1.\" $NetBSD: makefs.8,v 1.33 2011/05/22 21:51:39 christos Exp $ 2.\" 3.\" Copyright (c) 2001-2003 Wasabi Systems, Inc. 4.\" All rights reserved. 5.\" 6.\" Written by Luke Mewburn for Wasabi Systems, Inc. 7.\" 8.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 9.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 10.\" are met: 11.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 12.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 13.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 14.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 15.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 16.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software 17.\" must display the following acknowledgement: 18.\" This product includes software developed for the NetBSD Project by 19.\" Wasabi Systems, Inc. 20.\" 4. The name of Wasabi Systems, Inc. may not be used to endorse 21.\" or promote products derived from this software without specific prior 22.\" written permission. 23.\" 24.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY WASABI SYSTEMS, INC. ``AS IS'' AND 25.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED 26.\" TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR 27.\" PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL WASABI SYSTEMS, INC 28.\" BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR 29.\" CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF 30.\" SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS 31.\" INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN 32.\" CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) 33.\" ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE 34.\" POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. 35.\" 36.Dd January 5, 2026 37.Dt MAKEFS 8 38.Os 39.Sh NAME 40.Nm makefs 41.Nd create a file system image from a directory tree or a mtree manifest 42.Sh SYNOPSIS 43.Nm 44.Op Fl DxZ 45.Op Fl B Ar endian 46.Op Fl b Ar free-blocks 47.Op Fl d Ar debug-mask 48.Op Fl F Ar mtree-specfile 49.Op Fl f Ar free-files 50.Op Fl M Ar minimum-size 51.Op Fl m Ar maximum-size 52.Op Fl N Ar userdb-dir 53.Op Fl O Ar offset 54.Op Fl o Ar fs-options 55.Op Fl R Ar roundup-size 56.Op Fl S Ar sector-size 57.Op Fl s Ar image-size 58.Op Fl T Ar timestamp 59.Op Fl t Ar fs-type 60.Ar image-file 61.Ar directory | manifest 62.Op Ar extra-directory ... 63.Sh DESCRIPTION 64The utility 65.Nm 66creates a file system image into 67.Ar image-file 68from the directory tree 69.Ar directory 70or from the mtree manifest 71.Ar manifest . 72If any optional directory trees are passed in the 73.Ar extra-directory 74arguments, then the directory tree of each argument will be merged 75into the 76.Ar directory 77or 78.Ar manifest 79first before creating 80.Ar image-file . 81No special devices or privileges are required to perform this task. 82.Pp 83The options are as follows: 84.Bl -tag -width flag 85.It Fl B Ar endian 86Set the byte order of the image to 87.Ar endian . 88Valid byte orders are 89.Ql 4321 , 90.Ql big , 91or 92.Ql be 93for big endian, and 94.Ql 1234 , 95.Ql little , 96or 97.Ql le 98for little endian. 99Some file systems may have a fixed byte order; in those cases this 100argument will be ignored. 101.It Fl b Ar free-blocks 102Ensure that a minimum of 103.Ar free-blocks 104free blocks exist in the image. 105An optional 106.Ql % 107suffix may be provided to indicate that 108.Ar free-blocks 109indicates a percentage of the calculated image size. 110.It Fl D 111Treat duplicate paths in an mtree manifest as warnings not error. 112If this flag is specified more than once, warnings about duplicate paths 113are not printed at all. 114.It Fl d Ar debug-mask 115Enable various levels of debugging, depending upon which bits are 116set in 117.Ar debug-mask . 118This option is intended for source debugging. 119.Ar debug-mask 120is a bit map defined in the header file 121.Ar makefs.h . 122See the source for usage, and look for defines starting with 123.Ar DEBUG_ . 124.It Fl F Ar mtree-specfile 125.Em This is almost certainly not the option you are looking for. 126To create an image from a list of files in an mtree format manifest, 127specify it as the last argument on the command line, not as the 128argument to 129.Fl F . 130.Pp 131Use 132.Ar mtree-specfile 133as an 134.Xr mtree 8 135.Sq specfile 136specification. 137This option has no effect when the image is created from a mtree manifest 138rather than a directory. 139.Pp 140If a specfile entry exists in the underlying file system, its 141permissions and modification time will be used unless specifically 142overridden by the specfile. 143An error will be raised if the type of entry in the specfile 144conflicts with that of an existing entry. 145.Pp 146In the opposite case (where a specfile entry does not have an entry 147in the underlying file system) the following occurs: 148If the specfile entry is marked 149.Sy optional , 150the specfile entry is ignored. 151Otherwise, the entry will be created in the image, and it is 152necessary to specify at least the following parameters in the 153specfile: 154.Sy type , 155.Sy mode , 156.Sy gname , 157or 158.Sy gid , 159and 160.Sy uname 161or 162.Sy uid , 163and 164.Sy link 165(in the case of symbolic links). 166If 167.Sy time 168is not provided, the current time will be used. 169If 170.Sy flags 171is not provided, the current file flags will be used. 172Missing regular file entries will be created as zero-length files. 173.It Fl f Ar free-files 174Ensure that a minimum of 175.Ar free-files 176free files (inodes) exist in the image. 177An optional 178.Ql % 179suffix may be provided to indicate that 180.Ar free-files 181indicates a percentage of the calculated image size. 182.It Fl M Ar minimum-size 183Set the minimum size of the file system image to 184.Ar minimum-size . 185.It Fl m Ar maximum-size 186Set the maximum size of the file system image to 187.Ar maximum-size . 188An error will be raised if the target file system needs to be larger 189than this to accommodate the provided directory tree. 190.It Fl N Ar userdb-dir 191Use the user database text file 192.Pa master.passwd 193and group database text file 194.Pa group 195from 196.Ar userdb-dir , 197rather than using the results from the system's 198.Xr getpwnam 3 199and 200.Xr getgrnam 3 201(and related) library calls. 202.It Fl O Ar offset 203Instead of creating the filesystem at the beginning of the file, start 204at offset. 205Valid only for 206.Sy ffs 207and 208.Sy msdos . 209.It Fl o Ar fs-options 210Set file system specific options. 211.Ar fs-options 212is a comma separated list of options. 213Valid file system specific options are detailed below. 214.It Fl p 215Deprecated. 216Create a sparse file for 217.Sy ffs . 218This is the same as the preferred 219.Fl Z 220flag. 221.It Fl R Ar roundup-size 222Round the image up to 223.Ar roundup-size . 224.Ar roundup-size 225should be a multiple of the file system block size. 226This option only applies to the 227.Sy ffs 228file system type. 229.It Fl S Ar sector-size 230Set the file system sector size to 231.Ar sector-size . 232.\" XXX: next line also true for cd9660? 233Defaults to 512. 234.It Fl s Ar image-size 235Set the size of the file system image to 236.Ar image-size . 237This is equivalent to setting both the minimum 238.Fl ( M ) 239and the maximum 240.Fl ( m ) 241sizes to the same value. 242For 243.Sy ffs 244and 245.Sy msdos 246the 247.Ar image-size 248does not include the 249.Ar offset . 250.Ar offset 251is not included in that size. 252.It Fl T Ar timestamp 253Specify a timestamp to be set for all filesystem files and directories 254created so that repeatable builds are possible. 255The 256.Ar timestamp 257can be a 258.Pa pathname , 259where the timestamps are derived from that file, or an integer 260value interpreted as the number of seconds from the Epoch. 261Timestamps in a 262.Xr mtree 5 263specfile (specified with 264.Fl F ) 265are used even if a default timestamp is specified. 266However, the timestamps in an mtree manifest are ignored 267if a default timestamp is specified. 268.It Fl t Ar fs-type 269Create an 270.Ar fs-type 271file system image. 272The following file system types are supported: 273.Bl -tag -width cd9660 -offset indent 274.It Sy ffs 275BSD fast file system (default). 276.It Sy cd9660 277ISO 9660 file system. 278.It Sy msdos 279FAT12, FAT16, or FAT32 file system. 280.It Sy zfs 281ZFS pool containing one or more file systems. 282.El 283.It Fl x 284Exclude file system nodes not explicitly listed in the specfile. 285.It Fl Z 286Create a sparse file for 287.Sy ffs . 288This is useful for virtual machine images. 289.El 290.Pp 291Where sizes are specified, a decimal number of bytes is expected. 292Two or more numbers may be separated by an 293.Dq x 294to indicate a product. 295Each number may have one of the following optional suffixes: 296.Bl -tag -width 3n -offset indent -compact 297.It b 298Block; multiply by 512 299.It k 300Kibi; multiply by 1024 (1 KiB) 301.It m 302Mebi; multiply by 1048576 (1 MiB) 303.It g 304Gibi; multiply by 1073741824 (1 GiB) 305.It t 306Tebi; multiply by 1099511627776 (1 TiB) 307.It w 308Word; multiply by the number of bytes in an integer 309.El 310.\" 311.\" 312.Ss FFS-specific options 313.Sy ffs 314images have ffs-specific optional parameters that may be provided. 315Each of the options consists of a keyword, an equal sign 316.Pq Ql = , 317and a value. 318The following keywords are supported: 319.Pp 320.Bl -tag -width optimization -offset indent -compact 321.It Sy avgfilesize 322Expected average file size. 323.It Sy avgfpdir 324Expected number of files per directory. 325.It Sy bsize 326Block size. 327.It Sy density 328Bytes per inode. 329If unset, will allocate the minimum number of inodes to 330represent the filesystem if no free space has been requested (free blocks 331or minimum size set); otherwise the larger of the newfs defaults or what 332is required by the free inode parameters if set. 333.It Sy fsize 334Fragment size. 335.It Sy label 336Label name of the image. 337.It Sy maxbpg 338Maximum blocks per file in a cylinder group. 339.It Sy minfree 340Minimum % free. 341.It Sy optimization 342Optimization preference; one of 343.Ql space 344or 345.Ql time . 346.It Sy extent 347Maximum extent size. 348.It Sy maxbpcg 349Maximum total number of blocks in a cylinder group. 350.It Sy version 351UFS version. 3521 for FFS (default), 2 for UFS2. 353.It Sy softupdates 3540 for disable (default), 1 for enable 355.El 356.Ss CD9660-specific options 357.Sy cd9660 358images have ISO9660-specific optional parameters that may be 359provided. 360The arguments consist of a keyword and, optionally, an equal sign 361.Pq Ql = , 362and a value. 363The following keywords are supported: 364.Pp 365.Bl -tag -width omit-trailing-period -offset indent -compact 366.It Sy allow-deep-trees 367Allow the directory structure to exceed the maximum specified in 368the spec. 369.It Sy allow-illegal-chars 370Allow illegal characters in filenames. 371This option is not implemented. 372.It Sy allow-lowercase 373Allow lowercase characters in filenames. 374This option is not implemented. 375.It Sy allow-max-name 376Allow 37 instead of 33 characters for filenames by omitting the 377version id. 378.It Sy allow-multidot 379Allow multiple dots in a filename. 380.It Sy applicationid 381Application ID of the image. 382.It Sy bootimagedir 383Boot image directory. 384This option is not implemented. 385.It Sy chrp-boot 386Write an MBR partition table to the image to allow older CHRP hardware to 387boot. 388.It Sy boot-load-segment 389Set load segment for the boot image. 390.It Sy bootimage 391Filename of a boot image in the format 392.Dq sysid;filename , 393where 394.Dq sysid 395is one of 396.Ql efi , 397.Ql i386 , 398.Ql mac68k , 399.Ql macppc , 400or 401.Ql powerpc . 402.It Sy generic-bootimage 403Load a generic boot image into the first 32K of the cd9660 image. 404.It Sy hard-disk-boot 405Boot image is a hard disk image. 406.It Sy isolevel 407An integer representing the ISO 9660 interchange level where 408.Dq level 409is either 410.Ql 1 411or 412.Ql 2 . 413.Dq level 414.Ql 3 415is not implemented. 416.It Sy keep-bad-images 417Do not discard images whose write was aborted due to an error. 418For debugging purposes. 419.It Sy label 420Label name of the image. 421.It Sy no-boot 422Boot image is not bootable. 423.It Sy no-emul-boot 424Boot image is a 425.Dq no emulation 426ElTorito image. 427.It Sy no-trailing-padding 428Do not pad the image (apparently Linux needs the padding). 429.It Sy omit-trailing-period 430Omit trailing periods in filenames. 431.It Sy platformid 432Set platform ID of section header entry of the boot image. 433.It Sy preparer 434Preparer ID of the image. 435.It Sy publisher 436Publisher ID of the image. 437.It Sy rockridge 438Use RockRidge extensions (for longer filenames, etc.). 439.It Sy verbose 440Turns on verbose output. 441.It Sy volumeid 442Volume set identifier of the image. 443.El 444.Ss msdos-specific options 445.Sy msdos 446images have MS-DOS-specific optional parameters that may be 447provided. 448The arguments consist of a keyword, an equal sign 449.Pq Ql = , 450and a value. 451The following keywords are supported (see 452.Xr newfs_msdos 8 453for more details): 454.Pp 455.Bl -tag -width omit-trailing-period -offset indent -compact 456.It Cm backup_sector 457Location of the backup boot sector. 458.It Cm block_size 459Block size. 460.It Cm bootstrap 461Bootstrap file. 462.It Cm bytes_per_sector 463Bytes per sector. 464.It Cm create_size 465Create file size. 466.It Cm directory_entries 467Directory entries. 468.It Cm drive_heads 469Drive heads. 470.It Cm fat_type 471FAT type (12, 16, or 32). 472.It Cm floppy 473Preset drive parameters for standard format floppy disks 474(160, 180, 320, 360, 640, 720, 1200, 1232, 1440, or 2880). 475.It Cm hidden_sectors 476Hidden sectors. 477.It Cm info_sector 478Location of the info sector. 479.It Cm media_descriptor 480Media descriptor. 481.It Cm num_FAT 482Number of FATs. 483.It Cm OEM_string 484OEM string. 485.It Cm offset 486Offset in device. 487This option will be ignored if 488.Fl O 489is set to a positive number. 490.It Cm reserved_sectors 491Reserved sectors. 492.It Cm sectors_per_cluster 493Sectors per cluster. 494.It Cm sectors_per_fat 495Sectors per FAT. 496.It Cm sectors_per_track 497Sectors per track. 498.It Cm size 499File System size. 500.It Cm volume_id 501Volume ID. 502.It Cm volume_label 503Volume Label. 504.El 505.Ss zfs-specific options 506The image created by 507.Nm 508contains a ZFS pool with a single vdev of type 509.Ql disk . 510The root dataset is always created implicitly and contains the entire input 511directory tree unless additional datasets are specified using the options 512described below. 513.Pp 514To keep images reproducible, the pool GUID and other random identifiers will 515always be the same across runs of 516.Nm . 517This means that when a pool is first imported, its GUID should be reset 518using 519.Xr zpool-reguid 8 520to avoid conflicting with other pools also generated by 521.Nm ; 522otherwise, it will not be possible to import other pools. 523This can be configured from 524.Pa /etc/rc.conf 525using the 526.Va zpool_reguid 527variable. 528.Pp 529The arguments consist of a keyword, an equal sign 530.Pq Ql = , 531and a value. 532The following keywords are supported: 533.Pp 534.Bl -tag -width omit-trailing-period -offset indent -compact 535.It ashift 536The base-2 logarithm of the minimum block size. 537Typical values are 9 (512B blocks) and 12 (4KB blocks). 538The default value is 12. 539.It bootfs 540The name of the bootable dataset for the pool. 541Specifying this option causes the 542.Ql bootfs 543property to be set in the created pool. 544.It mssize 545The size of metaslabs in the created pool. 546By default, 547.Nm 548allocates large (up to 512MB) metaslabs with the expectation that 549the image will be auto-expanded upon first use. 550This option allows the default heuristic to be overridden. 551.It verify-txgs 552Prompt OpenZFS to verify pool metadata during import. 553This is disabled by default as it may significantly increase import times. 554.It poolguid 555Use the specified 64-bit integer as the pool GUID. 556If this option is not specified, the pool GUID will be random but fixed 557across multiple identical invocations of 558.Nm . 559This option is useful for testing but not required for reproducibility. 560.It poolname 561The name of the ZFS pool. 562This option must be specified. 563.It rootpath 564An implicit path prefix added to dataset mountpoints. 565By default it is 566.Pa /<poolname> . 567For creating bootable pools, the 568.Va rootpath 569should be set to 570.Pa / . 571At least one dataset must have a mountpoint equal to 572.Va rootpath . 573.It fs 574Create an additional dataset. 575This option may be specified multiple times. 576The argument value must be of the form 577.Ar <dataset>[;<prop1=v1>[;<prop2=v2>[;...]]] , 578where 579.Ar dataset 580is the name of the dataset and must belong to the pool's namespace. 581For example, with a pool name of 582.Ql test 583all dataset names must be prefixed by 584.Ql test/ . 585A dataset must exist at each level of the pool's namespace. 586For example, to create 587.Ql test/foo/bar , 588.Ql test/foo 589must be created as well. 590.Pp 591The dataset mountpoints determine how the datasets are populated with 592files from the staged directory tree. 593Conceptually, all datasets are mounted before any are populated with files. 594The root of the staged directory tree is mapped to 595.Va rootpath . 596.Pp 597Dataset properties, as described in 598.Xr zfsprops 7 , 599may be specified following the dataset name. 600The following properties may be set for a dataset: 601.Pp 602.Bl -hang -compact -offset indent 603.It atime 604.It canmount 605.It compression 606.It exec 607.It mountpoint 608.It setuid 609.El 610Note that 611.Nm 612does not implement compression of files included in the image, 613regardless of the value of the 614.Dv compression 615property. 616.El 617.Sh SEE ALSO 618.Xr mtree 5 , 619.Xr rc.conf 5 , 620.Xr zfsconcepts 7 , 621.Xr zfsprops 7 , 622.Xr zpoolprops 7 , 623.Xr mtree 8 , 624.Xr newfs 8 , 625.Xr zpool-reguid 8 626.Sh HISTORY 627The 628.Nm 629utility appeared in 630.Nx 1.6 . 631It was ported to 632.Fx 633and first appeared in 634.Fx 8.0 . 635.Sh AUTHORS 636.An Luke Mewburn 637.Aq Mt lukem@NetBSD.org 638(original program), 639.An Daniel Watt , 640.An Walter Deignan , 641.An Ryan Gabrys , 642.An Alan Perez-Rathke , 643.An Ram Vedam 644(cd9660 support), 645.An Christos Zoulas 646(msdos support), 647.An Mark Johnston 648(zfs support). 649