From owner-freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Jun 6 07:23:47 2012 Return-Path: Delivered-To: doc@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 94047106566B for ; Wed, 6 Jun 2012 07:23:47 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kaduk@mit.edu) Received: from dmz-mailsec-scanner-2.mit.edu (DMZ-MAILSEC-SCANNER-2.MIT.EDU [18.9.25.13]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2FD4B8FC0A for ; Wed, 6 Jun 2012 07:23:47 +0000 (UTC) X-AuditID: 1209190d-b7fd56d000000933-51-4fcf05820536 Received: from mailhub-auth-2.mit.edu ( [18.7.62.36]) by dmz-mailsec-scanner-2.mit.edu (Symantec Messaging Gateway) with SMTP id 26.B3.02355.2850FCF4; Wed, 6 Jun 2012 03:23:46 -0400 (EDT) Received: from outgoing.mit.edu (OUTGOING-AUTH.MIT.EDU [18.7.22.103]) by mailhub-auth-2.mit.edu (8.13.8/8.9.2) with ESMTP id q567NjTh025151; Wed, 6 Jun 2012 03:23:46 -0400 Received: from multics.mit.edu (MULTICS.MIT.EDU [18.187.1.73]) (authenticated bits=56) (User authenticated as kaduk@ATHENA.MIT.EDU) by outgoing.mit.edu (8.13.6/8.12.4) with ESMTP id q567Ni6r018223 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT); Wed, 6 Jun 2012 03:23:45 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from kaduk@localhost) by multics.mit.edu (8.12.9.20060308) id q567NhHU010332; Wed, 6 Jun 2012 03:23:43 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2012 03:23:43 -0400 (EDT) From: Benjamin Kaduk To: Warren Block In-Reply-To: Message-ID: References: User-Agent: Alpine 1.10 (GSO 962 2008-03-14) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed X-Brightmail-Tracker: H4sIAAAAAAAAA+NgFnrBIsWRmVeSWpSXmKPExsUixG6notvEet7foKFZ0GLqx52sFr9OeTgw ecz4NJ/F40jHI8YApigum5TUnMyy1CJ9uwSujGsz1jIWfJGq6H8s1sC4QrSLkZNDQsBEomXB cVYIW0ziwr31bF2MXBxCAvsYJT7P7GWCcNYzSvxuWcMI4exnkvi09Q8TSIuQQL3Ei6OngNo5 OFgEtCRet9SChNkEVCRmvtnIBhIWEVCV2HvGGiTMLCAscfrSXUYQWxgoPOHpG3YQm1PAQ+LV j8PsIOW8Ao4SixuNIYa7S3xfegisXFRAR2L1/iksIDavgKDEyZlPWCBGWkqc+3OdbQKj4Cwk qVlIUgsYmVYxyqbkVunmJmbmFKcm6xYnJ+blpRbpGunlZpbopaaUbmIEBSinJO8OxncHlQ4x CnAwKvHweime8xdiTSwrrsw9xCjJwaQkytvFct5fiC8pP6UyI7E4I76oNCe1+BCjBAezkghv 6wOgct6UxMqq1KJ8mJQ0B4uSOG8C11l/IYH0xJLU7NTUgtQimKwMB4eSBO9skKGCRanpqRVp mTklCGkmDk6Q4TxAwxeD1PAWFyTmFmemQ+RPMSpKifPuBkkIgCQySvPgemEJ5BWjONArwrzb QKp4gMkHrvsV0GAmoME8DGdBBpckIqSkGhgPs05+K/mjgCezY/WOw6dZ1r2eXuS7jOPF80++ JdXh026HCa+pjVIKt1h5Wi5S4NKqnmiWBUJfl+ev367ufN99m7SpT9bWkLS7Pm8rUwUq5geX Vp2WDkwJnh89r3D2VtMwvrsbj6qv+yLMJ9nh1ip4LsBU9aWrgHr3TmW5T9uTd4U4Oy1ZWKPE UpyRaKjFXFScCABHqlK++wIAAA== Cc: doc@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Handbook Storage chapter X-BeenThere: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Documentation project List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 06 Jun 2012 07:23:47 -0000 On Mon, 4 Jun 2012, Warren Block wrote: >> From a thread on -questions, the Handbook Storage chapter, in > disks/chapter.sgml, has some seriously outdated instructions. > > 19.3 "Adding Disks" talks about dedicated disks, an unnecessary > complication. I have seen traffic on freebsd.org mailing lists within the past year from people using "dangerously dedicated" disks on recent-ish systems. Which is not to say that we need to mention it in the introductory paragraphs -- I do think that we should keep mention of it 19.3.2.2 and mention that it is not recommended, though. > > 19.3.1 suggests using sysinstall to slice and partition disks, a bad idea now > at least. If you look at it funny, sysinstall will happily write the > /etc/fstab for the new disk over your existing one. You didn't need that old > version, did you? > Agreed that advocating sysinstall for post-installation configuration should be removed. Too bad that dteske's bsdconfig isn't in the tree yet, which would make our job easier. > 19.3.2 has a procedure for setting up a disk using fdisk and bsdlabel, which > seems overly complicated, mounting the new disk at "/1". At this point, use > of fdisk and bsdlabel can probably be replaced with gpart(8) instead. At the > same time, the instructions for "dedicated" disks can be eliminated. It has > no advantage and several possible disadvantages. > Given that the new installer defaults to gpart (most of the time? I don't remember all the logic), I think it's okay to switch our documentation to it. I think there are some purists who still want to use dedicated disks, and we can probably keep the one line about how to label a device directly with warning that your pointy hat should be sufficiently tall. > Following that is a section on ccd(4), which needs a look. I was under the > impression that ccd was, um, only historically relevant now. > Indeed. ccd.4 and ccdconfig.4 both have .Dd in ... 1995. In contrast to dedicated disks, I have not seen any ccd-releated traffic in recent memory. Actually looking, Jeremy Chadwick gave it as an option in "File system trouble with ICH9 controller" on 6/10/10 (alongside ZFS, no less!) More interesting is the 2009 thread "Request for opinions - gvinum or ccd?", which veered away with essentially "no, please use something else" (gstripe or ZFS). The only thing I would want to check before applying the danish axe is that ccdconfig.8 mentions a mode for compatibility with Linux md(4) ... I would like to think that there are other ways to do this, but do not know offhand. > Finally, there's a section on ataraid(4), which should at least mention and > link to the new graid(4) section in the GEOM chapter. > I think ataraid is really in a deprecated status. The future is in ada(4) disks and not ad(4) disks, which means that ataraid(4) may not be used and graid(4) is necessary. We should probably keep the ataraid(4) documentation for now but put a tag at the top that it is not current, per your suggestion. > 19.10 "Backups to Floppies" can probably go. It wasn't very viable even when > floppies could still be bought. Staples will sell me ten (10) 3.5" floppy disks for $1.19 ... they're not dead, yet. But, please do remove this section. I don't think one can even fit a FreeBSD kernel on a single floppy these days. -Ben