4.2. Managing an ext4 File System

In order to manage ext4 file systems on Red Hat Eterprise Linux 5, it is necessary to install the e4fsprogs package. You can use the Yum utility to install the package: 
~]# yum install e4fsprogs
The e4fsprogs package contains renamed static binaries from the equivalent upstream e2fsprogs release. This has been done to ensure stability of the e2fsprogs core utilities with all the changes for ext4 included. The most important of these utilities are:
  • mke4fs — A utility used to create an ext4 file system.
  • mkfs.ext4 — Another command used to create an ext4 file system.
  • e4fsck — A utility used to repair inconsistencies of an ext4 file system.
  • tune4fs — A utility used to modify ext4 file system attributes.
  • resize4fs — A utility used to resize an ext4 file system.
  • e4label — A utility used to display or modify the label of the ext4 file system.
  • dumpe4fs — A utility used to display the super block and blocks group information for the ext4 file system.
  • debuge4fs — An interactive file system debugger, used to examine ext4 file systems, manually repair corrupted file systems and create test cases for e4fsck.
The following sections walk you through the steps for creating and tuning ext4 partitions.