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# The mkfs.s3ql command

## Synopsis

    mkfs.s3ql [options] <storage url>

## Description

The mkfs.s3ql command creates a new file system in the location specified by storage url. The storage url depends on the backend that is used. The S3QL User’s Guide should be consulted for a description of the available backends.

Unless you have specified the `--plain` option, `mkfs.s3ql` will ask you to enter an encryption password. This password will not be read from an authentication file specified with the `--authfile` option to prevent accidental creation of an encrypted file system.

## Options

The mkfs.s3ql command accepts the following options.

> `--cachedir <path>`
> | Store cached data in this directory (default: `~/.s3ql)` (default: /home/nikratio/.s3ql)
> `--authfile <path>`
> | Read authentication credentials from this file (default: `~/.s3ql/authinfo2)` (default: /home/nikratio/.s3ql/authinfo2)
> `--debug <module>`
> | activate debugging output from <module>. Use `all` to get debug messages from all modules. This option can be specified multiple times. (default: None)
> `--quiet` | be really quiet (default: False)
> `--ssl` | Always use SSL connections when connecting to remote servers. For backends that allow only encrypted connections, S3QL uses SSL automatically, even if this option is not set. (default: False)
> `--version` | just print program version and exit
> `-L <name>` | Filesystem label (default: )
> `--max-obj-size <size>`
> | Maximum size of storage objects in KiB. Files bigger than this will be spread over multiple objects in the storage backend. Default: 10240 KiB.
> `--plain` | Create unencrypted file system. (default: False)
> `--force` | Overwrite any existing data. (default: False)

## Exit Status

mkfs.s3ql returns exit code 0 if the operation succeeded and 1 if some error occurred.

## See Also

The S3QL homepage is at http://code.google.com/p/s3ql/.

The full S3QL documentation should also be installed somewhere on your system, common locations are `/usr/share/doc/s3ql` or `/usr/local/doc/s3ql`.

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