> 
> 
>    How about a tool that would generate a prototype disktab entry from
>    MODE SELECT data?
> 
> That *still* doesn't deal with the partition info, which is the
> primary use of disktab to begin with.  You can't divine that
> information.  (Hell; you don't even need a label if all you want to do
> is access the raw disk.)
> 
> I, for one, have never used disktab under NetBSD.  But that's another
> subject.
> 
> 

Not really.  The way that the disklabel information is used is precisely
the point.


For example, when I use a new disk, I almost always use the 'there isn't 
a label here yet' label generated by disklabel, labelling the disk with 
a whole disk partition.  Once I get the partition information on the 
drive in the first place, I edit this (now existing) table, with
'disklabel -e' and set up my partitions.  I then save the partition 
information to a floppy and the root directory of wd0 so that I have it 
for later.  I have found that this system of three disklabels works much 
more effectively for me than the older disktab entry method.

Since the disklabel of an unlabeled disk generates a disktab prototype
with one partition (the whole drive) that can then be put onto the disk,
it sounds as though the select() call that you are looking for is
already ready to go.