Date:        Thu, 20 Dec 2001 12:13:34 +0000
    From:        Andrew Cagney <cagney@mac.com>
    Message-ID:  <3C21D5EE.8070801@mac.com>

  | While it might be nice to have familar names such as wd0a I think the
  | OS should also provide access to the nasty real world

What names are used in /dev is an entirely different issue.

  | where /dev/wd0a is really (to make something up) /dev/hd/wd0/dos1/nb0

Ah - but the point is that in NetBSD it isn't.   Forgetting the /dev/hd/wd0
part, the "dos1/nb0" is simply not what we have.   The "dos1" thing is
invisible to NetBSD partitioning.   I very frequently have NetBSD partitions
(that is, things reference by the label in the "dos2" (or something) which
refer to space allocated in the dos1 or dos3 or similar sections).

Calling those /dev/hd/wd0/dos2/nb5 or something would be a lie - the space
isn't in dos2.   But calling it /dev/hd/wd0/dos3/xxx isn't possible, because
dos3 has no label to allow pieces of it to be distinguished.

kre