diskfmt

A disk formatting utility for linux that is similar to the windows format utility. Currently it uses the UDisks2 system service (via the udisks2 crate) for the heavy lifting. Other backends can be conceptually added later.

Raison d'etre

Small, good defaults and easy to use, especially for users coming from windows to linux.

Screenshot

Notes

If you need to be able to create exfat partitions, you need to install exfatprogs package on your distribution if not already available.

Intentional policies

• Filters non-removable devices (to avoid accidents).
• Defaults to GPT tables when choosing a block device. MBR can still be chosen from the UI.
• When choosing a block device, diskfmt will still create a partition and format it.
• Defaults to exfat if available (falling back to vfat, ext4, etc.), since it's writable with no extra permissions and supports large files.

Build dependencies

• Rust
• A C++17 compiler
• CMake + (make or ninja)
• FLTK build deps:
  • libx11-dev
  • libxext-dev
  • libxft-dev
  • libxinerama-dev
  • libxcursor-dev
  • libxrender-dev
  • libxfixes-dev
  • libpango1.0-dev (will install libcairo devel as well)

Runtime dependencies

• Udisks2 system service. On a linux system with a desktop environment, the following runtime dependencies are most likely present:
• libX11
• libXext
• libXft
• libXinerama
• libXcursor
• libXrender
• libXfixes
• libcairo
• libpango-1.0

Building

git clone https://github.com/MoAlyousef/diskfmt
cd diskfmt
cargo build --release
# if you have libfltk1.4-dev installed, you can build using
cargo build --release --features=fltk/fltk-config
# To build with hybrid/x11 support
cargo build --release --features=fltk/use-wayland

Feature flags:

• Default build enables the GUI.
• CLI-only build: cargo build --release --no-default-features.
• Accessibility: cargo build --release --features a11y (requires GUI feature).

AppImage

• The helper script scripts/build-appimage.sh builds a release binary, sets up an AppDir, and bundles it with linuxdeploy + appimagetool (downloaded into target/appimage/ if missing).
• Requires convert from ImageMagick to downscale the provided icon.png (1024x1024) to 256x256 for the AppImage icon.
• Example:

  ./scripts/build-appimage.sh          # produces target/appimage/diskfmt-<version>-<arch>.AppImage
  

• Environment knobs: ARCH (defaults to uname -m), CARGO_FLAGS (e.g., --features fltk/use-wayland), LINUXDEPLOY/APPIMAGETOOL (custom paths), ICON_SRC, OUTPUT, VERSION.
• The AppImage still expects UDisks2/Polkit on the host; those services are not bundled.

CLI Usage

diskfmt starts the GUI by default (no arguments) or with --start-ui. The same operations are available via a command‑line interface.

Global options:

• --mock-backend Use the mock backend (no system changes; useful for testing)
• --theme THEME UI color theme (e.g., DARK2) [GUI builds only]
• --scheme SCHEME UI widget scheme (Fleet1 or Fleet2) [GUI builds only]

Commands:

• Start GUI

  • diskfmt or diskfmt --start-ui
  • Apply style: diskfmt --start-ui --theme DARK2 --scheme Fleet2

• List devices (removable only)

  • diskfmt list
  • With mock: diskfmt --mock-backend list

• Format a device or partition

  • diskfmt format --path <PATH> [--fs <vfat|exfat|ntfs|ext4|xfs|btrfs>] [--label <LABEL>] [--quick] [--size "Auto"|"4096 bytes"|"8 sectors"] [--table <GPT|DOS>]
  • Notes:
    • --path can be a device path (e.g., /dev/sdb1) or a UDisks object path. diskfmt list prints device paths with details.
    • --quick enables a faster (non‑full) format; omit it for a full format.
    • --size matches GUI labels. Examples:
      • vfat: "8 sectors", "16 sectors"
      • others: "4096 bytes", "65536 bytes"
      • "Auto" lets the formatter choose.
    • For whole‑disk formatting (not a partition), add --table GPT|DOS.
  • Examples:
    • diskfmt format --path /dev/sdb1 --fs vfat --label USB --quick --size "8 sectors"
    • diskfmt format --path /dev/sdb --fs ext4 --label DATA --size "4096 bytes" --table GPT

• Cancel a running format

  • diskfmt cancel <JOB_ID>
  • When a format starts, the CLI prints Job <ID> started; use that ID with cancel.

• Config management

  • diskfmt config --print Print effective theme and scheme (merged: CLI > config > defaults)
  • diskfmt config --path Show the resolved config file path
  • diskfmt config --edit Open the config in $VISUAL/$EDITOR (creates a template if missing)
  • diskfmt config --init [--force] Create or overwrite the config file with a template

Configuration file

diskfmt reads configuration from:

• $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/diskfmt/config.toml, or
• ~/.config/diskfmt/config.toml

Schema (TOML):

[style]
# Default GUI theme and scheme
theme = "DARK2"   # See `diskfmt --help` for full list
scheme = "Fleet1" # Fleet1 or Fleet2

CLI flags always override config, which overrides built‑in defaults (DARK2 + Fleet1).