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NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | SPECIFYING FILES | COMMANDS | ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES | AUTHOR | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON |
DEBUGFS(8) System Manager's Manual DEBUGFS(8)
debugfs - ext2/ext3/ext4 file system debugger
debugfs [ -DVwcin ] [ -b blocksize ] [ -s superblock ] [ -f cmd_file
] [ -R request ] [ -d data_source_device ] [ -z undo_file ] [ device
]
The debugfs program is an interactive file system debugger. It can be
used to examine and change the state of an ext2, ext3, or ext4 file
system.
device is a block device (e.g., /dev/sdXX) or a file containing the
file system.
-w Specifies that the file system should be opened in read-write
mode. Without this option, the file system is opened in read-
only mode.
-n Disables metadata checksum verification. This should only be
used if you believe the metadata to be correct despite the
complaints of e2fsprogs.
-c Specifies that the file system should be opened in
catastrophic mode, in which the inode and group bitmaps are
not read initially. This can be useful for filesystems with
significant corruption, but because of this, catastrophic mode
forces the filesystem to be opened read-only.
-i Specifies that device represents an ext2 image file created by
the e2image program. Since the ext2 image file only contains
the superblock, block group descriptor, block and inode
allocation bitmaps, and the inode table, many debugfs commands
will not function properly. Warning: no safety checks are in
place, and debugfs may fail in interesting ways if commands
such as ls, dump, etc. are tried without specifying the
data_source_device using the -d option. debugfs is a
debugging tool. It has rough edges!
-d data_source_device
Used with the -i option, specifies that data_source_device
should be used when reading blocks not found in the ext2 image
file. This includes data, directory, and indirect blocks.
-b blocksize
Forces the use of the given block size (in bytes) for the file
system, rather than detecting the correct block size
automatically. (This option is rarely needed; it is used
primarily when the file system is extremely badly
damaged/corrupted.)
-s superblock
Causes the file system superblock to be read from the given
block number, instead of using the primary superblock (located
at an offset of 1024 bytes from the beginning of the
filesystem). If you specify the -s option, you must also
provide the blocksize of the filesystem via the -b option.
(This option is rarely needed; it is used primarily when the
file system is extremely badly damaged/corrupted.)
-f cmd_file
Causes debugfs to read in commands from cmd_file, and execute
them. When debugfs is finished executing those commands, it
will exit.
-D Causes debugfs to open the device using Direct I/O, bypassing
the buffer cache. Note that some Linux devices, notably
device mapper as of this writing, do not support Direct I/O.
-R request
Causes debugfs to execute the single command request, and then
exit.
-V print the version number of debugfs and exit.
-z undo_file
Before overwriting a file system block, write the old contents
of the block to an undo file. This undo file can be used with
e2undo(8) to restore the old contents of the file system
should something go wrong. If the empty string is passed as
the undo_file argument, the undo file will be written to a
file named resize2fs-device.e2undo in the directory specified
via the E2FSPROGS_UNDO_DIR environment variable.
WARNING: The undo file cannot be used to recover from a power
or system crash.
Many debugfs commands take a filespec as an argument to specify an
inode (as opposed to a pathname) in the filesystem which is currently
opened by debugfs. The filespec argument may be specified in two
forms. The first form is an inode number surrounded by angle
brackets, e.g., <2>. The second form is a pathname; if the pathname
is prefixed by a forward slash ('/'), then it is interpreted relative
to the root of the filesystem which is currently opened by debugfs.
If not, the pathname is interpreted relative to the current working
directory as maintained by debugfs. This may be modified by using
the debugfs command cd.
This is a list of the commands which debugfs supports.
blocks filespec
Print the blocks used by the inode filespec to stdout.
bmap [ -a ] filespec logical_block [physical_block]
Print or set the physical block number corresponding to the
logical block number logical_block in the inode filespec. If
the -a flag is specified, try to allocate a block if
necessary.
block_dump [-f filespec] block_num
Dump the filesystem block given by block_num in hex and ASCII
format to the console. If the -f option is specified, the
block number is relative to the start of the given filespec.
cat filespec
Dump the contents of the inode filespec to stdout.
cd filespec
Change the current working directory to filespec.
chroot filespec
Change the root directory to be the directory filespec.
close [-a]
Close the currently open file system. If the -a option is
specified, write out any changes to the superblock and block
group descriptors to all of the backup superblocks, not just
to the master superblock.
clri filespec
Clear the contents of the inode filespec.
copy_inode source_inode destination_inode
Copy the conents of the inode structure in source_inode and
use it to overwrite the inode structure at destination_inode.
dirsearch filespec filename
Search the directory filespec for filename.
dirty Mark the filesystem as dirty, so that the superblocks will be
written on exit.
dump [-p] filespec out_file
Dump the contents of the inode filespec to the output file
out_file. If the -p option is given set the owner, group and
permissions information on out_file to match filespec.
dump_mmp [mmp_block]
Display the multiple-mount protection (mmp) field values. If
mmp_block is specified then verify and dump the MMP values
from the given block number, otherwise use the s_mmp_block
field in the superblock to locate and use the existing MMP
block.
dx_hash [-h hash_alg] [-s hash_seed] filename
Calculate the directory hash of filename. The hash algorithm
specified with -h may be legacy, half_md4, or tea. The hash
seed specified with -s must be in UUID format.
dump_extents [-n] [-l] filespec
Dump the the extent tree of the inode filespec. The -n flag
will cause dump_extents to only display the interior nodes in
the extent tree. The -l flag will cause dump_extents to only
display the leaf nodes in the extent tree.
(Please note that the length and range of blocks for the last
extent in an interior node is an estimate by the extents
library functions, and is not stored in filesystem data
structures. Hence, the values displayed may not necessarily
by accurate and does not indicate a problem or corruption in
the file system.)
ea_get [-f outfile] filespec attr_name
Retrieve the value of the extended attribute attr_name in the
file filespec and write it either to stdout or to outfile.
ea_list filespec
List the extended attributes associated with the file filespec
to standard output.
ea_set [-f infile] filespec attr_name attr_value
Set the value of the extended attribute attr_name in the file
filespec to the string value attr_value or read it from
infile.
ea_rm filespec attr_names...
Remove the extended attribute attr_name from the file
filespec.
expand_dir filespec
Expand the directory filespec.
fallocate filespec start_block [end_block]
Allocate and map uninitialized blocks into filespec between
logical block start_block and end_block, inclusive. If
end_block is not supplied, this function maps until it runs
out of free disk blocks or the maximum file size is reached.
Existing mappings are left alone.
feature [fs_feature] [-fs_feature] ...
Set or clear various filesystem features in the superblock.
After setting or clearing any filesystem features that were
requested, print the current state of the filesystem feature
set.
filefrag [-dvr] filespec
Print the number of contiguous extents in filespec. If
filespec is a directory and the -d option is not specified,
filefrag will print the number of contiguous extents for each
file in the directory. The -v option will cause filefrag
print a tabular listing of the contiguous extents in the file.
The -r option will cause filefrag to do a recursive listing of
the directory.
find_free_block [count [goal]]
Find the first count free blocks, starting from goal and
allocate it. Also available as ffb.
find_free_inode [dir [mode]]
Find a free inode and allocate it. If present, dir specifies
the inode number of the directory which the inode is to be
located. The second optional argument mode specifies the
permissions of the new inode. (If the directory bit is set on
the mode, the allocation routine will function differently.)
Also available as ffi.
freeb block [count]
Mark the block number block as not allocated. If the optional
argument count is present, then count blocks starting at block
number block will be marked as not allocated.
freefrag [-c chunk_kb]
Report free space fragmentation on the currently open file
system. If the -c option is specified then the filefrag
command will print how many free chunks of size chunk_kb can
be found in the file system. The chunk size must be a power
of two and be larger than the file system block size.
freei filespec [num]
Free the inode specified by filespec. If num is specified,
also clear num-1 inodes after the specified inode.
help Print a list of commands understood by debugfs.
htree_dump filespec
Dump the hash-indexed directory filespec, showing its tree
structure.
icheck block ...
Print a listing of the inodes which use the one or more blocks
specified on the command line.
inode_dump filespec
Print the contents of the inode data structure in hex and
ASCII format.
imap filespec
Print the location of the inode data structure (in the inode
table) of the inode filespec.
init_filesys device blocksize
Create an ext2 file system on device with device size
blocksize. Note that this does not fully initialize all of
the data structures; to do this, use the mke2fs(8) program.
This is just a call to the low-level library, which sets up
the superblock and block descriptors.
journal_close
Close the open journal.
journal_open [-c] [-v ver] [-j ext_jnl]
Opens the journal for reading and writing. Journal
checksumming can be enabled by supplying -c; checksum formats
2 and 3 can be selected with the -v option. An external
journal can be loaded from ext_jnl.
journal_run
Replay all transactions in the open journal.
journal_write [-b blocks] [-r revoke] [-c] file
Write a transaction to the open journal. The list of blocks
to write should be supplied as a comma-separated list in
blocks; the blocks themselves should be readable from file. A
list of blocks to revoke can be supplied as a comma-separated
list in revoke. By default, a commit record is written at the
end; the -c switch writes an uncommitted transaction.
kill_file filespec
Deallocate the inode filespec and its blocks. Note that this
does not remove any directory entries (if any) to this inode.
See the rm(1) command if you wish to unlink a file.
lcd directory
Change the current working directory of the debugfs process to
directory on the native filesystem.
ln filespec dest_file
Create a link named dest_file which is a hard link to
filespec. Note this does not adjust the inode reference
counts.
logdump [-acsO] [-b block] [-i filespec] [-f journal_file]
[output_file]
Dump the contents of the ext3 journal. By default, dump the
journal inode as specified in the superblock. However, this
can be overridden with the -i option, which dumps the journal
from the internal inode given by filespec. A regular file
containing journal data can be specified using the -f option.
Finally, the -s option utilizes the backup information in the
superblock to locate the journal.
The -a option causes the logdump program to print the contents
of all of the descriptor blocks. The -b option causes logdump
to print all journal records that are refer to the specified
block. The -c option will print out the contents of all of
the data blocks selected by the -a and -b options.
The -O option causes logdump to display old (checkpointed)
journal entries. This can be used to try to track down
journal problems even after the journal has been replayed.
ls [-l] [-c] [-d] [-p] [-r] filespec
Print a listing of the files in the directory filespec. The
-c flag causes directory block checksums (if present) to be
displayed. The -d flag will list deleted entries in the
directory. The -l flag will list files using a more verbose
format. The -p flag will list the files in a format which is
more easily parsable by scripts, as well as making it more
clear when there are spaces or other non-printing characters
at the end of filenames. The -r flag will force the printing
of the filename, even if it is encrypted.
list_deleted_inodes [limit]
List deleted inodes, optionally limited to those deleted
within limit seconds ago. Also available as lsdel.
This command was useful for recovering from accidental file
deletions for ext2 file systems. Unfortunately, it is not
useful for this purpose if the files were deleted using ext3
or ext4, since the inode's data blocks are no longer available
after the inode is released.
modify_inode filespec
Modify the contents of the inode structure in the inode
filespec. Also available as mi.
mkdir filespec
Make a directory.
mknod filespec [p|[[c|b] major minor]]
Create a special device file (a named pipe, character or block
device). If a character or block device is to be made, the
major and minor device numbers must be specified.
ncheck [-c] inode_num ...
Take the requested list of inode numbers, and print a listing
of pathnames to those inodes. The -c flag will enable
checking the file type information in the directory entry to
make sure it matches the inode's type.
open [-weficD] [-b blocksize] [-s superblock] [-z undo_file] device
Open a filesystem for editing. The -f flag forces the
filesystem to be opened even if there are some unknown or
incompatible filesystem features which would normally prevent
the filesystem from being opened. The -e flag causes the
filesystem to be opened in exclusive mode. The -b, -c, -i,
-s, -w, and -D options behave the same as the command-line
options to debugfs.
punch filespec start_blk [end_blk]
Delete the blocks in the inode ranging from start_blk to
end_blk. If end_blk is omitted then this command will
function as a truncate command; that is, all of the blocks
starting at start_blk through to the end of the file will be
deallocated.
symlink filespec target
Make a symbolic link.
pwd Print the current working directory.
quit Quit debugfs
rdump directory[...] destination
Recursively dump directory, or multiple directories, and all
its contents (including regular files, symbolic links, and
other directories) into the named destination, which should be
an existing directory on the native filesystem.
rm pathname
Unlink pathname. If this causes the inode pointed to by
pathname to have no other references, deallocate the file.
This command functions as the unlink() system call.
rmdir filespec
Remove the directory filespec.
setb block [count]
Mark the block number block as allocated. If the optional
argument count is present, then count blocks starting at block
number block will be marked as allocated.
set_block_group bgnum field value
Modify the block group descriptor specified by bgnum so that
the block group descriptor field field has value value. Also
available as set_bg.
seti filespec [num]
Mark inode filespec as in use in the inode bitmap. If num is
specified, also set num-1 inodes after the specified inode.
set_inode_field filespec field value
Modify the inode specified by filespec so that the inode field
field has value value. The list of valid inode fields which
can be set via this command can be displayed by using the
command: set_inode_field -l Also available as sif.
set_mmp_value field value
Modify the multiple-mount protection (MMP) data so that the
MMP field field has value value. The list of valid MMP fields
which can be set via this command can be displayed by using
the command: set_mmp_value -l Also available as smmp.
set_super_value field value
Set the superblock field field to value. The list of valid
superblock fields which can be set via this command can be
displayed by using the command: set_super_value -l Also
available as ssv.
show_super_stats [-h]
List the contents of the super block and the block group
descriptors. If the -h flag is given, only print out the
superblock contents. Also available as stats.
stat filespec
Display the contents of the inode structure of the inode
filespec.
testb block [count]
Test if the block number block is marked as allocated in the
block bitmap. If the optional argument count is present, then
count blocks starting at block number block will be tested.
testi filespec
Test if the inode filespec is marked as allocated in the inode
bitmap.
undel <inode_number> [pathname]
Undelete the specified inode number (which must be surrounded
by angle brackets) so that it and its blocks are marked in
use, and optionally link the recovered inode to the specified
pathname. The e2fsck command should always be run after using
the undel command to recover deleted files.
Note that if you are recovering a large number of deleted
files, linking the inode to a directory may require the
directory to be expanded, which could allocate a block that
had been used by one of the yet-to-be-undeleted files. So it
is safer to undelete all of the inodes without specifying a
destination pathname, and then in a separate pass, use the
debugfs link command to link the inode to the destination
pathname, or use e2fsck to check the filesystem and link all
of the recovered inodes to the lost+found directory.
unlink pathname
Remove the link specified by pathname to an inode. Note this
does not adjust the inode reference counts.
write source_file out_file
Copy the contents of source_file into a newly-created file in
the filesystem named out_file.
zap_block [-f filespec] [-o offset] [-l length] [-p pattern]
block_num
Overwrite the block specified by block_num with zero (NUL)
bytes, or if -p is given use the byte specified by pattern.
If -f is given then block_num is relative to the start of the
file given by filespec. The -o and -l options limit the range
of bytes to zap to the specified offset and length relative to
the start of the block.
zap_block [-f filespec] [-b bit] block_num
Bit-flip portions of the physical block_num. If -f is given,
then block_num is a logical block relative to the start of
filespec.
DEBUGFS_PAGER, PAGER
The debugfs program always pipes the output of the some
commands through a pager program. These commands include:
show_super_stats (stats), list_directory (ls), show_inode_info
(stat), list_deleted_inodes (lsdel), and htree_dump. The
specific pager can explicitly specified by the DEBUGFS_PAGER
environment variable, and if it is not set, by the PAGER
environment variable.
Note that since a pager is always used, the less(1) pager is
not particularly appropriate, since it clears the screen
before displaying the output of the command and clears the
output the screen when the pager is exited. Many users prefer
to use the less(1) pager for most purposes, which is why the
DEBUGFS_PAGER environment variable is available to override
the more general PAGER environment variable.
debugfs was written by Theodore Ts'o <tytso@mit.edu>.
dumpe2fs(8), tune2fs(8), e2fsck(8), mke2fs(8), ext4(5)
This page is part of the e2fsprogs (utilities for ext2/3/4
filesystems) project. Information about the project can be found at
⟨http://e2fsprogs.sourceforge.net/⟩. It is not known how to report
bugs for this man page; if you know, please send a mail to
man-pages@man7.org. This page was obtained from the project's
upstream Git repository
⟨git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/fs/ext2/e2fsprogs.git⟩ on 2017-07-05.
If you discover any rendering problems in this HTML version of the
page, or you believe there is a better or more up-to-date source for
the page, or you have corrections or improvements to the information
in this COLOPHON (which is not part of the original manual page),
send a mail to man-pages@man7.org
E2fsprogs version 1.43.5-WIP February 2017 DEBUGFS(8)
Pages that refer to this page: ext4(5), e2freefrag(8), e2fsck(8), e2image(8), tune2fs(8)