TUNEFS(8) | System Manager's Manual | TUNEFS(8)

# NAME

`tunefs` — tune up an existing file system

# SYNOPSIS

`tunefs` | [`-AFN`] [`-e` maxbpg] [`-g` avgfilesize] [`-h` avgfpdir] [`-m` minfree] [`-o` optimize_preference] special | filesys

# DESCRIPTION

`tunefs` is designed to change the dynamic parameters of a file system which affect the layout policies.

The options are as follows:

`-A`
  Cause the values to be updated in all the alternate superblocks instead of just the standard superblock. If this option is not used, then use of a backup superblock by fsck(8) will lose anything changed by `tunefs`. `-A` is ignored when `-N` is specified.
`-e` maxbpg
  This indicates the maximum number of blocks any single file can allocate out of a cylinder group before it is forced to begin allocating blocks from another cylinder group. Typically this value is set to about one quarter of the total blocks in a cylinder group. The intent is to prevent any single file from using up all the blocks in a single cylinder group, thus degrading access times for all files subsequently allocated in that cylinder group. The effect of this limit is to cause big files to do long seeks more frequently than if they were allowed to allocate all the blocks in a cylinder group before seeking elsewhere. For file systems with exclusively large files, this parameter should be set higher.
`-F`
  Indicates that special is a file system image, rather than a device name or file system mount point. special will be accessed ‘as-is’.
`-g` avgfilesize
  This specifies the expected average file size.
`-h` avgfpdir
  This specifies the expected number of files per directory.
`-m` minfree
  This value specifies the percentage of space held back from normal users; the minimum free space threshold. The default value is set during creation of the filesystem; see newfs(8). This value can be set to zero, however up to a factor of three in throughput will be lost over the performance obtained at a 5% threshold. Note that if the value is raised above the current usage level, users will be unable to allocate files until enough files have been deleted to get under the higher threshold.
`-N`
  Display all the settable options (after any changes from the tuning options) but do not cause any of them to be changed.
`-o` optimize_preference
  The file system can either try to minimize the time spent allocating blocks, or it can attempt to minimize the space fragmentation on the disk. If the value of minfree (see above) is less than 5%, then the file system should optimize for space to avoid running out of full sized blocks. For values of minfree greater than or equal to 5%, fragmentation is unlikely to be problematical, and the file system can be optimized for time.

  optimize_preference can be specified as either `space` or `time`.

# SEE ALSO

fs(5), dumpfs(8), fsck_ffs(8), growfs(8), newfs(8)

M. McKusick, W. Joy, S. Leffler, and R. Fabry, A Fast File System for UNIX, ACM Transactions on Computer Systems 2, 3, pp. 181–197, August 1984.

# HISTORY

The `tunefs` command appeared in 4.2BSD.

# BUGS

This program should work on mounted and active file systems. Because the super-block is not kept in the buffer cache, the changes will only take effect if the program is run on unmounted file systems. To change the root file system, the system must be rebooted after the file system is tuned.

You can tune a file system, but you can't tune a fish.

April 23, 2019 | Debian