DISKDUMPFMT(8)                                                                     DISKDUMPFMT(8)



NAME
       diskdumpfmt - format a dump device or a partition

SYNOPSIS
       diskdumpfmt [ -v ] [ -i ] [ [ -a ] [ -p ] [ -f ] | -c ] device

       diskdumpfmt -V

DESCRIPTION
       diskdumpfmt is a program to format a block device file or partition device file that is to
       be specified as a disk dump device.  However, diskdumpfmt can format  only  the  unmounted
       device.   If  a  device is mounted somewhere, diskdumpfmt cannot even check on whether the
       device is a dump device.  In that case, diskdumpfmt returns a  value  7  which  means  the
       device  has  already  been mounted.  There are two types of formatting.  The first type is
       called the initial formatting, and it writes special signatures over every page-size block
       of  the  dump  partition.   The second type is called the normal formatting, and it writes
       special signatures over all page-size blocks except for block #0.  Block #0 is used as the
       dump partition header, and is never modified during a memory dump operation.  The adminis-
       trator must run an initial formatting of each dump device partition only once.  The normal
       formatting  is  required  after each memory dump, but typically it is run automatically by
       the diskdump rc script.  As for only device formatting,  diskdumpfmt  returns  255  if  it
       fails due to an error. Otherwise it returns 0.

OPTIONS
       -a     Format  all  blocks  of  the  dump  partition.   Unless  this  option is specified,
              diskdumpfmt checks blocks only that is checked by kernel.  Then diskdumpfmt formats
              those blocks.

       -c     Check the status of the dump partition.
              diskdumpfmt returns one of the following values.
                   0: the partition does not require formatting
                   1: the partition contains a memory dump
                   2: the partition requires initial formatting
                   3: the partition requires formatting
                   4: the partition is not suitable for diskdump
                   5: the partition is swap partition
                   6: the partition is swap partition which contains
                      a memory dump

       -f     Format  the  dump partition forcibly without checking on whether the partition is a
              diskdump-dedicated device.  That is called the initial formatting.

       -p     Display progress for formatting.

       -v     Provide some verbose outputs.

       -i     Ignore that the diskdump module is not loaded.

       -V     Show version information and exit.

SEE ALSO
       diskdumpctl_proc(8), diskdumpctl_sysfs(8), savecore(8), dumpfilter(8)




                                                                                   DISKDUMPFMT(8)