growlight-readline - Man Page

growlight-readline [-h|--help] [-i|--import] [-v|--verbose] [-V|--version] [-t path|--target=path]

growlight-readline detects and describes disk pools, block devices, partition tables, and partitions. It can partition devices, manipulate ZFS, MD, DM, LVM and hardware RAID virtual devices, and prepare an fstab file for using the devices to boot or in a chroot, and is fully aware of variable sector sizes, GPT, and UEFI. growlight-readline facilitates use of UUID/WWN- and HBA-based identification of block devices.

This page describes the line-based implementation. Consult growlight(8) for a fullscreen notcurses(3)-based variant.

-h|--help

: Print a brief usage summary, and exit.

-i|--import

: Attempt to assemble aggregates (zpools, MD devices, etc) based on block device scans at startup.

-v|--verbose

: Be more verbose.

-V|--version

: Print version information and exit.

--notroot

: Force growlight-readline to start without necessary privileges (it will usually refuse to start).

-t path|--target=path

: Run in system installation mode, using path as the temporary mountpoint for the target's root filesystem. "map" commands will populate the hierarchy rooted at this mountpoint. System installation mode can also be entered at run time with the "target" command. The "map" command will not result in active mounts unless growlight-readline is operating in system installation mode (they will merely be used to construct target fstab output). Once system installation mode is entered, growlight-readline will return 0 only as a result of a successful invocation of the "target finalize" command. path must exist at the time of its specification.

growlight-readline implements an interactive command line driven via GNU Readline. Commands are entered; a newline causes input to be interpreted, and output resulting from this interpretation is displayed to the user. Unlike programs such as fdisk(8) and gdisk(8), growlight-readline acts on commands immediately: it neither requires nor provides an explicit commit step (though several commands do require confirmation).

An argument specified as blockdev can be either a real block device, a virtual block device, or a partition. An argument specified as partition must be a partition within some kernel-recognized partition table. An argument specified as fs must be a kernel-recognizable filesystem. An argument specified as uuid must be 36 ASCII characters forming a valid DCE 1.1 UUID. Devices can be specified via any appropriate identifier (label, UUID, etc.).

**uefiboot [ -protectmbr ]**

Prepare the target for UEFI-based booting. A target root filesystem map must be defined, and this filesystem must be mounted at the chroot's toplevel. The filesystem must reside within a GPT partition having the EFI System Partition (ef00) TUID of C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B. This GPT table must not reside on an mdadm, device-mapper, or zfs device. Preferably, no other devices in the system are bootable, but this is not enforced.

If all these conditions are met, GRUB2 will be installed into this filesystem, configured to boot a Linux kernel residing at FIXME. This kernel must be compiled with EFI stub loader support. The bootloader portion of the device's MBR will be overwritten with zeroes, if possible, to deter attempting to perform a BIOS/MBR boot from the device. Alternatively, the -protectmbr option will install a "protective MBR" consisting of one type 0xEE (EFI GPT) partition spanning the disk. This might be preferable if interoperating with GPT-unaware tools.

**biosboot**

Prepare the target for BIOS-based booting. A target root filesystem map must be defined, and this filesystem must be mounted at the chroot's toplevel. The filesystem must reside either within a GPT partition having the BIOS Boot Partition (ef02) TUID of 21686148-6449-6E6F-744E-656564454649, or within a MBR partition having type 0x83 (Linux). The partition table must not reside on an mdadm, device-mapper, or zfs device. Preferably, no other devices in the system are bootable, but this is not enforced.

If all these conditions are met, GRUB2 will be installed into this filesystem at /boot/grub, configured to boot a Linux kernel residing at FIXME. GRUB2's first stage will be loaded into the bootloader portion of the device's MBR. The partition containing GRUB2 will be marked as active (flag 0x80).

**adapter reset adapter**
**adapter rescan adapter**
**adapter detail adapter**
**adapter [ -v ]**

Passed no arguments, adapter lists each HBA (Host Bus Adapter) device known to the system, including those not actively used. Passed "-v", attached devices of each HBA will also be listed. For each adapter listed, the first token is an identifier suitable for use with other adapter subcommands (it is typically the device driver's module name suffixed by a small integer, but the exact form is intentionally left implementation-defined). The "reset" subcommand resets the HBA, if it supports this functionality. The "rescan" subcommand causes the kernel to scan the HBA for newly connected devices. Both operations are performed via the Linux kernel's sysfs filesystem. "detail" will display detailed information about the adapter.

**blockdev rescan blockdev**
**blockdev badblocks blockdev [ rw ]**
**blockdev wipebiosboot blockdev**
**blockdev ataerase blockdev**
**blockdev rmtable blockdev**
**blockdev mktable [ blockdev tabletype ]**
**blockdev detail blockdev**
**blockdev [ -v ]**

Passed no arguments, blockdev concisely lists all block devices recognized by the system. Passed "-v", partitions and filesystems present on a given block device will also be listed. The "rescan" command causes the kernel to reanalyze the device's geometry and partition tables. Any changes will be propagated to growlight-readline. "badblocks" runs a non-destructive bad block check on the device. If provided "rw", "badblocks" will perform a destructive, lenghtier, more strenuous read-write check. "wipebiosboot" writes zeroes to the BIOS bootcode section of a disk (the first 446 bytes of the first sector), hopefully ensuring that no attempt will be made to perform a BIOS-type boot from the device. "ataerase" uses the ATA Secure Erase functionality of the disk, if supported, to restore the device to factory settings. This can lead to noticeably improved performance from used Solid State Devices (SSDs). "rmtable" will attempt to write zeros over all partition table structures such that libblkid(3) does not recognize the disk as being partitioned. "mktable" will create a partition table of the provided type; with no arguments, supported partition table types are listed. "detail" will display detailed information about the block device.

**partition del partition**
**partition add blockdev size name type**
**partition setuuid partition uuid**
**partition setname partition name**
**partition settype [ partition type ]**
**partition setflag [ partition on|off flag ]**
**partition [ -v ]**

Passed no arguments, partition concisely lists all detected partitions. Passed "-v", data present on a given partition will also be listed. "del" attempts to convert a partition to unallocated space. "add" attempts to carve a partition of the specified size, type and name from the specified block device's free space. "size" may be either a single number, representing a size in bytes, or a range indicated by one or two numbers separated by a colon. A range with no first number specifies "empty space up until this sector." A range with no second number specifies "empty space following this sector." A range with two numbers indicates "the specified range", and must be wholly contained within free space. A size of 0 indicates "all space available." When a size is used instead of a sector range, the space is taken from the largest free space. "setuuid" attempts to set the partition GUID (not the Type UUID) to uuid. "setname" attempts to set the partition label to name. With no arguments, "settype" lists the types supported by various partitioning schemes. Otherwise, it attempts to set the specified type on the specified partition. With no arguments, "setflag" lists the partition flags supported by this system. Otherwise, it attempts to set or unset the specified flag on the specified partition.

**fs mkfs [ blockdev fstype label ]**
**fs wipefs blockdev**
**fs fsck blockdev**
**fs setuuid blockdev uuid**
**fs setlabel blockdev label**
**fs loop file mountpoint mnttype options**
**fs mount blockdev mountpoint mnttype options**
**fs umount blockdev**
**fs**

Passed no arguments, fs concisely lists all detected possible filesystems, irrespective of mount status or viability. The "mkfs" subcommand will create a filesystem on the specified block device of the specified type, having the specified label (possibly truncated). "mkfs" with no arguments lists supported filesystem types. "wipefs" will attempt to destroy the specified filesystem's superblocks, to the degree that libblkid(3) does not detect them. "setuuid" will set the UUID of the filesystem on blockdev, assuming that filesystem supports UUIDs. "setlabel" will set the volume label of the filesystem on blockdev, assuming that filesystem supports volume labels. "mount" will attempt to mount the block device as a mnttype-type filesystem at mountpoint. This mount will not be added to either the host or target's /etc/fstab, and will thus not persist across reboots. "loop" will attempt to mount the file as a mnttype-type filesystem at mountpoint using a loop device. "umount" will attempt to unmount the filesystem underlain by blockdev. "fsck" will check the filesystem for correctness.

**swap on swapdev label [ uuid ]**
**swap off swapdev**
**swap**

Passed no arguments, swap concisely lists each swap device known to the system, including those not actively used. The "on" subcommand attempts to create and use a swap device on swapdev. This command will fail if swapdev is referenced by any map, mount, md device, dm device, or zpool, if swapdev is not writable, or on any mkswap(8) or swapon(2) error. The "off" subcommand attempts to halt an active swap device (it does not write to the swap device itself, and thus the swap device remains usable). It will fail if the device is not an active swap, or on any swapoff(2) failure.

**mdadm arguments**
**mdadm [ -v ]**

Passed no arguments, mdadm concisely lists each MD (Multiple Device, aka the Linux kernel's mdraid driver) device currently available to the system. Passed "-v", each MD device's components will also be listed. Otherwise, arguments will be sanitized and passed to the external mdadm(8) tool. Note that this behavior is subject to change as MD is more fully integrated.

**dmsetup arguments**

Arguments are sanitized and passed to the external dmsetup(8) tool. Note that this behavior is subject to change as DM is more fully integrated.

**zpool arguments**
**zpool [ -v ]**

Passed no arguments, zpool concisely lists each zpool (ZFS storage pool) device currently available to the system. Passed "-v", each zpool's components will also be listed. Otherwise, arguments will be sanitized and passed to the external zpool(8) tool. Note that this behavior is subject to change as ZFS is more fully integrated.

**zfs arguments**

Arguments are sanitized and passed to the external zfs(8) tool. This command is not expected to be retained once ZFS is fully integrated.

**target set path**
**target unset**
**target finalize**
**target**

The set subcommand sets the target (see the --target option). If a target has already been set, the command will fail. If path does not exist in the current filesystem, the command will fail. If path exists, but is not a directory, the command will fail. Called with unset, undefines the target and all mappings therein. If there is no target defined, the command will fail. Called with finalize, the target's /etc/fstab will be written out. Called with no arguments, lists the current target (if one exists).

**map [ mountdev mountpoint options ]**
**map**

Provided no arguments, map dumps the target's /etc/fstab as currently envisioned. Otherwise, attempt to mount mountdev at mountpoint (relative to the target root) as a filesystem of appropriate type, using the specified mount options (see mount(8)). If the mount is successful, the mapping will be added to the target /etc/fstab (though this will not be written out until target finalize is run). The map command is unavailable unless in system preparation mode (see target).

**unmap mountpoint**

unmap removes the target map, and unmounts the associated mount. The mapping will no longer be carried into the target's /etc/fstab. The mountpoint is relative to the target root.

**mounts**

Displays all currently-mounted filesystems. Accepts no arguments.

**grubmap**

Invokes grub-mkdevicemap to display GRUB2's calculated device map. This will not overwrite any existing device map, but is included merely for diagnostic purposes. Accepts no arguments.

**benchmark blockdev**

Run a simple, non-destructive benchmark on the block device. Currently, this is implemented via hdparm -t.

**troubleshoot**

Look for problems, both physical and logical, in the storage setup. This command's behavior is not yet well-defined FIXME.

**version**

Displays the &dhpackage; banner and version, and the version of various tools/libraries. version accepts no arguments.

**diags [ count ]**

Dump up through count diagnostic messages from the logging ringbuffer to stdout. Provided no parameter, all available diagnostic messages will be printed. Timestamps are printed along with each message.

**help command**
**help**

Invoked upon a command, help displays that command's synopsis. Otherwise, help lists a synopsis of each command.

**quit**

Exits the program. See the --target command line option and target command to understand the conditions for a successful return during installation mode. quit accepts no arguments.

Pedantic collections of ambiguous identifiers (for instance, if a label equals another device's /dev/ name) will lead to questionable results. This ought be fixed.

mount (2), swapoff (2), swapon (2), umount (2), libblkid (3), notcurses (3), fstab (5), proc (5), inotify (7), udev (7), blkid(8),, dmraid(8), dmsetup (8), growlight(8), grub-install (8), grub-mkdevicemap (8), hdparm (8), losetup (8), lsblk (8), mdadm (8), mkfs (8), mount (8), parted (8), sfdisk (8), umount (8), zfs (8), zpool (8)

nick black <nickblack@linux.com>.

growlight(8).