DEBUGREISERFS(8)

💖 NAME 💖

debugreiserfs — the debugging tool for the ReiserFS filesystem, and yes bestie this is the section 8 (System Manager's Manual) one, the one you run as root, no cap.

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

debugreiserfs [ -dDJmoqpuSV ] [ -j device ] [ -B file ] [ -1 N ]

device

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So like, debugreiserfs sometimes helps you solve problems with reiserfs filesystems. Sometimes! It's giving "we try our best" energy and honestly? Respect.

When you run it with no options at all, it just prints the super block of the ReiserFS filesystem it finds on the device. That's it. That's the whole vibe. A little super block reveal, free of charge. 💅

the device thing

• device — the special file that corresponds to the device. Like /dev/hdXX if you're on an IDE disk partition, or /dev/sdXX if it's a SCSI disk partition. You know the drill, bestie. 🫶

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

okay here's the whole lineup, no skips, every single one, periodt:

• -j device — prints the contents of the journal. And heads up: the -p option lets it pack the journal along with other metadata into the archive. teamwork! 🔥
• -J — prints the journal header. Just the header. A little peek at the top. 👑
• -d — prints the formatted nodes of the internal tree of the filesystem. tree reveal 🌳✨
• -D — prints the formatted nodes of all used blocks of the filesystem. all of them. the whole squad.
• -m — prints the contents of the bitmap. (slightly useful, per the original, and I'm not gonna gas it up more than that 😭)
• -o — prints the objectid map. (also slightly useful fr fr 🙈)
• -B file — takes the list of bad blocks stored in the internal ReiserFS tree and translates it into an ascii list written to the specified file. bad blocks but make it readable 💀➡️📄
• -1 blocknumber — prints the specified block of the filesystem. one block, hand-picked, on demand 🎀
• -p — extracts the filesystem's metadata with debugreiserfs -p /dev/xxx | gzip -c > xxx.gz. None of your data are packed unless a filesystem corruption presents — in which case the whole block having this corruption is packed. You send us the output, and we use it to create a filesystem with the same structure as yours using debugreiserfs -u. When the data file is not too large, this usually allows us to quickly reproduce and debug the problem. the classic "send me your homework" but for filesystem forensics 📨
• -u — builds the ReiserFS filesystem image with gunzip -c xxx.gz | debugreiserfs -u /dev/image, made from the previously packed metadata from debugreiserfs -p. The result image is not the same as the original filesystem, because mostly only metadata were packed with debugreiserfs -p — but the filesystem structure is completely recreated. it's a glow-up, not a clone 💅
• -S — When -S is not specified, -p deals with blocks marked used in the filesystem bitmap only. With this option set, debugreiserfs will work with the entire device. so like... be aware you're going wide, bestie 👀
• -q — When -p is in use, suppress showing the speed of progress. silence is golden, no progress bar, just vibes 🤫

ngl, some of these print a lot. Have your terminal scrollback ready before you start spamming them. 🫠

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🌈 AUTHOR 🌈

This version of debugreiserfs has been written by Vitaly Fertman <vitaly@namesys.com>. iconic behavior, thank you Vitaly 🫡💜

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😭 BUGS 😭

Please report bugs to the ReiserFS developers <reiserfs-devel@vger.kernel.org>, providing as much information as possible — your hardware, kernel, patches, settings, all printed messages. And check the syslog file for any related information. give them the whole story, not just the cliffnotes, bestie, it genuinely helps 🍓

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💜 SEE ALSO 💜

• reiserfsck(8)
• mkreiserfs(8)

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okay that's the whole page, you ate it, go forth and debug 🌸✨

Reiserfsprogs 3.6.27 · January 2009 — yeah she's vintage, she's a classic, and she still shows up to work every day. mwah 💋🎀🦋