.\" Copyright (C) 1998 David A. Hinds -- dahinds@users.sourceforge.net
.\" ftl_format.1 1.10 2000/06/12 21:24:48
.\"
.TH FTL_FORMAT 1 "2000/06/12 21:24:48" "pcmcia-cs"
.SH NAME
ftl_format \- Flash Translation Layer formatting utility
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B ftl_format
.RB [ -q ]
.RB [ -i ]
.RB [ "\-s "\c
.IR spare ]
.RB [ "\-r "\c
.IR reserve ]
.RB [ "\-b "\c
.IR bootsize ]
.I device
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B Ftl_format
creates a Flash Translation Layer partition on a flash memory device.   
It needs to access the flash partition's raw character-mode device
(such as
.IR /dev/mem0c0c ).
.PP
This is actually a low-level format operation, required before
accessing a memory device via the FTL block device driver.  Once a
partition is prepared with
.BR ftl_format ,
a filesystem should be created in a separate step.  Filesystem
commands should access the device via the FTL device file (such as
.IR /dev/ftl0 ).
.PP
Optionally,
.B ftl_format
can reserve a region at the beginning of the flash card address space
for a boot image (or any other purpose).  The boot area is not part of
the FTL partition, and can only be accessed via the raw memory device.
.PP
On Intel Series 100 flash cards, the first flash block is used to
store the card's configuration information structures.  If no boot
area is specified on the command line,
.B ftl_format
will automatically create one to span the first block.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.B \-q
Quiet mode: don't print formatting statistics.
.TP
.B \-i
Interactive: confirm before beginning the format.
.TP
.BI "\-s " spare
Reserve the specified number of erase blocks as spares.  The default
is 1.  A read-write partition requires at least one spare block.
.TP
.BI "\-r " reserve
Reserve the specified percentage of the total space on the device to
improve write efficiency.  The default is 5%.  Reserving less space
increases the frequency of flash erase operations to reclaim free
blocks.
.TP
.BI "\-b " bootsize
Requests that a portion of the flash card be reserved for a boot
image.  The size will be rounded up to an integral number of erase
blocks.
.SH AUTHOR
David Hinds \- dahinds@users.sourceforge.net
.SH "SEE ALSO"
ftl_cs(4), ftl_check(8).