# partition(8)

    NAME
         partition - make a partition table

    SYNOPSIS
         partition [-mfn] device [type:]length[+*] ...

    DESCRIPTION
         Partition makes a partition table on device using  the  types  and  sizes
         given.   It  may be used in combination with repartition(8) for automatic
         installation of Minix.

         You  may  give  up  to  four  type:length[+*]  specifications   for   the
         partitions.   You  may  also specify holes before, between, and after the
         partitions.  A hole differs from a partition specification by not  having
         a type.

         The first hole is by default 1 sector  to  make  space  for  the  primary
         bootstrap and the partition table.  The other holes are 0.

         The type field is the type of the partitition in hexadecimal.  The length
         field  is  the partition's size in sectors.  The + or * may optionally be
         added to indicate that the partition must  be  expanded  to  contain  any
         leftover space on the device or to mark the partition active.

         Instead of a lenght you may use  the  word  exist  to  indicate  that  an
         existing  partition of the given type must be kept from the old partition
         table.

         Partitions are padded out to cylinder boundaries, except  for  the  first
         one,  it  starts  on  track  1.   Some operating systems care about this.
         Minix and MS-DOS do not.

    OPTIONS

         -m   Minix only, no need to pad partitions.   This  is  the  default  for
              subpartition tables.

         -f   Force making a partition table even if the device is too small.

         -n   Play-act, don't write the new table, just show what  it  would  look
              like.

    EXAMPLE
         partition /dev/hd0 01:16384 81:40000 81:2880* 06:20000+

         Partitions disk 0 into an 8 Mb DOS partition, 20 Mb Minix /usr,  1.44  Mb
         Minix / (active), and a DOS partition of at least 10 Mb at the end of the
         disk.  (06:0+ would have been ok too, it's just a sanity check.)

    SEE ALSO
         hd(4), part(8), repartition(8).

    AUTHOR
         Kees J. Bot (kjb@cs.vu.nl)