Date: Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:07:58 +0200 From: Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de> To: PJ <af.gourmet@videotron.ca> Cc: "freebsd-questions@freebsd.org" <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: I hate to bitch but bitch I must Message-ID: <20091017010758.088b8b8c.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <4AD8EB8F.9010900@videotron.ca> References: <4AD8EB8F.9010900@videotron.ca>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:54:23 -0400, PJ <af.gourmet@videotron.ca> wrote: > Why is it that the manual pages, as thorough as they may be, are very, > very confusing. A common misunderstanding about manpages can be that they are often (wishfully?) seen as a tutorial or a howto. In fact, they are references. > Perhaps I am being too wary, but I find that too many > instructions/examples are stumbling blocks to appreciation of the whole > system: > for instance, let's look at the instructions for changing disk labels > with glabel or is it tunefs ? > man glabel(8): > > for UFS the file system label is set with > tunefs(8) > <http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=tunefs&sektion=8&apropos=0&manpath=FreeBSD+7.2-RELEASE>. > what happened to glabel? That's confusing... > man tunefs(8) > The *tunefs* utility cannot be > run on an active file system. To change an active file system, it must > be downgraded to read-only or unmounted. > > So, you have to run tunefs from an active file system to modify another > disk? No. "Active file system" refers to a file system that is mounted rw - the common method of using a file system. But in order to run a program from a file system, the file system can as well be mounted ro. This still allows running programs. A setting you'll often find is maintenance done in single user mode; here, / is mounted ro to give access to the basic programs in /bin and /sbin. All other partitions, including /usr, are not mounted. They don't need to be for having a fully functional system in maintenance mode. > but from man tunefs: > BUGS > This utility should work on active file systems. > What in hades does this mean--just above it says cannot be run on active > file systems. ??? It "should". This means: Don't try that. :-) My printer isn't printing! But it should. No, it is not printing! Yes, but it should. :-) > To change the root file > system, the system must be rebooted after the file system is tuned. > > You can tune a file system, but you cannot tune a fish. > How cute... And fish eat bugs. Nice you found this. :-) > Seriously, now to the manual: > To create a permanent label for a UFS2 file system without destroying > any data, issue the following command: > # tunefs -L /home/ /dev/da3 > > Oh? home is what? What does this have to do with the partitions? The volume name, according to the manual, is "/home/" now, isn't it? > from manual: > # tunefs -L /home/ //dev/da3/ I cannot find this in the tunefs manual in group 8... It seems that there are too many /s in it... > Do people who write this stuff ever read it? Tell me that its clear and > simple and to the point... so far, I have been running back and forth > between half a dozen web pages trying to understand what is going on... > and doing things through a dense fog does not produce creative results! Wow... I'm having problems now, too. Maybe I should re-read the manpages a few times... -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20091017010758.088b8b8c.freebsd>