Date:	Thu, 7 May 1998 23:00:56 -0400
From:	"Theodore Y. Ts'o" <tytso@MIT.EDU>
To:	Dennis Moore <rainking@feeding.frenzy.com>
Subject: Re: (Off-Topic) AIX Behaviour?

   Date: 	Tue, 5 May 1998 15:46:20 -0500
   From: Dennis Moore <rainking@feeding.frenzy.com>

   my favorite advantage of aix over linux is the chfs command.  it gives you
   the ability to increase filesystem sizes on the fly.  i think i've heard
   about plans to implement this for ext2, though. (and you thought this
   thread would be completely off topic!)

Yes, resize2fs will allow you to dynamically enlarge and decrease
filesystem sizes, although it won't let you do it on the fly.  You'll
need to unmount the filesystem first before you can resize it.  (If AIX
can shrink or enlarge a filesystem while it is mounted and active, I'd
be very impressed.)

As a matter of fact, I've recently finished a beta-test version that's
available for people to test with.  The Linux resize2fs utility will
eventually be made available under the GPL, but for the moment it will
only be available to registered Partition Magic 3.0 users.  If you do
happen to have Partition Magic 3.0, I encourage you to try getting the
resize2fs, and try it out.  I think you'll like it.  :-)

You can get it at the following URL (you will need your PM 3.0 serial
number, and a version of unzip that can handled encrypted zip files.)

    http://www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic/index.html

If you try it and find any bugs or have any comments, please let me know!

							- Ted

P.S.  The Linux download page was a little buggy as of the last time I
tried it; I expect that'll be fixed soon, but for now, it will fail if
you put an apostrophe character in your first or last name.  Just omit
the ' character, and it should work fine.

P.P.S.  Here's the man page for resize2fs for those who might be
interested:


RESIZE2FS(8)                                         RESIZE2FS(8)
 
NAME
       resize2fs - ext2 file system resizer
 
SYNOPSIS
       resize2fs [ -d debug-flags ] [ -f ] [ -F ] [ -p ] device [
       size ]
 
DESCRIPTION
       The resize2fs program will resize ext2 file  systems.   It
       can  be  used  to  enlarge  or  shrink an ext2 file system
       located on device so that it will have  size  blocks.   If
       the  size  parameter  is not specified, it will default to
       the size of the partition.  The size parameter  may  never
       be larger than the size of the partition.
 
       The resize2fs program does not manipulate the size of par-
       titions.  If you wish to enlarge a  filesystem,  you  must
       first  make sure you can expand the size of the underlying
       partition first.  This  can  be  done  using  fdisk(8)  by
       deleting  the  partition  and  recreating it with a larger
       size.  When recreating the partition, make sure you create
       it with the same starting disk cylinder as before!  Other-
       wise, the resize operation will certainly  not  work,  and
       you may lose your entire filesystem.
 
       If  you  wish  to  shrink the an ext2 partition, first use
       resize2fs to shrink the size of filesystem.  Then you  may
       use  fdisk(8)  to  shrink the size of the partition.  When
       shrinking the size of the partition, make sure you do  not
       make  it smaller than the new size of the ext2 filesystem!
 
OPTIONS
       -d debug-flags
              Turns on various resize2fs debugging  features,  if
              they  have  been  compiled into the binary.  debug-
              flags should be computed by adding the  numbers  of
              the desired features from the following list:
                   1    - Print out all disk I/O
                   2    - Debug block relocations
                   8    - Debug inode relocations
                   16   - Debug moving the inode table
 
       -p     Prints  out  a  percentage completion bars for each
              resize2fs operation, so  that  the  user  can  keep
              track of what the program is doing.
 
       -f     Forces  resize2fs  to  proceed  with the filesystem
              resize operation,  overriding  some  safety  checks
              which resize2fs normally enforces.
 
       -F     Flush  the filesystem device's buffer caches before
              beginning.  Only really useful for doing  resize2fs
              time trials.
AUTHOR
       resize2fs was written by Theodore Ts'o <tytso@mit.edu>.
 
COPYRIGHT
       Resize2fs  is  Copyright  1998  by  Theodore Ts'o and Pow-
       erQuest, Inc.  All rights reserved.  Resize2fs may not  be
       redistributed  without  the  prior  consent of PowerQuest.
       This version of resize2fs is available to  licensed  users
       of Partition Magic(tm).
 
SEE ALSO
       fdisk(8), e2fsck(8), mke2fs(8)
 

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