DISKLABEL(8)	    UNIX Programmer's Manual	     DISKLABEL(8)


NAME
     disklabel - read and write disk pack label

SYNOPSIS
     disklabel -r disk
     disklabel -w [ -r ] disk disktype [ packid ]
     disklabel -e [ -r ] disk
     disklabel -R [ -r ] disk protofile
     disklabel [ -NW ] disk

     disklabel -B [ -b boot ] disk [ disktype ]
     disklabel -w -B [ -b boot ] disk disktype [ packid ]
     disklabel -R -B [ -b boot ] disk protofile [ disktype ]

DESCRIPTION
     Disklabel can be used to install, examine or modify the
     label on a disk drive or pack.  When writing the label, it
     can be used to change the drive identification, the disk
     partitions on the drive, or to replace a damaged label.  On
     some systems, disklabel can be used to install bootstrap
     code as well.  There are several forms of the command that
     read (display), install or edit the label on a disk.  Each
     form has an additional option, -r, which causes the label to
     be read from or written to the disk directly, rather than
     going through the system's in-core copy of the label.  This
     option may allow a label to be installed on a disk without
     kernel support for a label, such as when labels are first
     installed on a system; it must be used when first installing
     a label on a disk.  The specific effect of -r is described
     under each command.  The read and install forms also support
     the -B option to install bootstrap code.  These variants are
     described later.

     The first form of the command (read) is used to examine the
     label on the named disk drive (e.g. ra0 or /dev/rra0a).  It
     will display all of the parameters associated with the drive
     and its partition layout.	Unless the -r flag is given, the
     kernel's in-core copy of the label is displayed; if the disk
     has no label, or the partition types on the disk are
     incorrect, the kernel may have constructed or modified the
     label.  If the -r flag is given, the label from the raw disk
     will be displayed rather than the in-core label.

     The second form of the command, with the -w flag, is used to
     write a standard label on the designated drive.  The
     required arguments to disklabel are the drive to be labelled
     (e.g. sd0), and the drive type as described in the disk-
     tab(5) file.  The drive parameters and partitions are taken
     from that file.  If different disks of the same physical
     type are to have different partitions, it will be necessary
     to have separate disktab entries describing each, or to edit
     the label after installation as described below.  The


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     optional argument is a pack identification string, up to 16
     characters long.  The pack id must be quoted if it contains
     blanks.  If the -r flag is given, the disk sectors contain-
     ing the label and bootstrap will be written directly.  A
     side-effect of this is that any existing bootstrap code will
     be overwritten and the disk rendered unbootable.  If -r is
     not specified, the existing label will be updated via the
     in-core copy and any bootstrap code will be unaffected.  If
     the disk does not already have a label, the -r flag must be
     used.  In either case, the kernel's in-core label is
     replaced.

     An existing disk label may be edited by using the -e flag.
     The label is read from the in-core kernel copy, or directly
     from the disk if the -r flag is also given.  The label is
     formatted and then supplied to an editor for changes.  If no
     editor is specified in an EDITOR environment variable, vi(1)
     is used.  When the editor terminates, the formatted label is
     reread and used to rewrite the disk label.  Existing
     bootstrap code is unchanged regardless of whether -r was
     specified.

     With the -R flag, disklabel is capable of restoring a disk
     label that was formatted in a prior operation and saved in
     an ascii file.  The prototype file used to create the label
     should be in the same format as that produced when reading
     or editing a label.  Comments are delimited by # and new-
     line.  As with -w , any existing bootstrap code will be
     clobbered if -r is specified and will be unaffected other-
     wise.

     The -NW flags for disklabel explicitly disallow and allow,
     respectively, writing of the pack label area on the selected
     disk.

     The final three forms of disklabel are used to install
     bootstrap code on machines where the bootstrap is part of
     the label.  The bootstrap code is comprised of one or two
     boot programs depending on the machine.  The -B option is
     used to denote that bootstrap code is to be installed.  The
     -r flag is implied by -B and never needs to be specified.
     The name of the boot program(s) to be installed can be
     selected in a variety of ways.  First, the names can be
     specified explicitly via the -b flag.  If the name is not
     explicitly given, standard boot blocks will be used.  The
     boot programs are located in /mdec.  The names of the pro-
     gram is taken from the ``b0'' parameter of the disktab(5)
     entry for the disk if disktype was given and its disktab
     entry exists and includes that parameter.	Otherwise, the
     boot program name is derived from the name of the disk.
     These name is of the form basenameuboot ; for example,
     /usr/mdec/rauboot if the disk device is ra0.


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DISKLABEL(8)	    UNIX Programmer's Manual	     DISKLABEL(8)


     The first of the three boot-installation forms is used to
     install bootstrap code without changing the existing label.
     It is essentially a read command with respect to the disk
     label itself and all options are related to the specifica-
     tion of the boot program as described previously.	The final
     two forms are analogous to the basic write and restore ver-
     sions except that they will install bootstrap code in addi-
     tion to a new label.

FILES
     /etc/disktab
     /mdec/xxuboot

EXAMPLES
	  disklabel sd0

     Display the in-core label for ra0 as obtained via
     /dev/rra0a.

	  disklabel -w -r /dev/rra0a ra81x foo

     Create a label for sd0 based on information for ``ra81x''
     found in /etc/disktab.  Any existing bootstrap code will be
     clobbered.

	  disklabel -e -r ra0

     Read the on-disk label for ra0, edit it and reinstall in-
     core as well as on-disk.  Existing bootstrap code is unaf-
     fected.

	  disklabel -R ra0 mylabel

     Restore the on-disk and in-core label for sd0 from informa-
     tion in mylabel.  Existing bootstrap code is unaffected.

	  disklabel -B ra0

     Install a new bootstrap on ra0.  The boot code comes from
     /mdec/rauboot.  On-disk and in-core labels are unchanged.

	  disklabel -w -B /dev/rra0a -b newboot ra81x

     Install a new label and bootstrap.  The label is derived
     from disktab information for ``ra81x'' and installed both
     in-core and on-disk.  The bootstrap code comes from the file
     /mdec/newboot.

SEE ALSO
     disktab(5), disklabel(5)


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DIAGNOSTICS
     The kernel device drivers will not allow the size of a disk
     partition to be decreased or the offset of a partition to be
     changed while it is open.	Some device drivers create a
     label containing only a single large partition if a disk is
     unlabeled; thus, the label must be written to the ``a'' par-
     tition of the disk while it is open.  This sometimes
     requires the desired label to be set in two steps, the first
     one creating at least one other partition, and the second
     setting the label on the new partition while shrinking the
     ``a'' partition.

BUGS
     When a disk name is given without a full pathname, the con-
     structed device name uses the ``a'' partition on the tahoe
     and pdp-11 the ``c'' partition on all others.


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