On Mon, 20 Sep 1999, Leo Weppelman wrote:

# On Mon, Sep 20, 1999 at 12:48:53PM -0700, Bill Studenmund wrote:
# > On Fri, 17 Sep 1999, Leo Weppelman wrote:
# > > 
# > >   * The basis of the generic-label is the current dislabel definition
# > >     (as defined in 'include/disklabel.h'). The additions are:
# > >       - 52 (2*26 == [a-zA-Z]) partitions (MAX_GENERIC_PARTITIONS)
# > 
# > I'd vote for 64 partitions, and shoving the "whole disk" one at #63. For
# > now, ports could keep shoving a "whole disk" partition at #2 or #3 (c or
# > d).
# 
# I started out with the 64 idea myself until I tried to think up the name
# of partitions above 52 ;-) So, do you have a suggestion?

Let's see, since names are for organic lifeform readability only, we
have some choices:

	use /dev/$disktype$disknum$delim$partition_index, where
		$disktype == sd, wd, hd, xy, whatever;
		$disknum should be obvious;
		$delim would be one of nothing at all or some compatible
			character, probably one of @,%+=-_~.:
		$partition_index would be from 0[0]-64, 0[0]-3f

	Super-partitioning, i.e. /dev/sd0a.a, with links from
	sd0a -> sd0a.a, sd0b -> sd0a.b (or something similar) 

	Use funky characters, i.e. /dev/sd3[@#%+=-_~,.].

As well, I think that sd0 should point to the 'whole partition' as
a physical entity of its own rather than depending on compiled-in
magic, i.e. it happens at MAKEDEV time.

Are we going to hit the point where it might actually make sense
to reference things like /dev/sd0/a.a or however we name these
things?

How many partitions can we fit into the space of a standard disklabel?
Or are we looking to change the size and format (thus losing compatibility
with older systems)?

This is all stuff to think about; I thought 22 or 24 was more or
less the maximum number of partitions a disklabel could support.

FWIW, if I really needed to do something like this, I'd probably
reference most of the partitions as ccds and label them that way.

Not to mention that I don't see a whole lot of use for many more
than 16 partitions, as far as intent and purpose go, unless you're
planning on hosting many dic^Hskless workstations and want each one
to have its own separate space (which doesn't strike me as extremely
practical...).

Or did I miss the question completely?

# 
# Leo.
# 


				--*greywolf;
--
Microsoft:
	"Just click on the START button and your journey to the Dark Side
	 will be complete!"