Operational flags" below for a discussion
313 Show the current partition information of the specified geoms
314 or all geoms if none are specified.
317 Revert any pending changes.
318 This action is the opposite of the
320 action and can be used to undo any changes that have not been committed.
323 Clear the named attribute on the partition entry.
325 Addition options include:
326 .Bl -tag -width ".Fl w Ar wwwwwww"
328 Additional operational flags.
329 See the section entitled "Operational flags" below for a discussion
337 utility uses symbolic names for common partition types to avoid that the
338 user needs to know what the partitioning scheme in question is and what
339 the actual number or identification needs to be used for a particular
343 utility also allows the user to specify scheme-specific partition types
344 for partition types that don't have symbol names.
345 The symbolic names currently understood are:
346 .Bl -tag -width "wwwwwwwwwwwww"
348 The system partition for computers that use the Extensible Firmware
350 In such cases, the GPT partitioning scheme is being used and the
351 actual partition type for the system partition can also be specified as
352 "!c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93ab".
354 A FreeBSD partition that uses the BSD disklabel to sub-divide the
355 partition into file systems.
356 This is a legacy partition type and should not be used for the APM
358 The scheme-specific types are "!165" for MBR, "!FreeBSD" for APM, and
359 "!516e7cb4-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b" for GPT.
361 A FreeBSD partition dedicated to bootstrap code.
362 The scheme-specific type is "!83bd6b9d-7f41-11dc-be0b-001560b84f0f" for GPT.
364 A FreeBSD partition dedicated to swap space.
365 The scheme-specific types are "!FreeBSD-swap" for APM, and
366 "!516e7cb5-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b" for GPT.
368 A FreeBSD partition that contains a UFS or UFS2 file system.
369 the scheme-specific types are "!FreeBSD-UFS" for APM, and
370 "!516e7cb6-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b" for GPT.
372 A FreeBSD partition that contains a Vinum volume.
373 The scheme-specific types are "!FreeBSD-Vinum" for APM, and
374 "!516e7cb8-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b" for GPT.
376 A FreeBSD partition that contains a ZFS volume.
377 The scheme-specific types are "!FreeBSD-ZFS" for APM, and
378 "!516e7cba-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b" for GPT.
380 A partition that is sub-partitioned by a master boot record (MBR).
381 This type is known as "!024dee41-33e7-11d3-9d69-0008c781f39f" by GPT.
383 .Sh OPERATIONAL FLAGS
384 Actions other than the
388 actions take an optional
391 This option is used to specify action-specific operational flags.
394 utility defines the 'C' flag so that the action is immediately
398 to have the action result in a pending change that can later, with
399 other pending changes, be committed as a single compound change with
402 action or reverted with the
406 Exit status is 0 on success, and 1 if the command fails.
410 .Bd -literal -offset indent
411 /sbin/gpart create -s GPT ad0
414 Embed GPT bootstrap code into protective MBR.
415 .Bd -literal -offset indent
416 /sbin/gpart bootcode -b /boot/pmbr ad0
421 partition that can boot FreeBSD from a
423 partition, and install bootstrap code into it.
424 This partition must be larger than
426 or the GPT boot you are planning to write.
427 A size of 15 blocks (7680 bytes) would be sufficient for
428 booting from UFS but lets use 128 blocks (64 KB) here in
429 this example, in order to reserve some space for potential
430 future need (e.g. from a ZFS partition).
431 .Bd -literal -offset indent
432 /sbin/gpart add -b 34 -s 128 -t freebsd-boot ad0
433 /sbin/gpart bootcode -p /boot/gptboot -i 1 ad0
438 partition that would contain UFS where the system boot from.
439 .Bd -literal -offset indent
440 /sbin/gpart add -b 162 -s 1048576 -t freebsd-ufs ad0
451 .An Marcel Moolenaar Aq marcel@FreeBSD.org