background-fsck · shipping · also background filesystem check

Background fsck

Background fsck is a filesystem-specific consistency-checking mode that performs permitted repairs while the filesystem remains in use.

Related Observatory article: Background fsck on hesela.com

The 2002 BSD design uses a snapshot and kernel-assisted reclamation. [1] The FreeBSD 14.3 manual requires eligible soft-updates filesystems and stops background cleaning on unexpected errors. [2]

Relations

related

soft-updates, snapshot, filesystem-consistency-invariant

Limitations

• This is not a generic permission to run an arbitrary repair tool against a mounted filesystem. [1]

Citations

1. McKusick. Running "fsck" in the Background. BSDCon 2002, pp. 55-64, sections 4-7. (accessed 2026-10-15)
2. FreeBSD 14.3-RELEASE fsck_ffs(8): background checking, eligibility and exit status. (accessed 2026-10-15)
3. Hesela: Soft updates and metadata ordering (accessed 2026-10-15)

JSON: /data/terms/background-fsck.json