QUOTACHECK linux command manual

quotacheck(8)                                                  quotacheck(8)



NAME
       quotacheck  -  scan  a  filesystem  for  disk usage, create, check and
       repair quota files

SYNOPSIS
       quotacheck [ -gubcfinvdMmR ] [ -F quota-format ] -a | filesystem

DESCRIPTION
       quotacheck examines each filesystem, builds a table  of  current  disk
       usage, and compares this table against that recorded in the disk quota
       file for the filesystem (this step is ommitted if option -c is  speci-
       fied).  If  any  inconsistencies are detected, both the quota file and
       the current system copy of the incorrect quotas are updated (the  lat-
       ter  only  occurs  if  an  active  filesystem  is checked which is not
       advised).  By default,  only  user  quotas  are  checked.   quotacheck
       expects  each  filesystem  to  be  checked  to  have quota files named
       [a]quota.user and [a]quota.group located at the root of the associated
       filesystem.  If a file is not present, quotacheck will create it.

       If  the quota file is corrupted, quotacheck tries to save as much data
       as possible.  Rescuing data may need user intervention. With no  addi-
       tional  options  quotacheck will simply exit in such a situation. When
       in interactive mode (option -i) , the user is asked for advice. Advice
       can also be provided from command line (see option -n) , which is use-
       ful when quotacheck is run automatically (ie. from script) and failure
       is unacceptable.

       quotacheck  should  be  run each time the system boots and mounts non-
       valid filesystems.  This is most  likely  to  happen  after  a  system
       crash.

       It is strongly recommended to run quotacheck with quotas turned off on
       for the filesystem. Otherwise, possible damage or loss to data in  the
       quota files can result.  It is also unwise to run quotacheck on a live
       filesystem as actual usage may change during  the  scan.   To  prevent
       this,  quotacheck  tries  to  remount  the filesystem read-only before
       starting the scan.  After the scan is done it remounts the  filesystem
       read-write.  You  can  disable this with option -m.  You can also make
       quotacheck ignore the failure to remount the filesystem read-only with
       option -M.

OPTIONS
       -b     Forces  quotacheck  to  make  backups  of the quota file before
              writing the new data.

       -v     quotacheck reports its operation as it progresses.  Normally it
              operates silently.

       -d     Enable  debugging mode.  It will result in a lot of information
              which can be used in debugging the program. The output is  very
              verbose and the scan will be slow.

       -u     Only  user  quotas  listed  in  /etc/mtab or on the filesystems
              specified are to be checked.  This is the default action.

       -g     Only group quotas listed in /etc/mtab  or  on  the  filesystems
              specified are to be checked.

       -c     Don't  read  existing  quota files. Just perform a new scan and
              save it to disk.  quotacheck also skips scanning of  old  quota
              files when they are not found.

       -f     Forces  checking  and writing of new quota files on filesystems
              with quotas enabled. This is not  recommended  as  the  created
              quota files may be out of sync.

       -M     This flag forces checking of filesystem in read-write mode if a
              remount fails. Do this only when you are sure no  process  will
              write to a filesystem while scanning.

       -m     Don't  try  to  remount  filesystem read-only. See comment with
              option -M.

       -i     Interactive mode. By default quotacheck exits when it finds  an
              error.  In  interactive  mode  user is asked for input instead.
              See option -n.

       -n     If the quota files become corrupted, it is possible for  dupli-
              cate  entries for a single user or group ID to exist.  Normally
              in this case, quotacheck exits or asks  user  for  input.  When
              this  option is set, the first entry found is always used (this
              option works in interactive mode too).

       -F format-name
              Check and fix quota files of specified format (ie.  don't  per-
              form  format  auto-detection). This is recommended as detection
              might not work well on corrupted quota files.  Possible  format
              names  are:  vfsold (version 1 quota), vfsv0 (version 2 quota),
              rpc (quota over NFS), xfs (quota on XFS filesystem)

       -a     Check all mounted non-NFS filesystems in /etc/mtab

       -R     When used together with the -a option, all  filesystems  except
              for the root filesystem are checked for quotas.


NOTE
       quotacheck  should only be run by super-user. Non-privileged users are
       presumably not allowed to  read  all  the  directories  on  the  given
       filesystem.


SEE ALSO
       quota(1),   quotactl(2),   fstab(5),   quotaon(8),  repquota(8),  con-
       vertquota(8), setquota(8), edquota(8), fsck(8),  efsck(8),  e2fsck(8),
       xfsck(8)


FILES
       aquota.user or aquota.group
                      located  at  filesystem  root  with  quotas  (version 2
                      quota, non-XFS filesystems)
       quota.user or quota.group
                      located at  filesystem  root  with  quotas  (version  1
                      quota, non-XFS filesystems)
       /etc/mtab      names and locations of mounted filesystems
AUTHOR
       Jan Kara 
       Based on old quotacheck by:
       Edvard Tuinder 
       Marco van Wieringen 



                               Fri Jul 20 2001                  quotacheck(8)