[PATCH 5/5] mkfs: document config files in mkfs.xfs(8)

Dave Chinner
2020-10-15T03:29:37Z

From: Dave Chinner <dchinner@redhat.com>

So people know it exists.

Signed-off-by: Dave Chinner <dchinner@redhat.com>
---
man/man8/mkfs.xfs.8 | 113 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---
1 file changed, 106 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/man/man8/mkfs.xfs.8 b/man/man8/mkfs.xfs.8
index 0a7858748457..f70d91d994fa 100644
--- a/man/man8/mkfs.xfs.8
+++ b/man/man8/mkfs.xfs.8
@@ -122,8 +122,46 @@ If the size of the block or sector is not specified, the default sizes
Many feature options allow an optional argument of 0 or 1, to explicitly
disable or enable the functionality.
.SH OPTIONS
+Options may be specified either on the command line or in a configuration file.
+Not all command line options can be specified in configuration files; only the
+command line options followed by a
+.B [section]
+label can be used in a configuration file.
+.PP
+Options that can be used in configuration files are grouped into related
+sections containing multiple options.
+Both the command line and configuration file formats use the same section and
+option grouping.
+Configuration file section names are described command line options in the list
+below.
+Option names and values are the same for both command line
+and configuration file specification.
+.PP
+Options specified are the combined set of command line parameters and
+configuration file parameters.
+Duplicated options will result in a respecification error, regardless of the
+location they were specified at.
+.TP
+.BI \-c " configuration_file_option"
+This option specifies the files that mkfs configuration will be obtained from.
+The valid
+.I configuration_file_option
+is:
+.RS 1.2i
.TP
+.BI options= name
+The configuration options will be sourced from the file specified by the
+.I name
+option string.
+This option can be use either an absolute or relative path to the configuration
+file to be read.
+.RE
+.PP
+.PD 0
.BI \-b " block_size_options"
+.TP
+.BI [block]
+.PD
This option specifies the fundamental block size of the filesystem.
The valid
.I block_size_option
@@ -141,8 +179,12 @@ Although
will accept any of these values and create a valid filesystem,
XFS on Linux can only mount filesystems with pagesize or smaller blocks.
.RE
-.TP
+.PP
+.PD 0
.BI \-m " global_metadata_options"
+.TP
+.BI [metadata]
+.PD
These options specify metadata format options that either apply to the entire
filesystem or aren't easily characterised by a specific functionality group. The
valid
@@ -243,8 +285,12 @@ reflink-enabled XFS filesystems. To use filesystem DAX with XFS, specify the
.B \-m reflink=0
option to mkfs.xfs to disable the reflink feature.
.RE
-.TP
+.PP
+.PD 0
.BI \-d " data_section_options"
+.TP
+.BI [data]
+.PD
These options specify the location, size, and other parameters of the
data section of the filesystem. The valid
.I data_section_options
@@ -416,8 +462,12 @@ By default,
.B mkfs.xfs
will not write to the device if it suspects that there is a filesystem
or partition table on the device already.
-.TP
+.PP
+.PD 0
.BI \-i " inode_options"
+.TP
+.BI [inode]
+.PD
This option specifies the inode size of the filesystem, and other
inode allocation parameters.
The XFS inode contains a fixed-size part and a variable-size part.
@@ -537,8 +587,12 @@ accommodate a chunk of 64 inodes. Without this feature enabled, inode
allocations can fail with out of space errors under severe fragmented
free space conditions.
.RE
-.TP
+.PP
+.PD 0
.BI \-l " log_section_options"
+.TP
+.BI [log]
+.PD
These options specify the location, size, and other parameters of the
log section of the filesystem. The valid
.I log_section_options
@@ -651,8 +705,12 @@ is 1 (on) so you must specify
if you want to disable this feature for older kernels which don't support
it.
.RE
-.TP
+.PP
+.PD 0
.BI \-n " naming_options"
+.TP
+.BI [naming]
+.PD
These options specify the version and size parameters for the naming
(directory) area of the filesystem. The valid
.I naming_options
@@ -858,8 +916,12 @@ to be constructed;
the
.B \-q
flag suppresses this.
-.TP
+.PP
+.PD 0
.BI \-r " realtime_section_options"
+.TP
+.BI [realtime]
+.PD
These options specify the location, size, and other parameters of the
real-time section of the filesystem. The valid
.I realtime_section_options
@@ -893,8 +955,12 @@ or logical volume containing the section.
This option disables stripe size detection, enforcing a realtime device with no
stripe geometry.
.RE
-.TP
+.PP
+.PD 0
.BI \-s " sector_size_options"
+.TP
+.BI [sector]
+.PD
This option specifies the fundamental sector size of the filesystem.
The valid
.I sector_size_option
@@ -933,6 +999,39 @@ Do not attempt to discard blocks at mkfs time.
.TP
.B \-V
Prints the version number and exits.
+.SH Configuration File Format
+The configuration file uses a basic INI format to specify sections and options
+within a section.
+Section and option names are case sensitive.
+Section names must not contain whitespace.
+Options are name-value pairs, ended by the first whitespace in the line.
+Option names cannot contain whitespace.
+Full line comments can be added by starting a line with a # symbol.
+If values contain whitespace, then it must be quoted.
+.PP
+The following example configuration file sets the block size to 4096 bytes,
+turns on reverse mapping btrees and sets the inode size to 2048 bytes.
+.PP
+.PD 0
+# Example mkfs.xfs configuration file
+.HP
+.HP
+[block]
+.HP
+size=4k
+.HP
+.HP
+[metadata]
+.HP
+rmapbt=1
+.HP
+.HP
+[inode]
+.HP
+size=2048
+.HP
+.PD
+.PP
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR xfs (5),
.BR mkfs (8),
--
2.28.0