207 lines
8.2 KiB
HTML
207 lines
8.2 KiB
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
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<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Man page of MKFS.FAT</TITLE>
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</HEAD><BODY>
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<H1>MKFS.FAT</H1>
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Section: Maintenance Commands (8)<BR>Updated: 2016-01-25<BR><A HREF="#index">Index</A>
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<A HREF="/cgi-bin/man/man2html">Return to Main Contents</A><HR>
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<A NAME="lbAB"> </A>
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<H2>NAME</H2>
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<B>mkfs.fat</B> - create an MS-DOS filesystem under Linux
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<A NAME="lbAC"> </A>
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<H2>SYNOPSIS</H2>
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<B>mkfs.fat</B> [<I>OPTIONS</I>] <I>DEVICE</I> [<I>BLOCK-COUNT</I>]
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<A NAME="lbAD"> </A>
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<H2>DESCRIPTION</H2>
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<B>mkfs.fat</B> is used to create an MS-DOS filesystem under Linux on a device
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(usually a disk partition).
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<I>DEVICE</I> is the special file corresponding to the device (e.g. /dev/sdXX).
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<I>BLOCK-COUNT</I> is the number of blocks on the device.
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If omitted, <B>mkfs.fat</B> automatically determines the filesystem size.
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<A NAME="lbAE"> </A>
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<H2>OPTIONS</H2>
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<DL COMPACT>
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<DT id="1"><B>-a</B><DD>
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Normally, for any filesystem except very small ones, <B>mkfs.fat</B> will align
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all the data structures to cluster size, to make sure that as long as the
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partition is properly aligned, so will all the data structures in the
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filesystem.
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This option disables alignment; this may provide a handful of additional
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clusters of storage at the expense of a significant performance degradation on
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RAIDs, flash media or large-sector hard disks.
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<DT id="2"><B> -A</B><DD>
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Use Atari variation of the MS-DOS filesystem.
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This is default if <B>mkfs.fat</B> is run on an Atari, then this option turns off
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Atari format.
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There are some differences when using Atari format:
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If not directed otherwise by the user, <B>mkfs.fat</B> will always use 2 sectors
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per cluster, since GEMDOS doesn't like other values very much.
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It will also obey the maximum number of sectors GEMDOS can handle.
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Larger filesystems are managed by raising the logical sector size.
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Under Atari format, an Atari-compatible serial number for the filesystem is
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generated, and a 12 bit FAT is used only for filesystems that have one of the
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usual floppy sizes (720k, 1.2M, 1.44M, 2.88M), a 16 bit FAT otherwise.
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This can be overridden with the <B>-F</B> option.
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Some PC-specific boot sector fields aren't written, and a boot message (option
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<B>-m</B>) is ignored.
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<DT id="3"><B>-b</B> <I>SECTOR-OF-BACKUP</I><DD>
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Selects the location of the backup boot sector for FAT32.
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Default depends on number of reserved sectors, but usually is sector 6.
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The backup must be within the range of reserved sectors.
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<DT id="4"><B>-c<DD>
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Check the device for bad blocks before creating the filesystem.
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<DT id="5">-C</B><DD>
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Create the file given as <I>DEVICE</I> on the command line, and write the
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to-be-created filesystem to it.
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This can be used to create the new filesystem in a file instead of on a real
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device, and to avoid using <B>dd</B> in advance to create a file of appropriate
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size.
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With this option, the <I>BLOCK-COUNT</I> must be given, because otherwise the
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intended size of the filesystem wouldn't be known.
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The file created is a sparse file, which actually only contains the meta-data
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areas (boot sector, FATs, and root directory).
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The data portions won't be stored on the disk, but the file nevertheless will
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have the correct size.
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The resulting file can be copied later to a floppy disk or other device, or
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mounted through a loop device.
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<DT id="6"><B>-D</B> <I>DRIVE-NUMBER</I><DD>
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Specify the BIOS drive number to be stored in the FAT boot sector.
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This value is usually 0x80 for hard disks and 0x00 for floppy devices or
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partitions to be used for floppy emulation.
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<DT id="7"><B>-f</B> <I>NUMBER-OF-FATS</I><DD>
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Specify the number of file allocation tables in the filesystem.
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The default is 2.
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<DT id="8"><B>-F</B> <I>FAT-SIZE</I><DD>
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Specifies the type of file allocation tables used (12, 16 or 32 bit).
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If nothing is specified, <B>mkfs.fat</B> will automatically select between 12, 16
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and 32 bit, whatever fits better for the filesystem size.
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<DT id="9"><B>-h</B> <I>NUMBER-OF-HIDDEN-SECTORS</I><DD>
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Select the number of hidden sectors in the volume.
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Apparently some digital cameras get indigestion if you feed them a CF card
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without such hidden sectors, this option allows you to satisfy them.
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<DT id="10"><B>-i</B> <I>VOLUME-ID</I><DD>
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Sets the volume ID of the newly created filesystem; <I>VOLUME-ID</I> is a 32-bit
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hexadecimal number (for example, 2e24ec82).
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The default is a number which depends on the filesystem creation time.
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<DT id="11"><B>-I</B><DD>
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It is typical for fixed disk devices to be partitioned so, by default, you are
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not permitted to create a filesystem across the entire device.
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<B>mkfs.fat</B> will complain and tell you that it refuses to work.
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This is different when using MO disks.
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One doesn't always need partitions on MO disks.
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The filesystem can go directly to the whole disk.
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Under other OSes this is known as the 'superfloppy' format.
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This switch will force <B>mkfs.fat</B> to work properly.
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<DT id="12"><B>-l</B> <I>FILENAME</I><DD>
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Read the bad blocks list from <I>FILENAME</I>.
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<DT id="13"><B>-m</B> <I>MESSAGE-FILE</I><DD>
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Sets the message the user receives on attempts to boot this filesystem without
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having properly installed an operating system.
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The message file must not exceed 418 bytes once line feeds have been converted
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to carriage return-line feed combinations, and tabs have been expanded.
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If the filename is a hyphen (-), the text is taken from standard input.
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<DT id="14"><B>-M</B> <I>FAT-MEDIA-TYPE</I><DD>
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Specify the media type to be stored in the FAT boot sector.
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This value is usually 0xF8 for hard disks and is 0xF0 or a value from 0xF9 to
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0xFF for floppies or partitions to be used for floppy emulation.
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<DT id="15"><B>-n</B> <I>VOLUME-NAME</I><DD>
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Sets the volume name (label) of the filesystem.
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The volume name can be up to 11 characters long.
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The default is no label.
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<DT id="16"><B>-r</B> <I>ROOT-DIR-ENTRIES</I><DD>
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Select the number of entries available in the root directory.
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The default is 112 or 224 for floppies and 512 for hard disks.
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<DT id="17"><B>-R</B> <I>NUMBER-OF-RESERVED-SECTORS</I><DD>
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Select the number of reserved sectors.
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With FAT32 format at least 2 reserved sectors are needed, the default is 32.
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Otherwise the default is 1 (only the boot sector).
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<DT id="18"><B>-s</B> <I>SECTORS-PER-CLUSTER</I><DD>
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Specify the number of disk sectors per cluster.
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Must be a power of 2, i.e. 1, 2, 4, 8, ... 128.
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<DT id="19"><B>-S</B> <I>LOGICAL-SECTOR-SIZE</I><DD>
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Specify the number of bytes per logical sector.
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Must be a power of 2 and greater than or equal to 512, i.e. 512, 1024, 2048,
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4096, 8192, 16384, or 32768.
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Values larger than 4096 are not conforming to the FAT file system specification
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and may not work everywhere.
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<DT id="20"><B>-v</B><DD>
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Verbose execution.
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<DT id="21"><B>--invariant</B><DD>
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Use constants for normally randomly generated or time based data such as
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volume ID and creation time.
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Multiple runs of <B>mkfs.fat</B> on the same device create identical results
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with this option.
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Its main purpose is testing <B>mkfs.fat</B>.
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<DT id="22"><B>--help</B><DD>
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Display option summary and exit.
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</DL>
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<A NAME="lbAF"> </A>
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<H2>BUGS</H2>
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<B>mkfs.fat</B> can not create boot-able filesystems.
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This isn't as easy as you might think at first glance for various reasons and
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has been discussed a lot already.
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<B>mkfs.fat</B> simply will not support it ;)
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<A NAME="lbAG"> </A>
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<H2>SEE ALSO</H2>
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<B><A HREF="/cgi-bin/man/man2html?8+fatlabel">fatlabel</A></B>(8)
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<BR>
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<B><A HREF="/cgi-bin/man/man2html?8+fsck.fat">fsck.fat</A></B>(8)
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<A NAME="lbAH"> </A>
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<H2>HOMEPAGE</H2>
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The home for the <B>dosfstools</B> project is its
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GitHub project page
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<A NAME="lbAI"> </A>
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<H2>AUTHORS</H2>
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<B>dosfstools</B> were written by
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Werner Almesberger
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Roman Hodek
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and others.
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The current maintainer is
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Andreas Bombe
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<P>
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<HR>
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<A NAME="index"> </A><H2>Index</H2>
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<DL>
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<DT id="23"><A HREF="#lbAB">NAME</A><DD>
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<DT id="24"><A HREF="#lbAC">SYNOPSIS</A><DD>
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<DT id="25"><A HREF="#lbAD">DESCRIPTION</A><DD>
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<DT id="26"><A HREF="#lbAE">OPTIONS</A><DD>
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<DT id="27"><A HREF="#lbAF">BUGS</A><DD>
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<DT id="28"><A HREF="#lbAG">SEE ALSO</A><DD>
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<DT id="29"><A HREF="#lbAH">HOMEPAGE</A><DD>
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<DT id="30"><A HREF="#lbAI">AUTHORS</A><DD>
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</DL>
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<HR>
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This document was created by
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<A HREF="/cgi-bin/man/man2html">man2html</A>,
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using the manual pages.<BR>
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Time: 00:06:13 GMT, March 31, 2021
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</BODY>
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</HTML>
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