Subject: Re: disklabel(8) and machdep on-disk structures issues
To: Ignatios Souvatzis <is@netbsd.org>
From: Manuel Bouyer <bouyer@antioche.eu.org>
List: tech-kern
Date: 11/09/2003 18:53:42
On Sun, Nov 09, 2003 at 08:09:32AM +0100, Ignatios Souvatzis wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 08, 2003 at 06:50:11PM +0100, Manuel Bouyer wrote:
> > On Sat, Nov 08, 2003 at 04:11:20PM +1100, Luke Mewburn wrote:
> > > I still think we should change DIOCWDINFO to write the raw label,
> > 
> > I agree, but see below.
> 
> May I humbly ask you to note that on some ports (at least amiga, amigappc 
> but ISTR that atari? is similar) we don't use any NetBSD disklabel?
> 
> If you write a NetBSD disklabel, you'll destroy the native disk information
> structure (which contains, among others, the partition table).

For now, next68k is in this situation too.

> 
> So automatically allowing writing a NetBSD label if none is there is a 
> bad, bad idea.

This is why it would be better to leave this job to the kernel, and remove
the code to write label directly to disk from disklabel(8).

-- 
Manuel Bouyer <bouyer@antioche.eu.org>
     NetBSD: 23 ans d'experience feront toujours la difference
--