Fault Notification

If you choose, the print service can notify you when it detects a printer fault. By default, printer fault notification messages are written to the superuser's console.

fdformat

The fdformat command is used to format diskettes. fdformat formats and verifies each track on the diskette and terminates if it finds any bad sectors. By default, fdformat formats a high density diskette with a capacity of 1.44 Mbytes. A SunOSTM label is written onto the diskette unless the -d or -t options are specified.

File

A file is a named collection of related data stored on a disk.

File Contents

The contents of a UNIX file are specified by the type of file. For example, data files are generally binary format, and text files are generally ASCII format. You may use the file command to ask for a file's content type.

File Owner

The file owner is the user who creates the file or directory. When you create a new file or directory, it is owned by you. The owner of the file is also referred to as the user.

File Resource

A file resource refers to a directory or file system. For example, the /opt directory is considered a file resource.

File System

The file system is a hierarchy of directories, subdirectories, and files that are usually organized or grouped together for a specific purpose.

find

The find command searches directories for files that match a given set of criteria. A file can be found by searching for its name, size, creation date, or other criteria. Multiple criteria may be joined together to search for specific individual files.

Firmware

Firmware programs are permanently installed in a chip. The Boot PROM and non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM) chips are examples of firmware. Some parts of the programs can be upgraded and placed on newer systems.

FNS

The FNS (Federated Naming Service) provides a method for federating multiple naming services under a single, simple interface for naming and directory operations. Naming services that can be linked with FNS include: network information services plus (NIS+), network information services (NIS), files, domain name services (DNS), and X.500/lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP).

Fork

fork (or spawn) is an operating system routine that creates a new process. The new process (called the child process) is an exact copy of the forking process (called parent process).

format

The format command is used to perform low-level maintenance operations on disk drives. format enables you to format, label, repair, and analyze disks on your system. format is unlike other disk maintenance programs in that it can be run while the system is running in multiuser mode.

Frame Buffer

The frame buffer is a portion of memory that serves as the pixelmap of the image being displayed. In some systems this frame buffer resides in several interchangable memory areas (pages). It is usually in a permanently allocated portion of memory which can be directly accessed by the video controller, without the system bus being tied up.

Free Hog

The free hog partition is used to modify the partitions on a file system. This partition automatically grows or shrinks as you modify the size of other partitions on the disk. If the free hog partition is zero, you must shrink another partition to create some space in the free hog partition before you can increase the size of the other partition.

ftp

The ftp command is the user interface to the Internet standard File Transfer Protocol (FTP). ftp is used to transfer files to and from a remote network site.

Full Dump

A full dump backs up the contents of an entire file system; full dumps are performed at lengthy intervals.

Full Resynchronization

In the network information services plus (NIS+) environment, a full resynchronization or "resync" happens if the master server receives a timestamp that is earlier than the earliest timestamp recorded in the transaction log from a replica. A resync downloads to the replica all of the objects and information stored in the master.