On Wed, 24 May 2006 11:13:11 -0400, "Greg A. Woods" <woods@weird.com>
wrote:

> I think the real problem is that autoconf(9) will skip over non-existant
> things, esp. the likes of disks, so that when something steps in to fill
> their place then the device space changes dynamically.
> 
> Especially for attachable devices like disks they should always be
> located in the device space by some representation of their hardware
> addressable location, regardless of how many addresses before them are
> unused.
> 
> The only sane alternative, at least for disks, and perhaps it's even far
> more sane than what I suggest (as it is definitely far more flexible) is
> Steve Bellovin's suggestion to use volume labels.
> 
I thought about your scheme.  The problem is removable media -- they can
move to, say, different USB ports, and different flash disks can show up
on the same port.

		--Steven M. Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb