Installing E2fsprogs-1.34

The E2fsprogs package contains the utilities for handling the ext2 file system. It also supports the ext3 journaling file system.

Approximate build time:  0.6 SBU
Required disk space:     48.4 MB

Official download location for E2fsprogs (1.34):
http://download.sourceforge.net/e2fsprogs/

For its installation E2fsprogs depends on: Bash, Binutils, Coreutils, Diffutils, Gawk, GCC, Gettext, Glibc, Grep, Make, Sed, Texinfo.

Installation of E2fsprogs

It is recommended to build E2fsprogs outside of the source tree:

mkdir ../e2fsprogs-build
cd ../e2fsprogs-build

Prepare E2fsprogs for compilation:

../e2fsprogs-1.34/configure --prefix=/usr --with-root-prefix="" \
    --enable-elf-shlibs

The meaning of the configure options:

Compile the package:

make

This package has a test suite available which can perform a number of checks to ensure it built correctly. Should you choose to run it, the following command will do so:

make check

Install most of the package:

make install

And install also the shared libraries:

make install-libs

Contents of E2fsprogs

Installed programs: badblocks, blkid, chattr, compile_et, debugfs, dumpe2fs, e2fsck, e2image, e2label, findfs, fsck, fsck.ext2, fsck.ext3, logsave, lsattr, mk_cmds, mke2fs, mkfs.ext2, mkfs.ext3, mklost+found, resize2fs, tune2fs and uuidgen.

Installed libraries: libblkid.[a,so], libcom_err.[a,so], libe2p.[a,so], libext2fs.[a,so], libss.[a,so] and libuuid.[a,so]

Short descriptions

badblocks searches a device (usually a disk partition) for bad blocks.

blkid is a command line utility to locate and print block device attributes.

chattr changes the attributes of files on a second extended (ext2) file system.

compile_et is an error table compiler. It converts a table of error-code names and messages into a C source file suitable for use with the com_err library.

debugfs is a file system debugger. It can be used to examine and change the state of an ext2 file system.

dumpe2fs prints the super block and blocks group information for the file system present on a given device.

e2fsck is used to check, and optionally repair, second extended (ext2) file systems, and also ext3 file systems.

e2image is used to save critical ext2 file system data to a file.

e2label will display or change the file system label on the ext2 file system present on a given device.

findfs finds a file system by label or UUID.

fsck is used to check, and optionally repair, file systems. By default it checks the file systems listed in /etc/fstab

logsave saves the output of a command in a logfile.

lsattr lists the attributes of files on a second extended file system.

mk_cmds converts a table of command names and help messages into a C source file suitable for use with the libss subsystem library.

mke2fs is used to create a second extended file system on the given device.

mklost+found is used to create a lost+found directory on a second extended file system. It pre-allocates disk blocks to this directory to lighten the task of e2fsck.

resize2fs can be used to enlarge or shrink an ext2 file system.

tune2fs is used adjust tunable file system parameters on a second extended file system.

uuidgen creates new universally unique identifiers (UUID). Each new UUID can reasonably be considered unique among all UUIDs created, on the local system and on other systems, in the past and in the future.

libblkid contains routines for device identification and token extraction.

libcom_err is the common error display routine.

libe2p is used by dumpe2fs, chattr, and lsattr.

libext2fs contains routines to enable user-level programs to manipulate an ext2 file system.

libss is used by debugfs.

libuuid contains routines for generating unique identifiers for objects that may be accessible beyond the local system.