Subject: Re: dev_t changes & partitions
To: Manuel Bouyer <bouyer@antioche.lip6.fr>
From: Charles M. Hannum <mycroft@mit.edu>
List: tech-kern
Date: 01/16/1998 05:08:28
Manuel Bouyer <bouyer@antioche.lip6.fr> writes:

> 
> On Jan 15, Charles M. Hannum wrote
> > If you did, then it should be obvious that the (old, which I
> > pointed out in text you didn't quote) MAKEDEV just wrote a `32-bit'
> > device node using the old major and minor number.  (So it's now
> > pointing to the wrong disk device.  When I run newfs(8), it blows away
> > my other disk.)
> > 
> 
> If we renumber the majors (which I think should be done at the same time),
> it's likely that the nodes created don't point to a disk driver any more
> (or at last it should be made so). So you don't trash your disk, but your
> machine will not reboot. 

Uh, right.  So rather than designing in a trivial failsafe, instead
you want to pray to the gods -- or worse yet, specifically choose the
new major numbers so they don't conflict?  I shouldn't even need to
say that's bogus.