.TH "UML_MKCOW" "1" 
.SH "NAME" 
uml_mkcow \(em create a new COW file 
.SH "SYNOPSIS" 
.PP 
\fBuml_mkcow\fR [\fI-f\fR]  [COW_file]  [backing_file]  
.SH "DESCRIPTION" 
.PP 
This manual page documents briefly the 
\fBuml_mkcow\fR command. 
.PP 
This manual page was written for the \fBDebian GNU/Linux\fP distribution 
because the original program does not have a manual page. 
Instead, it has documentation in HTML format; see below. 
.PP 
\fBuml_mkcow\fR is a small utility to create 
COW (Copy-On-Write) files without the need to run the full UML kernel. 
 
.PP 
NOTE: you can save a lot of disk space using COW files. 
When checking the size of the COW file in order to see the gobs 
of space that you're saving, make sure you use 'ls \-ls' to see the actual 
disk consumption rather than the length of the file. The COW file is 
sparse, so the length will be very different from the disk usage. 
.SH "OPTIONS" 
.IP "\fB-f\fP" 10 
Force overwrite of an exsiting COW file. 
.SH "EXAMPLES" 
.PP 
Create a new COW file: 
.PP 
\fBuml_mkcow\fR rootfs_COW rootfs 
.PP 
Overwrite (destroying) an existing COW file: 
.PP 
\fBuml_mkcow\fR \-f rootfs_COW rootfs 
.SH "SEE ALSO" 
.PP 
The \fIUserModeLinux-HOWTO (link to URL http://user-mode-linux.sourceforge.net/UserModeLinux-HOWTO.html) \fR 
.SH "AUTHOR" 
.PP 
uml_mkcow was written by Steve Schnepp. 
.PP 
This manual page was written by Mattia Dongili malattia@debian.org for 
the \fBDebian GNU/Linux\fP system, based on material in the 
UserModeLinux-HOWTO by Rusty Russell. 
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