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GPART(8)		    System Manager's Manual		      GPART(8)

NAME
       gpart --	control	utility	for the	disk partitioning GEOM class

SYNOPSIS
       To  add support for the disk partitioning GEOM class, place one or more
       of the following	lines in your kernel configuration file:

	     options GEOM_PART_APM
	     options GEOM_PART_BSD
	     options GEOM_PART_GPT
	     options GEOM_PART_MBR
	     options GEOM_PART_PC98
	     options GEOM_PART_VTOC8

       The GEOM_PART_APM option	adds support for the Apple Partition Map (APM)
       found on	Apple Macintosh	computers.  The	GEOM_PART_BSD option adds sup-
       port for	the traditional	BSD disklabel.	The GEOM_PART_GPT option  adds
       support	for the	GUID Partition Table (GPT) found on Intel Itanium com-
       puters and Intel-based Macintosh	computers.  The	 GEOM_PART_MBR	option
       adds  support for the Master Boot Record	(MBR) found on PCs and used on
       many removable media.  The GEOM_PART_PC98 option	adds support  for  the
       MBR variant as used on NEC PC-98	computers.  The	GEOM_PART_VTOC8	option
       adds  support  for  Sun's  SMI VTOC8 label as found on UltraSPARC-based
       computers.

       Usage of	the gpart(8) utility:

       gpart add -b start -s size -t type [-i index]  [-l  label]  [-f	flags]
	     geom
       gpart bootcode [-b bootcode] [-p	partcode -i index] [-f flags] geom
       gpart commit geom
       gpart create -s scheme [-n entries] [-f flags] provider
       gpart delete -i index [-f flags]	geom
       gpart destroy [-f flags]	geom
       gpart modify -i index [-l label]	[-t type] [-f flags] geom
       gpart set -a attrib -i index [-f	flags] geom
       gpart show [geom	...]
       gpart undo geom
       gpart unset -a attrib -i	index [-f flags] geom

DESCRIPTION
       The  gpart utility is used to partition GEOM providers, normally	disks.
       The first argument of which is the action to be taken:

       add	Add a new partition to the partitioning	scheme given by	 geom.
		The partition begins on	the logical block address given	by the
		-b  start option.  Its size is expressed in logical block num-
		bers and given by the -s size option.  The type	of the	parti-
		tion is	given by the -t	type option.  Partition	types are dis-
		cussed in the section entitled "Partition Types".

		Addition options include:

		-i index     The index in the partition	table at which the new
			     partition	is  to be placed. The index determines
			     the name of the device special file used to  rep-
			     resent the	partition.

		-l label     The label attached	to the partition.  This	option
			     is	 only  valid when used on partitioning schemes
			     that support partition labels.

		-f flags     Additional	operational flags.   See  the  section
			     entitled  "Operational flags" below for a discus-
			     sion about	its use.

       bootcode
		Embed bootstrap	code into the partitioning  scheme's  metadata
		on the geom (using -b bootcode)	or write bootstrap code	into a
		partition  (using  -p  partcode	and -i index).	Not all	parti-
		tioning	schemes	 have  embedded	 bootstrap  code,  so  the  -b
		bootcode  option  is  scheme-specific  in nature.  For the GPT
		scheme,	embedded bootstrap code	is supported.	The  bootstrap
		code  is  embedded  in the protective MBR rather than the GPT.
		The -b bootcode	option specifies  a  file  that	 contains  the
		bootstrap  code.  The contents and size	of the file are	deter-
		mined by the partitioning scheme.  For the MBR scheme, it's  a
		512  byte  file	 of which the first 446	bytes are installed as
		bootstrap code.	 The -p	partcode option	specifies a file  that
		contains the bootstrap code intended to	be written to a	parti-
		tion.  The partition is	specified by the -i index option.  The
		size  of  the file must	be smaller than	the size of the	parti-
		tion.

		Addition options include:

		-f flags    Additional operational flags.  See the section en-
			    titled "Operational	flags" below for a  discussion
			    about its use.

       commit	Commit any pending changes for geom geom.  All actions are be-
		ing  committed	by  default  and  will	not  result in pending
		changes.  Actions can be modified with the -f flags option  so
		that  they  are	not being committed by default.	 As such, they
		become pending.	 Pending changes are reflected by the geom and
		the gpart utility, but they are	not actually written to	 disk.
		The  commit  action  will write	any and	all pending changes to
		disk.

       create	Create a new  partitioning  scheme  on	a  provider  given  by
		provider.   The	-s scheme option determines the	scheme to use.
		The kernel needs to have support for a particular  scheme  be-
		fore that scheme can be	used to	partition a disk.

		Addition options include:

		-n entries  The	 number	 of  entries  in  the partition	table.
			    Every partitioning scheme has a minimum and	a max-
			    imum number	of entries and this option allows  ta-
			    bles to be created with the	number of entries that
			    lies anywhere between the minimum and the maximum.
			    Some  schemes  have	a maximum equal	to the minimum
			    and	some schemes have a maximum large enough to be
			    considered unlimited.  By default,	partition  ta-
			    bles  are  created	with the minimum number	of en-
			    tries.

		-f flags    Additional operational flags.  See the section en-
			    titled "Operational	flags" below for a  discussion
			    about its use.

       delete	Delete	a  partition  from geom	geom and further identified by
		the -i index option.  The partition cannot be actively used by
		the kernel.

		Addition options include:

		-f flags    Additional operational flags.  See the section en-
			    titled "Operational	flags" below for a  discussion
			    about its use.

       destroy	Destroy	the partitioning scheme	as implemented by geom geom.

		Addition options include:

		-f flags    Additional operational flags.  See the section en-
			    titled  "Operational flags"	below for a discussion
			    about its use.

       modify	Modify a partition from	geom geom and  further	identified  by
		the  -i	 index	option.	 Only the the type and/or label	of the
		partition can be modified.  To change the type of a partition,
		specify	the new	type with the -t type option.  To  change  the
		label  of a partition, specify the new label with the -l label
		option.	 Not all partitioning schemes support labels and it is
		invalid	to try to change a partition label in such cases.

		Addition options include:

		-f flags    Additional operational flags.  See the section en-
			    titled "Operational	flags" below for a  discussion
			    about its use.

       set	Set the	named attribute	on the partition entry.

		Addition options include:

		-f flags    Additional operational flags.  See the section en-
			    titled  "Operational flags"	below for a discussion
			    about its use.

       show	Show the current partition information of the specified	 geoms
		or all geoms if	none are specified.

       undo	Revert	any  pending  changes.	This action is the opposite of
		the commit action and can be used to  undo  any	 changes  that
		have not been committed.

       unset	Clear the named	attribute on the partition entry.

		Addition options include:

		-f flags    Additional operational flags.  See the section en-
			    titled  "Operational flags"	below for a discussion
			    about its use.

PARTITION TYPES
       The gpart utility uses symbolic names for  common  partition  types  to
       avoid that the user needs to know what the partitioning scheme in ques-
       tion  is	 and what the actual number or identification needs to be used
       for a particular	type.  the gpart utility also allows the user to spec-
       ify scheme-specific partition types for partition types that don't have
       symbol names.  The symbolic names currently understood are:

       efi	      The system partition for computers that use the Extensi-
		      ble Firmware Interface (EFI).  In	such  cases,  the  GPT
		      partitioning  scheme is being used and the actual	parti-
		      tion type	for the	system partition can also be specified
		      as "!c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93ab".

       freebsd	      A	FreeBSD	partition that uses the	BSD disklabel to  sub-
		      divide  the  partition  into  file  systems.   This is a
		      legacy partition type and	should not be used for the APM
		      or GPT schemes.  The scheme-specific  types  are	"!165"
		      for      MBR,	 "!FreeBSD"	 for	  APM,	   and
		      "!516e7cb4-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b" for GPT.

       freebsd-boot   A	FreeBSD	partition dedicated to	bootstrap  code.   The
		      scheme-specific	  type	   is	 "!83bd6b9d-7f41-11dc-
		      be0b-001560b84f0f" for GPT.

       freebsd-swap   A	 FreeBSD  partition  dedicated	to  swap  space.   The
		      scheme-specific  types  are "!FreeBSD-swap" for APM, and
		      "!516e7cb5-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b" for GPT.

       freebsd-ufs    A	FreeBSD	partition that contains	a  UFS	or  UFS2  file
		      system.	the  scheme-specific  types are	"!FreeBSD-UFS"
		      for APM, and "!516e7cb6-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b" for
		      GPT.

       freebsd-vinum  A	FreeBSD	partition that contains	a Vinum	 volume.   The
		      scheme-specific  types are "!FreeBSD-Vinum" for APM, and
		      "!516e7cb8-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b" for GPT.

       freebsd-zfs    A	FreeBSD	partition that contains	 a  ZFS	 volume.   The
		      scheme-specific  types  are  "!FreeBSD-ZFS" for APM, and
		      "!516e7cba-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b" for GPT.

       mbr	      A	partition that is sub-partitioned  by  a  master  boot
		      record	 (MBR).	     This    type    is	   known    as
		      "!024dee41-33e7-11d3-9d69-0008c781f39f" by GPT.

OPERATIONAL FLAGS
       Actions other than the commit and undo  actions	take  an  optional  -f
       flags  option.	This  option is	used to	specify	action-specific	opera-
       tional flags.  By default, the gpart utility defines the	 'C'  flag  so
       that the	action is immediately committed.  The user can specify -f x to
       have  the  action result	in a pending change that can later, with other
       pending changes,	be committed as	a  single  compound  change  with  the
       commit action or	reverted with the undo action.

EXIT STATUS
       Exit status is 0	on success, and	1 if the command fails.

EXAMPLES
       Create GPT scheme on ad0.

	     /sbin/gpart create	-s GPT ad0

       Embed GPT bootstrap code	into protective	MBR.

	     /sbin/gpart bootcode -b /boot/pmbr	ad0

       Create  a dedicated freebsd-boot	partition that can boot	FreeBSD	from a
       freebsd-ufs partition, and install bootstrap code into it.  This	parti-
       tion must be larger than	/boot/gptboot, or the GPT boot you  are	 plan-
       ning  to	 write.	  A size of 15 blocks (7680 bytes) would be sufficient
       for booting from	UFS but	lets use 128 blocks (64	KB) here in this exam-
       ple, in order to	reserve	some space for	potential  future  need	 (e.g.
       from a ZFS partition).

	     /sbin/gpart add -b	34 -s 128 -t freebsd-boot ad0
	     /sbin/gpart bootcode -p /boot/gptboot -i 1	ad0

       Create a	512MB-sized freebsd-ufs	partition that would contain UFS where
       the system boot from.

	     /sbin/gpart add -b	162 -s 1048576 -t freebsd-ufs ad0

SEE ALSO
       geom(4),	geom(8),

HISTORY
       The gpart utility appeared in FreeBSD 7.0.

AUTHORS
       Marcel Moolenaar	<marcel@FreeBSD.org>

FreeBSD	7.1			 Nov 18, 2008			      GPART(8)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=gpart&sektion=8&manpath=FreeBSD+7.1-RELEASE>

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