Date: Sat, 31 May 1997 18:39:04 +0200 From: j@uriah.heep.sax.de (J Wunsch) To: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Fdisk Special Feature We CAN do Without Message-ID: <19970531183904.XM47923@uriah.heep.sax.de> In-Reply-To: <XFMail.970530164413.Shimon@i-Connect.Net>; from Simon Shapiro on May 30, 1997 16:44:13 -0700 References: <199705302142.XAA00119@zibbi.mikom.csir.co.za> <XFMail.970530164413.Shimon@i-Connect.Net>
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As Simon Shapiro wrote: > The heck is that (regardless of what the man says!) this program, silently > and without warning will destroy your system, witha delay in problem > recognition. It's unix. ``You get what you want.'' Other systems try to be smart and often don't even let you do something. (We've recently had serious problems with a customer (who insists on using WinNT) since his system doesn't backup `open' files. Q: So, how do you get a complete backup from a running system then? A: You can't.) > It is > totally within the realm of fdisk to refuse to re-partition a disk that: > > a. Has open partitions, > b. Has mounted file systems, That's not useful. You for sure sometimes do want to adjust the fdisk table of your boot disk, without the need to dig up the fixit floppy (so the disk is really idle and has no open partitions and/or mounted filesystems). > c. does not match ANY parameter, including disk total size Match against what? It always matches against itself. Further tests are not useful, i can certainly always prove you at least one case where you really want to correct fdisk's (oftentimes botched) idea about what might be right. > e. Has a missing device name in argv[] or has in argv[] a filename for > which stat(2) returns a -2. Testing for junk arguments might indeed be useful. Use send-pr to submit your patches. :-] Btw., i wonder what you're ever doing with fdisk at all... I think i wouldn't even notice a damaged fdisk table on my drives. ;-) Since i know that you're running dedicated FreeBSD systems as well, i wonder what's your concern with fdisk... -- cheers, J"org joerg_wunsch@uriah.heep.sax.de -- http://www.sax.de/~joerg/ -- NIC: JW11-RIPE Never trust an operating system you don't have sources for. ;-)
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