1 .\" Copyright (c) 2002 Marcel Moolenaar
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25 .\" $FreeBSD: src/sbin/gpt/gpt.8,v 1.17 2006/06/22 22:22:32 marcel Exp $
26 .\" $DragonFly: src/sbin/gpt/gpt.8,v 1.14 2008/10/03 21:26:28 thomas Exp $
28 .Dd September 28, 2009
33 .Nd "GUID partition table maintenance utility"
36 .Op Ar general_options
38 .Op Ar command_options
43 utility provides the necessary functionality to manipulate GUID partition
44 tables (GPTs), but see
46 below for how and where functionality is missing.
47 GPT partitions are accessed as
49 disk slices, with same number as GPT partition,
50 127 slices per disk device are supported.
51 The basic usage model of the
53 tool follows that of the
56 The general options are described in the following paragraph.
57 The remaining paragraphs describe the individual commands with their options.
58 Here we conclude by mentioning that a
60 is either a special file
61 corresponding to a disk-like device or a regular file.
62 The command is applied to each
64 listed on the command line.
66 The general options allow the user to change default settings or otherwise
67 change the behaviour that is applicable to all commands.
68 Not all commands use all default settings, so some general options may not
69 have an effect on all commands.
73 option allows the user to change the number of partitions the GPT can
75 This is used whenever a new GPT is created.
78 utility will create space for 128 partitions (or 32 sectors of 512 bytes).
84 utility to open the device for reading only.
85 Currently this option is primarily useful for the
87 command, but the intent
88 is to use it to implement dry-run behaviour.
92 option controls the verbosity level.
93 The level increases with every occurrence of this option.
94 There is no formalized definition of the different levels yet.
96 .Bl -tag -width indent
109 command allows the user to add a new partition to an existing table,
110 the name of the disk slice for the added partition is printed.
111 By default, it will create a
113 partition covering the first available block
114 of an unused disk space.
115 The command-specific options can be used to control this behaviour.
119 option allows the user to specify the starting (beginning) sector number of
121 The minimum sector number is 1, but has to fall inside an unused region of
122 disk space that is covered by the GPT.
126 option allows the user to specify which (free) entry in the GPT table is to
127 be used for the new partition.
128 By default, the first free entry is selected.
129 Entries start at index 0 representing partition 0 of the GPT.
133 option allows the user to specify the size of the partition in sectors.
134 The minimum size is 1.
138 option allows the user to specify the partition type.
139 The type is given as an UUID, but
142 .Cm efi , swap , ufs , hfs , linux , dfly ,
145 as aliases for the most commonly used partition types.
157 You may also specify any symbolic name in the system
161 .It Nm Ic boot Ar device ...
164 command allows the user to create a small boot partition in a freshly
167 This command creates a small, 256MB boot partition as partition #0
168 and hacks in a special
170 in the PMBR which aliases it.
171 The PMBR is further modified to add the necessary boot code.
172 You can then disklabel GPT partition #0 and mount it, placing the contents of
175 You must add a line to
178 .Bd -literal -offset indent
179 vfs.root.mountfrom="ufs:da1s1a"
182 which point to the actual root mount.
184 Your root partition may be another GPT partition and you may use a 64 bit
185 disklabel within that partition if you desire.
189 boot manager is used, it can be manipulated with the
193 option usually needs to be set.
196 A disk setup with the
198 command may not be shared with another OS,
199 as it doesn't use a fully standard GPT.
202 Some BIOSes may not be able to deal with this hack, your mileage may vary.
204 .It Nm Ic create Oo Fl fp Oc Ar device ...
207 command allows the user to create a new (empty) GPT.
208 By default, one cannot create a GPT when the device contains a MBR,
209 however this can be overridden with the
214 option is specified, an existing MBR is destroyed and any partitions
215 described by the MBR are lost.
221 to create only the primary table and not the backup table.
222 This option is only useful for debugging and should not be used otherwise.
223 .\" ==== destroy ====
224 .It Nm Ic destroy Oo Fl r Oc Ar device ...
227 command allows the user to destroy an existing, possibly not empty GPT.
233 to destroy the table in a way that it can be recovered.
239 .Aq Fl f Ar file | Fl l Ar label
249 .Aq Fl f Ar file | Fl l Ar label
254 command allows the user to label any partitions that match the selection.
255 At least one of the following selection options must be specified.
259 option specifies that all partitions should be labeled.
260 It is mutually exclusive with all other selection options.
264 option selects the partition that starts at the given block number.
268 option selects the partition with the given partition number.
269 Partition numbers start at 0.
273 option selects all partitions that have the given size.
274 This can cause multiple partitions to be removed.
278 option selects all partitions that have the given type.
279 The type is given as an UUID or by the aliases that the
282 This can cause multiple partitions to be removed.
288 options specify the new label to be assigned to the selected partitions.
291 option is used to read the label from the specified file.
292 Only the first line is read from the file and the trailing newline
293 character is stripped.
294 If the file name is the dash or minus sign
296 the label is read from
300 option is used to specify the label in the command line.
301 The label is assumed to be encoded in UTF-8.
302 .\" ==== migrate ====
303 .It Nm Ic migrate Oo Fl fs Oc Ar device ...
306 command allows the user to migrate an MBR-based disk partitioning into a
307 GPT-based partitioning.
308 By default, the MBR is not migrated when it contains partitions of an unknown
310 This can be overridden with the
315 option will cause unknown partitions to be ignored and any data in it
320 option prevents migrating
322 disk labels into GPT partitions by creating
323 the GPT equivalent of a slice.
325 .It Nm Ic remove Oo Fl a Oc Ar device ...
337 command allows the user to remove any and all partitions that match the
339 It uses the same selection options as the
342 See above for a description of these options.
343 Partitions are removed by clearing the partition type.
344 No other information is changed.
346 .It Nm Ic show Oo Fl lu Oc Ar device ...
349 command displays the current partitioning on the listed devices and gives
350 an overall view of the disk contents.
353 option the GPT partition label will be displayed instead of the GPT partition
355 The option has no effect on non-GPT partitions.
358 option the GPT partition type is displayed as an UUID instead of in a
362 option takes precedence over the
367 .Bl -tag -width ".Pa /etc/defaults/uuids"
372 .It Pa /etc/defaults/uuids
374 and their symbolic names provided by the OS vendor.
377 and their symbolic names provided by the system administrator.
380 To install an empty GPT on
385 GPT partitions are defined in number of sectors, the sector size is usually 512B,
386 which is assumed in the examples below, it can be found using:
388 .Dl "gpt -v show ad6"
390 To add a dummy GPT partition 0:
392 .Dl "gpt add -i0 -s16 ad6"
394 You might want to do this to not use slice 0 for data;
395 when GPT is not used on a disk, slice 0 is the compatibility slice,
397 .Dq dangerously dedicated
399 For GPT slice 0 has no special meaning, it is just the first slice on the disk.
401 To add a GPT partition of size approx. 100GB:
403 .Dl "gpt add -s200000000 ad6"
405 This will be GPT partition 1 as it is the first one free,
406 it will be accessible as
408 which is also printed by the command.
410 .Dq DragonFly Label64 ,
411 it will have to be set up by
414 To add GPT partition 5 with type
416 using the remaining free space:
417 .Bd -literal -offset indent
418 gpt add -i5 -t "DragonFly HAMMER" ad6
421 To print the contents of the GPT:
425 To setup a disk using GPT for booting, the steps below can be used.
426 System is copied from an already installed disk,
427 e.g.\& a hard disk or an install CD.
428 This example will setup disk
430 with GPT for booting, using the
435 Any previous data on disk installed to will be deleted.
436 .Bd -literal -offset indent
440 disklabel -B -r -w da1s0 auto
441 disklabel -e da1s0 # add `a: * * 4.2BSD', to add `a' partition
442 # with fstype `4.2BSD' covering whole slice
445 disklabel64 -r -w da1s1 auto
446 disklabel64 -e da1s1 # add `b: 4G * swap', to add `b' partition
447 # with fstype `swap' and size 4GB,
448 # add `a: * * HAMMER', to add `a' partition
449 # with fstype `HAMMER' covering rest of slice
450 newfs_hammer -L ROOT /dev/da1s1a
451 mount_hammer /dev/da1s1a /mnt
455 mount /dev/da1s0a /mnt/boot
457 cpdup / /mnt # copy each file system you need, e.g.
458 cpdup /boot /mnt/boot
460 cpdup /var/tmp /mnt/var/tmp
464 vi etc/fstab # add `/dev/da1s1a / hammer rw',
465 # add `/dev/da1s1b none swap sw',
466 # add `/dev/da1s0a /boot ufs rw 1 1',
467 # delete lines for file systems cpdup'ed above
468 vi boot/loader.conf # add `vfs.root.mountfrom="hammer:da1s1a"'
476 manipulates is part of the EFI standard and is supported by many OSs.
477 GPT uses 64 bits to store number of sectors, this supports very large disks.
478 With the prevalent sector size of 512B this is 8 billion TB.
500 The development of the
502 utility is still work in progress.
503 Many necessary features are missing or partially implemented.
504 In practice this means that the manual page, supposed to describe these
505 features, is farther removed from being complete or useful.
506 As such, missing functionality is not even documented as missing.
507 However, it is believed that the currently present functionality is reliable
508 and stable enough that this tool can be used without bullet-proof footware if
509 one thinks one does not make mistakes.
511 It is expected that the basic usage model does not change, but it is
512 possible that future versions will not be compatible in the strictest sense
516 option may be changed to a command option rather than a generic option.
517 There are only two commands that use it so there is a chance that the natural
518 tendency for people is to use it as a command option.
519 Also, options primarily intended for diagnostic or debug purposes may be
520 removed in future versions.
522 Another possibility is that the current usage model is accompanied by
523 other interfaces to make the tool usable as a back-end.
524 This all depends on demand and thus feedback.
528 command doesn't support
projects / dragonfly.git / blob