From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Sep 12 19:30:20 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 59E58106564A for ; Mon, 12 Sep 2011 19:30:20 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from fjwcash@gmail.com) Received: from mail-vx0-f182.google.com (mail-vx0-f182.google.com [209.85.220.182]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 101458FC08 for ; Mon, 12 Sep 2011 19:30:19 +0000 (UTC) Received: by vxi39 with SMTP id 39so4287636vxi.13 for ; Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:30:19 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :content-type; bh=iQiwYyc135/zWgvMDlO4sgiC90gpF4PHNIffaDlFfsg=; b=OW5L2Yrvgt/HWLXusCTvWMsszWDEHZjLxW8eeuuwiZSnLMtOlhYH5W4vtoUK+hX4WO 7Qm7h0/LFilJ1lvNEiUvvXe85RHuwuqJg0bh8awn9xn+SJ8/IvaXuvoXg6qXfwMTcvcW GpPciqKmEKoeujPPJrPIElrSeQgw8mGjYajEQ= MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.52.114.197 with SMTP id ji5mr2082270vdb.217.1315854105166; Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:01:45 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.220.199.194 with HTTP; Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:01:45 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: References: <4E5CEF79.7070508@freebsd.org> <4E5D82FC.2020909@freebsd.org> <4E5E2D01.3000400@freebsd.org> <4E5E3895.4090400@freebsd.org> <4E6E332D.8030404@freebsd.org> Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:01:45 -0700 Message-ID: From: Freddie Cash To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Subject: Re: 9-beta1 installer - partition editor X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2011 19:30:20 -0000 On Mon, Sep 12, 2011 at 10:59 AM, Ivan Voras wrote: > On 12 September 2011 18:28, Nathan Whitehorn > wrote: > > > This was resolved earlier -- you cannot install onto just MBR without a > > bsdlabel. This has never been supported, and worked only by accident > before. > > *As it tells you* you need to create sub-partitions. > > I'll again note that it should be supported because a) there's no > technical reason not to and b) this is how every other OS works. But > I'll leave it at that, maybe the users won't mind. > Well, if you look at the history of BSD Unix and the port to the PC, you'll notice that every other PC-based OS does partitioning wrong. :) Unix partitioning has always been this way: - create partition on disk for OS - create sub-partitions for filesystems And it was that way for many years (decades?) before the PC came along. IBM/MS decided to ignore the huge history of computers and partitioning that came before, instead coming up with the lame-brained "primary partition" MBR scheme with a limit of 4 partitions. Later extending that with the even more lame-brained concept of an "extended partition" and "logical partitions". Don't blame FreeBSD (a member of the BSD family) for following the BSD Unix tradition for partitioning. Thankfully, the GPT partitioning standard removes the distinction between "primary", "extended", and "logical" partitions. Now, a partition is a partition is a partition. It's just too bad that they removed the concept of sub-partitions (bsdlabels) as a multi-boot system now has a giant, messy, table full of top-level partitions, with each OS jumbled together (but, it's much easier to label them all to make it easier to manage). :( -- Freddie Cash fjwcash@gmail.com