History
The command was originally implemented in the first version of UNIX as a method to initialize either a DECtape (using the "t" argument) or an RK03 disk pack (using the "r" argument). The initialization process would write formatting data to the device so that it contained an empty file system. It created the super-block, i-list, and free list on the storage device and established the root directory with entries for "." and ".." (self and parent, respectively). The RK03 disk packs had 4872 available blocks after initialization, while the tapes had 578 blocks (at 512 bytes/block). The mkfs executable was kept in the /etc directory instead of a binary directory so it would not be inadvertently called and destroy information.
Later implementations of UNIX-like operating systems included the mkfs command, including HP-UX, Minix, SunOS and Linux.
Read more about this topic: Mkfs
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“No cause is left but the most ancient of all, the one, in fact, that from the beginning of our history has determined the very existence of politics, the cause of freedom versus tyranny.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)
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