btrfs(8) — Linux manual page

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | COMMAND SYNTAX | COMMANDS | STANDALONE TOOLS | EXIT STATUS | AVAILABILITY | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON

BTRFS(8)                      Btrfs Manual                      BTRFS(8)

NAME         top

       btrfs - a toolbox to manage btrfs filesystems

SYNOPSIS         top

       btrfs <command> [<args>]

DESCRIPTION         top

       The btrfs utility is a toolbox for managing btrfs filesystems.
       There are command groups to work with subvolumes, devices, for
       whole filesystem or other specific actions. See section COMMANDS.

       There are also standalone tools for some tasks like btrfs-convert
       or btrfstune that were separate historically and/or haven’t been
       merged to the main utility. See section STANDALONE TOOLS for more
       details.

       For other topics (mount options, etc) please refer to the
       separate manual page btrfs(5).

COMMAND SYNTAX         top

       Any command name can be shortened so long as the shortened form
       is unambiguous, however, it is recommended to use full command
       names in scripts. All command groups have their manual page named
       btrfs-<group>.

       For example: it is possible to run btrfs sub snaps instead of
       btrfs subvolume snapshot. But btrfs file s is not allowed,
       because file s may be interpreted both as filesystem show and as
       filesystem sync.

       If the command name is ambiguous, the list of conflicting options
       is printed.

       For an overview of a given command use btrfs command --help or
       btrfs [command...] --help --full to print all available options.

COMMANDS         top

       balance
           Balance btrfs filesystem chunks across single or several
           devices.

           See btrfs-balance(8) for details.

       check
           Do off-line check on a btrfs filesystem.

           See btrfs-check(8) for details.

       device
           Manage devices managed by btrfs, including add/delete/scan
           and so on.

           See btrfs-device(8) for details.

       filesystem
           Manage a btrfs filesystem, including label setting/sync and
           so on.

           See btrfs-filesystem(8) for details.

       inspect-internal
           Debug tools for developers/hackers.

           See btrfs-inspect-internal(8) for details.

       property
           Get/set a property from/to a btrfs object.

           See btrfs-property(8) for details.

       qgroup
           Manage quota group(qgroup) for btrfs filesystem.

           See btrfs-qgroup(8) for details.

       quota
           Manage quota on btrfs filesystem like enabling/rescan and
           etc.

           See btrfs-quota(8) and btrfs-qgroup(8) for details.

       receive
           Receive subvolume data from stdin/file for restore and etc.

           See btrfs-receive(8) for details.

       replace
           Replace btrfs devices.

           See btrfs-replace(8) for details.

       rescue
           Try to rescue damaged btrfs filesystem.

           See btrfs-rescue(8) for details.

       restore
           Try to restore files from a damaged btrfs filesystem.

           See btrfs-restore(8) for details.

       scrub
           Scrub a btrfs filesystem.

           See btrfs-scrub(8) for details.

       send
           Send subvolume data to stdout/file for backup and etc.

           See btrfs-send(8) for details.

       subvolume
           Create/delete/list/manage btrfs subvolume.

           See btrfs-subvolume(8) for details.

STANDALONE TOOLS         top

       New functionality could be provided using a standalone tool. If
       the functionality proves to be useful, then the standalone tool
       is declared obsolete and its functionality is copied to the main
       tool. Obsolete tools are removed after a long (years)
       depreciation period.

       Tools that are still in active use without an equivalent in
       btrfs:

       btrfs-convert
           in-place conversion from ext2/3/4 filesystems to btrfs

       btrfstune
           tweak some filesystem properties on a unmounted filesystem

       btrfs-select-super
           rescue tool to overwrite primary superblock from a spare copy

       btrfs-find-root
           rescue helper to find tree roots in a filesystem

       Deprecated and obsolete tools:

       btrfs-debug-tree
           moved to btrfs inspect-internal dump-tree. Removed from
           source distribution.

       btrfs-show-super
           moved to btrfs inspect-internal dump-super, standalone
           removed.

       btrfs-zero-log
           moved to btrfs rescue zero-log, standalone removed.

       For space-constrained environments, it’s possible to build a
       single binary with functionality of several standalone tools.
       This is following the concept of busybox where the file name
       selects the functionality. This works for symlinks or hardlinks.
       The full list can be obtained by btrfs help --box.

EXIT STATUS         top

       btrfs returns a zero exit status if it succeeds. Non zero is
       returned in case of failure.

AVAILABILITY         top

       btrfs is part of btrfs-progs. Please refer to the btrfs wiki
       http://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org for further details.

SEE ALSO         top

       btrfs(5), btrfs-balance(8), btrfs-check(8), btrfs-convert(8),
       btrfs-device(8), btrfs-filesystem(8), btrfs-inspect-internal(8),
       btrfs-property(8), btrfs-qgroup(8), btrfs-quota(8),
       btrfs-receive(8), btrfs-replace(8), btrfs-rescue(8),
       btrfs-restore(8), btrfs-scrub(8), btrfs-send(8),
       btrfs-subvolume(8), btrfstune(8), mkfs.btrfs(8)

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the btrfs-progs (btrfs filesystem tools)
       project.  Information about the project can be found at 
       ⟨https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Btrfs_source_repositories⟩.
       If you have a bug report for this manual page, see
       ⟨https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Problem_FAQ#How_do_I_report_bugs_and_issues.3F⟩.
       This page was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
       ⟨git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/kdave/btrfs-progs.git⟩
       on 2024-06-14.  (At that time, the date of the most recent commit
       that was found in the repository was 2024-05-02.)  If you
       discover any rendering problems in this HTML version of the page,
       or you believe there is a better or more up-to-date source for
       the page, or you have corrections or improvements to the
       information in this COLOPHON (which is not part of the original
       manual page), send a mail to [email protected]

Btrfs v5.16.1                  02/06/2022                       BTRFS(8)

Pages that refer to this page: systemd-nspawn(1)org.freedesktop.import1(5)fsck.btrfs(8)mkfs.btrfs(8)systemd-gpt-auto-generator(8)