Subject: first reserved track on x86 and hibernation, problem
To: None <current-users@netbsd.org>
From: Gilbert Fernandes <gilbertf@netbsd-fr.org>
List: current-users
Date: 07/21/2004 00:18:29
moo all

i got a little problem with my netbsd 2.0g install,
over my fellow thinkpad x30. since it has 1 gb
ram, i need about 1 gb of disk space to install the
hibernation partition. the whole disk is (39 gb)
dedicated to netbsd. so i need to have this:

0-63 : reserved for bios
63-x : hibernation (1 gb)
x-z  : netbsd

z = end of disk

so i need to boot the hibernation disk, create
the hib partition then install netbsd. but the
hib disk starts its partition from sector 0
instead of 63 (thus screwing the netbsd later
as the second-stage loader will overwrite
a critical part of the hib partition..)

trying to trick the thing, i wanted to create
a sector 0 to 63 partition so the hibernation
floppy would install its data from sector 63
to 61 gb. then i would destroy entry 0 to free
the first 63 sectors and create the netbsd
entry properly.

fdisk -u -f -0 -s 169/0/63 wd0

fails. of course, fdisk knows that first
track is reserved and tells me. and of
course instead of doing what i tell it to
do (call that the "unix way" or in other
words "do what the sysadmin says even if it's
stooopid") it doesn't do anything.

so instead of going to sleep i now got to
hack into fdisk and rebuild the netbsd 2.0g
boot floppies and i'm not happy about it.

tools should do what we tell them to do.
even if it's something that wont work later,
because when a peculiar situation like mine
arises, it's a relative huge amount of work
to add just to get the work done properly.

i know track 0 is reserved. but fdisk should
warn about it and do what i ask it. that's
also what i except from unix commands. we
could take that rm -rf as example.

i'm not asking for a fdisk change (but from
this day my fdisk will do what i tell it
to do, trust me) but i feel it should work
like any other unix command and do what i
tell it to do :p

without this hassle the install would have
been done one hour ago. nah. i'm a geek
spending his night tweaking its fdisk
because some stupid moron was in charge
of developing the phoenix hibernation
install code (pray i don't catch you ever)

is the fdisk way right or am i just ranting
and wasting precious bits ? :/

may beastie forgive my errand.