Subject: Re: proposal for MI floppy formatting
To: None <tech-kern@NetBSD.ORG>
From: Paul Kranenburg <pk@cs.few.eur.nl>
List: tech-kern
Date: 11/17/1996 22:49:57
> FDIOCSETFORMAT(struct fdformat_parms):
> 	set formatting parameters, using 'struct fdformat_parms'
> 	the driver saves this state and it persists while the device is open.
> 
> FDIOCGETFORMAT(struct fdformat_parms):
> 	fetch current formatting parameters into 'struct fdformat_parms'
> 

Wouldn't it be useful to default these parameters to the built-in ones (for
drivers that have them) that are used for reading and writing? That way,
you can be confident that a format operation results in a readable disk
on the same machine (when using the correct minor device number).

It also removes the need to maintain duplicate sets of tables in the userland
formatting program.

-pk