e2fsck.conf(5) - phpMan

e2fsck.conf(5) e2fsck.conf(5)

NAME
e2fsck.conf - Configuration file for e2fsck

DESCRIPTION
e2fsck.conf is the configuration file for e2fsck(8). It controls the default behavior of
e2fsck(8) while it is checking ext2 or ext3 filesystems.

The e2fsck.conf file uses an INI-style format. Stanzas, or top-level sections, are delim-
ited by square braces: [ ]. Within each section, each line defines a relation, which
assigns tags to values, or to a subsection, which contains further relations or subsec-
tions. An example of the INI-style format used by this configuration file follows below:

[section1]
tag1 = value_a
tag1 = value_b
tag2 = value_c

[section 2]
tag3 = {
subtag1 = subtag_value_a
subtag1 = subtag_value_b
subtag2 = subtag_value_c
}
tag1 = value_d
tag2 = value_e
}

Comments are delimited by a semicolon (';') or a hash ('#') character at the beginning of
the comment, and are terminated by the end of line character.

Tags and values must be quoted using double quotes if they contain spaces. Within a
quoted string, the standard backslash interpretations apply: "\n" (for the newline charac-
ter), "\t" (for the tab character), "\b" (for the backspace character), and "\\" (for the
backslash character).

The following stanzas are used in the e2fsck.conf file. They will be described in more
detail in future sections of this document.

[options]
This stanza contains general configuration parameters for e2fsck's behavior.

[problems]
This stanza allows the administrator to reconfigure how e2fsck handles various
filesystem inconsistencies.

[scratch_files]
This stanza controls when e2fsck will attempt to use scratch files to reduce the
need for memory.

THE [options] STANZA
The following relations are defined in the [options] stanza.

allow_cancellation
If this relation is set to a boolean value of true, then if the user interrupts
e2fsck using ^C, and the filesystem is not explicitly flagged as containing errors,
e2fsck will exit with an exit status of 0 instead of 32. This setting defaults to
false.

buggy_init_scripts
Some buggy distributions (such as Ubuntu) have init scripts and/or installers which
fail to correctly set the system clock before running e2fsck and/or formatting the
filesystem initially. Normally this happens because the hardware clock is ticking
localtime, instead of the more proper and less error-prone UTC time. So while the
kernel is booting, the system time (which in Linux systems always ticks in UTC
time) is set from the hardware clock, but since the hardware clock is ticking
localtime, the system time is incorrect. Unfortunately, some buggy distributions
do not correct this before running e2fsck. If this option is set to a boolean
value of true, we attempt to work around this situation by allowing the superblock
last write time, last mount time, and last check time to be in the future by up to
24 hours.

defer_check_on_battery
This boolean relation controls whether or not the interval between filesystem
checks (either based on time or number of mounts) should be doubled if the system
is running on battery. It defaults to true.

clear_test_fs_flag
This boolean relation controls whether or not e2fsck will offer to clear the
test_fs flag if the ext4 filesystem is available on the system. It defaults to
true.

THE [problems] STANZA
Each tag in the [problems] stanza names a problem code specified with a leading "0x" fol-
lowed by six hex digits. The value of the tag is a subsection where the relations in that
subsection override the default treatment of that particular problem code.

Note that inappropriate settings in this stanza may cause e2fsck to behave incorrectly, or
even crash. Most system administrators should not be making changes to this section with-
out referring to source code.

Within each problem code's subsection, the following tags may be used:

description
This relation allows the message which is printed when this filesystem inconsis-
tency is detected to be overridden.

preen_ok
This boolean relation overrides the default behavior controlling whether this
filesystem problem should be automatically fixed when e2fsck is running in preen
mode.

no_ok This boolean relation overrides the default behavior determining whether or not the
filesystem will be marked as inconsistent if the user declines to fix the reported
problem.

no_default
This boolean relation overrides whether the default answer for this problem (or
question) should be "no".

preen_nomessage
This boolean relation overrides the default behavior controlling whether or not the
description for this filesystem problem should be suppressed when e2fsck is running
in preen mode.

no_nomsg
This boolean relation overrides the default behavior controlling whether or not the
description for this filesystem problem should be suppressed when e2fsck is run
with the -n option.

THE [scratch_files] STANZA
The following relations are defined in the [scratch_files] stanza.

directory
If the directory named by this relation exists and is writeable, then e2fsck will
attempt to use this directory to store scratch files instead of using in-memory
data structures.

numdirs_threshold
If this relation is set, then in-memory data structures be used if the number of
directories in the filesystem are fewer than amount specified.

dirinfo
This relation controls whether or not the scratch file directory is used instead of
an in-memory data structure for directory information. It defaults to true.

icount This relation controls whether or not the scratch file directory is used instead of
an in-memory data structure when tracking inode counts. It defaults to true.

EXAMPLES
The following recipe will prevent e2fsck from aborting during the boot process when a
filesystem contains orphaned files. (Of course, this is not always a good idea, since
critical files that are needed for the security of the system could potentially end up in
lost+found, and starting the system without first having a system administrator check
things out may be dangerous.)

[problems]
0x040002 = {
preen_ok = true
description = "@u @i %i. "
}

FILES
/etc/e2fsck.conf
The configuration file for e2fsck(8).