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Mpartition
==========

   The `mpartition' command is used to create MS-DOS filesystems as
partitions.  This is intended to be used on non-Linux systems, i.e.
systems where fdisk and easy access to Scsi devices are not available.
This command only works on drives whose partition variable is set.

     `mpartition' `-p' DRIVE
     `mpartition' `-r' DRIVE
     `mpartition' `-I' [`-B' BOOTSECTOR] DRIVE
     `mpartition' `-a' DRIVE
     `mpartition' `-d' DRIVE
     `mpartition' `-c' [`-s' SECTORS] [`-h' HEADS]
     [`-t' CYLINDERS] [`-v' [`-T' TYPE] [`-b'
     BEGIN] [`-l' length] [`-f']

   Mpartition supports the following operations:

`p'
     Prints a command line to recreate the partition for the drive.
     Nothing is printed if the partition for the drive is not defined,
     or an inconsistency has been detected.  If verbose (`-v') is also
     set, prints the current partition table.

`r'
     Removes the partition described by DRIVE.

`I'
     Initializes the partition table, and removes all partitions.

`c'
     Creates the partition described by DRIVE.

`a'
     "Activates" the partition, i.e. makes it bootable.  Only one
     partition can be bootable at a time.

`d'
     "Desactivates" the partition, i.e. makes it unbootable.

   If no operation is given, the current settings are printed.

   For partition creations, the following options are available:
`s SECTORS'
     The number of sectors per track of the partition (which is also the
     number of sectors per track for the whole drive).

`h HEADS'
     The number of heads of the partition (which is also the number of
     heads for the whole drive).  By default, the geometry information
     (number of sectors and heads) is figured out from neighbouring
     partition table entries, or guessed from the size.

`t CYLINDERS'
     The number of cylinders of the partition (not the number of
     cylinders of the whole drive.

`b BEGIN'
     The starting offset of the partition, expressed in sectors. If
     begin is not given, mpartition lets the partition begin at the
     start of the disk (partition number 1), or immediately after the
     end of the previous partition.

`l LENGTH'
     The size (length) of the partition, expressed in sectors.  If end
     is not given, mpartition figures out the size from the number of
     sectors, heads and cylinders.  If these are not given either, it
     gives the partition the biggest possible size, considering disk
     size and start of the next partition.

   The following option is available for all operation which modify the
partition table:
`f'
     Usually, before writing back any changes to the partition,
     mpartition performs certain consistenct checks, such as checking
     for overlaps and proper alignment of the partitions.  If any of
     these checks fails, the partition table is not changes.  The `-f'
     allows you to override these safeguards.

   The following options are available for all operations:
`v'
     Together with `-p' prints the partition table as it is now (no
     change operation), or as it is after it is modified.

`vv'
     If the verbosity flag is given twice, mpartition will print out a
     hexdump of the partition table when reading it from and writing it
     to the device.

   The following option is available for partition table initialization:
`B BOOTSECTOR'
     Reads the template master boot record from file BOOTSECTOR.